Bad Idea Dept.: Lotus Announces Lotus Motorcycles

A few days ago, Lotus sent out a press release announcing it would begin producing a super-premium motorcycle. In the world of bad ideas that has produced motorcycle-themed crossover products like the “Moet & Chandon Edition Indian Motorcycle” and an “Orange County Choppers” line of barbecue accessories, this one’s right up there. Here’s why:

Lotus is a car manufacturer

Lotus has absolutely no experience building motorcycles. There is nothing in its history that suggests that starting to build one now makes any sense whatsoever.

Just because a car and a motorcycle share wheels doesn’t mean that one’s learning automatically transfers from one thing to another. If Lotus was going to do anything, why wouldn’t it at least complete engine production before it ventured out into a business which it doesn’t know anything about?

Just a few car manufacturers have hung onto their motorcycle heritage, and it’s because the R&D and engineering that goes into building a world-class motorcycle is just as costly and time consuming as the same that goes into a car. BMW has managed to make a go of it, and sells more gear and accessories than it does motorcycles.

There was no end to the hue and cry when Porsche decided to build an SUV. Yet the Cayenne proved itself to be the product that saved Porsche, eventually becoming its most popular model.

The difference between bikes and SUVs? There’s profit in sport-utilities.

There’s little real interest in exotic sport bikes

MV Agusta had decades of motorcycle building under its belt. Between the years of 1958 and 1972, it had 37 MotoGP World Constructors championships on the wall, and 34 Isle of Man TT victories as a bonus.

Yet, when it returned with the F4 750 in 1997 – a motorcycle so beautiful that it was instantly included in the wildly successful “Art of the Motorcycle” exhibit at the Guggenheim Museum, which upwards of a million people saw – sales were tepid at best. The company has since been passed around from Cagiva to Proton to Husqvarna and finally to Harley-Davidson, which bought it at a fire sale price.

Dozens of examples of pipe dreams about selling exotic motorcycles exist, from Vincent to Confederate. Most have disappeared, with a few racing just ahead of creditors.

Aside from the name, what’s new?

Lotus’s press release suggests that the C-01 it intends to build will be “a hyper bike with integrated racing technology. It will be manufactured of materials like carbon, titanium and aerospace quality steel, which are also used in Formula 1.”

So, just like every other exotic sport bike from Ducati, KTM, BMW and Honda, then?

It looks like the team building this bike certainly has racing experience: Kodewa, the Germany auto racing team, is responsible for Lotus’s T128 LMP racer, and designer Daniel Simon worked for Bugatti.

The press release also saw fit to cite Simon’s work on the Lightcycle from Disney’s 2010 filmTron: Legacy in his bona fides. Terrific. I’m sure there were some cool designers involved in the Viper-powered Dodge Tomahawk, but that never saw the light of day, either.

In his statement in the Lotus press release, Simon noted that the C-01 would be “emotional, heartbreaking, at times playfully retro,” which a friend pointed out that it sounded more like a Match.com profile than a creative brief.

Stick to cars, Lotus. You’ll thank me later.

Laptops are maybe a Reason for Increasing Data Breach

As the technology is getting advanced, the gadgets are becoming more and more equipped and getting more and more mobile. The mobility and portability of the devices have made them a necessity instead of a luxury. The first computer which was built was huge; it was about the size of a whole room. The computer was still slow and had very limited functions. Then it its shape and size got groomed, and start becoming smaller and smaller. When Charles Babbage had thought about making such a machine that would be able to perform numerous operations, he must have not thought that computer will become so efficient some day.

Computer technology has revived by leaps and bounds since the last 30 to 35 years. In the decade of 1970s computer had become a quite established machine to work on. Before the introduction of Windows by Microsoft, the most used operating system was MS DOS. The operating system was not capable enough and had restricted operations. The introduction of Windows boosted the popularity and functionality of the computer. At them time computer was quite expensive as well, not everybody was able to afford it. But, as the computer got popular, it got cheaper and cheaper. The technology used in the computer became easily available which cut off its price.

