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If I See One More Article On The iPhone..

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The iPhone must be the most overhyped piece of technology in the history of mankind.

It launches in stores and online (click on the pictures for the online store link) at 6pm today and promises to ring up huge day one sales.
Then again, the overpriced Playstation 3 also rang up insane sales on its first day and is now rotting on store shelves.

Apple’s stock price has gone up by over 40% since the iPhone’s unveiling, adding 34 BILLION DOLLARS to their market cap!

If sales in the coming weeks don’t match expectations, AAPL may very well come tumbling down.

All this for a phone that:

-Will only be featured on a single US carrier.

-Claims to be a “widescreen ipod”, yet only has a fraction of the memory found in a regular ipod, and does not allow for memory cards.

-Claims to be a “revolutionary phone”, but doesn’t even have a removable battery. That means no spares, and it means that once the life-cycle of the battery comes and goes and it no longer holds a charge, you’re up a creek without a paddle!

-Claims to be a “breakthrough internet device”, yet it runs on the archaic and VERY SLOW 2nd Generation (EDGE) data network. The New York Times reported that just to load yahoo.com took a full 2 minutes. “You almost ache for a dial-up modem.” The iPhone will not be able to be upgraded to a faster, more recent, data network. (Yes, it has wi-fi, but if you are in a wi-fi hotspot, wouldn’t you be using a laptop to be surfing the web? It’s when you leave the hotspot’s that you need fast internet on your phone!)

-Lacks a physical hard keypad for dialing/typing.

-Will require a 2 year contract, yet at $500-$600, will cost more than a top of the line ipod and smartphone together!

In my opinion the iPhone is THE “Jack of all trades, master of none.”

I could very possibly be dead wrong and have to eat my words, but I think that Steve Jobs has finally “jumped the shark”…

SMOKING HOT!!! FLY ONE ROUNDTRIP ON JETBLUE FROM PITTSBURGH TO ANY CITY AND GET 2 FREE ONE-WAY SYSTEMWIDE TICKETS!!!!

Update: Good news for some! If you have bought a round-trip for this promo you only need to use the outbound portion, you can throw away the return and still get the free systemwide ticket!


I’ll soon be doing my first “mileage run” from Pittsburgh-JFK since my AA/Dallas mileage run masterpiece (insanity, if you prefer…)



Deal Status: DEAD!


Originally posted on 06/27 at 11:01AM:
Book travel with your Jetblue Business Amex to save 5%, get double Trueblue points, and make your trueblue points never expire!

Save 3% on Jetblue tickets and get Starpoints/Skymiles by using a Starwood or Delta business amex…

The Amex 3-5% savings is rebated back to you on your statement.

Who’s up for a mileage run?!?
Fly from PIT-JFK, or anywhere else for that matter, and you’ll fly free to any Jetblue city!
Registration Linky

The cheapest ticket that I could find was from PIT-JFK for $39+ Each way ($98 including all taxes)
Here is Jetblue’s interactive route map, which can show you all non-stop and connecting options.

This unreal offer is in response to the still low traffic numbers for Jetblue in Pittsburgh, where people have some sort of strange love exclusively reserved for USeless Airways.

This offer was alerted to me by 2 Pittsburghers from a Pittsburgh-Post Gazette article.

That article just says that you get a free ticket by booking on Jetblue.com-it neglects to mention that you NEED TO REGISTER FIRST, or even how to register!
(Insert Pittsburgh newspaper joke here…)

Post-Gazette Article Linky

Previous Post Linky “Jetblue: “We’re Still Looking For Signs Of Life In Pittsburgh…”

Rules:
-Register and book a roundtrip ticket by 06/30/07 (11:59pm MT)
Travel must be completed by 11/15/07.
-Travel must originate in Pittsburgh.
-After travel is completed (just buying the ticket is not enough!) you will receive 100 Trueblue points, which is automatically converted into 2 one-way systemwide vouchers.
-Vouchers expire 12 months from when they are converted from points into vouchers
-You must sign up for a Trueblue account to register.
-Limit one bonus per Trueblue account.
-Offer does not apply to previously booked travel.
-The free ticket does not have to include Pittsburgh.

