Poor Man’s iPhone
Posted on July 14, 2008
Filed Under Tips, gadgets | Leave a Comment
Build Yourself an iPhone Like Device Using a WM6 Smartphone and an iPod Touch
I currently have a Sprint Mogul (HTC-6800), and have been seriously considering purchasing an iPhone. While the iPhone is exceedingly nice, with a whole bunch of great features, I find it difficult to justify making the change. The biggest drawback for me is the AT&T monthly fees. I current am on the Sprint SERO plan which gives me 1250 minutes and unlimited data for $50 a month. My data rate is quick, and with the HTC Firmware upgrade, I get GPS as well as EVDO-REV A data speeds. Plus, I’m in the middle of my contract which makes it doubly expensive to get out. Anyway, I did come up with a plan to whet my iPhone 2.0 appetite…
I won an iPod Touch at a trade event I was at. Actually, if you buy a mac right now, and you or a friend are a student or educator, you can get one free - an amazing deal! The iPod touch is really quite impressive - the usability and response time are far better than my Mogul. The graphics are amazing - photos and web pages look great. Connectivity through wifi is great too! All of these features definitely make you want to carry it around, but a lack of a cellular signal limits your range. So, I began to wonder if I could use the wi-fi capability to make my iPod Touch more mobile, and came up with the idea of using wmwifirouter on my exisiting cell phone to broadcast a wifi signal to the iPod Touch whenever I’m on the road - I think it should work. By the way, the iPod Touch can also get the 2.0 software update - it is a $10 download from iTunes. Also, wmwifirouter is available for pretty much all Windows Mobile 6 smartphones, so this idea should work for any compatible model.
WMwifirouter review (http://www.desicrazy.com/2008/03/03/turn-a-windows-mobile-6-smart-phone-into-a-wireless-router-using-wmwifirouter/ )
Granted, this method doesn’t replace an iPhone, and you have to carry 2 devices around, but it may help you wait out the rest of your contract!
Latest Nehaflix Coupon Code - Expires 7/13/08
Posted on July 9, 2008
Filed Under Hot Deals, Shopping, Tips | Leave a Comment
10% Savings on your next order. Instructions to redeeem:
1. Enter Coupon Code MONK.
Coupon valid on new orders only and has to be entered during checkout. One coupon per order. Not valid on previous orders. Coupon expires July 13th, 2008.
Top 10 Google Search Tips
Posted on July 7, 2008
Filed Under Free, Tips, top 10 | Leave a Comment
I found this really interesting article on lifehacker.com, and thought I would post it here…
(original source http://lifehacker.com/339474/top-10-obscure-google-search-tricks)
When it comes to the Google search box, you already know the tricks: finding exact phrases matches using quotes like “so say we all” or searching a single site using site:lifehacker.com gmail. But there are many more oblique, clever, and lesser-known search recipes and operators that work from that unassuming little input box. Dozens of Google search guides detail the tips you already know, but today we’re skipping the obvious and highlighting our favorite obscure Google web search tricks.
10. Get the local time anywhere
What time is it in Bangkok right now? Ask Google. Enter simply what time is it to get the local time in big cities around the world, or add the locale at the end of your query, like what time is it hong kong to get the local time there.
9. Track flight status
Enter the airline and flight number into the Google search box and get back the arrival and departure times right inside Google’s search results.
8. Convert currency, metrics, bytes, and more
Google’s powerful built-in converter calculator can help you out whether you’re cooking dinner, traveling abroad, or building a PC. Find out how many teaspoons are in a quarter cup (quarter cup in teaspoons) or how many seconds there are in a year (seconds in a year) or how many euros there are to five dollars (5 USD in Euro). For the geekier set, bits in kilobytes (155473 bytes in kilobytes) and numbers in hex or binary (19 in binary) are also pretty useful.
7. Compare items with “better than” and find similar items with “reminds me of”
Reader Adam taps the wisdom of the crowds by searching for like items using key phrases. He writes in:
Simply search for, in quotes: “better than _keyword_”Some example results:
Results 1 - 100 of about 550 English pages for ” better than WinAmp”.
Results 1 - 57 of 57 English pages for ” better than mIRC”.
Results 1 - 100 of about 17,500 English pages for ” better than Digg”. (Wow. Poor Digg.)
