Ron K.

Unusual find. For those who find a diverse "How-To" site orgasmic to browse - here you go. Lots of serious how-to advice, all in video format. Some rather bizarre:

"So you've been pulled over and you need an out. Well, if you're prepared with a water bottle and some skills chances are you may just freak out the cop and he'll let you go!", and plenty with smart/useful topics:

Tartine Bread: "The Beauty and Artistry of Bread Making. Unfortunately, I'm a little behind schedule on my pizza dough making mission, but I promise - more experiments coming soon! In the meantime, here's a beautiful video about the nuance that goes into bread making, as demonstrated by famed San Francisco baker... ".

Best guess most will find something here to come-in handy. Fun to search categories watch vids just as well.
Warmly to Friends,
Ron

Cut Your PC's Energy Usage By Up To 35%

Modern computers do, of course, have lots of power settings to help you cut down on electricity usage. Trouble is, you have to continuously adjust if you want to balance the computer's desire to save power with your desire to have a seamless hands-on session with your computer.

Here Jabbers is where a clever new piece of software comes in. "Granola" bills itself as intelligent power-saving software, which continually adjusts the power requirements of your computer to balance your need for speed against the PC's need to save energy. Simply put, if you're doing something that doesn't require your CPU to run at full power, then the software will slow it down where possible.

The single-user version of Granola, which runs on all recent versions of Windows, is freeware. It's a 4 MB download, and you can get it from http://www.grano.la. Why not give it a try? You've only a few bucks to save... these days every bit helps. If it works for you - tell friends.
Best,
Ron

CAUTION: For those anxious to get "in" with Google Plus, beware of a myriad of faux opportunities to do so. Everything from eBay to Google. Google+ has been PAUSED due to overwhelming response. Don't be duped into an offer bound to give-up your password. BE CERTAIN YOU ACTIVATE YOUR BROWSER'S ABILITY TO WARN OF WEB-SITE FORGERIES.

This particular indiscretion is UNLIKE Digital Inspiration's pursuit of quality in referrals. However:

CAUTION: Digital Inspiration is recommending a link offering Google Plus invites, on eBay. The link is malicious, will take you to a faux Facebook page... and if you've activated your browser's ability to detect FORGED SITES (Firefox does/can), it will steer you clear before a password is ripped. REALLY disappointed Amit in this indiscretion.
Ron

If you have a small to medium size business, and want the capability of accepting VISA, American Express, and Discover (paying 2.75%) via small device plugging into ear-phone jack on iPhone or Android... Check this out. Very smart.

Microsoft Launches Free On-Demand Virus/Mal-ware Scanner

So far On-Demand scanner has dredged-up a fair amount of malware on my PCs. It's a large download, mentioned in the following run-down, but wasn't enough to deter me... and I'm rather conservative where adding software to my runs-like-a-clock Win XP PC. So thumbs-up for me. It self-expires. And so far performed admirably for an MS freebie. (When UNINSTALLING ANYTHING, grab a FREEWARE copy of REVO-UNINSTALLER. It dogs deep to ferret out bits&pieces files that are almost always left behind when uninstalled.)

Here's The Deal:
Microsoft has launched a new, free virus/malware scanner, that's designed to be used if you think your computer might be infected.

The program is called the Microsoft Safety Scanner. To use it, download the file from http://www.microsoft.com/security/scanner/en-us/default.aspx and then run it on your PC. The app is portable, so doesn't need an installer. When run it, it will analyze your computer and detect, and remove, many of the most prevalent viruses.

Microsoft makes clear this is NOT intended to take the place of a proper on-access anti-virus product. It's simply designed to be used in emergencies... if you think your computer may have a problem that has managed to sneak past your existing defenses. Also, note that the program automatically expires after 10 days, so if you want to run it regularly you'll need to keep downloading the latest version.

Safety Scanner is a cool perk from Microsoft's range of free security tools, of which its Security Essentials suite is probably the best known. But a 67 MB download, for a program that expires after 10 days, why so huge? Go ask MS:: smile:: McAfee offers a similar product, also free, called Stinger. It doesn't expire after 10 days, can be downloaded from http://www.mcafee.com/us/downloads/free-tools/how-to-use-stinger.aspx, and is just a 7.7 MB download.

So check these tools out. Hope everyone is doing well.
Ron

Another tough one.
How's this: Making the world's knowledge computable

Wolfram|Alpha introduces a fundamentally new way to get knowledge and answersnot by searching the web, but by doing dynamic computations based on a vast collection of built-in data, algorithms, and methods.

