Book Reviews and Money Saving Tips

It is probably overstating that I am in love but this is onesweet projector. I pulled it out of thebox, read the quick start guide and in a matter of minutes had my laptop screenup to big screen size! Not only thatbut within that initial 15 minutes I had YouTube videos running on my wall, ina very well light (sunlight bright) room. Within the first 30 minutes I was running Ice Age and feeling prettydarn chipper about the ease of use of this very portable projector. I’m retired so I don’t need this for business. I will use it for presentations now andagain but I am more excited about using it as a big screen TV on the occasionalshore trip where there are just little tube type TVs. I’m also looking forward to running anoutside film fest for the grandkids on the side of the house. The sound is adequate on the projector but you probably willwant to put something beefier on the source to give you better sound. The on screen menu and source selection wasself evident an...

I’m an ex-computer geek, I can’t help myself but mygrandson’s computer crapped out recently and he was devastated. As much as I preach backup he had nobackup. Then I got an email from a fellow blogger who said she hadlost over 30 unpublished posts when her hard drive died. So in spite of obvious redundancies I am going to repeatmyself. I I hate losing stuff. I use a bunch of different ways to back up but here are a couple ofideas besides having multiple computers and hard drives. 2nd copy at http://www.centered.com/ is a inexpensive backup type software thatyou can tell to just copy stuff on a schedule. Like every night. It is easy touse and inexpensive. Thumb drives are now down to about a $1.00 a gb and a 8gbthumb drive will save a lot of posts. (Amazon had a 16gb flash drive for $17.72 and free supersaver shipping.) Online or cloud storage is available for free. 50gb at http://www.adrive.com/ This is also good for archiving things youdon’t want to lose. DropBox is anoth...

May all your wishes come true this holiday season! Merry Christmas!

This precisely sized case protects your point and shoot camera inside and out with a ribbed exterior and scratch-resistant interior. Features: Fits most popular point and shoot cameras / Durable molded EVA exterior protects your camera / Compact design allows this case to fit easily into any bag / Soft, nylex-lined interior protects LCD screen from scratches / Internal mesh pocket for an SD card or cable / Two zipper pulls and elastic side gussets eliminate fumbling when accessing the camera / Removable lanyard included for an additional carry option External Dimensions: 3.4 x 1.3 x 5" / Internal Dimensions: 2.3 x .9 x 3.8" This is a sweet little camera case. It has a pocket for the camera and a second pocket that can hold the USB cable or a spare set batteries or SD card. I like the semi-hard shell as well. It seems like it should provide excellent protection for the camera. I was provided this case at no charge for review purposes. Please know that if it was cr...

Planning ahead for the end of year parties is the key to saving money. Marquee hire and event hire companies are going to be busy. If you don’t have patios, pergolas or carports to use as your staging ground, you had better get on with booking now! Here are some more tips to saving money and party like a Rock star this year If you live in the Southern Hemisphere or near the equator, now is the time to start partying! The warmer months are now. Here in Colombia, there is an excuse for a ‘fiesta’ everywhere. Australian’s love to drink beer, and party the day and night away this time of the year. If you are lucky enough to have access to patios or pergolas for a backyard party, now is your time to get cracking. If you are stuck in the Northern Hemisphere, you should still make plans for house parties. It is the silly season after all. · What you need out the back. Out-door structures, carports and any other part of your home with some cover, make the best place to set up yo...

In an effort to maintain some semblance of health once it is too cold to swim, I ride an exercise bike. My old upright bike was beating up my knees. I got this bike after discussing my concerns with two of my bridge playing doc friends. The bike needs assembly when it arrives. That was not arduous but it was not a 5 minute job either. The instructions were clear and amazingly enough all the parts were there. The bike adjusts easily after assembly.  The computer on mine was not working correctly and I called customer service at Marcy. Imagine my surprise when I got a delightful young woman who seemed genuinely glad to get my call and to provide me with superior customer service. She was eager to help and promised a new computer would be on the way that day. I told her that I was truly impressed with how easy it was to rectify my problem and how happy I was with my service. I got the new computer in less than a week from the west coast and over a holiday...

Saving money is one thing, making it is the other side of the same coin. Here is my top tip for making a little money from home, and maybe saving some too. It is something I have tried myself, as a young mum struggling to make ends meet, and found it worked. My friends have made money this way too, so pass the advice on to any hard up young graduates you know. It is surprising how few of them realize what an asset they have on their bookshelves. They might not make a million, but it may just keep the wolf from the door, and at the same time be helping out other students who may be struggling financially too. It may seem obvious advice, but it is surprising how few people take advantage of the superb system Amazon have for selling second-hand books. It really is simplicity itself, and there is none of the time-consuming photographing, description and uploading work to be done, as on ebay. I found that the books that could be sold for the most were academic textbooks. Since I had finis...