Computer got a second birth when Alan Kay imagined a computer that could be carried with the user, means the portable computer. Alan Kay named this portable computer as ‘Dynabook’.  In the year of 1981, first portable computer that actually looked like the laptops present at the moment was announced. It had an LCD screen, a rechargeable battery and a mini printer. It was obviously not as efficient as the laptops currently available. Laptops increased the demand of computers as they were portable could be taken anywhere with the user and work on it. Early in the age, laptop became a status symbol for well to do businessman, they were expensive and looked quite stylish.

Since then there had been a competition between the companies to produce the lightest and slimmest laptop. This competition is perhaps won by a Taiwanese company who has produced probably the thinnest and the lightest laptop. The laptop weighs just 1.9 pounds or 870 grams; it is only 10.7 millimeter thick. That is simply amazing, it has the core i7 and i7 processor, which means it will work fast as any of the laptops, its lightness and thinness will not be a barrier in its functionality.

Where these thin, small and light laptops has made feasible to carry the workplace with you, it has brightened the chances of a data breach. According to a study, more than 45 percent of the lost laptops carry confidential information in them. The darker part is that not more than 15 to 16 percent of the laptops have security measures to prevent data breach. Laptops have become a necessity and keeping data in it is somehow mandatory, due to portability, laptops have become an easy target for the thieves and thugs. The confidential information that the laptop contain can easily be taken out by simply copying data on any other storage device. In order to prevent such copying, one should use software that can provide Copy Protection to data saved in laptops.

Data breach can be much more costly than your imagination. The loss of data plus the loss of goodwill, moreover, it further hit in the shape of fine that is being imposed by legislators for data breach. Precaution is better than to cry over spilt milk.

For more information visit:

http://www.newsoftwares.net/copy-protect/

London ‘levitating’ magician’s secret revealed

Sad news, levitation fans: Dynamo, the magician who caused a stir in London earlier this week by appearing to levitate alongside a double-decker bus, was not, in fact, levitating. It was an illusion.

According to a crowdsourced investigation conducted on Australia's news.com.au Facebook page, Dynamo's "arm" was actually a steel prosthetic that was fastened to the bus. A harness lifted Dynamo into position, the site concluded, as his hand was tucked inside.

A video of the stunt, which was sponsored by Pepsi Max, was thoroughly dissected.

"His fingers don't move in the clip and there are no people around when he hovers up and down the bus," the news site noted. "In fact, at second glance the arm attached to the bus looks pretty phony."

Of course, Dynamo's not the first illusionist to pull off a levitation stunt using a fake arm.

As news.com.au notes, Johan Lorbeer, a German street performer, has been "hanging off walls in all sorts of impossible locations, including the sides of street buildings and shop facades since 2002."

An Agence France-Presse photo showing one of Lorbeer's fake arms was held up as proof of Dynamo's trickery.

But like most magicians, Dynamo refuses to reveal how he did it.

Making Online Marketers Energy Efficient

Every company which is engaged in some sort of service or product based business needs marketing. Marketing has a vital role in the growth of the company’s business, which is why there are experts employed in every organization. Marketing is a creative and skill based work, to promote the business; companies spend large sums of money on advertisement and other promotional measures. The latest inclusion in the field of marketing is the online marketing. The key online marketing tools are known as SEO (Search Engine Optimization), SEM (Search Engine Marketing), SMO (Social Media Optimization) and SMM (Social Media Marketing).

Their job is usually to keep the company’s product and services visible to the users. SEO and SEM perform almost the same task, their aim is to keep the company’s product or services near the top of the related searches. SEOs and SMEs estimate the keywords through the user would search for a specific product or service. They use those keywords more and more in articles, blogs and press releases and post them on a number of sites. This activity helps them achieve their goal of putting their company at the top of the searches.

Whereas, SMO and SMM are a bit different from SEO and SEM. SMO and SMM use social media as their weapon. Social websites like Face book, Twitter, Linked In and Google+ are advertised with the company’s product by SMO and SMM. They put the special offers such as discount offers and etc. on their social media page and try to steer heavy traffic towards the company’s business. It is probably the cheapest way of marketing in terms of money.