Bringing broad, deep, expert-level knowledge to everyone... anytime, anywhere.

Go to the site, and play with it. Ask questions, about ANYTHING. Toughest mathematical computation... to 'Best Pizza". You'll get an answer. Hope it's fun/interesting for you.
I'll try to get back here more often. The site looks GREAT since last visit! Nice work Rod...
Best,
Ron

Hi.
It's been a while. Been busy but had to share this:
Difficult at best to describe Wimp.com... other than to say, short films of an unusually fascinating nature. When you've nothing better to do, absolutely try wimp... smile.
Hope everyone is well.
Ron

This is not a new idea by any stretch. I like the way NudgeMail is organized, a bit simpler.

Two easy ways to use NudgeMail: Send any email to *******@nudgemail.com

1. Create a new email (or forward an existing one)
2. Set the "to:" to *******@nudgemail.com
3. Set the "subject:" to the day, date, or time when you want the NudgeMail to come back to you. For example, "Monday" or "Tomorrow" or "Oct 13 or "2 hours" are all acceptable ways to send a NudgeMail
4. Enter anything you want in the body of the email, then hit Send!

OR----- use the email "TO:" to control NudgeMail:

1. Create a new email (or forward an existing one)
2. Set the "to:" to the day/date/*******@nudgemail.com. For example, "*******@nudgemail.com" or "*******@nudgemail.com" or "*******@nudgemail.com" or "*******@nudgemail.com" are all acceptable ways to send a NudgeMail
3. Enter anything you want in the subject and body of the email, then hit Send!

Anything to make things a bit easier, better tools.
Best,
Ron

This is exceptionally handy. There are different online tools that can be used to convert files between formats of certain file types. This means you would bookmark a separate conversion site for video, audio, and document files. Fortunately "FreeFileConverter.com" merges all of those conversion tools and presents them on a single dashboard.

Using the site is very easy: select a file from your computer or enter its URL, then select the desired output format, and click on the "Convert" button. The output format options are provided according to the type of file you select.

When the file is converted the output can be downloaded in the desired format or as a ZIP archive; sizes of both download types are provided with the download link. The output file is stored on the site's servers for 12 hours.

If you're always converting files, bookmark this website.
Happy holidays to everyone. Hope 2011 is a exceptional year for everyone.
Ron

If you intend to share a bunch of links you've discovered lately, then sending those via email looks like the easiest thing to do. But it isn't convenient to click on them one by one and open in browser tabs, especially if there are a lot of them.

BridgeURL solves this problem by helping you create a website slide-show and combining all those sites into a single URL.

The "web-based" service doesn't require registration and you can quickly add URLs and share the new URL that's generated. Simple but has been incredibly handy!
Have a great 2011,
Ron

Had to bring this to your attention. I love it:

Min.us – Here is another minimalist tool that lets you share you photos galleries online. Min.us is a simple website creating quick anonymous albums by letting you drag your pictures to the website. Once the album is complete, a link to your album will be provided. You can then manage the gallery from the link with options such as changing the name of the album, adding more photos, and deleting photos.

Hope you enjoy...
Ron

Should link not take you where you're trying to go, point your browser here:
http://www.insults.net/html/swear/

I can't say this will save you money or keep your consumer's "cul" out of harm's way, but should you want to vent your spleen, in no uncertain terms, might as well have them respond with, "Huh?" (smirk.)

Send the despicable on a wild online chase through language dictionaries and translators to get a clue what sort of carnage you've bathed him/her in. Unquestionably good for the soul; will expand the flavour of your insults collection and salacious reputation, and certainly provide the sheen of one who has that unquestionable Internationale flair when flaying taking someone apart with the written word. You'll charm your friends and leave those you have no use for in a virtual quandary of French, Swedish, Latvian, Yiddish... or really fry an $#*! in Latin (let 'em dig that crap up)!

Have some fun today!
Revoir mes amis,
Ron

If link above does not get you where you want to go, point your browser here:
http://www.joindiaspora.com/

This is fascinating. Most know the downsides of Facebook, the security flaws and rather ambiguous uses of our personal information. There is a new "Facebook" in town. Open source, and you can decide where your personal data is maintained... on someone's servers who-knows-where, or if you choose, on your own computer. I have a feeling this will be big.

