Share A Book at Bookcrossing.com

One of the really enjoyable things about working with people on their computers is that you get to hear different ways that they use their computer or the web. Of course the usual stuff is very common...but yesterday I met a new customer who directed me to bookcrossing.com. It is a neat idea. You buy a book and read it and then go to the site so you can register the book. Then leave it someplace and track it online.

I don't know about you but I never know what to do with books when I am done. I loan some to friends and keep a few others on the bookshelf but many times I end up selling them for pennies on the dollar to the half price bookstore or trying to give them to a library. (true story- I asked about giving books at our local library and they turned me away - they get too many!)

It is a neat way to share a good book.

More Alternatives Microsoft Office

I may have mentioned this before but your don't HAVE to buy Microsoft Office when you buy a computer. Many times it makes sense and they are nice programs...but the reality is for many people a free alternative will do the trick. This article highlights some free options.

Earth's final days

Crap! I had big plans for 7.7 billion years from now!

Multiple Charger

This seems like a neat idea. You can charge 6 devices with one charger. It appears that you customize it to fit the products you own. So you could include your iPod, cell phone, computer, etc. 

I have not bought one yet...but I think I will try it. 

Online Training Videos

This website: http://www.lynda.com/ has training on a number of subjects. 

Lynda.com is an award-winning provider of educational materials, including Hands-On Training instructional books, the Online Training Library, CD- and DVD-based video training, and events for creative designers, instructors, students, and hobbyists.

Download.com

I use download.com when I need to find a piece of software or perhaps a driver. it is a one stop shop for shareware and freeware. 

How is your Memory?

A fascinating story about a man from La Crosse, WI that has an unbelievable memory. I can barely remember what we had for dinner last night. Geesh!

Bill Gates - master of the obvious

I love this story. In other news automobiles to replace the horse and buggy!

Zagat

Zagat is a very popular site with restaurant reviews.  A great place to check if you are traveling. 

Doing Taxes Online

Doing taxes is a lot of fun! If, however, you would rather spend time chewing on glass you can always hire someone to do them for you. If you have a pretty simple return you may want to check out the IRS website. If you meet certain criteria you can actually file them online for free. I have used it and if you have everything on hand it isn't hard. You may have to pay something to submit the state return online. Check it out.

Clearing Your Inbox

This is an interesting video about clearing out your inbox of email. If you aren't careful you can spend a ton of time managing email. Tame the beast! 

Reverse Phone Lookup

This is kind of an interesting site. If you have a phone number you can look up an address and a name and number for it. Perhaps a nice idea when you are doing Christmas cards and you have forgotten an address. When you use it be sure to go halfway down to the whitepages portion. This is the free area.

Photo Books

I get positive feedback about the photobooks I make for the my family at the holidays. If you are wondering how I do it I use 2 different services. On the Mac you can use the built in photo creation tools in iPhoto. Apple has the books printed with My Publisher. If you are a windows user you can navigate directly to My Publisher's website and use the same tools. Also, for both PC and Mac you can try Blurb. I have used Blurb the last few years because of some additional features. They are great ways to collect your digital pictures.

Clark Howard

Clark Howard has a radio show about saving money that airs in Milwaukee on 620 WTMJ. He has some pretty good tips and the website is nice. It is worth a read. 

Conversion to Digital TV

This is kind of an interesting article about the upgrade to digital from analog TV signals. If you only get TV over-the-air and you have an older TV in 1-year your TV won't work. So you will need to get a special converter box.

Best Buy's Reward Zone

As much as I might be frustrated about the service at Best Buy I am still a regular customer. They have a reward zone program that is free and essentially gives you a $5 gift certificate for every $250 you spend. That doesn't sound like much but if you make a big purchase (like a TV or a computer) you can earn $20 or so pretty quickly.

Borders "Digital" Space

I came accross this on the internet. Borders has an area that is the "digital" area. You can create photo books, buy music, burn CDs, etc. The idea is that for many people that don't know how to do this it is a way to teach them. It seems like a good idea.

Adding Time-Warner Cable Service

If you have Time-Warner cable you might also be aware that they do offer phone service and high-speed internet service. They now have it set up on their website that you can configure your offering and add and remove services to get to the price you want. I like they way it is set up and I hope they continue to go down this path. It seems like a no-brainer that you would allow users to add and remove service online which would reduce their costs and allow the user to get to the right combination of services for them.