SEOs, SEMs, SMOs and SMMs operate more than one ID and they often have to sign up for new sites which can boost their performance. For the purpose, they have to fill lengthy forms on every second website asking almost the same questions. This work seems to be quite tiring; their performance would increase if they use Macro Keys. Their sign up task would become less time taking as the form would be filled with short keys.

For More Information visit:

http://www.newsoftwares.net/macro-keys/

IT Department—Fight Against Your True Foe

One of the core responsibilities of IT department is to provide strict security to important data of the company. The dangers of data leakage are high, very common and can put extremely negative effects on the business activities. The majority of the IT professionals has a propensity to focus mainly on the external enemies of the company’s data such as hackers. But, now the companies are realizing that the real threat to their data is from their internal working sources i.e. the employees. As technology is progressing as the days are passing by, and the business background keeps on developing, the IT departments are trying hard to protect their data. The majority of the IT personals is pointing their weapons to tackle the risk of data which are the very own employees of the company. The dangers and consequences of a data breach can be demoralizing for the company of any size. The main concern of the IT department should be to protect data from prying eyes.

Scott & Scott LLP conducted a study with the sample size of more than 700 companies, out of these 700 companies; almost 590 companies claimed that they have suffered a data breach. The data breaches can be devastating for the companies in numerous ways. The most harmful effect of such breach is the fine that is imposed due to the legislation regarding the issue. The other big loss for the company is the loss of goodwill and trust of clients. Clients’ trust is one of the major needs for a successful business; many companies lose their way because of the lack of trust of the customers. The most terrifying nightmare for the company is to get data in the hands of a competitor; it can ruin all the strategies.

To protect data from getting leaked, IT department should find out what is the biggest threat to the security of data. The statistics suggest that more than 30 percent of the breaches are a result of an act of internal employees. Hackers are restricted from accessing the confidential data, but, employees of the company have full access to all the information of the company. This freedom to employees poses the biggest threat to data of the company. Employees may sell sensitive data such as; business strategy, marketing strategies, financial records and other documents to the rival businesses. But, the most common way to keep the security on the line is to avoid security protocols set by the IT department.

To increase the efficiency of the employees, the companies give employees the choice to bring their own device to operate on. This principle is known as BYOD which means ‘Bring Your Own Device’, no doubt this principle has its pros, but, it also has increased the risk of data loss. The risk associated with this principle is that employees can plug their device in for the purpose to perform their duties, but they also can take confidential data of the company with them. IT department ought to use security software that can give Copy Protection to data. It is too easy for the employees to copy and paste records in their device and carry them out of the organization. IT department usually seems to be actively fighting against the cyber criminals, but they usually forget the black sheep in the company and careless people working there.

For More Information visit:

http://www.newsoftwares.net/copy-protect/

USB Drives-- Precautions are better than Regret

The average cost per data leakage has been raised up to £2 from £1.04 within a year. The situation is alarming. Employees’ negligence is the biggest reason of losing data; companies should create awareness in employees regarding data security.

Description

According to the latest report of cost of data breach 2013 issued by Symantec and the Ponemon Institute, the average cost of a data breach has been risen up to £2. This cost has been raised from £1.04 to £2 in a short span of time of a year. As the report suggests, the majority of data breach incidents are the result of employee negligence. Employees lose their portable drives that contain delicate information related to the company they are working with. Another cause of data leakage is lack of security measures. The average cost of a data breach has risen in the consecutive sixth year; it is such an alarming fact.  Hackers are also a general cause of data breaches, and it can harm more than the data breach through human error. But, still negligence of employees is still a bigger cause of data leakage. Companies need to train their employees regarding data security; they need to establish policy to protect data from leakage. They need to make the employees understood their responsibility of taking care of confidential data of the company. According to a research, only 25 percent of the companies make policies to secure data and out of these 25 percent only about 13 percent of the companies implement them.

