How My Phone Helps Me Shop

I like to do much of my gift shopping online, but I still spend plenty of time in brick and mortar stores too. On a good day of gift shopping, I'll find several gift ideas--so many that I can't remember them all. Rather than carry around a piece of paper for writing down items and prices, I just take pictures with my camera phone. I try to get the price tag in the picture too; with one picture, I can have the item, its original price, and its sale price. Much of the time, you can tell a store by its price tags, so I kinda have the store name captured in the picture as well. When I go home, I have a picture album of gift ideas. I can show those ideas to my wife or whoever needs to see them.

My phone happens to be a Windows Mobile Smartphone, so I have other options as well. For example, I use a cool tool called ShopEdge--a free program that allows me to shop Amazon from my phone. Why is that so cool? Because I have access to prices and consumer reviews when I'm in the store. Let's say I see a coffee maker on sale for $50 at WalMart. Is $50 a deal that I shouldn't pass up? Is the coffee maker a good one, or is it junk? Having quick and easy access to that information is great. You may not have a Smartphone, but you may still be able to do some of this kind of research if you have Internet access on our phone. (You won't be able to use the cool ShopEdge tool though; that's designed for Windows Mobile.) Just be aware of the charges you'll incur under your current service plan.

2 Things You Should Know About USB Keys

USB keys have enjoyed tremendous poplarity since they hit the market. They're an incredibly convenient way to transfer data. Before USB keys (or "memory keys" or "jump drives," if you prefer), we had to choose between the floppy disk and the CD. The former didn't have enough capacity, and was very slow. The latter was slow, and didn't allow direct editing/saving of files.

Today, many USB keys can store more data than a CD, and many people are using them to store much of their critical data. However, there are two things you need to know about these great little devices so that you can protect yourself:

1. They don't last forever. Although USB keys get corrupted less frequently than floppy disks, some do become corrupted. If your USB key holds the only copy of some of your files, you're taking a significant risk. Back up your USB key regularly! The frequency of your backup is up to you; you should make your decision based on how critical your data is, and how often it changes.




• For pure backup purposes, just copy and paste the contents of your USB key to your hard drive on occasion. If you have the ability to copy the contents to a network server instead, that's even better.


• If you want to synchronize your data, you'll need a synchronization tool. This type of tool is useful if you are making some of your changes on your USB key, and some of your changes on your hard drive. (For more information on what file synchronization is, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_synchronization.) There are plenty of free synchronization programs, including one from Microsoft called SyncToy.


2. They're not secure. Well, that's not entirely true; some USB keys have built-in security features. But many or most USB keys in use today have no security features. Because of their diminutive size, they're prone to being lost. If you need to carry sensitive data on a memory key, take action now to avoid problems down the road:




• The non-geek solution: buy a USB key with built-in security. They're easy to find; just search Amazon for "secure usb" and you'll find plenty of results, such as this one.


• The geek's solution: use an encryption technology like TrueCrypt. Consider this tutorial for creating an encrypted volume on your USB key.

I'm not trying to deter you from using USB keys. Just be aware of these two limitations so you can use them safely. Oh, and you'll notice that these problems aren't exactly limited to USB keys either, so take caution no matter what method you use for storing and transporting your data.

Shock and Awe for $4

By BNICK
Appreciated Press writer

Wisconsin (AP) -- After months of failed efforts, the BNick household dealt a decisive blow to the squirrels who were eating too much expensive birdfood. The cost of the action is estimated to be in the $3.90 - $4.00 range.

BNick took action after intelligence revealed the squirrels' plan to develop weapons of mass consumption.

"Something had to be done," said BNick, who looks more like your next door neighbor than a maniacle squirrel-foiler. "Their nervous body language and their beady eyes made it clear that they were up to something big."

Previous attempts to stop the squirrel offensive were weak and ineffective. BNick located the feeders in places where he had hoped the squirrels couldn't reach. When he finally built a tray feeder and mounted it on a metal pole without a baffle (admittedly trying to save money), he was surprised at the ease with which the squirrels still reached the food. He admits that he underestimated them. "They use unfair tactics, so it's difficult to fight against them," BNick complained. "Their fuzzy, round bodies make it difficult to decipher whether they are enemies or not."

