Radio City's annual Christmas Spectacular is months away, but auditions for the Rockettes — those leggy dancers who are known for their uniform high-kick line — are in full swing.
Hundreds of aspiring dancers lined up outside Radio City Music Hall today to try out for the chance to become a Rockette.
April auto sales numbers were released today, and every major manufacturer gave us the lowdown on just how many of each vehicle they sold last month.
Total vehicles sold in April were 14.88 million units at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate, which was below analysts' estimates for an unchanged sales pace from March, at 15.22 million.
Ford, GM, and Toyota each contribute four models to the top 19 best-sellers.
Three Honda models make the list, and cars from Hyundai, Dodge, and Nissan round it out.
Despite an “odd location” in the “drab” fringes of the Westside, there’s “always a line” at this “extremely popular” Mexican joint where the “excellently prepared” fare arrives in “uniformly too-big portions”; “cheap” tabs, “killer” margaritas and fun “people-watching” offset the “crowded” conditions and “run-down”, “trailer-park” looks.
“Excellence wrapped in a tortilla” is how devotees describe the “delicious”, “gourmet” Mexican street eats crafted from “fresh, local and organic ingredients” at this counter-service trio; open for breakfast and lunch only, it’s always busy, but “friendly folks” keep the constant lines moving fast, and you can also call ahead to skip the wait; P.S. “the salsa doña is a true revelation.”
“Don’t dismiss” this Braintree spot because of its “cheesy”, “cramped” quarters – if you do, you’ll miss out on “outstanding” Mexican meals offered at “affordable” rates; during the week, it’s a place to “chillax” with the aid of “strong margaritas”, while on weekends, the atmosphere is more “fun”, thanks in part to the “loud” live music.
Facebook's Seattle office has a quirky piece of furniture.
In a corner of the office with a beautiful view, there's a graffiti-covered hot tub.
Alas, the hot tub is not filled with water. The landlord wouldn't let it happen.
In fact, before Facebook could bring the hot tub into its offices, it was forced to drill a hole in the bottom of the hot tub as a prophylactic measure to ensure it's never filled with water.
The hot tub was brought in ahead of one Facebook's hackathons. Hackathons are where Facebook's engineers build small new products that could eventually become something bigger. They're sort of like musicians just jamming.
The engineer who spearheaded the project, Philip Su, let us run photos he took documenting the installation of the hot tub.
It was painted by local artist Jeff Jacobson, also known as "Weirdo"
Su, and three other Facebook engineers get ready to load it into a moving van
The talent war is surging on in Silicon Valley, and designers are a hot commodity.
Which tech companies pay top-dollar for these creative professionals?
We had Glassdoor pull together search all the tech companies on its platform. It gathered the highest average salaries for visual designers, user experience designers, user interface designers and more.
10. IBM pays its designers an average salary of $74,912
Pros: "Flexible work/life balance, easy to work remotely. Pay is satisfactory. Company policies can be short sighted and frustrating."
Cons:"Difficult to get promoted. Especially if you're not a typical role like a developer. Employee evaluations are subjective, it all depends on your management. Each team works differently. Overall the IBM culture is friendly and fair, but if you join a recent acquisition, for example, you may not be treated "fairly" by the non-IBM environment. Work environment has become depressing over the years, with most people working from home. Not a lively place to work anymore."
9. AOL pays its designers an average salary of $81,100
Pros: "Smart people, nice people, decent professional development/learning ops if you're self-directed, some interesting projects, fun outings occasionally, company possibly on the upswing."
Cons: "Culture of scarcity and fear of layoffs, changes business models frequently, management was (changing with Tim Armstrong) risk-averse and inclined to blatantly copy competitors rather than consider interesting creative design solutions/directions. Need to defend yourself for working there and not being a hack with no other options."
