Get Hong Kong Street Market Gadgets from Perth

If you are a gadget lover like me, you want to go to asian countries to check out all the cheap gadgets and other made in chinas that make the world rotate a little easier. However, when you get to these asian countries, you realise that because you don't speak the language and you don't know whether you are buying a dud, even though its cheap, you end up getting ripped off.

Deal Extreme (www.dealextreme.com) is a way you can visit the Hong Kong markets and do the equivalent of asking a stranger what they thought of the gadget that they just bought. The website is based in Kowloon, Hong Kong so they sell all sorts of things that you would expect from a street vendor - except this one purports to give 100% satisfaction guarantee and user reviews. I haven't bought anything from the website but I have it on good authority that this is an excellent website. Someone recently said that 95% of Zazz stuff comes from DealExtreme. Whether or not that is true, it doesn't matter. With free shipping from Hong Kong and a huge range, you can use other websites to figure out what you want and go here for the better price. So have you had experience with this website?

Google Docs Down today

It seems like Google docs is down today. Also tried to check whirlpool but it seems that the forums are having problems as well. Tried the news and there was no report of google documents going down. Anyone also experiencing problems?

This is what I got: 

We're sorry...

... but your query looks similar to automated requests from a computer virus or spyware application. To protect our users, we can't process your request right now.

We'll restore your access as quickly as possible, so try again soon. In the meantime, if you suspect that your computer or network has been infected, you might want to run a virus checker or spyware remover to make sure that your systems are free of viruses and other spurious software.

We apologize for the inconvenience, and hope we'll see you again on Google.  

WA Police - How many people get caught..

Here are some statistics from the WA police for operations during the Easter long weekend.This provides a unique look into the police operations figures that we don't normally get. Congratulations to Karl O'Callaghan for keeping a transparent police force in WA. 

Booze Bus

Breath tested - 7916 drivers 

Caught Drink-driving - 76 drivers 

Caught driving without a license - 108 drivers 

WA Police patrols

Caught drink driving by patrol vehicle - 80 drivers  

Caught speeding - 342 infringements and 27 cautions

Caught not wearing a seatbelt - 11 drivers 

Caught using mobile phone - 31 drivers

Fatalities - 1 driver lost control at speed on a bend in Karawara on Thursday. 

How to Speed Up Windows Vista?

Here is the most popular website for tweaking Windows Vista, according to the online ranking website Digg.com.

This has solved a question in my head that comes up every time I see the blue circle of death. I hope the tweaks just implemented will keep my vista running smoothly. Otherwise I keep wondering where my 4GB of RAM went..

http://mostlysavingmoney.com/top-10-windows-vista-speed-tweaks/

Got cash? Bankwest TeleNet, Smart eSaver or Regular Saver Accounts?

Most people will come to realise that Bankwest offers the best interest rate for savings accounts generally and most recently they have launched the Smart eSaver Account. Let's compare this offering with the existing options in Bankwest. Personally, I have a regular saver account and a telenet saver account and it looks like its time for some money shuffling.

Interest rate (as at 2/4/09)
Regular Saver account 6%
Smart eSaver account 5%
TeleNet Saver account 3.15% (3.95% first 12 months)

Restrictions with Regular Saver Account
You can only put in $500 each month. At the end of the year, the $6000+interest gets swept into you normal account and you start your saving all over again. Bit of a hassle. Good if that's all you have to invest at the moment and if you are not putting too much else in each month from now on. Let's call this the spare change saver account.

Restrictions with Smart eSaver Account
You can put whatever amount in.
Very good rate but it drops to 3.25% for the month if you make a withdrawal during that month for anything (but will go back up the following month). This is where I will be moving my regular saver money and telent saver money in. We'll call this the no mortgage saver account. If you have a big sum of cash waiting maybe to put a deposit on the home in 2 years time, this is where you go. More details here.

Restrictions with TeleNet Saver Account
You can put whatever amount in. Its a low rate but it will continue to pay the same rate no matter what transactions you make to this account. This is good for people who have an unpredictable cashflow month by month and want to make some money on the side. I call it the contractor saver account. More details on the account here.

By the way, none of this is financial advice. These are merely opinions.