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I was filing some old bank statements during a routine desk cleanup. One I hadn’t opened from last April had a surprise in it. A small slip of paper — a new fee schedule — fell onto the floor.

An unopened bank statement? OK, you got me. No, these days I don’t balance my checkbook every month. Simply don’t have the time.

But that’s not the issue — it’s bigger. New fees for services, new “punitive” fees. Some lower, most higher. And only for certain types of accounts. Now, with all the accounts they offer, do I remember what kind of account I have? Nope.

And there’s a bigger issue: my bank — and probably yours too — chooses to notify me once using a nondescript mailing insert. Even if I had opened the statement I probably wouldn’t have noticed it. And I still don’t know if it applies to my account.

Couldn’t they have sent me a computer-generated letter telling me how my fees would change? That would have caught my attention. But did they really want to catch my attention? Probably not.

This sort of disguised disclosure happens with credit cards too. Something buried in the fine print of a new “terms and conditions” piece thrown into your statement. Informative? Proactive? Hardly.

Bottom line: it’s worth 15 minutes to double check your fee exposure.

The reason why

Fee increases are common now. Why? In part, because of the mortgage crisis. That’s right, with the mortgage business in the doldrums — or worse, consuming precious bank capital — banks are out to capture cash where they can. Bank ATM fees generated some $10 billion for U.S. banks last year. It’s a big deal.

And in today’s environment of “gotcha capitalism,” where a quoted rental car rate may be less than half of what you’ll actually pay, almost anything goes.

Indeed, Bank of America raised its noncustomer ATM fees to $3 last September, and J.P. Morgan Chase and Wachovia followed suit in some markets. Now that’s $3 for them, plus anywhere from a dollar to $2 for your bank, to get that $20 you need to pay for parking or whatever. Ouch.

Undoubtedly, there’s more to come. Higher fees for insufficient funds, multiple savings withdrawals, point-of-sale use and others. The good news: a few, like online banking fees, are falling (Competition does work, and banks realize they save money too.)

And you should expect increases in required minimum balances for fee-free or reduced-fee accounts. According to a 2007 Bankrate.com survey, minimum balances to avoid fees were up some 25% last year to over $3,300.

Here’s what I’d do:

Review fees with a bank agent. Call customer service and have them lay out all the fees for your type of account — and for similar accounts that might be a better deal. Getting this info from a bank’s Web site can be surprisingly difficult — you’re probably better off to do this by phone. The agent at my bank was informed and helpful.
Check comparison tools. Bankrate.com offers a survey of checking accounts by geography. It doesn’t cover all fees but does hit biggies like insufficient funds, and it will show differences between large national banks, regional banks, Internet banks, etc. You can get a ballpark idea of what you should pay.
Consider credit unions. If you’re eligible, credit unions still provide the best deal. Checking accounts are often free with ATM fees and free overdraft protection on many types of accounts. Credit unions are not-for-profit and have largely steered clear of the mortgage mess, so they don’t share big-bank motives. My recent experience: ATM alliances and online banking have made credit union products very competitive — even if you travel or have some other situation once considered an inherent disadvantage.
Consider a large deposit to avoid fees. The numbers may work out — you’ll have to check. If you park $10,000 or so in a CD, you’ll get a decent (although currently dropping) interest rate, plus the benefits of reduced fees. Together it can pay off. Plus, you won’t feel “nickeled and dimed” by your bank.

My advice: spend 15 minutes with an agent reviewing your current fee “menu.” Then spend another 15 to check the alternatives. The half hour will be worth your while.

Want a refund from Toshiba now that it’s pulled the plug on its own format? Good luck. Also: HD DVD prices plummet, Universal and Amazon go Blu-ray, and more.

Toshiba nixes refunds: So, HD DVD early adopters - think you deserve a refund now that Toshiba has killed the format? Think again. Valleywag reports that the company (and big-time HD DVD backer) won’t be accepting refund requests (although it will continue to support existing HD DVD players). Here’s the quote: “There is nothing wrong with the products so we aren’t accepting returns from customers … [Customers] understood that there were two competing formats and understood that one of them would probably prevail …” Good point, actually. In my case, I bought the Xbox 360 HD DVD drive knowing full well that I was taking a gamble. I lost. End of story.