I noticed another slight inaccuracy in the article which says,
“Travelers who book flights through www.jetblue.com will receive 100 TrueBlue points at the conclusion of their travel, which can be redeemed for a free trip anywhere JetBlue flies. JetBlue serves 54 cities with up to 575 daily flights. The TrueBlue points will expire in one year from the date of issuance.”
Actually the 100 points that you get after flying automatically becomes 2 one-way vouchers, and those vouchers expire in 12 months.

Major hat tip to Marty C. and Yisroel C.

Get $25 Restaurant Certificates For $4 Or Less!

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Restaurant.com Linky
Enter the following code in your cart and then click “recalculate”: FREEDOM (Exp: 6/30)

Kosher restaurants include:
Chicago:
-BB’s Bagels-Category: American-$10 Off $15 Certificate For $1.20
-De’nali’s-Category: Vegetarian-$10 Off $20 Certificate For $1.20
-Michael C’s-Category: Jewish/Kosher-$25 Off $25 Certificate For $4
-The Great Chicago Food & Beverage-Category: American-$10 Off $30 For $1.20
Los Angeles:
-Delice Bakery-Category: Jewish/Kosher-$25 Off $25 Certificate For $4
Miami:
-Tea For Two-Category: Italian-$10 Off $15 Certificate For $1.20 or $25 Off $35 Certificate For $4
New York:
-Abigael’s-Category: American-$25 Off $35 Certificate For $4
-Bari Restaurant-Category: Jewish/Kosher-$10 Off $15 Certificate For $1.20 or $25 Off $35 Certificate For $4
-Bistro Grill-Category: French-$25 Off $25 Certificate For $4
-Da Mikelle II-Category Italian-$25 Off $35 Certificate For $4
-Domani’s Ristorante-Category: Italian-$25 Off $25 Certificate For $4
-Park East Grill-Category: Jewish/Kosher-$25 Off $25 Certificate For $4*
-Talia’s Steakhouse-Category: Jewish/Kosher-$25 Off $35 Certificate For $4*
If You Find Any More Kosher Restaurants Then Please Post A Comment!
Please Note: Certificates are valid for dine-in only, and may have other restrictions!
*To get the $4 price at Park East Grill or Talia’s Steakhouse, you must purchase a $25 gift certificate for a “friend” in the “give a gift” section, and then redeem that restaurant.com GC for the actual restaurant certificate that you want…

BOILING HOT! 20% Off Select AA AAwards If You Have A Citi AA Credit Card!

Reminder: The 20% off mileage tickets must be booked by 06/30!

Originally posted 06/07.
Don’t forget: Now would be a good time to transfer 20,000 Starwood points for 25,000 AA miles!

Please Note: This is a separate promo from the Citi Reduced Mileage Awards that allows you to book award tickets for as little as 17,500 miles. That offer is only good for a limited number of select destination cities determined each quarter.
This promo can be used to and from any city within the defined regions.

Offer Linky
Available awards at 20% less miles:
(28,000 miles from the east coast to Hawaii is an amazing deal!)

Book by 06/30, travel between 08/22-11/16.
To book travel with this offer you must call 1-800-882-8880

Within Continental US/Alaska/Canada:
Coach: 20K
Business: 36K
First 48K

Within Continental US/Alaska/Canada+Mexico/Carribean:
Coach(09/07-11/14): 20K
Coach(08/22-09/06): 24K
Business: 48K
First 64K

Within US/Alaska/Canada/Mexico/Carribean+Hawaii:
Coach: 28K
Business: 60K
First 76K

HOT! No Upgrade Required Rebate! Norton AntiVirus 2007 For Free After $45 Rebate!