It would also be a nice way to offer promotions so a person could add a channel at no cost to sample it. It continues to be the best deal to bundle the service together (if you need it)

Starbucks Wifi

It makes so much sense that Starbucks would offer up free wireless at their many coffee shops. Until now you had to pay for it!

Office 2007 Files

Did you know that the new version of Office uses a different file format than Office 97-2003? What does that mean to you and I? Well if you are running Office 2007 and sharing files with people that use an older version you will need to save as the older version or encourage people to get the converters from Microsoft's website.

XM Radio

I never thought that I would like satellite radio. I found, though, once I had it that it is very nice. It is amazing how many commercials are on the radio. 

XM radio can also be listened to online. Many of the cheap radios are a great way to try it. 

Grocery Shopping Online

I have not used these guys before - since my wife does the grocery shopping - but I have to say that if I was forced to go to the grocery store every week I would hate it. Here you can shop online at Netgrocer. It is pretty slick because you can create a re-occuring orders. So you could have the same things delivered each week. The killer is you need to pay for shipping and that could make it a "no-go" for many people.

Reward Points

I travel a fair amount for my job and I find that I accumulate a decent amount of frequent flyer miles and hotel points. These programs are easy to join and free (in most cases) but I am curious as to how many points are abandoned. Like many business travelers when I fly to a location I sort the results by cost and then flight times. What this means is I rarely chose an airline on it's merits. It also means I have balances on many airline and hotel accounts that are far short from earning a free flight/stay.

So I came across this site for frequent fliers. I am just starting to dig into it but it looks promising. I have explored some of the individual airlines and redeemed points for smaller rewards. This seems to work well (like getting a giftcard to Sharper Image or a magazine subscription).

Apple Stock

Years ago, before Apple made it's big comeback with the iPhone my wife had bought me $60 worth of Apple stock as a lark. Now years later it is worth just under $1000. The news though is that Apple has dropped to $122 per share (along with much of the rest of the market)

A good buying opportunity I think! 

Is being fat bad?

This has nothing to do with technology but I thought it was interesting. This article disputes some of the claims that being overweight is bad for your health. Or at the very least that the research is exaggerated.

HBO online

If you have Time-Warner cable in Wisconsin, HBO,  and a Windows based PC you can check out HBO on-demand

I haven't tried it yet but it is a pilot that they are testing and it is worth a shot. 

I am not sure if I have mentioned this before but I subscribe to this video game service and I like it. (Although it is a little expensive) 

GameFly is a US online video game rental subscription service that specializes in providing games for game consoles and handheld game consoles.

Similar to the DVD rental subscription service Netflix, Gamefly sends games to subscribers via the United States Postal Service in re-mailable, pre-paid mailers. (Non-US residents are ineligible for the service, as GameFly does not ship overseas.) The subscriber then can keep the games for as long as desired while paying the monthly fee, although the number of games is limited by the type of subscription plan chosen by the subscriber.

Free Office Software

When you buy a new computer many times the next purchase is a productivity suite of software. (such as Microsoft Office) 

What I have found is that many people never use a fraction of the features on their home computer. You might want to consider saving some money and checking out Open Office. 

It is free and available for just about every major computing platform. 

Computer Consulting

I participated in a seminar the other morning. I was one of the younger people in the audience and while we were waiting for the session to begin a conversation started about tech support. I didn’t tell anyone that I did computer consulting on the side and just listened to the conversation.

 

One of the people talked about how they called for help on the computer and someone from India “took control” of their PC and helped fix the problem. This is pretty common today with large companies such as Dell outsourcing tech support to low cost countries.

 

I still find that we learn best from simply having a person sitting next to you and walking through the steps. For some things the remote support works well but not for everything. I really enjoy helping people with technology but I have to say I am amazed that a small computer company doesn’t offer in-home training. (not set-up mind you – but actual training)

 

Until some company steps up, I hope you might call me for your next computer need! J

 

Microsoft to buy Yahoo?

Microsoft bid $44B for Yahoo. Microsoft is interested in taking on Google and feel that need they need Yahoo to do this. It will be interesting to see what happens but honestly I am not sure what Microsoft thinks they are really getting in this deal. What does Yahoo have that isn't already in Microsoft's portfolio?