Granola “makes computers more energy efficient without slowing them down. It is safe, easy to use, and allows your computer to operate with the performance of a Ferrari, when speed counts, but also with the efficiency of a Prius so you don’t waste energy.”  The program is FREE, lightweight (smaller than a single MP3) and super easy to use.  Installation took me less than 2 minutes and I didn’t have to sign up, provide any information or labor over any settings.  Granola just started gathering information about my PC and then saving me energy and money…. but how?

Granola Gathers, Then Saves

How Granola Works

- taken from granola web site

When your computer is working hard (for instance, when you are playing a game) the CPU needs to be at full speed so that it can work effectively. When your computer is “relaxing” (for instance, when you are browsing a web site) your CPU can “dim” itself by slowing down execution without you noticing. In the lower state, the CPU consumes less energy, thus making your computer more efficient. If you wanted to, you could switch between the “bright” and “dim” modes yourself to match your usage. In order to get the most efficient use of power in your computer system though, you would need to switch DVFS modes every time you changed your usage.

That is where Granola comes in. Using sophisticated workload modeling and prediction algorithms, Granola can determine when your computer is working and the CPU needs to be “bright” and when your computer is relaxing and the CPU can be “dim” without affecting your work. This allows Granola to automatically change DVFS modes to save energy when you can while still running at full speed when you need it.

Get Constant Updates on Your Savings

Get Granola

To download the program and start the install, simply visit:

• http://grano.la

You can also follow Granola on Facebook and Twitter.  Find out about the latest updates, the latest news and hear from other Granola users as they save money and the environment.

• Granola on Facebook
• Granola on Twitter

Donate

Granola is FREE, but they will need donations to keep the program running and updating regularly.  If you find yourself saving even $10 this year because of Granola, why not give them back $3?  The more savings you see, the more you can donate.  Who knows, with enough money and time we might find ourselves using Granola on other devices.  I for one, would love to see the savings.

PrintWhatYouLike.com was created by two developers who shared our frustrations with printing from the web and decided to do something about it.  The PrintWhatYouLike tool comes in several forms (listed below) and provides users the ability to choose what elements of a web page they want to print before the information is transmitted to their printer.  Print a single paragraph, an article, an image or several pages of information.  It is entirely up to you.  This truly amazing service is provided to you for FREE, so there is no reason not to start using it today.

For those of you who don’t want to print at all, or simply want to archive information found on the web in a different way, PrintWhatYouLike also offers the ability to save the pages you find as a PDF.  Just use one of the options below to activate the PrintWhatYouLike feature and then choose Save as > PDF instead of Print.  Save the file anywhere you want and access it later on.  This is a great feature for those of us who don’t want to shell out several hundred dollars for a PDF creation software.

The Many Forms of PrintWhatYouLike

Every user has different ideas of how a tool should be used, so the folks at PrintWhatYouLike gave us some options on how and where we can implement their service.

Bookmarklet

Link: http://www.printwhatyoulike.com/bookmarklet

The bookmarklet is a simple way to integrate the PrintWhatYouLike feature into your browser without any sort of installation.  Simply visit the link above and follow the instructions to drag some text to your bookmarks/favorites area in your browser.  The next time you want to print something, simply click on the bookmark and the PrintWhatYouLike editor will appear around the page you are on.

The Bookmarklet Looks Like a Bookmark but Functions Like a Print Button

Firefox Add-on

Link: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/9290

This add-on provides a more integrated option (for Firefox users).  Visit the link above and install the add-on**.  It is listed as “experimental” right now, but I have been using it for months myself.  Replace the standard “print” icon in your browser with the PrintWhatYouLike button.  This will help you remember to use this great feature when the time comes.

** After installing this add-on, you will need to restart Firefox and then take one additional step to get the icon to show up in your browser.  Right click in the menu area (somewhere near help) and choose Customize.  Scroll down and look for the PrintWhatYouLike icon (like the one at the top of this article) and drag it into your menu bar, wherever you want it.

Customize Your Firefox Menu Bar to Add the PrintWhatYouLike Button

Look for Our Pre-Configured Print Button

For regular readers of the JumpstartMyPC.com blog or anyone who wants to print out today’s article for later use, you can now use the green Print button located at the top of our articles.  This button has been configured to print only our article and images, without all the menu options and sidebar information.  Push print and send the information to your printer without any hassle or selection.  We’ve done the work for you.

The Print Button is Now Part of Every One of Our Articles

Customer Service is King

On a side-note, I would like to point out that the PrintWhatYouLike.com team is as fantastic as their product.  I ran into some trouble when creating the Print button for our articles and received A+ support from Jonathan, who is actually one of the creators of this product.  This top-notch customer service, in addition to a great product, means I won’t even think about trying a competitor’s product.  It is a shame that other companies don’t understand the importance of communicating with and helping their clients.