Universal goes Blu-ray: Not a shock, but Universal went ahead and made it official: The studio (the only one to exclusively support HD DVD from the beginning) announced that it will start churning out Blu-ray versions of its new releases and catalog titles. No word on how long it will continue to press HD DVD discs. The move leaves Paramount and its subsidiary, Dreamworks, as the final HD DVD-only studios. Neither movie house has made any official announcements, but expect that to change shortly. Update: Paramount just got official about going Blu-ray.

Onkyo drops HD DVD: Confirming pretty much a foregone conclusion, Engadget HD reports that Onkyo, one of the few manufacturers besides Toshiba to make HD DVD players, has followed suit and dropped the format.

LG stays with HD DVD: Or at least with dual-format Blu-ray/HD DVD decks, according to High-Def Digest. The manufacturer, which was the first to release a Blu-ray/HD DVD combo player, said that “at this present moment in time, it is necessary to provide a player which supports both formats and therefore create simplicity and convenience for the existing HD DVD consumer.” Very true, although it’s not clear whether LG will produce more combo players, or will simply continue to support its existing players (its latest, the BH200, arrived in stores late last year).

Amazon hearts Blu-ray: The giant online retailer just went the way of Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and Netflix, announcing that it will now “more prominently promote Blu-ray hardware and software products on its Web site.” Amazon will continue to sell HD DVD products, however. Indeed, I’m waiting for a mega HD DVD fire sale in the wake of the 50 percent discount offer that began last week.

HD DVD prices plummet: Sharp-eyed readers at Engadget HD found Toshiba’s HD-A3 HD DVD player on sale at Circuit City for $99, including 7 free movies. Of course, it’s just the beginning of sharp price cuts across the board for HD DVD. Taking a quick look at eBay, I found HD DVD players going for well under $100, with the Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on selling for about $50.

BELGRADE, Serbia - Serb rioters broke into the U.S. Embassy Thursday and set fire to an office after a large protest against Kosovo’s independence that drew an estimated 150,000 people.

Masked attackers broke into the building, which has been closed this week, and tried to throw furniture from an office. A blaze broke out but firefighters swiftly put out the flames.

Authorities drove armored jeeps down the street and fired tear gas to clear the crowd. The protesters dispersed into side streets where they continued clashing with authorities.

The neighboring Croatian Embassy also was attacked by the same group of protesters.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the U.S. ambassador to Serbia was at his home and in contact with U.S. officials.

Serbia has “a responsibility now to devote the adequate resources to ensure that that facility is protected,” McCormack said.

The protesters appeared to have been in the Embassy’s consular building area, McCormack said. U.S. security officials and Marine guards were in a separate part of the compound, the chancery, but no staff were present at the Embassy, he said.

More than a dozen nations have recognized Kosovo’s declaration of independence on Sunday, including the United States, Britain, France and Germany.

But the declaration by Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian leadership has been rejected by Serbia’s government and the ethnic Serbians who populate northern Kosovo. Russia, China and numerous other nations have also condemned the declaration, saying it sets a precedent that separatist groups around the world will seek to emulate.

Kosovo, which is 90 percent ethnic Albanian, has not been under Belgrade’s control since 1999, when NATO launched airstrikes to halt a Serbian crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists. A U.N. mission has governed Kosovo since, with more than 16,000 NATO troops and KFOR, a multiethnic force, policing the province.

But Serbia — and Kosovo’s Serbs, who make up less than 10 percent of Kosovo’s population — refuse to give up Kosovo, a territory considered the ancient cradle of Serbs’ state and religion.

Earlier Thursday, police estimated that about 150,000 people had attended a rally in the Serbian capital. The crowd waved Serbian flags and carried signs reading “Stop USA terror.” One group set fire to a red-and-black Albanian flag.

Fernando Orellana and Brendan Burns have collaborated on a new art work which investigates a possible human-robot relationship. Using recorded brainwave activity and eye movements during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep to determine robot behaviors and head positions, a modified Kondo KHR-2HV humanoid robot “plays-back” the movements you made in your dreams. Some see this as an exciting new innovation in dream interpretation, while others see only nightmares ahead.

“The night I dreamt I chopped my boss into bits and made out with his wife might be better off kept away from interpretation by robots and everyone else,” said Jacki Slater, a young woman occasionally misinterpreted as something else. “I’m all for science and innovation, but I’m thinking that the risks are too great with this devise. Better stick to something safer, like genetic manipulation.”