BNick tolerated several days of vexation before launching the "shock and awe" campaign. One day, after seeing yet another squirrel smugly eating atop the tray feeder, he took action. The result was a baffle comprised of less than $4 worth of parts. BNick is happily sharing his plans with the world because he believes it's the right thing to do: "The war on birdfood pilfering is a global war. We all need to do our part for the sake of future generations."

---

The Plans
Ok, here you go. The baffle is actually quite modest. I didn't like the traditional dome-shaped or cone-shaped baffles; I just think they're too ugly. I liked the concept of the cylindrical baffle, but with prices up to $28, I figured I could go cheaper. The parts could cost you under $4; it depends on what you have on hand.

Parts:

• Dryer vent pipe: 4" diameter, 24" length. ($3)
• 7 cable ties. Size isn't critical, but the ones I used were 4"-5" long.
• (3) 6" lengths of wire. Should be heavy enough gauge to hold its shape. An old wire coat hanger would work too, if you're able to cut through it.
• 4"x4" piece of 1/2" galvanized hardware cloth

Steps:
(See the pictures below to supplement these steps. In fact, the concept is fairly simple, so you may just want to wing it like I did once you see the picture.)

• Bend the 3 pieces of wire into an elongated "s" shape as indicated in the picture on the right. These are the "hangers" for the vent pipe.
• You'll put one cable tie around the pole, but you need three "rings" dangling from it. I made these rings out of cable ties; use whatever you want. Now strap the cable tie around the pole. You may want to put some weatherproof padding between the cable tie and the pole; without it, the baffle may slide down the pole.
• Drill 3 equally-spaced holes around the perimeter of the vent pipe, near the top. 1/8" bit should be fine; the holes just need to accommodate your wire hangers.
• Using your wire "hangers" to hang the vent pipe from the 3 rings you made. The vent pipe should dangle somewhat.
• Cut a hole in the middle of your hardware cloth piece so it fits over the pole. This is the top of your vent pipe. Secure it to the vent pipe however you see fit; I drilled a few more holes in the vent pipe and used more cable ties to secure it.

One of my favorite PC security tools

As an I.T. professional, I typically know what I should and shouldn't do on the web. However, everybody could use some help. One of the tools I like (well enough to install on both of my personal computers) is McAfee's SiteAdvisor. This tool alerts you to problems with web sites before you visit them.

SiteAdvisor does the nasty work for you. Using automated tools, they sign up their own email address on various sites and count how many spam-like emails they receive per week from that site. They also search the site for downloads that are considered adware and spyware. In addition, McAfee incorporates feedback from users and even performs some of their own manual testing. My PC performance does not seem to have taken a hit with this tool; there's no downside I know of. Give it a try yourself and let me know what you think.

Discover Card: My Reluctant Friend

Some time ago, Discover Card made me an offer that I couldn't refuse: Transfer any balances I wanted, up to my credit limit, and enjoy a 0% interest rate on that balance--indefinitely. The catch: I had to use my Discover Card at least once a month, and any purchases I made would accrue interest at 10.99% until I paid off my initial balance transfers (see John Delano's first comment on this post for more details). I typically don't use a credit card, so I decided that I'd just set up a monthly donation to some organization. With that plan in mind, I maxed out the card by transferring a couple of loans.

Then the search began for an organization that would accept monthly donations while meeting certain criteria:

1. Reliable withdrawals. This is the most important criteria; if the organization fails me, Discover would raise my rate from 0% to 10.99%. Remember, my card was now maxed out--so this is a big deal.


2. Tiny minimum. Several organizations don't want to process credit card donations unless you're donating at least $5. That's $60/year, which is fine if you're actually wanting to donate, but not fine if you're just looking to save money.


3. Easy cancellation. If I have to jump through hoops to cancel the monthly donations, I'm not interested.


4. Decent purpose. I wasn't about to donate to research on human/animal hybrids or something crazy. I needed something idealogically agreeable.

I first tried the Republican National Committee. To make a long story short: they were unreliable, and Discover ended up raising my rate to 10.99% after the RNC skipped a month. Thankfully Discover gave me a 1-time reprieve, and I got back to 0%. Now I had to find another organization.

