If you have a Panasonic digital still camera, you may want to think twice before applying any new firmware updates to it.

The company has included a new “feature” in its latest firmware release that renders 3rd-party batteries inoperable in your camera.

The company claims they are doing this to prevent overcharging, internal heating and short circuits, but the bottom line is, of course, that they want to lock you into purchasing only genuine Panasonic batteries.

If you have a Panasonic camera that uses the following battery pack models, then be very careful when downloading and installing firmware from their Web site.

Battery packs affected:

DMW-BCF10, DMW-BCG10, DMW-BLB13

In a move sure to anger mommy bloggers and parents everywhere, Mattel has decided to release a new version of the popular Barbie doll, this one now complete with a set of sticker tattoos so little girls can add ink to her as they please.

This is not the first controversial foray into body art that Mattel has taken - in 1999 the company tried releasing a tattooed  Barbie, but quickly pulled it from the shelves due to public outcry.

The dolls’  description reads: “Over 40 easy, no mess tattoos to design and decorate Barbie doll’s fashions.  Customize the fashions and apply the fun temporary tattoos on you too. Choose from Barbie or Nikki dolls, both include additional fashions, tattoo stamper and tattoos.”

Mattel claims that the idea was to bring Barbie up to date but critics are arguing that the doll will further encourage the sexualization of young girls.

Edward Mayo of the watchdog Consumer Focus, says that parents ‘will be dismayed’ because their children might pester them to get tattoos themselves.

What do you think - is Mattel in the wrong here?  Let them know:

Mattel Customer Service hotline: (310) 252-2000

Classic Public Service Announcements from 1976 for the Swine Flu shot:

If you didn’t already have a list of reasons as long as your arm NOT to take a Greyhound bus, here’s another one - the bus line routinely ferries unsupervised dangerous convicts from one Federal prison to another.

Dallas TV station WFAA broke this story yesterday by reporting that it had one of its reporters track a criminal on the bus from Rochester, Minnesota, to Houston, Texas.  The criminal traveled by himself, unguarded, and unsupervised for the entire trip.

Greyhound officials say that they are not alerted when a felon is traveling on one of their coaches, and they have repeatedly asked the U.S. Bureau of Prisons to stop the practice, but the Bureau refuses to.

According to statistics compiled by the Bureau, more than 5,300 federal inmates have transferred themselves to a different prison, and over 54,000 inmates have taken a bus unescorted to halfway houses since April of 2006.

During a two-year period from 2003 - 2005, a total of 77 prisoners escaped during these transfers, and only 19 of the escapees were apprehended.

The bottom line for all of this, of course, is the almighty dollar. A Prison Bureau spokesperson was quoted as saying that “to transfer these types of inmates using BOP staff, or U.S. Marshals services or contract services would result in a large, unnecessary cost to the government and ultimately the taxpayer.”

Hmm, how unnecessary is that cost if one of your loved ones is sitting on a motor coach next to one of these convicts?

Let Greyhound and the Bureau of Prisons know how you feel about this practice:

Greyhound Lines Customer Assistance: (214) 849-8966
Greyhound: E-Mail form

Bureau of Prisons: (202) 307-3198

Remember last year when Husker BMW in Nebraska tried to back out of an eBay auction when they decided they didn’t like the price the auction ended with?

Well it has happened again, this time with a dealer in Florida, and on a much grander scale - a Lamborghini that went for $238,900 instead of $338,900.

Last year, Ross Romash went to eBay in search of a 2007 Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 - he found one and decided to go for eBay’s “Buy It Now” offer of $238,900.

After the auction ended, the dealership, The Collection of Coral Gables, Fla., decided that the “Buy It Now” price was actually a mistake, and should have been a full hundred thousand dollars more.

The Collection refused to honor the legally binding auction, and told Romash that if he wanted the car for the agreed upon price, he’d have to sue to get it.

Romash didn’t hesitate, and immediately filed an injunction against the dealer while he started the legal battle.  Unfortunately, the dealership was quicker than Romash, and sold the car out from under him for more money before they received the legal paperwork for the injuction.

Unlike the Husker BMW case, this one doesn’t have a happy ending - at least not yet.  This case is scheduled to go to trial in Dade County next month.  It will be an interesting one to keep an eye on for sure!

Do you think the dealer should have owned up to their mistake and let Romash have the car for the original “Buy It Now” price?  Let them know:

The Collection - Coral Gables, Fla.
President: Ken Gorin
(800) 252-4827