The results will almost always lead you to discovering alternatives to whatever it is you’re searching for. Using the same concept, you can use this trick to discover new music or movies. For example, ” reminds me of _someband_” or “sounds like _someband_” will pull up artists people have thought sounded similar to the one you typed in. This is also a great way to find good, no-name musicians you’d probably never know of otherwise.
Examples:
Results 1 - 88 of 88 English pages for ” reminds me of Metallica”.
Results 1 - 36 of 36 English pages for ” similar to Garden State”.
Results 1 - 66 of 66 English pages for ” sounds like The Shins”.
Just get creative and you’ll, without a doubt, find cool new stuff you probably never knew existed.
6. Use Google as a free proxy
What, your company blocks that hip new web site just because it drops the F bomb occasionally? Use Google’s cache to take a peek even when the originating site’s being blocked, with cache:example.com.
5. Remove affiliate links from product searches
When you’re sick of seeing duplicate product search results from the likes of eBay, Bizrate, Pricerunner, and Shopping.com, clear ‘em out by stacking up the -site:ebay.com -site:bizrate.com -site:shopping.com operator. Alternately, check out Give Me Back My Google (original post), a service that does all that known reseller cleaning up for you when you search for products. Compare this GMBMG search for a Cruzer 1GB flash drive to the regular Google results.
4. Find related terms and documents
Ok, this one’s direct from any straight-up advanced search operator cheat sheet, but it’s still one of the lesser-used tricks in the book. Adding a tilde (~) to a search term will return related terms. For example, Googling ~nutrition returns results with the words nutrition, food, and health in them.
3. Find music and comic books
Using a combination of advanced search operators that specify music files available in an Apache directory listing, you can turn Google into your personal Napster. Go ahead, try this search for Nirvana tracks: -inurl:(htm|html|php) intitle:”index of” +”last modified” +”parent directory” +description +size +(wma|mp3) “Nirvana”. (Sub out Nirvana for the band you’re interested in; use this one in conjunction with number 7 to find new music, too.) The same type of search recipe can find comic books as well.
2. ID people, objects, and foreign language words and phrases with Google Image Search
Google Image search results show you instead of tell you about a word. Don’t know what jicama looks like? Not sure if the person named “Priti” who you’re emailing with is a woman or a man? Spanish rusty and you forgot what “corazon” is? Pop your term into Google Image Search (or type image jicama into the regular search box) to see what your term’s about.
1. Make Google recognize faces
If you’re doing an image search for Paris Hilton and don’t want any of the French city, a special URL parameter in Google’s Image search will do the trick. Add &imgtype=face to the end of your image search to just get images of faces, without any inanimate objects. Try it out with a search for rose (which returns many photos of flowers) versus
Free Microsoft Office Small Business 2007 - Completely Legal and Legit!
Posted on June 19, 2008
Filed Under Free, Hot Deals, Shopping | Leave a Comment
Microsoft loves to give away software, and this time it is giving away a FULL version of Microsoft Office Small Business 2007 just for signing up for the Microsoft Professional Accountants’ Network in the UK. You do need a Live ID, but signing up is TOTALLY FREE, there is nothing to buy and nothing to cancel. You don’t even have to be in the UK.
Deal Summary:
You Get: Full Version Microsoft Office Small Business 2007 (via download)
Your Cost: Nothing (unless you pay for bandwidth)
Total Download Size: Approx 775 MB
Retail Price: $449.95 USD MSRP
Product Summary:
Microsoft Office Small Business 2007
Suite Includes:
• Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2008
• Microsoft Office Excel 2007
• Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager
• Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007
• Microsoft Office Publisher 2007
• Microsoft Office Word 2007
Official Description:
Revive your nine-to-five with Office Small Business 2007. Save time and stay organized with this familiar, easy-to-use set of productivity and contact management tools. Efficiently manage customer and contact information, produce your own professional-quality marketing campaigns, and more effectively visualize business data. Access the FREE Work Essentials Web site for best practices and tips to improve your company’s task and team-based business processes.
This suite also offers these two great programs:
Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager: Add complete contact management capabilities to Office Outlook 2007 so you can organize your accounts, centralize critical business information, and improve customer service across your organization.
Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2008: An essential tool for managing your business finances. Whether you’re a home-based business or a small business, you can now manage your finances from a simple program—and eliminate paperwork clutter.
How to get the Deal:
1) You MUST have a Windows Live ID. If you don’t have a Windows Live ID go sign up here:
http://get.live.com/getlive/overv…wsignin1.0
2) Now you need to go to the Microsoft Professional Accountants’ Network page here:
http://accounting.microsoft.com/mpanuk.aspx
3) Click on the “Sign Up” link in the upper right.
4) Fill out the short survey. No need to lie. There’s even a spot for “country” if you’re not in the UK.
5) When the survey is done, you should be on the Microsoft Connect site. Click on “Your Dashboard.” You can always get back to your dashboard with this link:
https://connect.microsoft.com/dashboard/
6) You should see the following entry in your dashboard:
Microsoft Professional Accountants’ Network
New items: no new items
Processing…
Programs
MPAN - UK | End Your Participation
7) Click on the Microsoft Professional Accountants’ Network link.
Click on Product Keys in the upper left.
9) Click on “Request New Product Key” to get a key for Office Small Business Edition 2007 - UK. This is a FULL RETAIL key for Office. Save this in a safe place.
10) Download the 60-day trial version of Office SBE 2007 from here:
UK: http://trial.trymicrosoftoffice.c…ture=en-GB
US: http://us20.trymicrosoftoffice.co…ture=en-US
11) IGNORE the key that comes in your email. That is a 60-day trial key. Instead, use the key that you got in Step 9 to install Office.
12) Congratulations! You now have a FULLY LICENSED and REGISTERED retail copy of Office SBE 2007. This is NOT a trial and it WILL NOT expire.
General Questions:
1) Is this really the full version?
Yes, it’s the full version. It will not expire.
2) Do I have to live in the UK to get it?
Nope.
3) Will the serial number work with the US version of Office?
Yes. You can download the US version of Office SBE 2007 and use the UK key to install it. It appears to install just fine.
4) Is the US site offering a free copy of Office?
No, this offer is exclusive to the UK site.
5) Do I have to worry about getting billed/cancelling anything?
No, there is nothing to get billed for and no subscription to cancel. You are merely joining a user group. You can stay a member forever or quit anytime.
6) What is the difference between the US version of Office and the UK version of Office?
The US version is localized in US English while the UK version is localized with UK English. They both work the same, though you may notice UK spellings over US spellings (such as colour vs color).
7) What does “no media” mean?
Microsoft will not ship you a box or CD. You just get a serial number. You must download the full version of Office from the trial site and use that to install. If you want a backup copy on CD, you will need to burn a copy of the downloaded trial version.
Where can I get updates for Office?
You can download updates via the Microsoft Update client automatically or you can go to the main Office site (http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx) and check for updates manually.
9) What is the latest Service Pack for Office 2007?
Service Pack 1 for Office 2007 was released in Dec 2007. You can download Office 2007 SP1 here:
http://www.microsoft.com/download…layLang=en
Free Bollywood on Demand on Comcast
Posted on June 18, 2008
Filed Under Free | Leave a Comment
Right now you can get free Bollywood-on-Demand on Comcast in select markets. I think it goes until June 29 according to my message from Comcast. Try it and see if it works!
Save 5% on Gas, Wireless Service, and Office Supplies - No limit
Posted on June 16, 2008
Filed Under Hot Deals, Shopping, Tips | Leave a Comment
With gas prices going up every day, this card may give you a bit a relief.
SIMPLY CASH REBATE ESTIMATOR
http://www201.americanexpress.com…Apply=true
ANYBODY CAN APPLY, YOU DON’T NEED TO BE A BUSINESS, JUST PUT IN YOUR NAME AS THE BUSINESS.
You may now rip up all of your other business credit cards. We have a new winner of the all-time best business credit cards we have researched for this site. Rewards is our specialty and this card from American Express tops all other cards - even personal credit cards with the convenient hassle-free cash back, full 5% back, and the prestige of carrying an American Express card.
