Carl Mercier’s blog

Today was Boxing Day in Canada. For my foreign readers, it is the “day after Christmas sale” that is held every year on December 26 in most stores across the country. I did some Christmas shopping at Wal-Mart this Holiday season and obviously bought a few gadget from them (1). When I visited the store today, I was surprised to see that so many items were on sale. But there was a catch…

I quickly realized that Wal-Mart was inflating their prices to make it look like the items are on sale. For example, I paid $40 CDN for a Vtech cordless phone 3 weeks ago. Today, the price tag said: “Was $59.99, now $39.99″. The same applied for EVERY item I could remember the price of. Inflated “original” prices were as much as 50% higher!

Is that even legal? I mean, they trick people into believing that they are saving money when they’re not. I think that’s a blatant rip-off. What do you think?

1. Yes, I go to Wal-Mart every now and then. I think they serve a purpose and do it well.

Exactly what I was waiting for… TextMate is not part of the incredible MacHeist bundle which gets you TextMate along with a bunch of great apps for just $49. The best thing is that part of the money goes to the charity of your choice. I’m in, and my money goes to Save The Children. Only a couple more days, so hurry!

I am currently shopping for a decent digital camera and I am still undecided if I want to get a true DSLR (Digital Single-Lens Reflex) camera, or a “bridge” one. My friend Beau Hartshorne from Snipshot sent me a very interesting link explaining DSLR. I recommend it to anyone interested by photography.

Beau also told me that they recently released an API for Snipshot which basically allows anyone with a website to integrate image manipulation. I think it’s a wonderful idea! Keep up the good work guys!