8. Intuit pays its designers an average salary of $83,649
Pros: "This is a great company that cares about growing talent. There is a lot of great training in leadership skills, communication, along with technical training to insure you stay relevant and find the path you want to take. The best part is getting to make a real different in people's lives - we really do make services that help people make better financial decisions and keep more of what they make."
Cons: "It's a company that is 30 years old so there are still legacy issues. There are hopeful activities to deal with them. But it's not as fast as a startup or a company built on cloud computing."
Caroline Kennedy has just listed two huge parcels of land in Martha's Vineyard, with a combined asking price of a whopping $45 million, according to the Boston Herald.
The empty lots are simply called "6 Red Gate Farm" and "8 Red Gate Farm," and are selling for $20 million and $25 million respectively.
“Simply magnificent is the only way to describe this pristine oceanfront parcel,” the listing gushes. “Rolling dunes, Squibnocket Pond views, Atlantic Ocean views...a blank slate for your dream home.”
The properties are a part of the original 366-acre parcel that was bought by Jackie Onassis in 1978. The house she had built is still owned by the Kennedy family, and sits on 106 acres of that land.
The rest of the property has since been subdivided into lots, including the two current properties on the market — which means whoever buys the land could be neighbors with the Kennedy's.
Meanwhile, architects around the world are reaching to infinity and beyond with new construction. In addition to One World Trade Center, there are several notable skyscrapers that are currently undergoing construction.
Emporis, a database of construction projects, tracks the tallest skyscrapers that are currently under construction (meaning they have a foundation laid). The buildings sport an average height of 1,857 feet — or more than one-third of a mile high. China leads the way, with six buildings on this list.
Even amongst all this construction, Dubai's Burj Khalifa will still keep its spot as the world's tallest building at 2,717 feet tall. If other proposed building plans are put into motion, there could soon be skyscrapers that dwarf the Burj in height.
But for now, these buildings are the tallest in progress.
Callie Bost contributed to this story.
#9 Busan Lotte Town Tower — Busan, South Korea. Height (when completed): 1,675.02 feet
The Atlanta Falcons are building a new ~$1 billion stadium to be completed by 2017.
This week, the Georgia World Congress Center Authority selected 360 Architecture as the lead architect on the project.
They also released images from the presentation the firm made to the GWCCA, which contained very early, very wild, very cool ideas for what the stadium might look like.
A spokesperson told us that these images are just "ideas" and "not representative" of the actual design.
But they give you an idea of what the team is looking for, and what sort of new elements we might see from the project.
The U.S. intelligence community is vast, composed of17 distinct organizations each operating under its own shroud of secrecy.
Oversight of these agencies generally falls to the Department of Defense or Congress, leaving the average citizen with precious little knowledge of how they operate.
Funded by largely classified budgets, it's difficult to assess how much the U.S. annually spends on these clandestine operations, but one 2012 estimate pegs the cost at about $75 billion.
The following slides highlight the expansive reach of the U.S. intelligence community.
The Central Intelligence Agency spies on foreign governments and organizes covert ops.
The CIA is the most well-known U.S. spying agency, formed with the passage of the National Security Act of 1947. The agency has its roots with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) that operated during World War II.
Headquarters: Langley, Va.
Mission: CIA collects, analyzes, and disseminates intelligence gathered on foreign nations. This comes through signals and human intelligence sources.
Budget: Classified. On their website, the CIA states, "neither the number of employees nor the size of the Agency's budget can, at present, be publicly disclosed. A common misconception is that the Agency has an unlimited budget, which is far from true."
There have been some slips, however. In 2005, a CIA deputy director inadvertently revealed the annual intelligence budget was $44 billion.
The National Security Agency was once so secretive it was jokingly called 'No Such Agency'.
The NSA was established in 1952 with a mission primarily dedicated to code breaking, after the Allies' success in cracking German and Japanese codes during World War II. For a long time, the NSA, which operates under the Dept. of Defense, was not even recognized by the government, commonly referred to as "No Such Agency."
Headquarters: Fort Meade, Md.
