Back up that hard drive, Part 1
June 21, 2007 Posted by Tara in : Tips , add a commentI was sitting at my desk yesterday, typing away, when I heard a shriek from the cube next to me. My co-worker had been experiencing a problems with her computer all morning long; it was performing much slower than normal. She said she had thought about backing up her hard drive and then BAM! Her computer crashed and everything was lost. She said it was the closest she had come to crying at work, EVER, and I understand where she is coming from. Many of the resources that I use to do my job on a daily basis are on my hard drive. Templates, reports, important contact information (this is why I am a strong supporter of web-basted contact managers). (more…)
Hardware Cooling’s Supra Notebook Cooler
June 20, 2007 Posted by Bryan in : Reviews , add a comment
Have you ever had your laptop get so hot that it’s uncomfortable to type on? Ever had that happen when it was actually on your lap? This happens to me quite a bit and I know it can’t be a good thing. Fortunately I’ve got a solution to offer you: the Supra Notebook Cooler from HardwareCooling.com. (more…)
Fix your database CSV report woes using Excel
June 19, 2007 Posted by Beth in : How-to, Microsoft, Tips , add a commentThis article refers to Excel 2003, but should apply to most other versions as well.
I work for a large company that uses a vast mainframe system to track data. We’ve got programmers who’ve written fabulous scripts, so that we can just go click a button, make a couple of choices, and BAM - there’s a CSV file with the data we need to analyze. Problem is, the data is often not in a very useful format. The names are all upper case, first name and last name are in the same cell, phone numbers are regarded as generic numbers and are dropping zeros, etc. What a lot of people at my company don’t know, and that I try to help them learn, is that Excel has functionality specifically to help you work around these problems. (more…)
Why Pandora.com rocks
June 17, 2007 Posted by Bryan in : Opinion, Reviews , 1 comment so farEditors note: It’s not all sunflowers and “Kumbaya” at Texxors.com. Last week Tara wrote an article on the Pandora internet music service that some of our other editors disagreed with. In the interest of equal time, here are their thoughts on why Pandora rocks.
If Texxors.com seems schizophrenic at times, it’s because we’ve got several different author’s writing for the site. As you might expect, these authors don’t always agree on the best products or approaches. You saw this a little bit in Jeff and Liz’s different takes on how to stay virus free online and you’re going to see it again in this response to Tara’s recent article on Pandora.com. In the interest of presenting multiple opinions and giving our readers as much information as possible, these are the reasons I and a few others affiliated with the site think that Pandora rocks.
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Last minute Father’s Day gift: Make magazine
June 16, 2007 Posted by Bryan in : Other Stuff, Reviews, Tips , add a commentYou can’t say we haven’t helped you out this Father’s Day. We arranged for huge discounts on the MySoldius solar charger, gave you a list of cool but inexpensive tech gifts, and we’ve even got a suggestion for you last minute shoppers: Make: magazine. (more…)
Ning Social Networking: Wordpress meets MySpace
June 15, 2007 Posted by Bryan in : New Products, Reviews , 1 comment so far
In a recent post in the forums reader olhaok mentioned the Ning social networking site. My first thought was, “That thing’s still around?” When I first came across Ning several months ago it was very rough around the edges. The concept was interesting but the implementation was very poor. I expected it would soon get lost in the flood of new social networking sites that were emerging at the time.
The idea behind the service was good enough: to offer a full-featured, free, online content management system and social networking service (think Wordpress meets MySpace or MyBlogLog), but it just didn’t seem like it could recover from some serious design flaws. (more…)
5 gifts for Dad under $60
June 13, 2007 Posted by Tara in : New Products, Other Stuff, Reviews, Tips , add a commentWith Father’s Day rapidly approaching, I decided to to put together a mini gift guide for those of us who want to show our appreciation for dad without breaking the bank. Each one of these gifts is under $60 and is user friendly, as we know sometimes parents just don’t understand. The first gift is one I know for sure my own dad would like:
1. The Humminbird SmartCast RF30 Wireless Remote Fish Finder
Retails for $59.99, designed as a wrist mount, this little gadget has a 75-foot remote operating range and 100-foot depth capability. It has a 1.25-inch high-visibility display with 48 x 32 pixels of resolution. It is obviously waterproof and has one touch menu navigation for ease of use. (more…)
Recharge your Wii: Penguin United Wii Rechargeable Battery Combo
June 12, 2007 Posted by Beth in : Reviews , 1 comment so far
I just spent countless hours of my life playing Super Paper Mario on my Wii. What better way to test out the Penguin United Wii Remote Charging Dock and 2x Rechargeable Battery Combo? With normal gameplay on the Wii, you can wear out your Wii remote batteries pretty quickly. Rechargeable batteries are obviously a better option than regular batteries, but then you still have to take out the batteries, put them in the charger, and wait for hours for them to recharge. But the Penguin United rechargeable batteries are different. These packs replace the normal battery compartment on your remote, and the remote can sit directly in a docking station while recharging.
Password security, don’t take it 4Gr@nted
June 11, 2007 Posted by Jeff in : Tips , add a commentPasswords are the first line of defense in keeping the unwanted out of your computer, your bank account, and any other personal or business stuff. Yet we tend to take them for granted and even view them as a nuisance.
Lately, we hear that identity theft is growing exponentially as more and more people buy computers and hop on the internet, but we put off setting up a password cycling plan or even changing our old password we’ve used since the 20th century, until tomorrow. And you know how that goes. And yes, there are ways to secure a system without using passwords - I do it for one of my customers using electronic certificates which are unique to each workstation - but that can become a support nightmare. For the average person, it’s best (and easiest) just to pick a few secure passwords that you can use and cycle through as necessary. (more…)
AuctionAds filling up fast
June 10, 2007 Posted by Bryan in : New Products, News, Site News , 1 comment so farIf you run a website and you haven’t yet tried AuctionAds, it’s time to get off your ass. A recent post on the AuctionAds blog noted that they had met and surpassed their initial year end goals for new registrations in their first three months. For those interested in getting referral credits, the number of people who haven’t yet signed up is decreasing quickly everyday.
The AuctionAds service grabs eBay listings and posts them as ads on your site. When people click through and purchase a product, you make a percentage of the sale. Additionally, if people register for the AuctionAds service via your site, then you get a little extra percentage for referring them (at no cost to them).
As you may have noticed, we’ve been running AuctionAds on our site for about a month and a half. Since this site makes most of its money from the ad revenue it generates (will the new store change that?), I was initially concerned about them detracting from our big breadwinner - Adsense. I started them out at the bottom of the page to see what would happen.
One of the great things about AuctionAds is that the ads show product images. People like to get a sense of what they’re clicking before they commit to it. I’m not sure why Google hasn’t yet developed anything with this approach, but even at the bottom of the page, AuctionAds click-through rates were beating Adsense click-through rates considerably.
The first few weeks were slow, but now the service is really starting to take off. The AuctionAds perform so well that I am comfortable leaving them at the bottom of the page AND replacing the Adsense ads with some different, more risky, CPA links. Essentially AuctionAds have freed up an Adsense block (since you can only have three per page) and given us the ability to try out some new income generating options.
If you have a blog or other website and haven’t yet tried AuctionAds, I definitely recommend it. The service is structured such that the more people that register, the more money people make. However, if you’re interested in getting that referral bonus, it’s best to get in as early as possible before everyone else has already signed up. To register (and give us some credit) click here.