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Reminder: Rebate requires purchase by 06/30!

Originally posted on 06/27:
Open a new Google account and make $10 on this!

By buying this paid copy of Norton, you will qualify for upgrade rebates on all future editions!

Norton AntiVirus 2007 Linky

$45 Rebate Linky (Exp: 06/30)

HOT! Shop At Costco And Costco.com Without Paying For A Membership!

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Costco Promo Linky
American Express and Costco and having a promotion that you non-members can shop at costco.com and not pay the regular 5% costco.com non-member surcharge.

Here’s the fun part:
When you have a Costco cash card you are allowed to use it in Costco stores even without a membership.
You just have to show the cash card at the entrance to gain admittance.

So you can buy a cash card on costco.com with the Amex promo and have it shipped to your house for free.
Then you can use the cash card to get into Costco stores without paying $50 for a membership!

Costco Cash Card Linky

Costco has a lifetime return policy on all items except:
-TV’s
-Computers
-Cell Phones
-Cameras
-Camcorders
-Ipods/MP3 Players
Unless they were bought before the rollout schedule.

Costco’s largest competitor, Sam’s Club, continues to offer a lifetime return policy on all items except computers.
Sam’s Club memberships start at just $35/year, a $15 savings over Costco’s.

Elmo TMX For $34.79 Shipped From Buy.com!

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This toy is actually pretty funny-watch the full “BuyTV” video of it!
Elmo TMX Linky

750,000!

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The first 11 months (11/26/04-10/16/05) of this site saw 15,000 hits.
The next 9 months (10/16/05-07/20/06) saw 185,000 hits.
The past 11 months (07/20/06-06/29/07) saw 550,000 hits!
Have I really been posting stuff on a daily basis to this website for 31 months now?!?

Here’s hoping for a smooth upcoming transition to DansDeals.com!

Pinnacle DVD Maker Deluxe For Just $34.99 From Woot!

Woot.com linky
This is a Woot Product Launch!
It comes with all of the required cables and purports to make it simple to transfer VHS videos onto DVD’s via a computer with a DVD recorder.
How do you know if a brand new product is any good, especially when you only have 24 hours to woot?
You don’t.
However while woot doesn’t have a return policy, your Starwood Amex does!
Buy it on your Starwood Amex and you’ll have 90 days to return it to Amex and get your money back!

Buy.com Deals Roundup!

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$15 Off $200 Buy.com New Customer Coupon Linky
$5 off $50 Buy.com New Customer Coupon Linky

Quiet Multi-Fan Portable Laptop Cooling Pad: $16.99 After $18 Rebate!
Laptop Cooling Pad Linky
$18 Rebate Linky

Canon Color Scanner: $59.99-No Rebates!
Canon Color Scanner Linky

400GB External Hard Drive: $79.95 After $20 Rebate!
400GB External Hard Drive Linky
$20 Rebate Linky

4GB USB Flash Drive: $26.95 After $9 Rebate!
4GB USB Flash Drive Linky
$9 Rebate Linky

Logitech Wireless Smart Mouse: $25.95 After $20 Rebate!
Logitech Wireless Smart Mouse Linky
$20 Rebate Linky

DansDeals Logo #14?

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DansDeals Logo #13?

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DansDeals Logo #12?

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DansDeals Logo #11?

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DansDeals Logo #10?

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5 New Dansdeals Logos!

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Please go to dansdeals.com now and rate them!

Special thanks to Yossi W. of Yosstek.com, and Menachem Krinsky for their new contributions!

Like them? Hate them?
Sound off!

Think you come up with a better logo? Send me an email!

The best logo will win a free Samsung portable XM Satellite Radio+MP3 Player with a 3 month paid subscription!
Great for the baseball season!

BOILING HOT! BEST STARWOOD SIGNUP BONUS OFFER EVER!!!

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Update: DEAD! Don’t miss it if this becomes alive again. Sign up for deal notification alerts here!