Win-Win Christmas Gift Whit Gentry wrote an excellent psycho thriller. I reviewed it on Pick of the Literate . This fall Whit’s grandson died suddenly. As a grandparent I can not imagine the pain that ensued from that sad event. Whit has put his book on Smashwords.com which is a website that presents Ebook formats that can be downloaded to all ebook readers, PCs, laptops, and Ipads. Smashwords is a user friendly web-site, they will not be contacting you to buy items. He put the price of his book in ebook format at $0.99 (less than a dollar). Whatever sales yield between now and Christmas will be donated to St Jude in the name of his grandson Cager Neal Gentry. He will post the money order that he will send to St Jude's for all to see what was achieved. If you're interested, this will take you to the purchase page -- www.smashwords.com/books/view/109205 I am posting this wherever I can to promote both Whit’s excellent book but also to help hono...

Just a heads up for you XBox fans, New Egg has it for $49.99 including shipping. They are the least expensive I have found anywhere that is known to be legitimate. There are some sites that have it for less but they got slammed on reviews. Best Buy was advertising it but only as a loss leader to get you into the stores, they would not ship it. Some how it escapes them that many of us won't be caught dead fighting the holiday crowds. If I can't buy it locally, I'm certainly not getting into my car to drive to some big entity that has no interest in customer service. I was not impressed with Cyber Monday. I noticed that several things I had looked at the previous week were actually more expensive on Cyber Monday. Ahhh the adage buyer beware holds true now and forever!

I got an email from a custom T-shirt company recently. Company name is ooshirts. I had never heard of them and was truly surprised they heard of me. They asked if I would be willing to review their T-shirts. I told them that was pretty tough considering I had never seen one of their shirts. They then asked if they sent me a couple of shirts would I review them. I cautioned them that “I calls them as I sees them”. I was assured that they wanted an honest and objective review. I agreed to do it. I went to their site and designed a shirt. I got the shirt promptly and was quite pleased with the quality. I washed one a couple of times to see how the design would hold up after repeated washings. The design was crisp and bright after washing. The 2xx was a real double x, both longer and taller. I get grumpy when clothiers dictate that 2xx is just wider not taller. Frankly I am way taller than I am wide. The quality was good, the service was goo...

Starting December 3rd Win a copy of Antiquitas Lost: The Last of the Shamalans a rollicking fantasy. Authored by Robert Louis Smith M.D., MSc by entering at Azure Dwarf on December 3rd or on the Interview with the Author that will be posted at Azure Dwarf on December 6th. The Contest runs from Dec. 3 to Dec. 10 and shipping has been restricted to the U.S. or Canada.

One of my pet peeves is the hidden costs of shipping. I’m guessing that the retailers hope you will ignore the cost of shipping once you get to checkout. I just was on the Walmart site and was going to buy something that seemed to be aggressively priced. It had free shipping to the store. If I wanted to go to the store I would not have been shopping on line. Duhh! It would not give me the price with shipping until I went through the checkout procedures. Guess what! Not worth my trouble when I think they are playing head games. Give me the full price before I have to put in my credit card not after! Lost sale due to annoyance! You would think these guys would learn by now that annoyance probably costs them far more sales than sneaking in the shipping costs at the end earn them in sales. Grinch me not!

This post is a repost from bestonlinecolleges.com . and is just a brief summary. Click on the link to get the real skinny on the 10 apps they have researched.    Thanks to Rose King from bestonlinecolleges.com for the link and post.    This is not an endorsement of their services or products just a repost of an interesting post .   So much of our time is spent using a device to keep us connected to the world, so why not use these gadgets to manage our money as well? The iPad's portability and user-friendly features make it the perfect tool for managing your cash flow and accomplishing your financial goals in one convenient place. All you have to do next is load up on a handful of reliable financial apps, and you've got yourself a portable and personal financial adviser. Get your money in check with these 10 iPad apps. 1.      Mint.com 2.      Shoeboxed Receipt Tracker and Reader 3.      Pag...

First of all I love the form factor of the microSDHC memory cards.  It goes into  so many things.  I have converters to make it into a standard SD memory card or a USB drive.   So the form factor gives it great versatility.  This specific card was appreciably faster than one that was two years old.  Sadly I have no specs on the 2 year old one.  I did a relatively unscientific but practical test of the cards speed.   I copied a 10gb file from my hard drive to the new AmazonBasics card and it showed up in substantially less than a second.   I copied the same file on my 2 year old card and it took 4.5 seconds.   So from a layman’s point of view this card is seriously faster.   I liked it.  I was provided this card at no charge for testing and review.  