It is advisable to use security software that can Password Protect USB Drive; using security software reduces the probability of getting data leaked. The study conducted by Symantec and the Ponemon Institute also shows that customers do not lose faith on the company even after their personal data leakage. But, the fact is that no one likes his/her personal information to reach in the wrong hands and being exploited. There are cases being reported where companies have suffered losses that cost millions of Dollars, certainly not all companies can bare these losses. So it is better to take precaution than to cry over the spilt milk.

For More Information Please Visit:

http://www.newsoftwares.net/usb-secure/

Box Office Report: 'Man of Steel' Nabs $125.1 Million for No. 1 June Opening of All Time

After three decades, Warner Bros. has successfully resurrected itsSuperman franchise with Zack Snyder's darker, more violent take on the marquee superhero.

Man of Steel, directed by Snyder and produced by Christopher Nolan, debuted to $125.1 million at the Father's Day box office to score the top opening of all time for June. That figure includes $12 million grossed Thursday night from special Walmart screenings, putting the actual three-day figure at $113.1 million.

STORY: Warner Bros.' 'Man of Steel' Nabs $170 Million in Promotional Dollars 

Either way, Man of Steel eclipsed previous June record-holder Toy Story 3, which debuted to $110.3 million in June 2010.

Man of Steel is a notable win for WB and Legendary Pictures, which co-financed the $225 million tentpole. In 2006, WB and Legendary's Superman Returns did okay business at the box office, but not enough to mark a new chapter for the franchise.

Man of Steel opens exactly 30 years after Superman III, the third entry in the wildly popularChristopher Reeve franchise. There was one more title in that series, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, although it fell flat at the box office in summer 1987.

This time out, British star Henry Cavill stars as Clark Kent, aka Superman, which sees his character trying to hide his superpowers and live a normal life on Earth. Amy Adams stars as Lois Laneand Michael Shannon takes on the role of the menacing General Zod. Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner and Diane Lane also star.

David S. Goyer penned the script based on a story he crafted with Nolan. Warners and Legendary turned to Nolan as a producer on the project after he successfully revived the Batman franchise with his Dark Knight trilogy. In the summer of 2005, Nolan's Batman Begins opened to $48.7 million and had incredible staying power.

Man of Steel, while drawing mixed reviews, earned an A- CinemaScore, portending strong word of mouth. The pic skewed male (56 percent) and was fueled by older moviegoers, with 62 percent of the audience over the age of 25.

IMAX theaters did big business, taking in $13.3 million (12 percent of the total gross) to likewise score the biggest June opening of all time.

Overall, 41 percent of the revenues came from 3D screens.

Overseas, Man of Steel is opening day-and-date in 24 markets, and is did huge business in the U.K. and Southeast Asia. The film's take through Friday was nearly $30 million, but full weekend numbers weren't immediately available.

Coming in No. 2 Friday at the North American box office was Sony's innovative end-of-the-world comedy This Is the End with a stellar $32.8 million. The R-rated pic, opening Wednesday and marking the directorial debut of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, has already made its $32 million budget back.

This Is the End stars Rogen opposite Jonah Hill, James Franco, Jay Baruchel, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson, Michael Cera and Emma Watson.

PHOTOS: 'Man of Steel' Premiere: Superman Takes Off in New York City

In comedy, the actors -- all playing fictional versions of themselves -- meet at a star-studded party at Franco's house when the apocalypse begins and they're forced to work together to survive. The film is based on a short film created by Rogen and Baruchel in 2007 titled Jay and Seth vs. The Apocalypse. Rogen and Goldberg also co-wrote the scripts for Superbad, The Green Hornet and The Watch.

This is the End also features several other cameos during the early scenes at Franco's house party, including appearances by Rihanna, Mindy Kaling, Jason Segel, Paul Rudd and Kevin Hart.

Sofia Coppola's The Bling Ring rung up strong business at the specialty box office as it debuted to sold out crowds in five theaters in New York and Los Angeles. The movie, from A24 Films, took in $210,000 for a location average of $42,000. It marks the director's best opening since Lost in Translation.

