Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Wednesday, July 21st, 2010
If you have ever taken your laptop with you on a trip, you’ve had this issue. If you’ve ever taken more than one gadget (iPod, PSP, GameBoy, Camera) to work, you’ve been frustrated by this issue. If you’ve ever used a laptop or messenger bag to transport your tech, you’ve fought this issue. Carrying any kind of electronic device(s) means carrying the power cable and any/all other accessories with you wherever you go. As soon as the second item hits your bag, things get complicated.
Cables tangle, screens get scratched and everything in your bag drops straight to the bottom. This makes finding any one item next to impossible (without dumping the contents of the entire bag) and, most likely, it is going to shorten the life and look of your gadgets and devices. For any tech/gadget nerd, this is just not acceptable and, if you are anything like me, you want to take care of the items that you paid so much for. There is a bit of pride in owning an iPod that is 2-years old, but looks like you just bought it. Throw-in the fact that “no scratches” and “like new” make great tag lines for any product you want to sell on eBay, and you’ve got yourself a good set of reasons for taking care of your gear.
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Tags: airport friendly, backpack, Blackberry, Camera, Case, Cocoon, GRID-IT!, iPad, iPhone, iPod, iPod Touch, organize, protect, PSP, sling, tote
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Wednesday, July 7th, 2010
If you’ve been following along with our series on Scanning and Saving Important Documents you’re ready for our third article (if not, jump to related articles at the bottom of this post). In our last article, we covered the scanning and related software, leaving you with some image files and questions about what to do next. Today, we’ll outline file naming, folder structures and storage.
As always, we have a couple of things to remind you about before jump into our project. First, keep your document and files protected. Second, this is your project. Our articles are suggestions on how to handle this type of project, but you should definitely structure and organize your document scanning in a way that keeps things simple for you. After all, if a project like this became too complicated or confusing, who would actually finish it?
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Tags: disaster, document, flood, hurricane, important, insurance, legal, papers, saving, scan, scanning, Security, taxes, tornado, will
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Thursday, July 1st, 2010
In our last article (Hurricane Preparedness – Scanning and Saving Important Documents), we helped you you put together a list of your important documents and, with any luck, you have already located them. Our next steps will be to scan these documents and save the files in a storage/filing method that meets your needs. There are quite a few variables at this point (from hardware to learning curve) but the time and effort you put into this project will pay off in the event of a natural disaster, like a hurricane.
Before We Get Started: Once more, I would like to warn everyone that your personal documents should be protected at all costs. This applies to the originals and the scanned images from here on out. Identity theft is very real and very possible with the proper information.
Tags: document, dpi, hurricane, important, PDF, prepare, preparedness, scan, scanner, secure, settings, Software, TIF
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Wednesday, June 30th, 2010
Hurricane Alex was upgraded to the season’s first hurricane as of 10 pm CDT Tuesday, June 29th, but it may be only the beginning. Many weather experts are forming comparisons between the 2010 hurricane season and the 2005 season (which produced 28 named storms, including Hurricane Katrina) and Joe Bastardi (Chief Hurricane Meteorologist for AccuWeather.com) predicted that 18 to 21 named storms will occur in the 2010 season, four of which are expected to occur during July. What does this mean for you and I? How do we prepare? What do we prepare?
For any hurricane season, there are a few basics to concern yourself with. You should have a safe place to weather the storm and enough food and water to last for at least a few weeks. Check for flashlights, batteries and other essentials. But then what? It seems like we always forget something important when rushed into situations like this. Imagine the post-storm recovery. You might have evacuated the area or worse, your home might have been destroyed by flooding or tornadoes. What then? Were you prepared to start over or deal with the enormous task of insurance claims and a mountain of paperwork? Wait, the paperwork!!!!! That’s where today’s article comes in.
Before it’s too late, before you say “I wish I had thought of that,” before you have time to forget about it…. you need to locate and backup your important documents.
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Tags: alex, back up, backup, checklist, credit card information, documents, financial information, hurricane, identification, important, prepare, preparedness, scan, scanning
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Wednesday, June 16th, 2010
Over the last couple of weeks, we have covered both Father’s Day Gift Shopping and How to Get FREE Tickets to See Toy Story 3. While most readers are painfully aware of the date (and the limited time between now and the weekend), it never hurts to send a gentle reminder out to those who might just be too busy to have spent any time on either of these. Today marks the last day that you can order anything online and expect to receive it before the weekend, without paying overnight fees.
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Tags: Amazon, Amazon.com, blu-ray, dad, day, dvd, father, father's, FREE, Pixar, tickets, Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Toy Story 3
Posted in Online Shopping, Uncategorized | View Comments
Monday, June 14th, 2010
Last week I posted an article titled Manage Your Growing Disc Collection, in which I talked about physical storage of home movies, music CD’s, etc. While researching and organizing my own collection I came across my copies of Toy Story and Toy Story 2 (on Blu-Ray) and realized that I had not taken advantage of my FREE Movie Ticket offer. Realizing that the release of the latest installment of the Toy Story franchise was only days away, I immediately followed the instructions provided and, within minutes, I was printing our tickets to see Toy Story 3. As it turns out, there is more than one way to get these FREE tickets, and I want to share the details with the JumpstartMyPC.com audience.