From N. Y. Times:
How angry is the world at Facebook for devouring every morsel of personal information we are willing to feed it?

A few months back, four geeky college students, living on pizza in a computer lab downtown on Mercer Street, decided to build a social network that wouldn't force people to surrender their privacy to a big business. It would take three or four months to write the code, and they would need a few thousand dollars each to live on.

They gave themselves 39 days to raise $10,000, using an online site, Kickstarter, that helps creative people find support. It turned out that just about all they had to do was whisper their plans. "We were shocked," said one of the four, Dan Grippi, 21. "For some strange reason, everyone just agreed with this whole privacy thing."
They announced their project on April 24. They reached their $10,000 goal in 12 days, and the money continues to come in: as of Tuesday afternoon, they had raised $23,676 from 739 backers. "Maybe 2 or 3 percent of the money is from people we know," said Max Salzberg, 22.

Working with Mr. Salzberg and Mr. Grippi are Raphael Sofaer, 19, and Ilya Zhitomirskiy, 20 "four talented young nerds," Mr. Salzberg says all of whom met at New York University's Courant Institute. They have called their project Diaspora* and intend to distribute the software free, and to make the code openly available so that other programmers can build on it. As they describe it, the Diaspora* software will let users set up their own personal servers, called seeds, create their own hubs and fully control the information they share. Mr. Sofaer says that centralized networks like Facebook are not necessary. "In our real lives, we talk to each other," he said. "We don't need to hand our messages to a hub. What Facebook gives you as a user isn't all that hard to do. All the little games, the little walls, the little chat, aren't really rare things. The technology already exists."

The terms of the bargain people make with social networks you swap personal information for convenient access to their sites have been shifting, with the companies that operate the networks collecting ever more information about their users. That information can be sold to marketers. Some younger people are becoming more cautious about what they post. "When you give up that data, you're giving it up forever," Mr. Salzberg said. "The value they give us is negligible in the scale of what they are doing, and what we are giving up is all of our privacy."

The Diaspora* group was inspired to begin their project after hearing a talk by Eben Moglen, a law professor at Columbia University, who described the centralized social networks as "spying for free," Mr. Salzberg said.

The four students met in a computer room at N. Y. U., and have spent nearly every waking minute there for months. They understand the appeal of social networks.
"Certainly, as nerds, we have nowhere else to go," Mr. Salzberg said. "We're big nerds." "My social life has definitely collapsed in favor of maintaining a decent GPA and doing this," Mr. Sofaer said.

A teacher and digital media researcher at N. Y. U., Finn Brunton, said that their project which does not involve giant rounds of venture capital financing before anyone writes a line of code reflected "a return of the classic geek means of production: pizza and ramen and guys sleeping under the desks because it is something that it is really exciting and challenging." The Diaspora* crew has no doubts about the sprawling strengths and attractions of existing social networks, having gotten more than 2,000 followers of "joindiaspora" on Twitter in just a few weeks.

"So many people think it needs to exist," Mr. Salzberg said. "We're making it because we want to use it."

If link above is not complete,. Point your browser here:
http://www.google.com/s2/u/0/search/social#socialcircle_Considering how indispensable Google and its services have become for us, it is no surprise that Google knows more about our online connections than anyone else. To let you know how it identifies your connections for its social search results, it has a page with tabs called Social Circle and Social Content.

Interesting insight to your most frequent contacts and content.
Ron.

Buying a car can no doubt be a stressful experience. There are just plenty of things to worry about, from whether or not you've picked the right car, what the reviews are saying, if it's going to be reliable, and if you're paying too much, (avoid a good deal of hassle, and walk-in asking for the "new" or "used-car" manager. This person can squabble price directly with you, rather than having the sales person run back & forth with middle-man. And, if you want to be assured of a courtesy car... with 24 hours advance service call, ask for that with pen-in-hand, JUST BEFORE you sign the contract. Get it in writing as well!)ond what your trade-in is worth.

Buying a new car can be a bit overwhelming sometimes, but it doesn't have to be. With the Web, it's easy to simplify everything to avoid some of the hassle and frustration altogether.

CarZen.com

First, perhaps the most important thing to do is to research a new car and figure out what kind of car is right for you. With so many makes and models out there to choose from, how do you make that process easier? That's where CarZen comes into play.

The site allows you to quickly select a vehicle that fits your specific needs. All it takes is just a few simple steps. First, just pick any of the body styles you are interesting in along with your price range.