Some scientists and pseudo-psychologists think robotic dream-playback and interpretation is a time that’s come. “Once we can playback dreams and have experts analyze them without the patient having to remember what they dreamt, our interpretations will become more accurate and diagnosis of improper mindsets can be fixed more quickly,” said Heinrich Himmler, current social advisor to Barack Obama, and an aspiring promoter of mental realignment which only occasionally results in dispossession. “I’m not saying I want to watch the robot act out what Bill Clinton dreams, but on regular folks it may be quite interesting, beneficial and mostly ‘G’ rated.”

Using EEG data and running it through a machine learning algorithm, Fernando Orellana and Brendan Burns identified patterns from both REM and non-REM data sets. They then associated preprogrammed robot behaviors to these patterns. Using the patterns like filters, they process an entire data set from a recorded dream sequence, letting the robot act out each behavior as each pattern surfaces in the signal. Periods of high activity (REM) are associated with dynamic behaviors (flying, scared, etc.) and low activity with more subtle ones (gesturing, looking around, etc.). The “behaviors” the robot demonstrates are some of the actions a person might do in a dream. They named their project “Sleep Waking,” and use it to investigate how people act when they dream, by using the human-robot relationship. It’s not an exact science.

“We can’t interpret everything going on in a dream and have the robot act it out, because we don’t know precisely what the electrical brain waves all mean,” said someone claiming to be Brendan Burns on weekdays and Marilyn Monroe on weekends. “That shouldn’t really surprise anyone, because we hear a lot of things that the presidential candidates say while awake but can’t figure out what it means either. Most of the time they don’t even know what they’re talking about.” Then pausing briefly to uncross his eyes, Burns said, “As an experiment we hooked our robot up to Hillary Clinton but Bill walked into the room and the thing ran off. Took us the rest of the day to find it. We tracked it to a storm sewer. It was the darndest thing.”

In other news, Major League Baseball insiders say Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds are both dreaming of the day when no one thinks they took performance enhancing drugs. No word on how their robots are acting.

Mission ends after two months of delay over fuel gauge trouble.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Space shuttle Atlantis and its crew streaked toward Earth and touched down on Wednesday, wrapping up a 5 million-mile journey to deliver a new lab to the international space station.

The shuttle and its seven astronauts landed at 9:07 a.m. at NASA’s spaceport, where their families and top space program managers eagerly awaited their arrival.

Mission Control informed commander Stephen Frick that the landing weather was close to ideal, with just thin clouds and a slight tailwind. “Great news,” Frick replied. Soon afterward, he and his co-pilot fired the braking rockets, causing Atlantis to drop out of orbit and begin the fiery hourlong descent.

Frick safely guided Atlantis down through a sky dotted with thin, wispy clouds and onto the runway.

“We’re extremely happy to be home,” Frick told Mission Control.

The re-entry path took Atlantis across the South Pacific, over El Salvador and Honduras and then the western tip of Cuba, and up into Florida.

NASA wanted Atlantis back as soon as possible to clear the way for the Navy to shoot down a dying spy satellite on the verge of smashing into Earth with a load of toxic fuel. The missile could be launched as early as Wednesday night, from a warship in the Pacific.

Atlantis circled Earth 202 times during its mission, which began Feb. 7. Nine of those 13 days were spent at the space station, where the two crews installed the European science lab, Columbus, that was ferried up by the shuttle.

A French astronaut, Leopold Eyharts, remained at the orbiting outpost with an American and a Russian to get Columbus up and running. He replaced NASA astronaut Daniel Tani, who was returning home aboard Atlantis after 120 days in space.

After two months of delay because of fuel gauge trouble, Atlantis ended up with an unusually trouble-free flight. Heaters for a set of small thrusters failed earlier this week, but posed no concern for re-entry. And a radiator hose that was bent before the flight retracted neatly into its box when the payload bay doors were closed in the wee hours for landing.

NASA’s next mission is just three weeks away. Endeavour is scheduled to blast off with the first piece of Japan’s massive space station lab on March 11.

Atlantis, meanwhile, won’t fly again until the end of August, when it takes a team of repairmen to the Hubble Space Telescope for one final tuneup.

