MyFourCents

Is it worth fixing dead gadgets?

admin — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 19:00:27 +0000

Hmm, this depends on a few factors.
How expensive was the device when it was purchased? How old is it? How much will it cost to get it fixed?

Well my rule, is … If it costs more than $200, is less than 3 years old, and costs less than half to get it fixed, then it is worth getting it fixed.

A great place to have things fixed is rescuecom.com, as they do not charge you anything if they can’t fix your device.

If you think you can fix it yourself, try the following places to find parts.
Electronix.com
PartStore.com
UltraElectronicActive.com

Hamachi Virtual Private Network

admin — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 18:58:59 +0000

This is a no hassle way of allowing you access to your computer no matter where you are, assuming you have Internet access.
Plus it’s a free VPN service.

I installed this at my home, and surprisingly was able to quickly network my computers through the internet with my work computer.

Hamachi VPN

Intelliscanner Mini

admin — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 18:56:11 +0000

Hmm, this is a pretty cool device to catalog your possessions. However I think I’ll wait for the price to come down a bit.

The device scans bar codes on products that you purchase. Then you download the information to your PC which matches it up to a database to catalog information about things you own.
The company touts it’s usefulness to track all of your DVDs, automatically cataloging cover art and release information.

$300
www.intelliscanner.com

Encrypt files on your computer easily

admin — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 18:50:39 +0000

This free program creates a virtual hard drive out of a folder on your pc.
This drive gets opened only with your password. Once opened you can access your files like normal and add additional files to this drive, then when you are finished you “dismount the drive” and all of your files within that drive become encrypted again as a single file you can easily transfer to a cd or thumb drive.
Truecrypt.org

iphone Screen Capture

admin — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 21:30:36 +0000

The iPhone 2.0 software has a built-in screen capture shortcut. Hold the “home” button, then hit the “power/sleep” button, and presto, a capture of your screen is in your photos.

Thumb drive PC repair kit

admin — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 20:54:58 +0000

Thumb drives are so inexpensive now that I think it is worth having an extra thumb drive loaded with just diagnose and fix program. This way if your computer or a friends computer is having troubles you can grab your thumb drive and know that you have all the program at your thumb tips.
PC Repair Kit

In addition I would also install this free undelete program, that recovers deleted files.

Poll your friends

admin — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 20:53:16 +0000

If you need to poll a group of people there are a lot of pay for use services that can set this up for you. But unless your doing a large research project for school or work your probably not interested in paying for this type of service.

This website makes it so easy to poll people, you might think about using it the next time you want to get together with a few friends and need to find out when everyone is available to pick a date to meet.
Try it out.

My favorite Text Editor

admin — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 20:52:02 +0000

I use a text editor when manipulating website files like html or php. The one I really like is notepad++.
Recently I came across another plain text editor which has some great features like being able to sort lists of items.
EditPlus

Password Manager

admin — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 20:46:45 +0000

There are so many websites that require you to log into, that it is difficult to remember all the username and passwords. Security experts recommend you use different passwords for each site, but most people only use at most three different passwords for all their accounts. I think at the very least any site that has your credit card or financial information should have different passwords. This username and password management program is not only great for remembering, but also saving time typing in those username and passwords for all of those websites.
Click here for Password Manager

Garden Hose Reel

admin — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 13:43:22 +0000

I’m sure you’ve had this frustration: winding up your garden hose. Trying to twist it up so that it nearly folds into a nice circle as opposed to a wild snake pile. There are products to help you conceal your garden hose, but the frustration is still there, it’s just not visible to your neighbor.

There are other products that are wheels that help you wind up the hose. These keep the hose from linking and twisting. The only problem is they are not very attractive and most all.mainstream available products in home stores are made out of cheap plastic.

I found and purchased this hose reel from here. This steel wheel mounts to the side of the house. I also foud this one that I really like.