The IRC (International Rescue Committee) has been terrific. They are reliable, they send an email every time I donate (which is nice when you need/want confirmation that you've met Discover's requirement), they allow me to see my donation history online, they allow me to edit my upcoming donations, and I can cancel anytime online. A $1/month donation is keeping my Discover Card interest rate at 0%, and the IRC's apparent efficiency makes me suspect that it's not hurting the IRC one bit. (I may be using them, but I don't want to cost them money.) If you're in a similar situation with a special rate on your credit card, consider the IRC.

The Cost of Running Christmas Lights

I used my power meter today to determine how much it's costing me to run some Christmas lights outside. Here's what I was running:

• 3 "nets" of lights for my front bushes (well, 2 1/2 really; half a set wasn't working)
• 1 typical strand of lights for a decoration on a porch table
• 1 typical strand of lights for garland around the door
• 1 typical strand of lights for a mini Christmas tree on the porch

It's a modest number of lights, and I didn't include my indoor Christmas lights. Those strands consumed .275 kwh per hour. For me, that's just under 3 cents per hour, or less than $5 per month if these lights are allowed to run 5 hours per day for an entire month. My wife gets more than $5 worth of enjoyment out of them, so they stay. And I'll stop fretting about my energy bill now that I know how little these lights are costing me.

7 Things I Learned on Black Friday

My Black Friday experience this past week yielded some wisdom that I'll employ next year. Yes, I actually stood in line for four hours in sub-30 degree weather for a deal (a $150 GPS). People who know me well will not be surprised to hear that.

1. For technology deals, visit a store that's not known primarily for technology. I went to Staples, and was about 15th (or better) in line at midnight. The Best Buy two blocks away had 100-200 people in line by that time. By 4 am, there couldn't have been more than 40-50 people in the Staples line. Staples still had some great technology deals (in fact, the GPS receiver that I purchased couldn't be found for less anywhere else), but the technology crowd went elsewhere for the most part.
2. Hope for tickets. At 4 am, 2 hours before Staples opened, employees handed out reservation tickets to those standing in line. They asked what I was standing in line for, and they gave me a ticket for each item I mentioned. I then got to leave, and simply had to come back sometime before 10 am to redeem the ticket. Best Buy stores do this too, and I suspect some others do it. If you stood in line that long, the last thing you want to see is a mad rush for the item you were waiting for. Simply opening the floodgates at 5 or 6 am would be a mistake and leave many people frustrated.
3. Come back close to the deadline. If you get a ticket, don't go back to the store shortly after it opens. I did that, and I ended up waiting in line for another hour even though I had a ticket. Poor system. I was worried that the store might run out of the item they had supposedly reserved for me. It can and does happen, but here's the catch: the store may upgrade you for free. A relative of mine stood in line with me for 4 hours, got his ticket for a laptop, and returned shortly before the 10 am deadline to learn that they had run out of that particular laptop. (They knew how to take the reservation; they just didn't know how to hold the reservation--which is actually the most important part.) He wasn't out of luck though; they recognized that the mistake was theirs, and they gave him a better laptop for the same price.
4. Bring a chair, gloves, hat, and blanket. Those in southern states can skip the winter attire, but even 28 degrees is cold when you're standing still.
5. If you want the hottest deals at Best Buy, get in line by about 6 pm the previous night. I wasn't in a Best Buy line; I'm inferring this recommendation from what I heard about the Best Buy line a quarter mile from where I was. Actually, that line reportedly started at 2:30 pm the previous day.
6. Always second-guess the prices. Worded differently, never trust any store's deal blindly, no matter how good it looks. Competition is fierce, and there may be a better or similar deal available elsewhere. Consider what happened to me with this GPS (times are approximate):
• Sunday: Found that Circuit City will offer the GPS (Mio C310x) for $200 plus a $50 mail-in rebate. Not only are rebates a pain, but the closest Circuit City was 45 minutes from where I was staying.
• Tuesday: Found that Staples will offer a similar GPS (Mio C310) for $150 with no rebates.
• Tuesday: Researched this Staples deal; found that the Staples ad might have a misprint. Although the Mio C310 is a legitimate model number, Staples might indeed be selling the Mio C310x--the one I want.
• Wednesday: Visited the Staples store I was planning to buy from, and asked an employee to verify that they were stocking the Mio C310x. They were.
• Friday: Bought the GPS after standing in line for 4 hours. Triumph. Avoided the trip to Circuit City, as well as the rebate.
• Sunday: Found out that Circuit City had made their $200-$50 deal available online on Friday and Saturday. Too bad I had no Internet access on those days to find out about it. I froze my toes for no reason.
7. Don't drink many liquids before standing in line, unless you're just a few steps away from a 24-hour WalMart. (No explanation needed.)