The story about Dave Rabbit goes something like this: he was an Air Force Sargeant who stayed behind in South Vietnam after serving a one-year hitch in the military. Apparently, he operated a pirate Radio station in 1971 and broadcast a show called ”Radio First Termer” for the purpose of serving U.S. service men and women during the end of the Vietnam War.

Rabbit aimed his broadcasts at English-speaking personnel in South Vietnam and presented an anti-war stance as an alternative to AFVN. He was known to be pretty raunchy and played what was then referred to as ”Acid Rock” music.

Dave Rabbit’s real identity has never been established. Some of the people who have been suggested to have been Rabbit include:
Robert Abbett (known as Rabbett) who runs “Internet Radio Hawaii”, although he denies it. As a matter of fact after seeing this article he wrote me and said:
When it was time for me to go to my draft board things were winding down. As it turned out, I went to the wrong draft board but they registered me anyhow and classified me “1H”. I asked what that was and they replied “unclassified.” So, I never went to Nam, and could not be David Rabbit.

My nickname Rabbett came from Kindergarten. They put my name on a list like so: R.Abbett and although some kids didn’t know what periods were they were able to conjur up a nickname which has stuck till this day.

In the 70’s and 80’s I used the name Rabbett on air. At WXCI-FM my college station, WDRC-AM & FM when I took over for Otis and at all the stations I worked at in Honolulu - KPIG - Now KIKI FM, KDEO AM, PLR2 - aka WOMN AM, in Hamden (I worked for Jay Crawford), then back to Hawaii and KKUA AM, KQMQ FM, KGU AM, KPOI FM 98 ROCK AND KCCN FM.

I work for a contracting company as an estimator /salesman by day and still run Internet Radio Hawaii out of my house.
Radio talk show host, Art Bell, because it is known he operated a Pirate Radio station on Amarillo Air Force base. But that connection is somewhat flimsly.

TV host Pat Sajak, who was a Disc-Jockey for the military in Vietnam during the war. Again, this is most likely wild speculation, especially since Sajak was a legitimate military broadcaster.
Not much else is really known about Dave Rabbit except he had an assistant named Pete Sadler, who probably doubled as an engineer and a female named “New Gin”, helped out.

Dave Rabbit broadcasted at 69 MHZ on the FM frequency.

New Online Guide from Care.com Provides Resources for Families, Pet Sitters and More.

With nearly two-thirds of all households in the United States owning at least one pet, families face a big decision when deciding which type of pet to welcome into their home. To help families better prepare for finding their next pet or answer questions about the pets they already own, Care.com (www.care.com), the premier source of trustworthy family care options, has launched the Family Pet Guide — a comprehensive online resource that makes the process of searching for a pet less stressful.

Confused about which dog breed is best for a household with young kids? Curious about which cats are better indoors versus outdoors? Care.com’s Family Pet Guide provides a comprehensive breed-by-breed listing of dogs, cats and small mammals to answer the basic questions that many families have when deciding which animal is right for their home. The guide is also an ideal resource for current pet owners or animal sitters to provide answers to the inevitable questions that often arise regarding medical or behavioral issues.

Care.com surveyed many of its members, ranging from experienced dog sitters and cat sitters to everyday owners, to get their frank and honest insights to the breeds included in the Family Pet Guide. Coupled with information from breed-specific resources, the guide addresses the reality of ownership and pet care needs for each breed.

“We are excited to add the Family Pet Guide to our collection of pet care resources,” said Sheila Marcelo, Founder and CEO of Care.com. “For first-time pet owners or families looking to bring an additional pet into the household, this is a great resource to answer all of those lingering questions and ultimately find the right match. Caring for a pet can be a daunting task, so in designing the Family Pet Guide we wanted to provide a practical resource that will provide guidance to pet owners and pet sitters alike.”

Whether looking for a playful pup for the kids or a companion pet for an elderly relative, Care.com’s Family Pet Guide provides a great starting point to browse various animal breeds and species. With detailed information on training and exercise needs, grooming requirements and compatibility ratings, the Family Pet Guide takes the guesswork out of buying your next pet. From essential information such as “Which cats are actually hypoallergenic” to fun facts such as “What famous individuals have owned cocker spaniels,” Care.com developed the Family Pet Guide to bring information previously spread across multiple resources all in one place. The guide also provides links to additional resources on each breed or species for families looking to do further research.