Update: Expired

———————————————————–

-Earn 10,000 starpoints for opening up the card.
-Earn another 30,000 starpoints (15,000 for the 1 point per dollar spent, and a 15,000 point bonus) for spending $15,000 on the card in the first 6 months of having the card!
Need some help getting to $15,000?
You obviously didn’t read my previous post!
Starwood Signup Offer Linky
HT: Asher O.

Deal Reminder: Process Credit Card Payments With Google For Free Until 12/31/07!!!

Update: DEAD! Don’t miss it if this becomes alive again. Sign up for deal notification alerts here!


I originally posted this deal back in November 2006, but it definitely merits a repost reminder!
You can send an invoice to anyone to pay you with Google checkout.
It wont cost a penny to process-all you need is a bank account!
A word to the wise: Don’t pay yourself or anyone in your household…
Google Checkout Selling Account Signup Linky
Free Credit Card Processing Promo Info Linky

Starwood Branded Hotels In Israel.

Update: DEAD! Don’t miss it if this becomes alive again. Sign up for deal notification alerts here!


In the recent Starwood post an anonymous commenter asked about the Starwood branded hotels in Israel.
Less than 20 minutes later another anonymous commenter answered,
“Israel is one of the best places to use the starwood points (since they dont categorize them properly) – Le meridien dead sea 2-3000 points and the Herods Eilat which usually costs around 350 Dollars (cat 3) is only 7000 points in America it would be a Cat 6 – The Jerusalem Sheraton is also only 7000 points but not such a great hotel – still a unreal value.”

Now that is how the comments system is supposed to work-other people answering questions that they know about!

Since I have a planned trip to go to Israel in August for the first time since I was an infant, I have been looking into this issue as well!
P.S. If anyone has any other Israel tips (cell phones, car rentals, GPS rentals, etc.) please leave a comment!

There are 13 Starwood hotels in Israel.

Category 1:
Le Méridien Dead Sea
Sheraton Moriah Dead Sea
Le Méridien Haifa

Category 2:
Sheraton Moriah Eilat
Sheraton Moriah Tiberias

Category 3:
Sheraton Jerusalem Plaza Hotel
Sheraton City Tower Tel Aviv
Sheraton Moriah Tel Aviv
Herods Forum Eilat
Herods Vitalis Spa Eilat
Le Méridien Eilat
Sheraton Herods Palace Hotel Eilat

Category 4:
Sheraton Tel Aviv Hotel and Towers

Again, here is the cost in starpoints by category,

Unrestricted:
Category 1: 3,000 points (2,000 on a weekend)
Category 2: 4,000 points (3,000 on a weekend)
Category 3: 7,000 points
Category 4: 10,000 points

Restricted Cash And Points: (Tentative-Launching June 28th.)
Category 1: 1,200 points + $25
Category 2: 1,600 points + $30
Category 3: 2,800 points + $45
Category 4: 4,000 points + $60

Gap Adds More Items To Summer Sale!

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Gap Men’s Summer Sale Linky
Free Shipping codes:
No Min.-Requires Banana Luxe card: LUXE
$50 Min-Requires Banana Card: BRCARD
$50 Min-Requires Gap card: FREESHIP
$100 Min: FREE100

DansDeals Logo #10?

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Logo courtesy of Yossi W. of Yosstek.com

DansDeals Logo #9?

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6 New Dansdeals Logos!

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Please go to dansdeals.com now and rate them!

Special thanks to Laibel Berkowitz, DJ and JJ, Eli Z., Yossi W. of Yosstek.com, and Braintoaster Interactive for their new contributions!

Like them? Hate them?
Sound off!

Think you come up with a better logo? Send me an email!

The best logo will win a free Samsung portable XM Satellite Radio+MP3 Player with a 3 month paid subscription!
Great for the baseball season!

DansDeals Logo #8?

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Logo courtesy of Laibel Berkowitz

DansDeals Logo #7?

