HearUsNow.org - An effective place to post cell phone gripes
Telestial.com - Pre-paid SIM cards for overseas travel
RangeRoamer.com - Pre-paid SIM cards for overseas travel
CatalogChoice.org - A free way to get off catalog mailing lists
Alternative Fueling Station Locator - Find a fueling station near you NLOP.com - Free and legal online poker gaming

Today's show featured "Best Of Clark" repeats from recent shows

Several automakers announced new plans for alternative energy cars at the recent Los Angeles Auto Show. Honda unveiled its Clarity, a hydrogen powered fuel-cell vehicle. The Clarity will emit zero pollution. A 3-year lease would run you about $600/month, so it's not exactly cheap. Honda will be marketing its vehicle in Southern California, where there are several dozen hydrogen-filling stations. Chevrolet/GM has plans to put around 100 of its hydrogen vehicles on the road in SoCal under the Equinox nameplate. Meanwhile, Ford is working to launch its plug-in hybrids. Those kinds of cars usually run on electricity for the first 40 miles before they kick over to a gas-powered engine. Clark salutes the entrepreneurial spirit of these automakers who are experimenting with new kinds of cars. Some of you may remember when Clark previously spoke about a car company called Tesla that's building a $100,000 electric sports car. Their goal is to use proceeds from initial sales to fund further research into developing alt-fuel vehicles that will be much more affordable for everybody. This is exactly the kind of entrepreneurial spirit that will help us move away from the environmental and national security dangers that go along with gas engines.

Some of our recent callers have alerted us to cell-phone horror stories when traveling overseas. They've been burned for charges ranging from $5/minute on a cruise to an $8,500 bill for a variety of calls made from abroad. A slightly cheaper option is to enroll in your carrier's own international calling plan. If you choose to go this route, make sure you get an e-mail confirmation of your enrollment before you travel. A better and cheaper option still is to buy a prepaid SIM chip online. You might want to use Telestial.com, which is good for when you're doing a single-country trip. Check out RangeRoamer.com if you're going to be traveling to multiple nations. What if you're taking an action adventure trip in uncharted terrority? Try buying or renting a satellite phone, which will still cost less per minute than the usual charges from your carrier. Another tip for travelers: Get an unlocked world phone. T-Mobile will unlock your existing handset after 90 days, while AT&T requires you to complete your contract before they unlock you. You can also try going on eBay and buying an already unlocked world phone on the cheap.

Here in the United States, cell phones are controlled by the Big Four carriers (Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile) with an iron fist. But that may soon be coming to an end. Sprint has entered into a new settlement that will allow you to keep their phone after you finish your contract. You can then go to another provider that runs on a compatible network -- such as Alltel and Virgin Mobile -- and you won't have to buy a new phone!

The old business model where cell phone companies tie you into their phone and their network makes no sense. Most of the world runs on a network called GSM. We are actually one of the only countries with two competing networks -- GSM and CDMA. Meanwhile, public revulsion over the Apple/AT&T iPhone deal is really helping to bring about a new day in the industry. Isn't it funny that with all the talk of smart phones our mobile devices are actually much dumber than the phones people use overseas? In fact, Verizon takes smart phones and dumbs them down on purpose to disable functions that they can't figure out how to monetize yet! So Clark loves the outcome of the Sprint lawsuit because it will really help open things up. Soon we'll buy phones like we do any other piece of technology. You don't buy your computer from your Internet service provider, do you? No, you buy it elsewhere and then hook it up. Cell phones will one day be like this.

Clark recently received an offer in his mailbox to get a mortgage on his house for 1.5 percent interest! It's like 2004 all over again when the weirdo loans were rampant. It turns out this is a new trend among mortgage companies. Lenders have seen the volume of business fall so much that they're getting increasingly desperate -- hence a slew of mailings trying to get you to treat your house like an ATM. Clark received a mailing from Countrywide offering $511,000 for a refinance. Meanwhile, The Los Angeles Times reports that lenders are also sending out mailings about option payment loans again. These are the kind where the balance rises over time instead of declining. What is going on here? When Clark looked closely at the first offer, he saw it was a teaser rate that's only good for 90 days. So beware that these mailbox offers can financially blow up in your face. Remember there is no free lunch. Clark wants you to learn in his school, rather than the school of hard knocks.