Power Inverter: An Inexpensive Investment

Have you ever come up with an idea that is so stunningly simple, you're embarrassed that you didn't think about it before? This was one such idea for me. And the most embarrassing part is, it's not a breakthrough idea.

As a penny pincher careful spender, I carefully avoid getting ripped off. I spend so much time researching an electronic device, more time finding the best price for it, extra time looking for coupons and other discounts, and then I finally buy it. I did it. I won. Unlike the suckers out there, I refused to pad the wallet of the manufacturer and retailer. Good for me.

Two months later, when it's time to go on my vacation, the manufacturer and retailer scoff back at me: If you want to use this device when you're on a road trip, it will cost you $90 for a power adapter for your car. There's nothing you can do. Hahahahahaaaaa!!!

I'll conceded that some power adapters are actually reasonably priced. Some car chargers for cell phones can cost as little as $10--even less if you buy aftermarket products. But some of them easily approach $25, and this can add up when you upgrade your phone every 2 years. Laptop car adapters are much worse, costing easily $60-90.

What's a stingy frugal person to do? Buy a power inverter for your car. Spend the $30-60 to get a nice one that's got enough wattage to handle your laptop (avoid the inexpensive but underpowered tiny units unless you know you'll never need more than 150 watts or so). You can buy these at discount retailers (WalMart, Target), home centers (Menards), online (Amazon), and plenty of other places. They're easier to find than model-specific auto adapters for your electronics, and then all you need is the AC adapter that you use in your home. Don't be dissuaded even if you want to keep an AC adapter in your home and one in your car; the standard AC adapters are usually less expensive than their DC counterparts, so the inverter is still a bargain for most people with mobile electronics.

Improving wireless networking range

If you're having problems with the range or reliability of a wireless network (at home or at work), consider eliminating 2.4 GHz cordless phones in the area. Most wireless access points operate at 2.4 GHz as well, so a simple cordless phone could be interfering with the network signal.

An old 900 MHz phone is an option, but 5.8 GHz phones are readily available as well.

If you continue to have problems with the signal, the source of the problem may still be in your own residence (items such as microwave ovens, bluetooth-enabled devices, baby monitors, flourescent lights, wireless game controllers, etc. can also cause interference). Alternatively, a neighbor could have a 2.4 GHz cordless phone, or even a "competing" wireless access point. In that case, you may need to move your own access point, or at least change the channel that your access point is operating on (it's not too difficult to do; see the instruction manual).

Of course, interference works both ways. Crackling noises on your cordless phone may be caused by interference from any of the devices mentioned above. Also, don't forget that you may be the cause of somebody else's interference problems. If you live in, say, a dorm where wireless networking is relied upon by dozens of people, consider doing them a favor and upgrading your cordless phone to a 5.8 GHz model. That phone may someday cause interference with future wifi networks, but for now, it will be pretty safe.

Want more information? It's easy to find information on this topic with a Google search for "wifi interference."

Cheap Productivity

Can't afford Microsoft Office? No problem.

A few years ago, consumers had only a few viable options for accomplishing tasks like word processing and spreadsheet editing. Worse than the lack of options was the fact that every decent option cost money--sometimes a lot of money. Today, inexpensive options aboud, and they are much better than their price tag implies.

Free desktop alternatives to Microsoft Office
OpenOffice (www.openoffice.org) is by far the most popular desktop alternative to Microsoft Office (by desktop, I mean software that you install on your computer). It's a maturing product, but still lags behind Microsoft Office in terms of polish and ease-of-use. OpenOffice includes the functional equivalents of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, and more. Over the past few years, it has gained popularity among organizations seeking to be free of Microsoft Office licensing costs without losing the ability to remain competitive. For someone on a shoestring budget, this is a boon.