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Logo courtesy of Laibel Berkowitz

DansDeals Logo #6?

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Logo courtesy of DJ and JJ

DansDeals Logo #5?

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Logo courtesy of Yossi W. of Yosstek.com

DansDeals Logo #4?

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Logo courtesy of Eli Z.

Reader Request: Brazilian Cell Phone Info!

Anon asked in a comment,
“Dan – quick question…
being that you are the Brazil maven…
I’m going to brazil this week for a wedding and I need a cell phone…
what’s my best bet?
Sterling electronics does not have rentals for brazil and I currently have a Sprint phone (no sim card)
any ideas?
thanks for your help!”

First of all, I’ll make the presumption that you are going to Brazil for the Slonim wedding-if so please send my regards to the family, especially Levi and Yehuda…


Photo: Yehuda Slonim(L) and I at the Lag Ba’omer Parade in S. Paulo, Brazil. Photo taken by Levi Slonim.

While there is CDMA service in Brazil with Vivo, they won’t activate your Sprint phone.

You have a couple options.

Option 1:
If you just want to be able to speak with one person back home then just sign up 2 phones for Nextel’s unlimited international direct connect plan.
They have a free 30-day trial, and you can talk to each other for as long as you’d like with the push of a button.

I thank G-d that I brought one with me during my past trip-and I wouldn’t go back to Brazil without one.

Option 2:
If you need to speak to multiple people in the US who don’t have Nextel you will need to buy (or borrow from someone) an unlocked world phone.
The reason that you need a world phone is because the GSM bands that we use here are different than in the rest of the world.
A regular unlocked phone in the US will only work on 850/1900 bands.
In Brazil they use the 1800 band of GSM service.
You can check which bands a phone has by searching the model number on a website like phonescoop.com
You can check if a phone is unlocked by sticking in 2 different companies’ SIM cards and seeing if the phone works.

The cheapest company to sign up with is TIM.
They have stores in every shopping mall in Brazil.
The sim card is 19 Reais(about US$10) and includes R$5 of talk time.

To make international calls you will need a “cartão internacional,” an international calling card.

You can pick a card up at most of the newspaper/magazine stands that line the streets.

The calling card will cost between R$25-R$50.
The card will have 2 access numbers on it.
One is an 0-800 number, which is toll free.
When you use this number it will not cost any cell minutes, but it will cost a lot more card minutes.
To call to the US with the 0-800 number will probably be about R$1.50/minute.

Here is a link, in Portuguese, for a good international calling card:
www.speakmax.com.br

The local access number will allow to talk to the US for very cheap-about R$0.09/minute, but you will need to buy an additional TIM recharge card for more cell minutes.

You can pick up TIM recards at most of the newspaper/magazine stands, cards come in denominations from R$10-R$100, and local minutes are about R$1.30

Also incoming calls-even from the US are always free with TIM!

Hope this helps…

If you need more info, feel free to email me, and I can hook you up with some of my amigos brasileiros, who would be more than happy to take to you around town and help you out!
Also don’t miss out on some of the amazing restaurant deals you can get down there! (But don’t try smuggling back kosher mcdonalds stuff either)

Have a safe trip-Boa Viagem!

Launching June 28th: Improved Starwood Starpoints/Cash Hotel Awards!

Update: DEAD! Don’t miss it if this becomes alive again. Sign up for deal notification alerts here!


Please note: This news has yet to be confirmed from Starwood, but the source is trustworthy enough to make a post about this already.

Good news!
It will soon be cost even less starpoints to stay in great hotels worldwide!

Here’s a brief summary in order to understand what is changing.
There are 6 good uses for starpoints.