Want A Job? Don't Bother With These Degrees

It's been a rocky economic road lately - we know. And while furthering your education is a good way to make yourself more employable, you need to choose your major wisely.
Why? While college is certainly a way to gain knowledge and experience about topics that interest us, there's an ugly truth about what we leave with that is often overlooked. According to a 2012 report by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce called "Hard Times: Not All College Degrees are Created Equal," the risk of unemployment after college depends largely on your major.
"I can't emphasize to young people enough that picking the right degree that prepares them to do something is critical," says Susan Heathfield, management consultant and writer of the human resources site at About.com. "You don't have to leave what you love, you just have to think practically now - how can you work that degree into a job?"
And that might be a difficult question to answer if you're considering one of the following majors with high unemployment rates reported by recent college graduates in the Georgetown study.* Keep reading to learn which degrees to avoid as well as options you might want to consider.

Degrees With High Unemployment

Degree #1 - Fine Arts

Do you have a gift for artistic expression? By all means, follow your muse. Just seriously think about if you want to follow it into a fine arts degree program. According to the Georgetown study, employment rates for recent fine arts graduates are at a staggering 12.6 percent.

Part of the reason for this rate, Heathfield suggests, is cyclical: "When times are tough economically, people don't spend a lot of money or time on fine arts," she says. "Also, government funding has tanked in recent years, so fine arts are becoming more and more dependent on individual donations." And if donations to the arts are no longer tax deductible, she notes, it will be a huge blow to fine artists.

Degrees With Low Unemployment:

Degree #1 - Nursing

We've told you about the degrees that have the highest rates of unemployment. But here's the bright side at the other end of the spectrum: degrees with the lowest rates of unemployment. And if your calling is to help people, you might want to consider earning your degree in nursing. According to the Georgetown report, the unemployment rate among recent nursing grads is only 4 percent.

As Heathfield notes, you can't outsource face-to-face health care. "It's very difficult to substitute a machine for bedside care," Heathfield says. "I really see hands-on jobs in health care booming - people who work with patients will be highly employable.

Securing the Most Precious Asset

The Privacy Clearinghouse’s Chronology of Data Breaches enlisted that there are 3,671 cases of data breaches that are reported since 2005. These 3,671 cases of data breach have affected more than 650 million of records. These cases include:

·         A theft of credit card, bank accounts and other information by a worker, the theft solely affected 8.5 million records.

·         A laptop that contained information like social security number, date of birth, and other confidential about former employees of the company got stolen.

Today, the majority of the companies like to keep personal information of the clients as well as the employees. The recent studies of The Institute of Ponemon shows, misplacing of or theft of laptop, USB flash drive, use of malware software and any other kind of data breach results in a loss of $5.5 million on an average. The direct or indirect cost on a data breach may cost up to $194. The cost also includes a blow company’s goodwill, dent to brand and internal investigation. Loss of goodwill is might be the biggest injury to the company.

To protect a company’s reputation, hold cost and try to stay within the law. The main causes of data breach are; lack of experience, lack of data privacy and careless attitude regarding portable drives and other things. A data breach due to the loss or theft of laptops, USB thumb drive, memory card or any other portable data storing drive can cost $23 per record loss. If a company use software that can Lock Folders, be quite handy to protect data from breaches. A company can designate particular jobs to a particular person, such as: keeping eye on data safety. Business and client records are the major assets of a company. Rival companies can spend hundreds of dollars to exploit the business plan of the competitor. Data security should be one of the top most priorities of the organization.

For More Information Please Visit:

http://www.newsoftwares.net/folderlock/

Finding the Real Cost of a Data Breach!

