Moneysaving Tips / Technology — View Comments
14
Jun 10

Cheap Fix: 2Wire Wireless DSL Router Power Issues

Has the power light on your 2Wire wireless dsl router gone solid red? It’s highly likely that your router is just fine, but your power cord has blown a transistor/fuse/actuator/flux capacitor (or something…). There are a few forums that explain how to bust open the box containing the plug, identify the problem, and fix it for a few dollars, but most people are not going to be that brave (after all, who wants to plug that back into a power outlet after doing some Frankenstein-like tinkering, not me).  Instead, take your plug unit into a GameStop and ask for a PSP power cord.  Gamestop sells a non-OEM PSP power adapter that matched the voltage and amp specs for my 2Wire unit for around $14.99, which is obviously a lot cheaper than the $100-ish dollars your broadband provider would charge you for a replacement router.  If the power specs aren’t the same, don’t buy it, but mine matched and it worked LIKE A CHARM! Thanks for all those on all the forums out there who came before me and reported this trick works.

Home / Lawn & Landscaping — View Comments
15
May 10

Emerald Ash Borer Spreading, Found in Iowa

Investigators from the State of Iowa have now found the Emerald Ash Borer in one county in Northeast Iowa.  While fears of the spread of this tree-infesting insect have been prevalent for years, this is the first sighting of the bug in Iowa.  The Emerald Ash Borer feeds on the leaves of ash trees, but their larvae burrow underneath the bark, stripping and killing the tree as they eat and grow. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is now recommending that people do not plant ash trees.  Hit the jump for recommendations from the DNR for existsing Ash trees. Continue reading →

Healthy Living — View Comments
15
May 10

Holey Donuts! Great Taste, Less Guilt

Do you feel guilty when you sneak that donut?  Do you imagine your wife giving you a dirty look as you lick the frosting off of your fingers?  Well, you don’t have to anymore.  Holey Donuts! is a company based on the East coast that has developed a line of great tasting, low fat donuts and will ship them anywhere in the country.  These donuts are so low in fat and calories compared to their competition that they actually advertise the nutritional differences as an up-front part of their brand strategy.  One prominent example from the Holey Donuts! website compares Holey Donuts! Chocolate Crumb Donut to Krispy Kreme’s Chocolate Iced-Filled Cream Donut and Dunkin Donuts Frosted Old Fashioned donut.  The Holey Donut! brand desert is 1/2 to 1/3 the calories and 1/6th to 1/8th the fat.  You might be reading this and wonder whether something so much lower in all the bad stuff (the traditionally good tasting stuff) could taste good.  I can tell you these donuts do taste good.  My personal favorite is the Low Fat Cinnamon Bun Middles (so gooey and good with a bit of apple filling in the center…mmm!).  Now these donuts are not cheap, mostly due to the shipping cost as they come packaged frozen in dry ice, so you would probably want to order several boxes at a time.  Think of them as a gourmet treat, but one that isn’t going to be a belt-buster.

Check out Holey Donuts! website and read their interesting story.

Social Networking / Technology — View Comments
13
May 10

Facebook Privacy Options Analyzed, Mapped

The NY Times has taken on the massive challenge of analyzing and untangling Facebook’s privacy settings.  I’m not sure they’ve untangled those options enough for users to fully understand what they are up against if they want to keep their information private, but hey, at least they gave it the old college try and make it look pretty scary in the process.  See here for the horror that is Facebook’s privacy options map.

Source: New York Times

Social Networking / Technology — View Comments
13
May 10

Tweetdeck iPad App Update is Now Available

Tweetdeck is my favorite stand-alone desktop Twitter client, but I’ve been complaining about its iPad app for several weeks now, due to its propensity to lag significantly in pretty much every way after a day’s use.  Tweetdeck’s support forum for the iPad continues to show no known issues…hmm.  Tonight, I was overjoyed to see their iPad app update in the App Store. The release notes promise a fix for “performance degradation over time.” I sure hope this update does the trick, because I’ve yet to find another iPad Twitter app with as many features for that magic price of FREE.  Fingers crossed.

Technology — View Comments
12
May 10

Youtube Rolls Out New Unlisted Option

Families and teachers rejoice!  Youtube has filled a gap in their service by adding the option to upload a video that is viewable by non-Youtube account holders, but is not accessable to the public via search results or in user pages.  Essentially, to view the video, you either have to be the account holder, or have been provided with the URL.  This should be a great option for teachers to communicate with their students, and for families to share video without making them public or requiring the recipient to create a Youtube account (which, prior to today, were the only ways for others to be able to view Youtube videos).

Source: Youtube, CNET

Technology — View Comments
12
May 10

Gmail Rolls out Drag and Drop Image Insertion

Today, Google added a useful new feature to Gmail, essentially allowing users to drag and drop images into new emails.  There are no labs features to enable, simply drag the image in, resize it on the fly and you’re done.  Once caveat is that this feature is available only when using Google’s Chrome browser for now, but Google promises to bring the feature to other browsers soon.  This is a great addition to an already great product.  Thanks Google!  Hit the jump for Google’s full release. Continue reading →

Social Networking — View Comments
12
May 10

Echofon: Firefox Twitter Extension

After trying several Twitter extensions for Firefox, one has risen to the top as my favorite – Echofon.  Echofon is a standalone program for Macs and iPhones, but they’ve also graciously allowed users of other OS’s to get in on the fun.  The Echofon extension is installed as a button in the lower right corner of the Firefox window and shows you a number of unread tweets.  Once you click on the button, a window pops-up with a list of your follower’s twitter updates.  you can reply, retweet, retweet with comment (my favorite), star a tweet, open links in the background, manual refresh, and more.  There are a few themes to chose from including black, Mac, Windows XP  and Windows Vista/7.  There is even support for multiple twitter accounts.

For those needing a change of pace from their current Twitter client or the Twitter webpage, give Echofon a try.   Let me know your favorite Twitter client in the comments!

Social Networking — View Comments
11
May 10

How to Use One Email Address with Multiple Twitter Accounts


Have you ever wanted to use the same email address with more than one Twitter account, but that ominous red “x” told you it was impossible? Well, with a Gmail or Google Apps email account, you can do just that. Gmail or Google Apps email accounts will allow you to include a period anywhere in in the prefix of your email address and Gmail will ignore the period and deliver the email to your email address. For example, if your email address is test123@gmail.com, you have the option to use te.st123@gmail.com or test.123@gmail.com while registering a Twitter username and can rest easily knowing that your notifications will still make it into your real email account. Thanks Google for making life a little easier!