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In a 60-by-60-foot glass-enclosed room within a room lit by blinking maps, a wall of flowing, cartoon-style green arrows and the occasional blinking red light from computer banks, a low buzz of voices echoes the swelling discomfort outside.

Georgia Power is watching us sweat.

At his computer beneath what looks like a massive, computerized Etch-a-Sketch on the wall, Greg Smith can see power demand swell as Georgians return to hot homes from work and begin flipping switches.

“My job is to make sure the state of Georgia’s lights stay on,” says Smith.

The huge screen in this room at Georgia Power headquarters is a view of the state’s transmission system, the giant electric superhighways that move power from its generators around the state. The arr

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“I have performed ‘Last Dance’ for many years, singing the one and only version, exactly as written,” Summer announced this week on her Web site.

Her statement comes after the Atlanta-based Wendy’s restaurant chain stopped distributing a CD with the song in its kids meals. Parents complained that the song contained a lyric that wasn’t appropriate for children, and the company responded by pulling the CD.

The lyrics on the CD cover contain the words “when I’m bad I’m so, so bad.” But some believed the song included the words “so horny,” which Summer said is false.

And, the 61-year-old Summer says there is only one version of the song, written by the late Paul Jabara, recorded by her.

Known for her hits such as “Bad Girls” and “Hot Stuff,” Summer’s career has continued decades past the disco era. T

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2010 is a year full of technological surprises and innovations, from new types of electronic book readers and Internet-enabled cell phones to the fast-selling Apple iPad computer device. Meanwhile social networking is occupying the time of hundreds of millions of people of all ages. People are constantly using devices and sites like Twitter and Facebook to connect or reconnect with friends, do business networking, post blogs or videos, keep up with their celebrity icons, or just get a glimpse into the lives of other people in the tech-connected universe. But now, in addition to the many social shopping Web sites that have been around for a long time, there is a new trend emerging that involving tracking your purchases through social media mechanisms. Read full post…

Excellent report by Mary Hunt

When I first heard the radio commercials for Bank of America’s “Keep the Change” debit card, I was fairly impressed. I mean, with the slogan “save automatically with everyday purchases” and the promises that “you don’t have to think about saving,” that you can “double your savings” and that the bank will “match your Keep the Change savings at 100 percent,” what possibly could be the downside?you would save 81 cents, and the bank would kick in 4 cents.

Trust me; there is a very steep downside. But first, here’s how it works:

You have to get a Bank of America Visa check card, which is a debit card. Each time you use it, the card issuer rounds up the difference to the next dollar amount and deposits it into your savings account. For example, your fast-fo

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A credit report is the grade book of an adult. Kids have to go to school, read up and then write exams to get good grades. But when it comes to the working man, he has to pay his bills on time and make sure he doesn’t default on payments in order to get a good credit report at the end of the year.

A credit report has important information which can broadly be categorized as personal information, public hearings, enquiries and credit history. Now all these pieces of information are very important for both the lender and the borrower or customer. There are certain miscreants out there who take advantage of this situation and benefit out of it. We shall try to understand all the different types of frauds committed and then we shall discuss tips to avoid them.

You might recollect receiving emails from various individuals or websites offering free or paid credit reports. Y

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For a June 7 dinner feting DeCosta at the Georgia International Convention Center, more than $10,000 was spent for catering, $1,200 for entertainment and a song created for the departing airport official, $6,000 for audio-visual needs, $856 for flowers and $3,000 for a program, banner, posters, souvenir booklets and signs, according to documents obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution through an open records request.

Entertainment for the event included a tribute song to DeCosta entitled “Our GM” that was performed by Heather Hayes Experience; Hayes is the daughter of entertainer Isaac Hayes.

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