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Tags: Amazon.com, Best Buy, blu-ray, Disney, dvd, energizer, FREE, kellogg's, movie, Pixar, target, tickets, Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Toy Story 3
Posted in Deals, Online Shopping, Uncategorized | View Comments
Thursday, June 10th, 2010
The compact disc (CD) was originally introduced to the world in 1982 and, since that switch to the 12 cm wide (standard size) disc, there have been numerous formats released in the same size and shape. CD’s, DVD’s, Blu-Ray and HD DVDs, a multitude of computer writable discs, plus video games for consoles like the XBOX, XBOX360, Playstation 3, Wii, etc., have taken over and it seems this format will be here for many years to come. Even though most of us didn’t purchase or begin collecting these optical discs until the mid-90’s, we all have a collection of some sort.
Organizing this collection of digital data and keeping track of what we have becomes more and more difficult as time goes on. Storage cabinets, boxes, shelving units, entertainment centers and other furniture options are available at every store from Walgreens to Ikea and everyone has owned a few in hopes of keeping their collection organized, accessible and visually appealing. No matter what you have to hold your data, it is most likely a temporary solution, as you’ll soon be purchasing that latest album, movie or video game. What do we do next?
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Tags: blu-ray, catalog, CD, collectorz, disc, discgear, discs, disk, dvd, holder, iTunes, media, moie, movie collector, Music, playstion 3, PS3, Storage, Wii, XBOX, XBOX 360
Posted in Gaming, Online Shopping, Uncategorized | View Comments
Wednesday, June 9th, 2010
Several months ago, I stumbled onto a graphic artist’s portfolio containing some “updates” to movie posters of the past. At first glance, the images looked basic and bland, but as I navigated through the artist’s site I saw the complexity of these re-imagined posters and began to wonder if others had seen these and if any other digital artists had done anything like it. As it turns out, vector artists have been creating minimalist movie and television themed posters for some time and their works are truly amazing. If you are a fan of the movies or love television, you’ll love these original creations from some 21st century illustrators.
In an effort to minimize the space used for this article and share as many of these wonderful creations as I can, I’ve provided thumbnails of many posters and links to the sites of the artist or article about these posters. Feel free to visit the links, comment on the posters, download some and use them as wallpaper and/or (most importantly) support the artists by clicking on any ads on the sites you visit. You don’t have to buy anything, just click on a link or two and they’ll get paid for your click. I like to think of this as digital tipping.
Tags: films in black and red, graphic artist, illustrations, movie, Movies, poster, posters, propaganda, superheroes, tarantino, Television, True Blood, TV, Video Games, vintage, Weeds, wes anderson
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Tuesday, June 8th, 2010
Google has and (hopefully) will always be primarily a search engine. Sure, Google has an insane amount of tools and applications for everything from your computer to your television, but searching the web has always been it’s primary function. It all started with a simple site and a box. No advertisements. No sports scores. No world news. Just a text entry area and a few buttons.
From The Original Search Page Until Now
Over the years, that main Google page has not changed much, but now there is much more going on behind the scenes. “Googling” something has slowly evolved into a very intelligent, yet simple, way to find information on any topic imaginable. Over the last year, Google has introduced new search technology like Social Search and Location Aware Mobile Searching. And now, almost entirely under the radar, some new features have emerged from the Google Labs to further “enhance the experience of searching and help you find exactly what you’re looking for.”
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Tags: Android, applications, apps, background, Google, image, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Picasa, Search, searching
Posted in Tips and Tricks, Uncategorized | View Comments
Monday, May 24th, 2010
One of my many hobbies/addictions is saving money on the web. I love to hunt for the ultimate deal by using price comparisons, coupon codes, cashback options, etc. I have had these tools at my disposal for at least 10 years now and have saved thousands of dollars, yet I still make some purchases in physical stores. Grocery shopping, although attempted as a web service years ago with Peapod, is not available here in Houston so I venture out to my local Kroger, Randalls or HEB at least once a week. Until now, these trips to the supermarket meant I had to leave the technology behind and earn my savings the old-fashion way (printed coupons). Thanks to Grocery IQ, that is all about to change.
Grocery IQ is a FREE application (originally priced at $4.99) for smartphone users and is currently available for iPhone and Android owners. The tool, powered by coupons.com, was designed to help users with a number of typical grocery shopping activities (listed below):
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Tags: Android, barcode, cellfire, Coupons, groceries, grocery, grocery iq, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, P&GeSAVER, randalls, safeway, savings card, scanner, Shopping, shortcuts.com, smartphone, supermarket
Posted in Free Programs, Online Shopping, Tips and Tricks, Uncategorized | View Comments