Mission: The main functions of the NSA are signals intelligence — intercepting and processing foreign communications, cryptology — cracking codes, and information assurance. IA is, put simply: preventing foreign hackers from getting secret information.
Budget: Classified. Some estimate the NSA is actually the largest intelligence organization in the world — three times the size of the CIA. The headquarters alone takes up 6.3 million square feet — around the same size as the Pentagon — with 112 acres of parking spaces, reports the Washington Post.
The Defense Intelligence Agency works to understand what foreign militaries will do before they do it.
The DIA was established in 1961 with the goal of sharing information collected by the major military intelligence outfits (such as Army or Marine Corps Intelligence). More recently, the DIA has been expanding its overseas spy network to collect first-hand intelligence.
Headquarters: Washington, D.C.
Mission: The DIA serves as the lead intelligence agency for the Dept. of Defense, coordinating analysis and collection of intelligence on foreign militaries, in addition to surveillance and reconnaissance operations. The DIA is the common link between military and national intelligence agencies.
Budget: Classified. The DIA does not reveal budget information, although they do say they have more than 16,500 men and women working for them and are under DoD and congressional oversight.
"The Great Gatsby" stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire and Isla Fisher all hit the red carpet Wednesday night for the film's world premiere at Lincoln Center in New York City.
After the premiere, celebs ranging from Jay-Z to Martha Stewart hit the after party at the Plaza Hotel, which was transformed to look like Gatsby’s mansion.
See who made it out for Baz Luhrmann's big night, and what everyone wore.
"Gatsby" opens in theaters May 10.
"The Great Gatsby" world premiere took place at Lincoln Center in New York City.
Leonardo DiCaprio plays title character Jay Gatsby.
Carey Mulligan has the role of his childhood love, Daisy Buchanan.
Women are having a bigger impact on our world than ever.
In the past year, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg pushed feminism back into the center of the national discourse.
In Afghanistan, a country where women used to be treated as second class citizens, parliament member Fawzia Koofi made history by announcing plans to run for president.
To recognize these and other impressive women, we asked readers for nominations and asked our reporters and editors to vote on the women who did the most in the past year to change the world.
#50 Cameron Russell
The Victoria's Secret model gave a powerful TED talk last year about the fashion industry's obsession with beauty, discouraging young women from pursuing careers in modeling. She has controversially said she "has to feel guilty" working in the industry, even as she's pushing the conversation about unrealistic standards into the forefront.
Russell has also branched off into other political ventures by running the blog ArtRoots.info, which aims to encourage grassroots public art and political power; and is director of The Big Bad Lab, focused on participatory art meant to inspire people to engage in radical demonstrations to bring about positive social change.
#49 Alice Waters
Chef Alice Waters is at the forefront of the popular "slow food" movement" that has gained momentum across the country.
Her culinary philosophy is rooted in the belief that the ingredients should come from local and sustainable farms. Her restaurant Chez Panisse supports a network of local farmers, and has inspired many others around the country to do the same. Chez Panisse was badly damaged by a fire in March, but is expected to reopen in June.
Waters is VP of Slow Food International, a global nonprofit organization that promotes local farming initiatives; and speaks out about how fast food ruins culture.
#48 Tig Notaro
Comedian Tig Notaro captured America with her vulnerable stand-up routine last August. She took the stage soon after being diagnosed with cancer, and told the audience: "With humor, the equation is tragedy plus time equals comedy. I am just at tragedy right now."
The androgynous 41-year-old also shared her sadness over the death of her mother, a breakup, and a threatening intestinal disease. During her routine, one guy said, "This is fucking awesome."
Since then, many people around the world say that she's helped them get through their own battles with cancer and other hardships.
LinkedIn just added a great new feature to its site: the ability to add all sorts of multi-media to your profile page, including photos, videos, audio, presentations and other documents.
It calls this feature the "Professional Portfolio." Instead of just describing your work in words, you can make your profile come to life.