Every person who is directly or indirectly have linked with computer technology must be aware with the fact that a data breach is a hazardous incident. But, no one has been able to estimate the perfect loss sustained by the victim. There have been several studies to approximate the cost of data breach. The most cited study regarding data breach has been done by the Ponemon Institute. As per the report of 2009-2011, the direct cost per breached record was 59 per data breach and the indirect cost per breached record was 135. The global payment faced a breach in March 2012 that leaked the record of 1.5 million card holders. Lately it was disclosed that some number of merchant accounts have also been affected, resulting a temporary removal from the PCI list. Although in the end of the day after facing all the trouble, they were able to continue their business as before.

Let’s discuss what is direct and indirect costs are and how we categorize the both costs?

The direct costs are the expanses that are made physically by the company. These expanses found a proper place after calculation in financial books. These costs include payment of insurance, expanses paid for data protection, payments to partner, expanses made filing suit or paying fines. There can be many other direct losses which are recorded as per actual figures not by estimation. The Global Payment expensed $92.7 million till now. Out of that $92.7 million, $20 million was recouped by insurance, $35.6 million were the charges from the cards, $77.1 million was spent on ID protection and there were some other direct cost included in the loss. So adding up and subtracting the costs, it turned out that the cost of direct loss was about $62 per record.

Indirect costs does not typically exist, they are an estimation of the future loss due to the loss of people’s trust, goodwill in the market and other things. The indirect cost does not find any real place in the financial records except the goodwill which is recorded with an estimated figure. A wise businessman will rate his goodwill in the market as the most precious asset.

A businessman does not know the importance of his records until he suffers a breach. The true value of the information is discovered in the black market. Data from a well to do company can be very handy for a rival company, the competitor can spend millions of Dollars to get the inside information of the company. Except the data leakage by mistake, the evil hackers can access your computer by malware viruses and links. An email containing links can show hackers the way to their data if they are clicked. An online hacking is difficult to tackle; however, one can make his/her data on their hard drives fully secure. Using software that can Password Protect File  can make all the records secure that he file contains.

For More Information visit:

http://www.newsoftwares.net/folder-protect/

You Say The Economy Stinks? The Most Expensive In-Car Options

My last car cost $3,200. Last summer, when I put a set of American Racing Torq-Thrusts on it, I fretted over the $900 in wheels and tires I was spending. People who purchase cars from brands like Rolls-Royce and Bentley don’t have that problem. They drop $3,200 on lunch, not including the plane ticket. Here are a handful of the most ludicrous options you can purchase on an automobile today.

Gold Plated Spirit of Ecstasy – $8,650

The most expensive car I ever purchased cost exactly $100 more than the gold plating applied to the Spirit of Ecstasy hood ornament in the Rolls-Royce Ghost. Maybe it’s because I’m an introvert at heart, but “gold-plating” has always been synonymous with “tacky” to me, whether it’s on a Gibson Les Paul, a Coupe de Ville or a Rolls-Royce. For $8,650, I want more than just the “spirit” of ecstasy. I’m looking for the real thing.

21-inch Fully Polished Eleven Spoke Wheels – $10,375

Wheels are pretty much made of the same material the world over, right? They show up as a single billet, and some guy presses “Make Wheel” on a CNC machine and BOOM. Wheel.

So what makes a set of 21-inch Fully Polished Eleven Spoke Wheels on a Rolls-Royce cost $10,375? Maybe I’m reading that wrong. Maybe it’s not “Polished” like with wheel polish. Maybe its “Polished,” like “attended to by a manservant from Warsaw.” Some Eastern European guy comes along with the car and for ten grand, that fella does nothing but keep the brake dust off those bad boys. Suddenly, that seems like a bargain. Can I get that on my Roadmaster?

Extreme Silver Satin Paint – $26,280

What the hell could possibly make a different paint selection cost $26,280 on the Bentley Continental R? Maybe they actually paint the car in a different color you don’t like and once you see it, they extort twenty-six grand out of you to change it from Chartreuse to something more sedate. They have to paint the car from the factory, right? What this is telling me is that the material alone costs $26,280. Unless it is made up of a suspension of the desiccated remains of Vladamir Lenin, $26,280 for paint is absurd. I’m also not sold on “Extreme.” What’s “extreme” about paint? Is it in “3D,” too?