A list of possible cars for you is shown below and from there, you can go on and select your personal preferences, including your specific needs, wants, and style, to narrow down the list further. Once completed, just review your results to check out the cars that are perfect for you.

Displayed for every match in your results is the percent match based on your needs, along with basic information about the car, including MSRP, invoice, and MPG. Below that, you can review the report card of how the vehicle was scored followed by a helpful overview of the model, basic stats, styles, and features.

Great place to begin when you really arent certain what "style" car you have in mind.
Ron

I think this is a classy idea. Whether marking a passing, birth, getting married, falling in love, opening doors on a new business, swearing off cigarettes... anything-at-all. If you have any "blogger" in your blood, are a dyed-in-wool-romantic, or simply feel motivated to mark an occasion... I think you'll like this:

YourTribute is a web-based tool, that lets you set up a personal website (a Tribute) to plan, share and remember a significant event or special someone. A Tribute can be created in minutes, but remains online for life to provide an everlasting record of the special occasion.

Why Your Tribute?

It is easy and elegant. Create a personalized Tribute for your event in minutes. Your Tribute includes many of the features of popular online invitation, photo sharing, blogging, and social networking websites, in an easy-to-use intuitive interface.

Check the site out. I'll be surprised if you don't find something worth carving into the "foreverness" of the Internet.

Thanks. As always, if you found this review interesting or helpful, please recognize this review, in some category, in my ratings!
Ever-On...
Ron

I've only begun tracking my homes energy consumption. I find it's an interesting & literal way of getting a feel for where money is wasted. Saving energy not solely for cost sake, but without sound cliche, start being kinder to mother Earth.

What follows is the website's verbatim commentary on hos it works. I think it's worth looking into:_"Do you remember RecycleBank, the Philadelphia-based company that rewarded customers for recycling? I thought that was a great idea, and I've got a similar response to Earth Aid's new rewards program for energy savings. Rolled out earlier this month in Washington, DC, Earth Aid offers a program to track your energy use and savings, and then to "pay" you for those savings through reward points that can be redeemed at partner companies.

In its press release for the launch of the rewards program, the company claims that its program "…creates a virtuous circle of local businesses providing incentives for households to save energy, and households re-circulating their savings on their utility bills into local businesses – benefiting both the local environment and the local economy." All of this is on top of money actually saved by consumers cutting their energy use…

I've been using the program for several months now, and its been a great way to track energy use: each month, I get a statement showing me how my energy use compares to that same month the previous year (and, yep, we're saving so far!). So far, the rewards program is only available in DC, but as the whole program is based on the concept of "rewards for savings," I'd expect to see reward partners established in other cities soon.
How Does Earth Aid "Pay" Consumers to Save on Electricity (and other utilities)?

As I noted in my earlier post for SUNfiltered, Earth Aid bundles the energy savings from participants and sells them on the carbon market. When I talked to CEO Ben Bixby about the concept back in April, he noted that the company's rewards will likely only be a part of the payback consumers receive from cutting energy usage: in addition to lower utility bills, consumers who make energy efficiency upgrades to their home may also be eligible for tax incentives. The Earth Aid system itself ups the ante a bit, but may be more important in the long term for providing an initial incentive for individuals and families to start exploring reduced energy use… and the many benefits it creates for both the planet and the pocketbook.

So, what do you think? A good way to get people focusing on their home energy use, and how to reduce it? I know I've been stoked to see our savings…".

Hope this makes sense for you!
If you like this, report it on SiteJabber give the review a reward as a GreatFind! Smile...
Ron

This seems simply smart. When shopping for a particular item, see what BestCovery suggests as best of lot. When shopping online, there is an opportunity to cross-reference pricing/quality (equals "VALUE" incidentally) one can just wear-out before being certain he/she has done all the homework possible. This website gets you started... if not facilitating your purchase decision. It uses TWO savvy criteria to "decide" best choice.

Simply start searching for the product by entering a few keywords in the search box or browse using the categories. For each category, BestCovery will show you the best available product in the market.

Products are ranked using two different methodologies I mentioned above: Firstly, products are extensively reviewed and ranked by experts belonging to the industry who know the products inside and out. They pick the best product, write their thoughts on it and give it the "Best" stamp.

However, in many other cases where expert ratings are not available or not suitable, BestCovery uses an intelligent crowd-sourcing technology that takes user reviews and ratings from a number of consumer sites like Amazon, and ranks products based on that. In either case, you are able to see which product beats others when it comes to a specific purpose.