LinkedIn just turned on this new feature yesterday.
You can turn your LinkedIn profile into a beautiful, interactive resume.
You can add all sorts of multimedia to the different sections of your profile.
Those changes are all aimed at her goal of making it easier and safer to get around in New York, and to make the city a better place for residents and businesses, she wrote in a 2011 essay for Slate.
Sadik-Khan manages a $2 billion annual budget and 4,700 employees. She is in charge of maintaining and improving 6,300 miles of road, nearly 800 bridges, 12,000 intersections with traffic signals, and the Staten Island Ferry.
In her tenure, Sadik-Khan has focused on reducing the number of cars on NYC streets. She has built hundreds of miles of bike lanes, introduced a new bike share program, created pedestrian plazas, transformed Times Square, and installed maps designed for those on foot — all while making New York a healthier, richer place.
To triple that number by 2017, Sadik-Khan has led the installation of 200 miles of bike lanes on streets throughout New York, providing a relatively safe way for cyclists to get around.
The bike lanes have aroused plenty of criticism, largely from neighborhood groups. At a 2011 event at the Center for Architecture, Sadik-Khan defended the expansion as a public good:
“Some people have tried to paint bike lanes as elitist, which is really hard to believe because [the bicycle] is the most affordable way to get around town other than walking, and it’s really heavily used by a wide range of social and ethnic groups."
There are guards on duty to keep everyone where they belong.
On the eve of the opening of New York's bike share program, Sadik-Khan announced that its Street Safety Managers — who first went to work on the Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Williamsburg bridges in 2011 — will be on duty in areas with heavy pedestrian, cyclist, and vehicular traffic.
Their job is to remind everyone to stay in their designated lanes. They will be on the streets during morning and afternoon rush hours between April and October.
Neighborhood traffic is slower, and safer.
In July 2012, Commissioner Sadik-Khan and Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced they would expand the Neighborhood Slow Zone program to 13 new residential areas, all at the request of local applicants.
The program adds traffic calming measures and reduces the standard speed limit from 30 mph to 20 mph, which Sadik-Khan said would improve safety:
“Our residential streets need to be drawn to this human scale, and by simply reducing the speed of passing cars by 10 miles per hour, we can save lives as we make the streets people walk along more inviting.”
Once it's completed, the building will tower at 1,776 ft., making it the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere—but it still won't be the tallest building in the world.
That title still belongs to the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
We looked at buildings that have already been completed, and those that are still under construction but have already reached record heights, to see where One World Trade falls.
#12 Guangzhou International Finance Center - Guangzhou, China. Height: 1439 feet
#11 KK100 - Shenzhen, China. Height: 1449 feet
#10 Willis Tower - Chicago, USA. Height: 1451 feet
Adam Diaz is young, handsome and, most recently, rich.
The 35-year-old Susquehanna County, Penn. native was scraping by supplying construction contractors with cut bluestone when the gas industry arrived to his sleepy corner of Pennsylvania in 2009.
"[Houston-based] Cabot [Oil & Gas Co.] approached me, they came to me and said, 'You guys have a great work ethic, and we want to use local people' " to supply equipment and manpower.
Cabot took Diaz's outfit under its wing, training them in the rhythms of gas drilling: what pads need at given times, how to handle the trade's complex tools.
Four years later, Diaz now owns seven different companies, including a home furnishings manufacturer and a timber harvester — that bring in $50 million a year and employs 250 people.
"If I didn't have money to buy the other companies [their employees] would be out of work, no question," he told us by phone recently. "It wasn't terrible before the gas industry, but wasn't anywhere as good as it is today."
But he is not alone in having seen his fortunes changed in just a few years.
While the country was heading over a recessionary cliff in late 2008, northeast Pennsylvania began to see the trickle of what would become millions of dollars pouring in from drillers looking for gas.
We recently traveled to Susquehanna County and its seat, the town of Montrose, to see how life had changed since the dawn of the gas boom.