This drive set up beautifully.    No issues, three different users on three different computers accessing the drive through a wireless router.   It was $89.99 with free shipping from Buy.com.    The following is copied directly from their site.   The accolades above are due to a product that set up easily out of the box with no calls to tech support necessary.   With smart phones and tablet PCs becoming essential tools for business, healthcare and education, LG’s Super-Multi NAS N1A1 is able to stream information and media directly to portable devices. Open up new possibilities of distributing information to clients, doctors, patients and students. The LG NAS lets you go beyond the storage limitations of handheld devices and gain access to videos, music and presentations via the internet. Whether streaming video seminars to students or sharing medical information with patients, the LG NAS delivers a new level of interactivity. Features:...

Summary: this article takes a look at the importance of budgeting when investing in realty and who can help you establish and stick to a budget. (I accept guest posts.  This is a guest post and I am not recommending the companies that are represented by the links.  I have not researched them in more than a cursorily manner to just determine they are not offensive to my personal taste.  Posting the article is not to be seen as a endorsement of any kind except I thought it was worth reading.) Propertyinvestment can be a huge financial risk, especially to those who haven’t established a well-planned budget.  In fact, having a well thought out budget is an essential component to owning and keeping and investment property. Detailed below are the reasons why you should plan out a budget, those professionals who can help you establish a budget and some helpful tips on how to stick to your budget. The Importance of Budgeting Bad financial decisi...

 Etonic Stabilizer Golf Shoes 2011 I wrote about my dissatisfaction with a pair of Etonic golf shoes back in July.   Last month the CEO of Etonic World Wide called me and apologized for my experience.   My complaint wasn’t that quality control could miss a bad pair of shoes but that customer service appeared to be non-existent.    I was told that the customer service issue had been addressed and I was thanked for making Etonic a better company.  Tom Elwell (the CEO) is a man of his word.   There is now a wealth of contacts on the Etonic website.   In addition he asked if I would be willing to review a new pair of Etonic Stabilizers.   I agreed to try them and he sent me a pair.   First there is a bunch of spikes on this puppy.   What I like is that there is a spike in the center of each spike for increased stabilization.  (I think this is where the name came from.LOL) ...

Sophia Global Remanufactured Ink Cartridge Replacement for Canon PG-40 and CL-41 (1 Black and 1 Color) I'm always hesitant to use 3rd party ink.  When I was still in the computer business, we had a client bring in a printer that looked like a small animal had been butchered inside it.  His refilled ink cartridge had leaked and the fast back and fourth left an astounding mess.  These ink cartridges still are not recognized by my Canon printer so the convenient low ink warning is missing. However the pair of cartridges are a better price than the single cartridge from Canon.  I have printed out some photos and they are not quite as good as the Canon cartridges but so close that I needed a magnifier to tell the difference.  I recommend them. I purchased them at Amazon.

Summary: What are some essential tips for new home buyers? Read on to find out! (I accept guest posts.   This is a guest post and I am not recommending the companies that are represented by the links.   I have not researched them in more than a cursorily manner to just determine they are not offensive to my personal taste.   Posting the article is not to be seen as a endorsement of any kind except I thought it was worth reading.) Buying your first home or first investment property is a huge responsibility. Your personal financial future is often heavily invested in the value of your home. While a real estate agent can guide you through the process of buying a home, having a bit of knowledge beforehand can really help you avoid many of the costly pitfalls new home owners make. Here are nine essential tips for new home buyers: Know Your Limits Before you do anything, you have to know how much you can afford to pay. While you can easily get this informatio...

This is an excellent price for any laser printer.   I sold some Samsung lasers when I had my computer business and they worked just fine.   This price is excellent but keep in mind what you are getting.    It will give great print quality but no color.   The toner cartridge is $59 at buy.com and $63.95 at Staples and yields 1500 pages.    A typical black ink cartridge for a typical inkjet printer yields 400 pages   for a $20.00 cartridge.    Do the math, roughly $80.00 for 1600 pages   vs. $60 for 1500 pages.   Keep in mind that page yield is often considered 5% coverage which is a bit ludicrous.    So in spite of the fact that a laser printer at $56 is a crazy price it may not be a good fit for you.    I did not find any compatible toner cartridges for the Samsung (there may be some, I just didn’t find one.) and I use compatible cartridges for my inkjet printer that cut the ink cost by 50%.  ...

  McAfee Site Advisor says it isn’t dangerous and said downloads were free of adware etc.    I downloaded it today and it tried to put all kinds of crapware on my computer.   It asks if you want it and even when I said no to everything but the compression software it still added an extra program to the download.   As soon as download was complete I uninstalled 7 Zip and it blew out my desktop and I had to manually reboot.   I then uninstalled Net Assistant for Firefox which it had added to my download.   So regardless of what McAfee says, I would be cautious with this program, it may or may not be insidious but it will do it’s best to install software that you did not ask for nor want.   Sadly it was on the site called addictivetips that had a program for synching Google Calendar with Windows 7.    Windows Live Calendar Gadget may be a fine program but since 7 Zip was on the same page I am now gun shy of anything I would get on...