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There are a number of items that are not eligible for the discount, including gift cards, gift certificates and textbooks. The coupons, along with the full list of exclusions and details can be found here:

Link (for B&N members)
Link (for non-members)
(Via SD)

This post is from Credit Card Watcher's Credit Card Deals Blog.

40% Off a Single Item at Barnes & Noble When Using MasterCard

The security issue is an XSS exploit discovered by Jeremias Reith that fortunately only affects IP-based virtual servers running on Apache 2.x. If you are interested only in the security fix, copy wp-includes/feed.php and wp-includes/version.php from the 2.6.5 release package.

2.6.5 contains three other small fixes in addition to the XSS fix. The first prevents accidentally saving post meta information to a revision. The second prevents XML-RPC from fetching incorrect post types. The third adds some user ID sanitization during bulk delete requests. For a list of changed files, consult the full changeset between 2.6.3 and 2.6.5.

Note that we are skipping version 2.6.4 and jumping from 2.6.3 to 2.6.5 to avoid confusion with a fake 2.6.4 release that made the rounds. There is not and never will be a version 2.6.4.

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As the end of the year nears, it’s especially important to carefully read your credit card statement, as issuers are cramming all sorts of new changes to your agreement–with many of those changes resulting in increased rates and fees. Here are a few of the recent changes I’ve noticed in my agreements:

Increased forex fees
At the same time that American Express sent notice that it would no longer allow balance transfers and convenience checks, it also noted that it would increase its fees for transactions made in foreign currencies. As of January 11, 2009, the foreign exchange fee will be increased from 2% to 2.7%.

Higher late fees and balance transfer fees
I also noticed that Pentagon Federal Credit Union plans to hike a number of its fees beginning January 1. Its late fee will rise from $33 to $39, it will introduce a default APR of 17.99% (where it previously had none) and will increase its balance transfer fee from 1% to 2.5%.

Penalizing those with life of balance offers
Chase has indicated it will begin charging some customers who have carried a balance for more than two years (primarily those with large balances at promo-rates) a $10 monthly fee and increase their minimum payment to 5% from 2%.

Taking an informal poll, have you noticed any recent fee or rate hikes on your cards?

This post is from Credit Card Watcher's Credit Card Deals Blog.

Ring in the New Year… with More Credit Card Fees

Effective immediately, Balance Transfers and Convenience Checks against OPEN Credit Card accounts will no longer be accepted or available. This includes requests made by phone, online or through the use of Balance Transfer, Convenience Checks and Cash checks.

I called Amex and they confirmed that all small business credit cards are affected, including new accounts.

This is clearly bad news for small business owners. In the current economic climate, businesses can no longer rely on their open lines of credit to be there when needed. Businesses would be well advised to hold adequate cash reserves, have lines of credit from multiple creditors and if necessary, to draw on these lines in advance of when they are required.

This post is from Credit Card Watcher's Credit Card Deals Blog.

Amex Business Credit Cards No Longer Allow Balance Transfers