What we found were lots of people grateful for the infusion of commerce injected into a local economy that had stagnated.
At the same time,the boom has altered the lifestyle of a population used to a quiet, rural existence. Heavy trucks now rumble over the area's rolling hills, and some residents have seen their water impaired by the controversial drilling practice known as fracking (the gas industry denies they're at fault).
The rush was ignited five years ago by Terry Engelder, a University of Pennsylvania geologist who estimated that the Marcellus Shale, a rock formation spanning seven different states, contained enormous volumes of natural gas.
Naturally, the gas industry took notice, drilled some test wells, and proved him right.
Cabot bet big on Susquehanna County, which sits on top of one of the richer parts of the play.
It's paid off. Since 2009, the company's share price has increased 320%. The company now boasts 15 of the top 20 wells in the county and owns more than 200,000 acres there. The word "Marcellus" appears 43 times in the company's 30-page annual report.
The county has seen a similar surge in wealth. By one count, county residents have taken in a total of $300 million in gas royalties.
"There are new facades on buildings, new streets being poured, a lot of people working," Diaz says. "People are upgrading their homes, there's all kinds of stuff going on."
Bill Kelley, owns a equipment-rental business in Montrose. Cabot also recommended him as an area businessman whose sales have boomed in the past few years. He revenues have been going up by 40% each year.
"And that's just our little business here," he told us. "If you look at other businesses around the area, they’ve also grown with this — if you look at the grocery stores, the restaurants, the Inn of Montrose, overall I think it's had a very positive influence on this little community of ours."
Indeed, nearly every local we spoke with who works in the service industry told us receipts had ramped up. Jay Agkinson, a lifelong county resident who runs Montrose's Shell station, said morning fill-ups can sometimes resemble truck meets.
"A lot of people who never had money have money now," he said.
Just up the road from Cabot's regional headquarters on Route 29 are retirees Jim and Annie Grimsley. They say they've been able to furnish their kitchen with royalties drawn from the gas well sitting in their backyard.
But the Grimsleys are representative of others in the area who say the industry's presence has yielded a mixture of good and bad.
"Annie used to stand in the middle of 29 to take pictures," Jim said. "She won't cross the road to get the mail anymore — the mailbox is on the other side of the road. The traffic has really increased."
Even Diaz admits the truck traffic is bad, though he believes it was actually much worse at the outset of the boom. According to the New York Times, Cabot has spent $12 million last year on road repairs here.
Due south of Montrose on Route 29 is the town of Dimock. It's become a focal point for the fracking debate after more than 30 families sued Cabot in 2009, accusing the company of contaminating their water. Most have since settled.
Kathy Prusack, who also lives in Dimock and has a well on her property, said her family's water is fine. She gets enough royalties to pay for gas money, and she says her son drives trucks for a Cabot contractor.
But Prusack says she is ambivalent about both. She put her first royalty checks to the side because she didn't believe she'd done anything to earn them.
"What you’ll mostly hear about is how wonderful the gas company has been to this area. But [the families who sued Cabot] have had real problems with their water."
It's possible both are true.
Cabot has aggressively courted favor with the area. Its signature investment was helping complete a brand new hospital for the area's Endless Mountain Health care System. They donated $2.2 million directly and convinced the rest of the community to throw in an additional $2.2 million. They've also pledged $25,000 each of the last three years — and will do so again this year — to create scholarships at the Susquehanna County Career and Technology Center. According to the New York Times, they've also donated $50,000 to the local Red Cross.
Cabot execs now serve on the boards of local organizations, and the company sponsors area events like the Fourth of July fireworks and a book mobile.
Peter Quigg, president of Endless Mountain's Community Foundation, says he's grateful for Cabot's presence.
"Cabot has not had to do any of the things that they've been involved with. They could have been here and just gone about their business, helped their stockholders, and that would be that. In my opinion they've gone above and beyond iin their corporate citizenship."