With the new SimplyCash card from American Express you can earn 5% cash back on gas, office supplies and wireless services(cell phones, wifi connectivity). Earn 1% on cash back on all other purchases. Cash back is automatically credited to the statement each month. There is No fee with this business credit card and the flexibility to pay in full or carry a balance. You not only get these cash back rewards at a full !% and 5% but you get to be part of the OPEN Savings program from American Express. Any purchases with this card at certain merchants will receive automatic discounts – this includes FedEx, Delta Courtyard by Marriott to name a few.
American Express SimplyCash Business Card
Best Rewards Card for Small Businesses
0% introductory APR for up to 12 months
No Annual Fee
5% Full Cash Back on automobile Gas, Wireless services, Office supplies
1% Full Cash Back on everything else
Cash Back automatically credited to statement each month (no checks to cash or points programs to mess with)
No limits to the cash back you can earn
No annual fee with the flexibility to pay in full or carry a balance
OPEN Savings network (save an additional 3-25%)
http://www201.americanexpress.com…&eep=17725
Sharp LCD TV Amazing Employee Sale - All Codes Below
Posted on May 28, 2008
Filed Under HDTV, Hot Deals, Shopping, gadgets | Leave a Comment
Sharp is giving you the chance to take advantage of a terrific opportunity; between now and Friday, May 30, 2008 at 6:00 PM New Jersey time (Eastern Time) you can save up to 60% off Sharp AQUOS LCD TVs ranging in screen sizes from 20” to 65” (19-11/16” to 64-33/64” diagonal) and assorted Audio products!
In order to gain access to these incredible hot savings, please visit http://www.sharpusa.com/TVsale and enter the following information when you see the login screen:
Sharp Employee E-mail Address: sharptvsale@sharpusa.com
Personal Promotion Code: sharptvsale
The order and credit card transaction will take place over the web at http://www.sharpusa.com/TVsale, but you must pick up their TV at one of our three warehouses (Mahwah, Romeoville, or Huntington Beach ) this Saturday, May 31, 2008 between 10:00 AM and 3:00 PM local times. You must print out the your order confirmation and present it when picking up the order, without the printed order confirmation, you will not be able to pick up your order. If the order is not picked up over the weekend during the specific time, your order will be cancelled and the credit card used will be refunded. All orders must be picked up Saturday, May 31, 2008, there are no exceptions.
Each purchaser is limited to two (2) units for the duration of the promotion. NOTE: Please be sure proper transportation is brought to pick-up an order. If the television box cannot be transported securely, the order will be forfeited and cancelled at Sharp’s discretion. Shipping supplies (rope, bungee cord, etc) will not be supplied.
These “hot” savings won’t last for long, and right now is the perfect time to upgrade to a brand new or reconditioned Sharp AQUOS LCD-TV!
Make Unlimited Calls to India and other Countries for 25 cents flat fee!
Posted on May 21, 2008
Filed Under Hot Deals, Shopping | Leave a Comment
Untimed calls to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietname and South Africa
You can now make unlimited, untimed calls to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietname and South Africa for just 25c per call. 25c untimed calls are to land line phones in above countries.
http://www.clickncallnow.com/untimed_India_Pakistan_Bangladesh.php
For a very small fee of just $3 per month you can make unlimited untimed calls to the above 4 countries for just 25c per call, not per minute! And yes you can still call over 60 other coutries and destinations for just 20c untimed.
To take up this offer you first need to Register and become a CnCn member. After you register please Contact us to confirm you like to take up this special offer and we will deduct the $3 from your prepaid credit each month.
Existing CnCn members can contact us to take up this offer at any time. You can also back out from this offer any time you wish although the $3 is non-refundable.
* 25c untimed calls are to land line phones in above countries.
Here is how you can call
http://www.clickncallnow.com/global_access.php
Here is how your friend can call you from over 25 countries for a local call cost:
For example, your friend is in New York, USA and he(she) dials a local number 646-291-2168 in New York.
After the voice prompt, he(she) dials *9024XXXXX (replacing XXXXX with your CnCn account number, and please don’t forget the * and “9024″ in front). If your ATA or softphone is registered(connected) with ClicknCallnow it will start to ring. You just answer it and it’s a free call for you and a local call cost to your friend.
Please contact us with your username if you like this service activated for you.
