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Dallas Cowboys’ wide receiver Roy Williams has settled a dispute with ex-girlfriend and former Miss Texas USA Brooke Daniels over a $76,000 engagement ring.

According to court documents, Williams mailed Daniels an overnight package that included the ring and a taped marriage proposal. Daniels refused the marriage request, and Williams filed a civil suit against Daniels on June 30 in order to regain possession of the ring.

Since Williams’ relationship with Daniels was not far enough along for her to feel comfortable accepting his marriage proposal, the price of the engagement ring ended up far exceeding its actual value. In order to protect readers from making the same type of financial mistakes as Williams, I present a list of ten things nobody should ever pay for.

10. DVDs: Most DVDs cost $20. A RedBox rental is $1 per night. You’d have to watch a movie 20 times to justify buying it instead of renting it. With Netflix’s instantly streaming movie service, it’s even harder to justify buying a DVD, especially because so many movies that come out aren’t even very good.

9. CDs: I’m not even going to get into the whole “Are you stealing from the artists by pirating music, or helping them by weakening the record companies?” debate; I’m just going to point out that rarely is every single song on a CD likable, so it makes more sense to use a downloading service to only pay for the songs you actually like.

8. Dressing at restaurants: Seriously? If I order wings and the restaurant charges me for blue cheese dressing to dip my wings in, that is the last time I eat at the restaurant. Dressing is supposed to go with the food. Charging for dressing at a wings place is like charging extra money to put cheese on a pizza.

7. Dogs: They’re expensive enough to provide food and vaccinations for, so why add to their cost by actually paying to obtain them too? This is the 21st century. Go to Craigslist, and respond to one of the 42 bazillion postings from people giving away newborn puppies for free.

6. Cell phones: Between free upgrades every two years and warranties that cover your phone if it breaks before then, you can find a phone that has all the capabilities you want for free. There are plenty of free phones with email and Internet, the money shelled out for iPhones is simply spent to indulge the inner child and play with all the apps.

5. Books: As if libraries already didn’t render buying books an inefficient use of money, Amazon now refunds you fully if you return a Kindle book within a week of buying it. If you know you’ll have time to finish the book in a week, you can treat your Kindle like a library.

4. Anything at a gas station other than gas: Whatever it is you’re considering buying inside a gas station, chances are it’s stale and overpriced. And those hot dogs are probably older than the person ringing up your purchase.

3. Movie theater candy: Those boxes of candy you pay $4 or more for at the movie theater are usually a dollar apiece at a local store. And they fit perfectly in the pocket of your jeans. It’s a no-brainer, really.

2. Sex: If your skills are so weak you have pay to get some action, you deserve whatever oddly-colored sores or warts you wake up with the next morning. By the way, what do Elliot Spitzer and Auburn have in common? They both “pay for play.”

And the number one thing that no one should ever pay for…

Roy Williams: He’s missed 15 starts the past three years, turns 30 this year and has amassed 1,000 receiving yards only one season in his career, but he’s due $9.5 million next season and is likely to be released whenever the lockout ends. With plenty of younger receivers available, teams should avoid the underachieving Williams like a sumo wrestler avoids carrots.

MSFT Continues To Soar
The markets are on the rise including the S&P 500, which is poised for a technical breakout as the Greece debt crisis unwinds. Shares of MSFT have been on a roll, up 6% on the week. Currently the shares are adding to their gains. Upcoming catalysts include second calendar quarter results to be released in July; the company's Analyst Day at its new developer conference (BUILD) in September; Windows Phone 7 / Mango adoption with hardware partner Nokia; strides against current market leaders in cloud computing; entrance in the tablet market at some point; making money in the online business including integration of Skype and improving the search / display business (see below); and continued evolution of Kinect and the next generation Xbox console. The stock currently trades at 8x Enterprise Value / TTM Free Cash Flow, inexpensive compared to historical trading multiples.

Office 365 Could Give Google A Run For Its Money (PC World)
For the launch of its first full-fledged online office suite, Office 365, Microsoft is paying particular attention to small and medium-size businesses. Ballmer dropped the names of large companies already using Microsoft cloud services, including DuPont, Hyatt, Starbucks and Volvo. Office 365 combines access to Exchange e-mail, Lync messaging, SharePoint collaboration, the Office Web Apps, all into one monthly subscription. With new collaboration tools like Lync and SharePoint Online, and Web-based versions of staples like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, Office 365 should give Google a run in this market.

Microsoft Nails Another Company To Pay Royalties On Patents In Connection With Android (SlashGear)
Velocity Micro has become the second company this week to agree to pay royalties to Microsoft to use the Android platform. Earlier this week, General Dynamics entered into a similar agreement for mobile devices, joining HTC. The exact terms of the deal have not been made public, nor exactly what either company will be paying Microsoft. A recent report states that Microsoft has made five times more from Android than their own Windows Phone 7. Yes, that's without building, supporting, or developing a single Android device.

Microsoft Granted Patent To Secretly Intercept, Monitor And Record Skype Calls (InformationWeek)
Microsoft has been granted a patent for technology that acts as a wiretap of sorts for Internet communication, allowing governments or other law-enforcement authorities to record the data without detection. The newly patented technology called Legal Intercept would allow the company to secretly intercept, monitor and record Skype calls. This is clearly stoking privacy concerns. Basically Microsoft bought Skype to spy on us. Lovely.

Ballmer Fights Back At The Critics, By Yelling (GeekWire)
There's a great audio clip of Ballmer speaking at the Seattle Rotary Club where someone asked him for his reaction to people that say it's time for him to leave. He bellowed as only he can, "YOU TELL ME IF I LACK ENERGY OR CONVICTION, or we're not driving all the change we need to drive." I don't think anyone has ever questioned Ballmer's energy or conviction. It's always been about his ability to execute and see around the corner that has been under question.

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Friday, July 29, 2011

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