Web-based alternatives
As web technologies mature, it is becoming more feasible to replicate some of the desktop software experience in a web browser. The benefits are obvious and plentiful: 1) your applications are available from any Internet-connected PC; no need to install the application, 2) your files are available from any Internet-connected PC; no need to sync between computers, 3) collaboration is a breeze, 4) the software is continually updated. The list goes on and on. The drawbacks are just as obvious: 1) if your Internet connection goes down, so do your files, 2) the browser can't yet provide as rich of an experience as the desktop, 3) browser-based apps are less secure than desktop apps*. Drawbacks aside, the price tag for these web-based apps (free, in many cases) is too attractive for many to pass up--even if advertisements are part of the package.

Some of these web-based office applications are much less mature than OpenOffice, but they're still worth a look. I recommend taking a look at Google Docs and Spreadsheets and Zoho Virtual Office. Google's offerings are ok (as an Excel guru, I can't really get excited about Google's far-inferior spreadsheet app), and InfoWorld's Oliver Wrist raves about Zoho Virtual Office. He spent an entire week using web applications instead of his beloved Microsoft Office, and Zoho was his clear favorite. I haven't tried it myself, but I plan to, based on what Wrist had to say about it. Be sure to check out his article about his experience with web-based productivity software if you want to see other alternatives.

Affordable version of Microsoft Office
If you happen to be a student or teacher who's not flat broke, and you want to stick with Microsoft Office, you're in luck. Microsoft created the Microsoft Office Student And Teacher Edition. It includes full working versions of Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint. The price ranges from $99-$139, and you can legally install it on up to three PCs in a household. The catch? There are a few, actually: 1) you have to be a qualified academic user, 2) you can't upgrade the product. For more information about the restrictions, see this page.

Some Final Thoughts
Some people have taken a look at offerings like OpenOffice and think that competitors are starting to catch up to Microsoft. Let me tell you, after using Office 2007 Beta for the past couple of months, I can confidently say that Microsoft Office isn't about to be displaced by these free apps. But in the future, this competition will be interesting.

Of course, office productivity suites aren't the only software packages that you can get for free. A Google search for free applications can keep you busy for hours, but if you just want to glance at a collection of popular free programs, visit http://theopencd.org/programs.

* http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=192500179&subSection=Servers

What is Wikipedia?

I remember my early computing days in 1996, spending time watching the sparse multimedia content in Microsoft's electronic encyclopedia, Encarta. It was an interesting--albeit initially underwhelming--departure from the book-form encyclopedias.

Encarta is still around, but another form of encyclopedia has emerged. Wikipedia is a free, web-based, multilingual encyclopedia written by anybody and everybody who wants to contribute. Need to know about the American Civil War? Visit Wikipedia's article about it. Don't like the wording of the article? Change it. That's right--you can edit the encyclopedia. Today. This minute. My description was rather brief; if you want to know more about it, read Wikipedia's article about itself.

This approach has three significant advantages over other types of encyclopedias:

1. Vast amount of content. Wikipedia taps the Internet community for content; can you imagine a faster way to create new articles and add to existing ones?
2. Low cost. The Internet community is cheap labor. There are still costs associated with maintaining a web site on this scale, so Wikipedia still needs donations. But for now, the encyclopedia is free.
3. Up-to-the-minute content. The Indianapolis Colts beat the Denver Broncos a few hours ago. Somebody has already noted that on Wikipedia, and has written a summary of the game. Yes, I picked a frivolous example; but the point is, with billions of potential authors, Wikipedia is the only encyclopedia that can be up-to-date on virtually any topic that people care about.

There are some disadvantages too. For one thing, there's nothing stopping your 8-year-old from "editing" the aforementioned article about the Civil War. Also, popular opinion doesn't necessarily reflect reality. In short, Wikipedia isn't guaranteed to be accurate.

You can read plenty of opinions about Wikipedia, and the purpose of this post is not to exhaust the arguments or convince you that Wikipedia is better than all the other encyclopedias. Just keep this in your back pocket for the next time that you need free information about--virtually anything.

Cheap Comfort

As a man born and raised in Minnesota, I am supposed to embrace the cold. When I was in college in Wisconsin, one of my roomates liked sleeping with the windows open--during the winter. Somehow that was construed as manly rather than idiodic. Today, I prove that I am unworthy of such a rugged heritage because I admit...I have a heated blanket. And I love it.

