Overcoming Digital Obscurity

Five Best Photo-Printing Sites - Photo printing - Lifehacker:
"Once upon a time people took photos and dutifully carted their film down to the photo shop to get developed, waiting to see how the photos turned out. Now people immediately check whether or not the shot was good on the display of their digital camera, and more often than not stuff the photos onto their hard drives or upload them to their Flickr accounts, but never get around to actually printing them and preserving them in a physical form. If you've been meaning to get around to printing more photos and saving them from their fate of digital obscurity, the following five Lifehacker reader-selected sites can help you."

I'm one of those people who doesn't take many pictures, and when I do I just store them on my PC never to be seen again. Then I read this article and realized I was not alone. Banning photo's to Digital Obscurity is a common disease.
Don't let yourself become like me, read this article and you too can bore friends and co-workers with a wallet full of family photos. The article is a LifeHacker reader survey and review of the 5 best on-line photo printing sites. I hope that it will save your digital photos from the same fate as mine.
Enjoy!

Free Full Version Office Suite

SoftMaker Office 2008 Free Full Version Download With Genuine License Key - My Digital Life:
"SoftMaker Office 2008 is reliable office productivity software that is designed for beginners and professional users. SoftMaker Office Suite consists of a word processor TextMaker 2008 with DTP features, a spreadsheet PlanMaker 2008, and presentation graphics program that can reads and writes all PowerPoint files called SoftMaker Presentations 2008. In addition, SoftMaker Office 2008 also comes with user-friendly interface and compatibility with Microsoft Office formats. The new SoftMaker Office 2008 has added a ton of features such as writes OpenDocument files, direct PDF export, OLE server, programming language BasicMaker (Microsoft VBA clone), VBA compatible macro programming, full screen mode, envelope generator, and booklet printing."

I found a great FREE Office Suite that you might be interested in. I use OpenOffice myself, but the reviews on this one are good enough for me to "give it a go" on my test machine.
Try it, and let me know what you think. I've added a new Contact page where you can email me directly instead of using the comments section. Give the new page a shot, I'd be glad to hear from you.
Enjoy!

Myth: Young People Know All About Computers

Use Better Tools to Be a Better Student in 2010 :
"Despite the proliferation of laptops and netbooks, the vast majority of students still use their computers like $500 typewriters. Stop working so hard and be a better student by leveraging some clever computer tools to your advantage."
"Every semester I get a new wave of college freshman into my classroom, most of them armed with laptops. For the last several semesters, I have been informally tracking how they use their computers. I always assumed that my students were using their computers to their full potential to help them with school, research, and such, but almost all of them were simply using their laptops as extremely expensive typewriters and instant-messaging terminals.
What good is all the computing power of the pre-1960s world sitting on your lap if you're not using it to make college life easier? The following is a guide for students everywhere that want to spend less time on the tedious stuff, and more time on the things like study and research that actually produce results."

Here's an interesting article about college freshmen and their limited computer abilities.

I've always maintained that in general, people young and old, are not as computer savvy as the media and computer makers think they are. I can't tell you how many people I've run across who tell me they are puzzled by the fact that they are proficient with computers at work, but when they use their home computer they're lost. They don't understand that the work computers run specialized programs geared specifically to their jobs, but their home computers are loaded down with generalized computer programs that they have to figure out how to apply to daily chores.

I'm reminded of a comment made by one of our local weather forecasters, Pati Darak Weather On The Ones, about a new laptop she just purchased:
“You'd think that when the laptop showed up it would do what I want, not what its programmed to do.”

So don't feel to bad about your perceived limited computer skills, most people only know a fraction of the capabilities today's modern computers offer. They're capable of doing a hell of a lot more than just email, web browsing, twittering and face booking.

A New Take On Debit Card Fees

Visa, Using Fees To Dominate a Market - NYTimes.com: 
"Every day, millions of Americans stand at store checkout counters and make a seemingly random decision: after swiping their debit card, they choose whether to punch in a code, or to sign their name.
It is a pointless distinction to most consumers, since the price is the same either way. But behind the scenes, billions of dollars are at stake.
When you sign a debit card receipt at a large retailer, the store pays your bank an average of 75 cents for every $100 spent, more than twice as much as when you punch in a four-digit code."

Even at my age, I find you can learn something new.

I switched from Credit Cards to one Debit Card many years ago. I got tired of the fees charged to both me and the merchants, and all the other problems associated with them. So I was quite surprised when I read this article about how all the fees are still there, only now they are being paid by the merchants and the banks. As the article points out we are talking big bucks here.

I will never understand why the merchants don't just give discounts to cash customers and save themselves some money. That way they would also have some leverage with the banks and card companies over rates, now they seem to have nothing to bargain with.

Update: The NYT article seems to be making the rounds among bargain hunter blogs. Sue Stock's News and Observer consumer blog has a post entitled  The Deal On Debit Cards. It has some interesting observations on the subject, so give Sue some traffic and take a look at what she has to say.