When we talk about how the gas industry has impacted the local community, we're not talking about a whole lot of people. There are about 1,600 residents in Montrose proper, and just 42,696 in the whole county, which covers more than 830 square miles and putting it among the top-10 least-dense counties in the state.
Right now, New York is debating whether to ends its fracking moratorium.The demographics of southern New York are pretty similar to Susquehanna County (Montrose is about a 20-minute drive from the New York border).
So if Albany wants to look into what to expect in a possible gas rush future, the story of Susquehanna County seem like a good place to start.
Google Glass is the next wave of wearable computing, and it isn't easy to come by. Only a few hundred people have been selected by Google to purchase the product early. The product currently retails for about $1,500.
But those individuals say picking up their pair of glasses was nearly as cool as trying on the device for the first time.
Last week, the first set of New Yorkers were summoned to the 8th floor of Chelsea Market to pick up Glass. They were greeted by beautiful hipster women, stunning views of Manhattan, and multiple glasses of champagne.
The location isn't technically a Google Glass Store; those will probably be a different experience entirely. This store is just for Google's initial explorer program, select individuals who are paying to try the product in closed beta.
Grand St, a gadget startup that's launching soon in Manhattan, was invited to own Glass. Each founder was wowed by the experience.
"Setup is painless," one of Grand St's three founders Aaron Henshaw, writes. "I downloaded the Android app, synced the Glass and my Android phone together, and was ready to go. My first text message, to my colleague Amanda, said, 'hi from the glasses.'"
Grand St shared some of their photos from the swanky experience with Business Insider.
New Yorkers were invited to Chelsea Market last Thursday, on April 25 via email. Google informed them they'd be some of the first people to buy Glass.
Google Glass workers waited in the lobby to send invitees to the 8th floor.
Felix, which was once owned and operated by NY startup Yext, was acquired by IAC last August. It used to be based on the 8th floor of Chelsea Market. Google Glass moved in in its place. Here's what the office looked like before.
Hopefully this means we'll hear from the Oracle of Omaha on a more regular and informal basis.
Buffett has established himself as the most successful investor in history.
And he has never kept his investing methods secret.
In fact, when he shares his tips, he often does so in an approachable and entertaining manner.
So, as we get ready for this week's annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway shareholders, we reflect on some of Buffett's best investing quips.
We compiled a few of Buffett's best quotes from his TV appearances, newspaper op-eds, magazine interviews, and of course his annual letters, which are always-must reads.
Investing novices and experts alike can learn from the advice that the he has articulated through the years.
If we've missed any of your favorites, let us know in the comments.
Buying a stock is about more than just the price.
"It's far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price."
"To invest successfully, you need not understand beta, efficient markets, modern portfolio theory, option pricing or emerging markets. You may, in fact, be better off knowing nothing of these. That, of course, is not the prevailing view at most business schools, whose finance curriculum tends to be dominated by such subjects. In our view, though, investment students need only two well-taught courses - How to Value a Business, and How to Think About Market Prices."
What you see here is a real-life lilliputian, the tiny mythical characters from Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels."
This is not a hoax.
The tiny mummified skeleton has been baffling researchers since it was discovered in the Atacama desert region of Chile.
One thing so far seems pretty sure: it's not a monkey, and it's not an alien.
The face you see to the right is totally and completely human. It was born with a birth defect.
The child measures only six inches tall, but researcher Garry Nolan, of Stanford University, says it could have lived to be about 6 to 8 years old at the time of its death. The body has been lovingly given the name "Ata" based on where it was found.
The skeleton's DNA seems pretty normal, and researchers have not identified the mutations that would have caused the deformities, but the answer is still lurking somewhere in the little human's genome.
Nolan has sequenced the mummy's DNA 15 times so far (industry standard is 50 times to get a complete, high quality, genome. Because over time DNA falls apart, a small amount of the genetic code obtained with each read isn't usable).