The categories and sub-categories are pretty detailed. For example, if you are looking for a GPS, BestCovery tells you what the best GPS is overall, the best GPS with real-time traffic and even the best GPS for golf. You can also view other products, read their reviews and buy any product mentioned on BestCovery through a number of suggested vendors.

Features:

* Identify the best products for each category.
* Search, browse by category or see recent bests.
* Read about the experts who rank products and see their profile.
* Read hundreds of user reviews for any product.
* Buy the product you like using provided vendor links.
* Compare prices between different products.
* No registration required.

This can be a very handy consumer tool when trying to narrow a purchase decision. It seems like an excellent starting point!

Hope this help a bit,
Ron.

Everyone is interested in saving money. For more reasons than I care to think about, many do little or nothing to pare-down what consumer services cost. For those invested (no pun) in saving as much as possible, refusing to be ripped-off, here's cool site that can potentially help._BillShrink has always incorporated wireless service into its features since – let's be honest – wireless bills one of the worst offenders for paying too much without realizing it. Lots of people currently getting screwed over o wireless plans Pricing plans fluctuate so much between different plans and services, and a lot of the time you're confused as to what you are actually paying for. It is especially tough when you consider that a lot of plans lock you into a 2 year deal.

Compare wireless phone services
On BillShrink, just select the Wireless service tab, fill out your information (current carrier, current cost), and hit Go>>. BillShrink will then ask you for your usage information, which – in most cases – you can sign into your service provider and grant BillShrink access to the statistics.

After BillShrink has all the necessary information, you can begin viewing potential savings. You can enter your email address so the service remembers your settings, also._Credit Cards: compare bank services:
For credit cards its the same thing. Just select the information pertaining to your credit usage and hit Go>>. Then you will have to fill out a little more information to narrow down what you're looking to accomplish with the service. Whether you're looking to get a new credit card or are attempting to get your very first one, BillShrink can accommodate you._Savings & CDs
BillShrink can also find you the best rates on Savings and CDs. After you fill out how much you could afford to save each month, BillShrink will search through hundreds of savings accounts, finding and matching you with the ones that best fit your saving profile. It also computes the amount you will earn in interest per year, minus fees._Gas Stations
Finding the cheapest gas stations is something everyone should be able to take advantage of immediately. Enter in your most frequent destinations (i. E. home, work) and make/model of your car and BillShrink will find and display all of the cheapest gas stations in your area using Google maps._Television Service:
The television service feature on BillShrink is listed as beta, but there's really nothing beta about it. To compare cable and satellite bills, enter in your address, current provider, and how much you currently pay to see how much you could be saving with an alternate service. BillShrink makes sure to only list the services available in your area, which I thought was pretty cool._Conclusion
If you use BillShrink properly, you can potentially reduce your bills and save yourself a lot of money. It's a pretty straight forward service and is generally very easy to use and navigate. BillShrink is definitely one of the sites I will be incorporating into my money-saving arsenal (along with Mint).

Everyone complains... now do something to stop the constant drip of wasted money.

Crowdrise: Social Networking Site For Fund Raising & Advocacy

Somewhere in us all exists a desire to push advocacy and help those in need. Crowdrise was created to help people wanting to help other people. It is a "charity- social-networking" website that lets users send donations online for various fund-raising activities and advocacy... or create his/her own advocacy program.

Once you sign up for a Crowdwise account, you can either start a fund-raising campaign, volunteer for a project, or get sponsors for your volunteer projects. You can choose whether you just want to donate money or be part of the volunteering team. You can also set up as many fund raising campaigns and volunteer projects that you want.

There is, however, a transaction fee once you donate to the project or charity you set up. Crowdrise deducts 5% on donations made through their site and a $1 transaction fee for donations under $25 or a $2.50 transaction fee for donations $25 and above. That rather sucks, but the web-site is a business and charges a fee to organize.

Crowdrise not only aims to help volunteers and fundraisers but is also a fun way for people who share the same passion of helping people in need to bond, interact, share stories, share visions, and be friends with.

Features:

* Easy search engine for the charities or foundations you may want to be part of.
* Users can win amazing prizes as long as they incur many points.
* Donations are secured since the Crowdrise uses Amazon Payments.
* Easy user-interface; adding friends, uploading photos and videos are easy.
* Transaction fee applies.
* Share your project.
* Team fund-raising esprit de-corps!

Good luck,

Ron.