Four Stress Reduction Exercises

Four Stress Reduction Exercises You Can Blog or Tweet About: 
"This Christmas week may be filled with places and events for you to attend and tweet about, but have you stopped to appreciate the beauty of all the events that have brought your family and you together in this busy season?
Being thankful for the good things, however small or big, is one good way to be positive and see that reflected in a happier mood in yourself and others. Gratitude has been cited as a resource for fighting depression and improving mental health, according to studies by former American Psychological Association president, Martin Seligman."

Even if you don't Blog or Tweet, this article has something for you. I am always stressed out around the Holidays, and the article contains some useful hints on how to avoid the unpleasantries of the season.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Camcorder Deal

The Cheapskate - CNET News:
"Tis the season to record a lot of video. And take it from me: you want a camcorder you can slip into a pocket between memorable moments, not some big, bulky thing that requires a neck strap.
Flip Video's popular pocket cams start at around $200, but right now you can grab the Creative Vado HD (with accessories) for $99.99 shipped."

If you don't have a camcorder already, this is a really good for the Holidays. Besides the price, the nice thing about the deal is that it includes an Accessory Kit which would normally cost about $45. Check out the article and most of all view the comments, they are always worth the read.

The Complete Guide to Avoiding Online Scams

Scam Busters - For Your Less Savvy Friends and Relatives:
"Our readers are a savvy bunch who aren't likely to be taken in by an online scam—but we've all got those friends and relatives we worry about. Here's our definitive guide to helping them stay safe online.
When training your loved ones how to keep themselves safe online, you should remind them of the rule your parents probably taught you: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Using a little common sense goes a long way to realizing that you aren't going to suddenly win the Spanish National Lottery when you didn't even know you had a ticket. That said, here's a few tips that you should share with your less-than-savvy friends and family to help them avoid falling victim to an online scam."

Sorry I haven't posted in so long, I've been side tracked by some personal things. Hopefully they'll be resolved next week.
At any rate here is a great article to forward to your not too computer savvy friends and family. It's a basic online scam survival guide brought to you by the people at LifeHacker.
Enjoy.

A Grinch's Gift Guide

Five Items You Might Think Twice About Buying:
"In my family, there's a grand old tradition in which we threaten to fill each others' Christmas stockings with coal -- the implication being that we've all been very wicked. But I'm starting to think that coal isn't a bad gift at all. For one thing, it lasts forever. And while it doesn't play mp3s or grate carrots three different ways, coal never requires obscure replacement parts available only through membership in a secret society.
Of course, what we're really talking about here is the frustrations of those perennial holiday gifts: gadgets and appliances. Lately, device makers seem to be outdoing each other in their creative approaches to planned obsolescence. Roaming store aisles, it's easy to come up with a list of gifts that qualify as the new lump of coal:"

This article struck a note with me, so much so that I'll add a sixth item to the list of things to think twice about buying.
I was going to purchase a new laptop and decided to splurge and buy a Mac. After a copious amount of research comparing the Mac Book against similarly specked PC, I decided to spend the extra bucks (almost 2X a PC) and go for the Mac. Fortunately just before I ordered it I saw an article about battery life and at the very end of the article, almost as an aside, they stated that you had to return the Mac to the factory to replace the battery. That was a deal buster for me.
Replacing a laptop battery is one the simplest things, next to turning it on, that a person can do in a PC world. The hassle and cost associated with sending a laptop back to the factory for something that simple is totally outrageous. Link to Apple price list for battery replacement.
Apple deserves a big lump of coal in their stockings for this one.

Questions On Your Money - Las Vegas caller

Do I walk away from this house? - Housing Doom:
"An underwater Las Vegas caller calls in and asks if he should walk away from his house"

This is a very interesting video, with some even more interesting blog comments. Jingle Mail is a subject that gets more discussion in the blogsphere than the MSM. It is truly is a moral issue, but who is the immoral one, the bank or the home owner?
Since most Boomers are Old School and have worked their entire lives to pay off their mortgages, it would be interesting to hear your thoughts on the subject.

Pay Off Debt In 10 Steps And 5 Years

Pay Off $50k In Debt On A $20k Salary In 10 Steps And 5 Years - The Consumerist:
This 30-year old receptionist and single mother of 3 climbed out of a $50,000 debt hole in 5 years using these 10 steps.
Broke and $50k in debt, Noemi Wikstrom, who had become a single mother at 19 living in Puerto Rico with no child support and working for minimum wage as a secretary, sent her three kids to live with relatives. She enlisted in the Air Force but was still behind. Desperate, she turned to payday loans, which only made matters worse. Finally, she got real and started on her path to a debt-free life."

I posted this article for two reasons -
The first was so that you could pass it on to someone that you know who is just starting out, and could benefit from some sage advice about money.
Secondly I thought that as a Boomer you would find the comments, at the end of the short article, very interesting. It gives a good insight as to how different people look at money and finances. Some people are critical of Ms. Wikstrom, others support her resolve. Even at our age you can learn new perspectives about how people think