Use #1: Unrestricted, No Blackouts/Capacity Controlled Hotel Stays: See Below.
Use #2: Restricted Cash And Points Hotel Stays: See Below.
Use #3: Hotel Room Upgrades: Starts at 1,000 points.
Use #4: Nights AND Flights: 60,000 starpoints gets you 50,000 miles on the airline of your choice AND 5 nights in a category 3 hotel.
70,000 starpoints gets you 50,000 miles on the airline of your choice AND 5 nights in a category 4 hotel.
Use #5: 5th Night Free: When you book an unrestricted category 3-6 hotel award for 5 nights you only pay for the points of 4 nights.
Use #6: Transferring into Real Airline Miles. 20,000 starpoints=25,000 miles on numerous airlines.

Use #2 is what is dramatically improving.
Until now the cash and points option was only available at maybe 50 htoels worldwide.
Now it will become available for all hotels in categories 3-6 and for Asia/Pacific hotels in categories 1-2 as well.

Here is the pricing difference between an unrestricted hotel stay and a restricted cash and points stay.

Unrestricted:
Category 1: 3,000 points (2,000 on a weekend)
Category 2: 4,000 points (3,000 on a weekend)
Category 3: 7,000 points
Category 4: 10,000 points
Category 5: 12,000 points (16,000 in peak season)
Category 6: 20,000 points (25,000 in peak season)

Restricted Cash And Points:
These rates are tentative and not official yet-hopefully they will be confirmed by Starwood by June 28th!
Category 1: 1,200 points + $25
Category 2: 1,600 points + $30
Category 3: 2,800 points + $45
Category 4: 4,000 points + $60
Category 5: 4,800 points + $90
Category 6: 8,000 points + $150

STEAL OF A DEAL!!! LUVS Diapers Coupons-Get Better Than Buy One Get One Free At Target Stores!!!

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Reminder: Expires Today!

Originally posted on 06/21:
The coupons say limit of 1 item per coupon, so you should be able to use one BOGO(Buy one get one free) coupon and one $3 coupon for 2 packs of diapers!

Example: There are 86 size 2 diapers in a mega-pack, for a total of 172 diapers with 2 packs. If you are able to use one BOGO and one $3 coupon on the 2 packs your cost will be about $6.99, which is only 4 cents a diaper!!!

Buy One Get One Free Coupon Linky (Exp:06/26)
$3 Off Coupon Linky (Exp: 06/30)

Dansdeals Logo Version #3!

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Yossi W. of Yosstek.com has kindly donated his 2nd logo for Dansdeals.com!

Please go to dansdeals.com now and give it a rating!

Like it? Hate it?
Sound off!

Think you come up with a better logo? Send me an email!

The best logo will win a free Samsung portable XM Satellite Radio+MP3 Player with a 3 month paid subscription!
Great for the baseball season!

DansDeals Logo #3?

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Logo courtesy of Yossi W. of Yosstek.com

Stay Away From WD Passport Hard Drives!

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I’ve been preoccupied trying to figure out how to recover important files from 2 of my WD passport hard drives.

They were working just fine 2 days ago, but today I discovered that one of them has what appears to be a dead motor, and the other has bad sectors!

Lesson learned-Avoid the ultra-portable WD passport hard drives like the plague! (and maybe all WD hard drives in general?)

At least I bought them from Costco, from where they’ll be sent right back to WD where they can keep the garbage they sell…

At any rate if anyone has used any good data-recovery companies please let me know!

Nokia 770 Internet Tablet PC For Just $134.99 Shipped From Woot (It’s $290 On Amazon!)

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You’ve got until 1:00AM EDT (or earlier if it sells out) to buy this device.
woot.com
Nokia 770 Internet Tablet PC Linky
Fair warning: Cnet: 4.9/10

Dansdeals Logo Version #2!

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Yossi W. of Yosstek.com has kindly donated another logo for Dansdeals.com!

Please go to dansdeals.com and give it a rating!

Like it? Hate it?
Sound off!

Think you come up with a better logo? Send me an email!

The best logo will win a free Samsung portable XM Satellite Radio+MP3 Player with a 3 month paid subscription for free after rebate!
Great for the baseball season!

(I’m just kidding about the rebate part…)

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