In addition to the Family Pet Guide, Care.com provides pet care listings for pet sitters, groomers, dog walkers and more in neighborhoods across the country. Added enhancements including pre-screened provider information, free background checks and recorded reference interviews have made Care.com the premier solution for addressing the pet care needs of families. These critical measures offer users an added layer of confidence and security when making important decisions regarding the care of your family’s loved ones.

Launched in May 2007, Care.com connects people seeking qualified caregivers with a national network of trusted providers. With local search options currently available in more than 30 major cities across the United States, Care.com’s online marketplace provides a network of care providers in areas including child care, pet care, tutoring and senior care.

For more information on Care.com’s Family Pet Guide, visit here.

Care.com (www.care.com) is the premier source of trustworthy care options for children, pets and elderly parents. The company provides a simple and safe way for families and individuals to manage their care needs. Care.com offers a full breadth of subscription-based services — child care, pet care, senior care and tutoring — to address the lifecycle of specific care needs, while providing free background checks and a suite of tools and resources for selecting the best care possible. The company was founded in 2006 with a mission to help people achieve a more balanced life through smart care connections.

Billy Joel quickly sold out Shea Stadium this morning, making his “Last Play At Shea” an event whose anticipation may only be rivaled by that of Johan Santana’s first pitch.

Ticketing giant Ticketmaster was frozen out of the sales process as the ducats were sold through the Mets online ticketing system, 507tixx.com. As Citi Field is currently being constructed in Shea’s parking lot, it’s unsurprising that Citibank credit card holders received special preferences. However, 507tixx.com seemed quite ill prepared to efficiently handle the frenzy of Internet activity produced by the allure of one of New York’s own headlining the venue.

Starting at 9 a.m., hordes of ticket buyers were greeted with a message informing them that the servers were busy and a clock ticking off a 60 second countdown, after which another attempt would be made. With the average wait being more than an hour, it was hardly shocking to learn that by the time the server was free, all the tickets were gone.

Ticketmaster may soak their fans with exorbitant and unnecessary service fees, but at least they have the courtesy to tell you whether the show is sold out without killing your entire morning watching a clock tick.

What do you have to do to have Charles Barkley (one of the greatest basketball players of all time) call you a video game? Don a Superman cape and fly through the air of course (pictures and story after the break)! It’s currently the NBA All Star Weekend and today saw a few of the more entertaining events happening in New Orleans. Deron Williams beat out an All-star cast to take the crown in the PlayStation® Skills Challenge, a two-round timed “obstacle course” consisting of dribbling, passing and shooting stations. Tim Duncan, David Robinson and Becky Hammon took out the Haier Shooting Stars competition after Duncan nailed the half court shot, and records were close to falling in the Footlocker Three Point Shootout as Jason Kapono retained his title by equaling Craig Hodges long standing record of 25 points.

The Sprite Slam Dunk Contest is what everyone was waiting for though and if you managed to see it you would have witnessed one of the most creative slam dunk events in recent memory. Dwight Howard led the way into the final nailing two perfect 50’s. One of his best dunks of the night involved a Superman cape as he soared through the air to throw the ball through the hoop. The final round saw two more never-before-seen dunks and commentator Charles Barkley loudly proclaimed this was impossible and Dwight Howard must be a video game! But by then it was already over, the deal sealed, Dwight Howard 2008 Sprite Slam Dunk champion.

Though my first choice for president was John Edwards, today I voted for Barack Obama. He’s not perfect, but he’s a good progressive and unlike Hillary Clinton, he opposed the Iraq war from the beginning. As a constituent of his while he was a state senator, I remember very clearly that he was an outspoken opponent of the war at a time when most others in public life were running scared. And, unlike Hillary Clinton, he didn’t stand and applaud when Bush said the surge was working.

That said, I’m getting increasingly weirded out by some of Obama’s supporters.

On listservs I’m on, some people who should know better – hard-bitten, not-so-young cynics, even – are gushing about Barack, raving about his “game-changing” politics, about his “power to inspire,” about how they wept while viewing the now-famous Dipdive video, and on and on.

Then there’s this unsettling article from a few weeks back about Obama’s volunteer operation. One volunteer speaks of her encounter with the man himself.