Actually, the heated blanket has a purpose beyond compromising my masculinity. One purpose of the heated blanket was to serve as a gift for my wife, who loves her heated throw. (Take note, guys: a $30 heated throw makes a fantastic gift for your wife or girlfriend.) But another purpose was to save money. We live in a house without zoned climate control. If I want it to be, say, 68 degrees in our bedroom at night, I have to either heat the entire house to 68 degrees (which is a waste of money), or I have to get creative.

One option is to use a space heater. This is a perfectly fine option if it works for you, but we found that it wasn't working as well as we had hoped. So I decided to try a heated blanket, which--like the space heater--should theoretically let me turn the thermostat way down without compromising our comfort. We bought a Sunbeam dual-control unit, so we can each select the temperature we like. It costs $70 at WalMart.

We love the heated blanket; it does the job very well. It's a basic unit though, so it doesn't have automatic shut-off. No problem; I purchased a $5 outlet timer to cut the power at 7:15 am so we don't have to bother turning off the blanket in the morning.

But does it save money? Sunbeam claims that you can "Save up to 10% a year on your heating bills by turning on your Sunbeam Heated Blanket and setting your thermostat back by 10%-15% while sleeping." (That quote is from WalMart.com.) Well, I used my Kill-a-Watt unit (I'll probably dedicate another post to this gadget) to gauge the electricity usage last night, and 9 hours of continuous use at the lowest setting (on both sides of the blanket) cost 0.44 KWH, which equates to 4 cents at my current electricity rate. I suspect that dropping my thermostat level even 1 degree for the evening probably saves more than 4 cents in energy costs. I don't know how long it will take to pay for itself, but given the comfort level and the low operating cost, we're considering this a great investment.

The Internet's Couch Cushion

FatWallet should be one of the most popular sites on the web, yet when I mention it to people, they have no idea what it is. I like to think of FatWallet.com as the couch cushion of the Internet.

FatWallet.com has referral partnerships with dozens (maybe hundreds) of online retailers. When you make a purchase on a web site after "clicking through" FatWallet.com, FatWallet gets a certain percentage of the sale. Cool for them, right? But what would make you visit FatWallet.com first? Here's the great part: they split their referral money with you. That's right--by simply logging in to FatWallet.com and clicking on their own link to your online retailer, you could get cash back on your purchase.

For example, let's say you were going to buy a digital camera, and you found that Buy.com had the best price ($300). If you visit FatWallet.com first, and you click on their Buy.com link, you'll get 2% ($6) back on your purchase. Once you have a FatWallet.com account established, the amount of time it takes to do this extra step takes about 5 seconds. Sounds too simple? Ok, I'll tell you the two caveats:

1. You have to log in to FatWallet.com first. This is actually easier than it sounds, since you can have FatWallet.com remember you. I don't have to log in anymore. A visit to FatWallet.com, a hop over to Buy.com (or VisionDirect.com, or whatever), and I'm on my way to cash back.
2. Your cash back isn't available immediately; it takes about 90 days. Why? Well, I assume it's because FatWallet doesn't get any referral money if you return the merchandise. If you could get cash back immediately, what would stop you from buying thousands of dollars in merchandise and returning it, reaping the cash back profits?

FatWallet's own site does a pretty good job of explaining the process. See http://www.fatwallet.com/tmm/rewards.php. If you're interested in establishing an account and getting cash back on your purchases from here on out, just visit www.fatwallet.com.

Dual Purpose

I spend way too much time researching things. When I'm at the store, I can spend 10 minutes deciding among multiple variations of essentially the same item. If you've never pulled out your calculator to figure out which pack of toilet paper offers the best deal per square inch, you won't understand. And that's ok; my closest friends have kindly explained to me that I'm a freak, so I'm aware that you're the normal one, and that I'm the odd one. I'm learning to accept that (much to the dismay of my aforementioned friends, who have done everything short of an intervention to convince me to change).

My hope is that I can share some ideas with you that will help you save money, and help make your life easier. That's the dual purpose of this blog. And please do me a favor--even if you don't find the information useful, at least pretend that you did. I already have my friends and family telling me I'm wasting my time; if strangers start agreeing, I won't know what to do.