Pennywise

Our weekly look at all things automotive. Today's review by G.Chambers Williams III of the San Antonio Express-News.

Super makeover?Last year, Ford’s best-selling F-150 light-duty pickup came to market with a complete redesign, bringing lots of new features and innovations.

As long as we are doing it this year, why not do it always?

“This year, it all comes down to value and getting the best bang for your shopping dollar,” said Tod (cq) Marks, senior editor of Consumer Reports.

He was referring to a survey by the magazine showing nearly two-thirds of
Americans plan to cut back on holiday spending. That’s on top of the last year’s cutbacks, when more than three-fourths of Americans polled by Consumer Reports said they planned to spend less.

Wait until Monday to fill up?Gasoline prices in the Kansas City area are essentially unchanged heading into the weekend compared with a week ago.

Barnes & Noble Inc. said Nook, its device for reading digital versions of books, sold out its initial production run and won’t ship new purchases until the week of Jan. 4.

The retailer said last month when it introduced the $259 device that it would ship purchases by Nov. 30. The Nook is Barnes & Noble’s entry into the market dominated by Amazon.com Inc. and Sony Corp.

“While we increased production based on the high consumer interest, we’ve sold out of our initial nook allotment available for delivery before the holidays,” said Mary Ellen Keating, a Barnes & Noble spokeswoman.

From the Orlando Sentinel
"Build quality top notch"As part of its restructuring, General Motors executives decided to save Buick, kill Pontiac and Saturn. I remain unconvinced that this was the right decision, but I have to admit that the 2010 LaCrosse makes a very strong case that there is life left in Buick.

RecallThe Procter & Gamble Co. is recalling some 120,000 bottles of Vicks Sinex nasal spray after the company found bacteria in some samples during routine testing.

Spokesman Tom Millikin describes the voluntary recall as a precaution after small amounts of the B. cepacia bacteria were found in the over-the-counter product at the German plant where it’s made.

Holiday shoppers, it's almost time to start your spending engines.

With Black Friday -- the day after Thanksgiving -- just a week away, will consumers be spending or window shopping? Buying for themselves or for someone on the gift list? Spending online or at the mall? And on what?

Consumer Reports issued its pre-holiday shopping poll this morning. Among the significant data points:

--Electronics are hot items on Black Friday weekend. Seventy percent of the shoppers surveyed plan to purchase electronics early in the shopping season -- mostly video games or accessories, MP3 players or iPods, video game systems, digital cameras and flat-panel TVs.

A nod to the WebJ.C. Penney will stop publishing its twice-yearly “big book” catalogs, now that customers increasingly shop online. Instead, J.C. Penney Co. says it will publish specialty catalogs and focus its efforts online, on the Web site jcp.com and on social networks. In part, the company says it is responding to consumer habits to view catalogs more as “look books.”

Kitchentablenomics blogger Gene Meyer notes that more than 15 million taxpayers may owe Uncle Sam another $250 apiece next filing season.

What gives?

Lower payroll taxes passed last spring to pump money into the economy may have put too much money back into the hands of workers with more than one job.

For Gene's latest post and to determine if you might be in this situation, go to his We

Still alive and wellOur weekly look at gadgets, gizmos and trends in the world of personal technology. This week's stroy from the Houston Chronicle's Dwight Silverman