Why Store Brand Goods Aren't About To Dominate In Australian Supermarkets 
Why Trustworthy Brands Should Not Be Trusted 
Seven Examples Showing GST Isn't The Problem For Australian Online Stores 
Five Mistakes People Make Comparing NBN Plans 
How To Check An App's Quality In The Android Market Or App Store 
Planning For Your iPad 3 Purchase 
The question of whether Australia’s major supermarket chains, Coles and Woolworths, have too much power or are trying to control what brands we buy is rarely out of the media. But as former Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) chairman Graeme Samuel points out, much of the discussion is driven by vested interests and doesn’t necessarily reflect our interests as consumers. And he argues persuasively against the notion that store brand goods will dominate our shopping habits in the future.
When Harvey Norman staged a 50 per cent off games sale last month, it attracted lots of buyers keen for a bargain. However, not everyone is happy with the outcome: some shoppers are reporting extended delays in receiving their games, along with poor and conflicting information from customer service.
Dear Lifehacker, I’m putting together a computer and really want to get an SSD like you guys keep telling me to, but they’re just so expensive. I can probably afford a 60GB SSD or smaller, but that seems too small to fit anything on — even without my user folder, my current C: drive takes up nearly 70GB. Is it even possible to make use of an SSD this small? Sincerely, Starved for Space
One of the golden rules of smart money management is to set up a budget and stick to it, right? Well, flying in the face of that common wisdom is this new study that shows sometimes budgeting backfires.
Windows/Mac: Dashlane, an all-in-one password, form, and online purchase and checkout manager, has been in private beta for months now. When we last discussed it, it was already a great option for keeping your passwords secure and online purchases organises and easily searchable, not to mention giving you a great form manager that could fill out almost any web form with a single click. Now Dashlane is out of beta and open to all comers with some big improvements to show off.
Another useful reminder that retailers can’t use fine print to escape their obligations to consumers: the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) last week fined Foxtel a total of $46,200 for misleading advertising in its 2011 Christmas sale.
Supermarkets use plenty of marketing tricks to try to get you to buy more than you actually want or need. The Consumerist and Consumer Reports point out that looking at your local supermarket like an obstacle course can help you avoid these spending traps.
Dear Lifehacker, I have just missed out on buying tickets for the concert of a lifetime (Prince in my case) after getting partway through the process and then landing on an error page. This is a very common occurrence. Are there any techniques or strategies that you know of to beat the pesky time out on the major sites, any way around the annoyingly-impossible-to-read security pictures (CAPTCHA) and any way to improve my chances of securing those all-important tickets? Thanks, Purple Strain
Scoopon is celebrating its 2nd birthday and is offering a bunch of special deals. From paintball to movies, they’re bringing back some of their most popular offers. The deals start at 12:00 noon today.
Scoopon [Scoopon]
The standard price tag on mobile apps isn’t terribly high, but if your threshold is 99c, you might find yourself scoffing at paying any more than that on an app, no matter how well-received it is. Whether you’re sick of paying full price, or you just want a good deal, it’s not hard to always score the best deals on apps provided you have a little patience.