Starlight Headliner – $12,350

 For the price of a well-equipped Nissan Versa, you can have a headliner in your Rolls-Royce that is lit with 3,000 fiber optic doohickeys as a means of enjoying a starlit sky even when the weather is crappy. My nine year old daughter has a similar feature in her room, courtesy of a large pack of glow-in-the-dark stars she carefully applied to her ceiling. Seven bucks at A.C. Moore, and you can put them in any arrangement you want. Hers spell out “Katie.” Take that, Rolls-Royce.

Bang & Olufsen Advanced Audio System – $6,300

The first time I saw a Bang & Olufsen audio system at Tech HiFi circa 1981 (Mary, Mother of Jesus, I’m old). It was wild, man, with a kooky cassette deck and a wild turntable that looked like it came out of Space: 1999. With the B & O system in the Audi A8, you don’t get to look at anything cool. It just sounds better, I guess, with 1400 watts and 19 speakers. I was listening to an interview with John Fogartyon WTF the other day and he was talking about how all the great music he made with Creedence Clearwater Revival was all made to sound good through a single paper cone speaker on the dash of a 1967 Pontiac and an AM radio. Is “Green River” really going to sound that much better at $6,300?

Chrome Jack with GT-R Logo – $299

This isn’t the most expensive option, per se, but it’s certainly one of the most ridiculous. You’ve just laid out $116,700 for a Nissan GT-R Track Edition and you’re looking at the option list. There it is, a Chrome Jack for three hundred bucks. Even the description makes you feel like a sap for even considering it. “On a supercar, even the jack is super-special. This one is chrome and features the GT-R® logo.” It should read: “Here’s a $300 jack, idiot.” Oh, and if you want the rod that makes the jack work? That’s another eight bucks. $307 buys a lot of AAA.

Could You Live Without a Credit Card?

Giulia Rozzi’s unhealthy relationship with credit cards started in college. Surrounded by friends with frivolous spending habits, Rozzi says she adopted the mindset of “spend now and deal with the consequences later.” That approach continued after graduation, when she moved to Los Angeles to pursue comedy and acting. Her cash flow was unsteady, but that didn’t stop her from using a credit card to bankroll a wealth of discretionary expenditures. A well-deserved pedicure? A fancy dress? A last-minute trip to Las Vegas with friends? All it took was one swipe of the credit card.

She hit a low point in 2004, having racked up $5,000 in credit card debt. Her parents agreed to pay it off – on the condition it wouldn’t happen again. “The agreement with them was I would never get another credit card, and of course, I did,” Rozzi says. Years later, when she found herself drowning in $20,000 in credit card debt, she decided it was time to give up plastic for good.

Rozzi is among a number of consumers who choose to live without credit cards. Some 29 percent of 1,004 respondents ages 18 years old or older to a 2010 poll by CreditCards.com said they did not own a credit card – around a 10 percent jump from the number of respondents who reported having no credit cards in 2009. For many people, saying goodbye to credit cards helps them stay out of debt and take more control of their finances.

Without thousands of dollars of credit at her disposal, Rozzi no longer makes purchases with money she doesn’t have. Today she pays for most items with cash and spends less. She says cash transactions make her think twice before making a purchase – significantly reducing her propensity for impulse purchases. A 2008 study led by Priya Raghubir, a professor of marketing at New York University, reinforced evidence from earlier studies that consumers tend to spend more money when paying with credit cards than they do when paying with cash.

Credit cards also alter a consumer’s mindset when contemplating a purchase. A 2012 study published in the Journal of Consumer Research found shoppers who charge an item to their credit card focus on the benefits of the purchase, while those who pay cash focus on the cost.

Consequently, many consumers who give up credit cards begin to pay closer attention to where their money is going and develop the discipline to spend less, says Gail Cunningham, vice president of membership and public relations at the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, a network of accredited and certified credit-counseling agencies. “Credit cards distance you from your hard-earned money,” Cunningham says. “We’ve found people who decide to live on a cash basis end up saving around 20 percent of their previous spending – and they do it without feeling deprived.”

