Sue Spammers for a Living

Balsam is determined to help clean up the Internet and is earning cash for it.

‘Daniel Balsam hates spam. Most everybody does, of course. But he has acted on his hate as few have, going far beyond simply hitting the delete button. He sues them.

‘Eight years ago, Balsam was working as a marketer when he received one too many e-mail pitches to enlarge his breasts.

‘Enraged, he launched a Web site called Danhatesspam.com, quit a career in marketing to go to law school and is making a decent living suing companies who flood his e-mail inboxes with offers of cheap drugs, free sex and unbelievable vacations.

“I feel like I’m doing a little bit of good cleaning up the Internet,” Balsam said…’

-Details at AP

 

Amazon’s Brilliant Gift Filtering

It will block lousy gifts before they get into the malls.

‘Undoubtedly, the Thread and Bobbin Sewing Kit that Aunt Mildred sent from Amazon.com for Christmas will never see a stitch. The Stallion Stable Music Boxmight have looked pretty on the computer screen, but under the tree’s flickering lights, it is frightful. The polka-dot nightgown has never been a good idea, even with free shipping.

‘These gifts sent via some warehouse many miles away are not only unwanted, but also a multimillion-dollar headache: They have to be repacked, labeled, dropped off and shipped back to Amazon’s Island of Misfit Toys. Then a new present has to be packed, labeled and shipped again. Efficient, the process is not…’ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/26/AR2010122601836.html?hpid=topnews

Kindle Becomes Amazon’s Best-Selling Item Ever

‘The third-generation Kindle is the best-selling product in Amazon’s history, the company has announced. To grab the top spot, Kindle 3 has surpassed Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

‘Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos made a couple ofstatements about the new Kindle, emphasizing the product’s low price point as the key to its success and downplaying tablets as competition.

“We’re seeing that many of the people who are buying Kindles also own an LCD tablet. Customers report using their LCD tablets for games, movies, and web browsing and their Kindles for reading sessions,” Bezos said…’

http://mashable.com/2010/12/27/kindle-3-best-selling-amazon/

The Cost of Success in Beijing

Low-cost underground shelters are home to many.

‘As speculators and increasing demand drive up Beijing’s real estate prices, those who cannot afford the rent are going underground – literally. Hundreds of cellars and air-raid shelters are being rented out as living spaces in the Chinese capital.

‘For 27-year-old Dong Ying, Beijing is a city of dreams. Two years ago, the sports teacher relocated from a small city in the north-eastern province of Heilongjiang to the Chinese metropolis. Here, she hoped, her wishes for a more interesting life would be fulfilled…’

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,736035,00.html