We can also customize this number for you so it’s shorter to dial for your caller. Rather than dialing *9024XXXXXXXXX (where XXXXX is your ten digits username) your caller can just dial*90241234 where 1234 is the 4-digit number of your choice.
Here is how to use your CnCn account just like a calling card in over 25 countries:
For example, you travel to New York, USA and you dial a local number 646-291-2168 in New York, after the voice prompt, you dial *9024024 (please do not forget the * ). You will then hear a voice prompt: “Please enter your card number”. Just punch in your CnCn userid followed by a “#”. If your number is accepted you can dial any numbers in the world from this point onward. It’s just like a calling card!
I am just providing you the information. I am no way connected to the company..
Free Tickets to Narnia When You Spend $75 at Disneyshopping.com
Posted on May 13, 2008
Filed Under Free, Hot Deals | 1 Comment
Click here for details
Tips for First Time Home Buyers in the San Francisco/San Jose Area
Posted on May 12, 2008
Filed Under Shopping, Tips | Leave a Comment
We finally bought a home in the San Francisco Bay Area (actually in the South Bay) after years of searching and overcoming sticker shock, and thought we’d share some of our “learnings” during this process.
- School district (as measured by API scores) matters a LOT! Areas with school districts were not affected much by the housing crisis, and in most places the homes went up in price over the last year or so.
- Again, homes in good school districts are very desirable, particularly by Asian families who are very education-focused. And there are many Asian families in the Bay Area!
The 3 homes we bid on each had at least 10 bids on them! One of the homes we bid on in the 95130 zip code listed for $779K, and ultimately went for $852K without a home inspection contingency! I would call that somewhat crazy!! - Homes in not so good school districts did not seem to be selling so well, although they also did seem to appreciate almost as well as everything else. We saw some homes in the 95134 zip code which is very close to many high tech companies which did seem to sell well, but the sellers all had kids that were about to enter kindergarten…
- It is hard to find a reasonably priced home where there isn’t noise from planes, trains or automobiles!
- A nice neighborhood with a safe, family-centric feeling is somewhat hard to find, although we did find it in Willow Glen (95125). Plus, Willow Glen passed the “have my mother walk around alone at 10:00 p.m. without freaking out” test!
- Go visit any home you like at night, and in the mornings. Check out how many cars are parked on the road and the overall noise level. Check the traffic at different times of the day.
- Neighborhoods matter. Homes in good neighborhoods should remain desirable. We saw some homes in less desirable neighborhoods early in our home search, which we would absolutely not consider now.
- A well priced home in a good neighborhood will go fast, usually within a few days! Be prepared to act very fast! It took less time for us to buy a home than a toaster oven. Yes, this is crazy, but is very reflective of the market in the Bay Area.
- Understand your mortgage! Stay away from negative amortization loans or prepayment penalties. Definitely talk to a loan consultant at a credit union. They are non-profit and will explain all your options to you.
- Get preapproved, and really figure out how much you can afford. Use the ipmt() function in excel to determine how much interest you will be paying, and plug those numbers into a tax computation tool like Turbotax (along with your estimated property taxes) - this will help you figure out what your real payments will be. This is exactly what we did, and we are completely aware of what the financial impact of the mortgage will be.
- Check with credit unions when shopping for your mortgage. We just got our mortgage loan through Patelco, and it was a pretty stress free experience, and we did most of the paperwork through email using scanned documents (your office copier probably has the ability to create pdf files from paper documents). Plus, credit unions normally do not sell your loan.
- Check for asbestos! Some older homes do have it.
- If you’re looking for a home with a pool, consider what it will cost to maintain it. It may not be cheap!
- If you’re looking at a condo or townhouse, don’t forget to consider the HOA fees. These fees are not tax deductible. Very roughly, at today’s loan rates, every $10,000 you borrow will cost approximately $70 a month (which may turn into $40 or so after tax deductions assuming a 33% tax bracket). Therefore, a HOA fee of $300 translates into about $70K of loan value - which means (for this example) a condo for $500K may be equivalent to a house of $570K. These numbers aren’t exact; they’re just meant to illustrate the point.
- Don’t forget property taxes - which are over 1% in the Bay Area. That is quite a chunk of change. I’m not entirely sure about this, but if you expect to be hit by AMT (alternative minimum tax), not all of this will be tax deductible!