With only 15 reads, 91% of the genome has been fully sequenced and matched up with human DNA, but Nolan told Business Insider that "the specimen is 99.9999999% human as far as I can tell." It shares DNA with people indigenous to the west coast of South America.
Pediatric radiologist Ralph Lachman, of the UCLA School of Medicine, examined X-rays of the specimen. He thinks the unusually large head may be the result of a condition called turricephaly (also oxycephaly).
Looking for bargains in May? Forget the TV, and step away from the lawn mower. Instead, enjoy a picnic on the patio.
May has plenty of discounts and deals to offer. You can find discounts on spa services, grilling supplies, digital cameras and accessories for mobile electronics in May.
May is not the best time to save money on lawn mowers, televisions, home electronics and power tools.
Here are a handful of things that will be on sale in May — and a few that will be at or near full price.
1. Lawn mowers
You probably wouldn't expect a bargain on snowblowers in December. And you probably won't find your best prices on lawn mowers in May, says Teri Gault, CEO and founder of TheGroceryGame.com.
"We all get real excited about lawn mowers in the spring because everything's growing and it's green," she says. So retailers don't have to offer deep deals to push lawn mowers.
For the best deals, "Wait until October," Gault says. They'll be "about 65 percent less on clearance."
Get a good deal in May on grilling and picnicking staples.
Skip mowing and enjoy an alfresco lunch. With the start of grilling season, "You see a lot of coupons for things like baked beans, hot dogs, buns, mustard, ketchup, barbecue sauce, chips," ice cream and paper picnic supplies, says Stephanie Nelson, founder of CouponMom.com. "Anything that goes with the idea of a cookout."
Coupons will come out in late April and early May, but many stores will run sales on the same items in mid- to late May, Nelson says. So save the coupons, and wait for the sales to ratchet up the savings, she says. You can score up to 50 percent off.
2. Outdoor furniture
Now is probably not the best time to buy outdoor furniture if price is more important than selection. You'll find the best prices in September, when you can often get up to half off, Nelson says. And yes, that means you're essentially buying it for next year (or winter in warmer climates). Plus, the selection will be more limited.
Want to get a lesser deal and some selection while you still have time to use it this year? Wait until July, target discontinued models, and save 35 percent to 40 percent, says Sharon Banfield, public relations director for PriceGrabber.com.
Or hit the Memorial Day sales, and don't be afraid to search for coupons, says Nelson.
Further deals: Some online retailers will have sales in August, says Hillary Mendelsohn, author of "thepurplebook" online shopping series and founder of ThePurpleBook.com.
You can save up to 20 percent or get free shipping if you buy sets rather than individual pieces, she says.
3. Home appliances
If you're shopping price, May isn't the month to buy most major appliances, Mendelsohn says. She says you'll find the best prices on appliances in September. "You can save up to 30 percent" because many makers release new models at that time, Mendelsohn says.
Opt for a model that's being discontinued, and you can save 50 percent to 60 percent, she says. And if it's a floor model, you could save up to 70 percent.
Get a good deal in May on two exceptions -- refrigerators and vacuum cleaners.
New models of refrigerators and vacuum cleaners come out in May, so retailers are looking to clear stock.
On refrigerators, you can save 30 percent to 40 percent -- or even more on a plain-vanilla model, Nelson says.
On vacuum cleaners, save up to 35 percent, Banfield says.
April auto sales numbers were released today, and every major manufacturer gave us the lowdown on just how many of each vehicle they sold last month.
Mexican Food Week
The U.S. intelligence community is 
"The Great Gatsby" stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire and Isla Fisher all hit the red carpet Wednesday night for the film's 
There is probably no other northeast Pennsylvania native who's capitalized as thoroughly on the area's gas rush as Diaz. (Indeed, he was 
But Prusack says she is ambivalent about both. She put her first royalty checks to the side because she didn't believe she'd done anything to earn them.
