Blogging Away Debt

Blingo.com – Goodbye Google…Hello Yahoo, Live and Ask

I loved searching for things using Blingo.com. I’ve won prizes two times so far and I shared the site with all of you.

I have to say…I was not happy with what I saw while searching for the spelling of a word. Blingo has switched from using Google for the search results to using Yahoo, Live and Ask.com.

How does that affect the results?

When I searched for blogging away debt on Blingo, every other result within the first 10 hits were ads (see image). Written to the right in gray are the words, “Found on Ads by Yahoo!”

In comparison, when you do a Google search for blogging away debt, you get a list of search results on the left side and there are ads on the right side (or sometimes I see them on top too). The ads are clearly on their own. The same goes with a regular Yahoo search. The ads are on the top and to the side.

With Blingo, I’m not pleased with how ads are intermingled in with the other results. It can be very misleading and now you have to sort through what is a true search result versus an ad.

I know this is a bit off-topic, but a few of you have signed up for Blingo using my link and are my friends on there. I introduced Blingo as a great way to search and win prizes. By doing that I recommended using the site. Unless something changes, I will not be using Blingo anymore and I no longer recommend using it. I really wish they didn’t make this change.

I am hoping that things will go back to the way they were and this is just a very bad glitch. I haven’t been able to find any news as to why they changed things. Hopefully there will be an announcement soon.

The Little Box That Disables Your Car if You Miss a Payment

by Tricia

I saw this story on Yahoo today about a little box that some subprime borrowers are getting installed on used cars that they purchase:

When the light starts to flash, you had better have the cash.
That’s the reality for millions of subprime borrowers whose used car purchase is contingent upon having an unusual option: a little box mounted underneath the dashboard that forces them to make their payments on time.
[Via Yahoo.com]

If you don’t pay…your car gets shut off and won’t start. The only way to get it back is to make your payment and receive a special code. If you don’t pay, then the repo man comes for a visit.

I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing. When my husband and I bought our first vehicle together, our credit wasn’t that great at the time but we did end up getting a loan with the help of a co-signer. If we had the option of having one of those boxes instead of having a co-signer, I would have gone for the box.

What about you? What do you think of the boxes?