However, those who go the credit card-free route may still encounter problems, including difficulties when booking hotels and renting vehicles. Such transactions typically require at least a debit card. “People who live in a cash-only world are going to find themselves marginalized and inconvenienced,” says Ben Woolsey, director of marketing and consumer research at CreditCards.com.

[Read: Financial Strategies for a Lifetime.]

Debit vs. credit card protections. Many credit experts, including Woolsey, advise credit card-free consumers to use a debit card that’s attached to a checking account so they can still make purchases without having to carry wads of cash.

But debit cards don’t offer the same protections as credit cards. The Fair Credit Bill Act covers consumers from fraudulent credit card charges. Consumers must submit a written dispute (some offer electronic submission) within 60 days after receiving an account statement that contains billing errors. The creditor will then investigate whether or not the charges are from a third party and decide if the money will be reimbursed to the consumer. The FCBA doesn’t cover debit card users, though. Instead, such consumers are liable for up to $50 of unauthorized charges if they report a lost or stolen debit card within two business days. If the report is filed after two business days, the cardholder is liable up to $500. And if unauthorized transactions aren’t reported within 60 days, the cardholder could be liable to pay the full amount.

Some banks, however, offer enhanced liability protection to debit card users, says Bruce McClary, a credit counselor at ClearPoint Credit Counseling Solutions, headquartered in Richmond, Va. For example, a creditor may not hold customers liable for fraudulent charges on their debit card if the dispute is reported within the first two business days. With financial institutions offering competitive features, McClary says consumers should shop before deciding where to open a debit card.

McClary recommends consumers regularly contribute to a savings account so they have an emergency fund in place if their debit card is compromised.

The disadvantages of closing all credit cards. Despite making it easier for some to climb out of debt, there are significant drawbacks to living without a credit card. With fewer avenues to build good credit, consumers may run into trouble when applying for a car loan or a home mortgage.

Woolsey of CreditCards.com says people with little or no credit history look riskier to lenders and may be offered car loans and home mortgages at higher interest rates – or may not qualify at all. “It’s almost like having no employment history or having been out of work for a long time,” Woolsey says, adding that a lack of credit history impairs your credibility as a trustworthy consumer. Closing a credit card account with no balance won’t ding your credit score, but the card history – including any missed payments – will remain on your credit report for about 10 years.

[See: 50 Smart Money Moves.]

Moreover, those who don’t use credit cards are still targeted by identity thieves. Fraudsters can use the consumer’s sensitive information to open a credit card in the victim’s name, for example, and accumulate debt on the card. Therefore, credit card-free consumers should check their credit report for errors. Americans are entitled to one free credit report a year at AnnualCreditReport.com. “If you take your eyes off your credit report for too long, you could be missing things that are challenging to repair,” McClary says.

One woman’s transition from credit to debit. JoAnneh Nagler of Burlingame, Calif., says making the transition from credit to debit-only living was challenging, especially since it was hard for her to admit she was in financial trouble. “I was around $80,000 in credit card debt before I woke up,” says Nagler, author of “The Debt-Free Spending Plan.” Her husband also had difficulty using credit cards responsibly; the couple divorced, partly due to their problems with credit card debt.

“I had fallen on my face so hard, so many times, that when I gave up my credit cards I was scared to do it because I didn’t know how I was going to live without them, but there’s never a good time to quit,” Nagler says. Fourteen years after the divorce, Nagler and her husband remarried. The couple signed a financial agreement – and had it notarized – swearing off all use of credit cards.

[Read: How One Woman Paid Off $80,000 in Credit Card Debt.]

Looking back on how she abused credit, Nagler says, “Other people have parents they can go to for large chunks of change, but that wasn’t a possibility for me, so I would say I used credit cards as my sugar daddy.”

The bottom line. Credit card-free living can have its ups and downs, but it enables many consumers to be more conscious of their spending, put more earnings into savings and stay out of trouble with creditors.

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