Free= good in my book. And better if the app actually works and is useful. I dont even mind ad-supported apps. But, when the application fails to open if you uninstall the market app (as it happens with amazon’s app market), or cannot communicate with amazon’s servers, then it becomes really useless, as you depend on them exclusively to use that specific app.

I usually get good information on blogs like androidpolice.com and stay up to date of what’s going on, free apps, etc., but to depend on an APP so i can use ANOTHER APP for free is a little ridiculous.

The good thing with “free” is you can use it, and either buy it if you need it or just uninstall it without having made a big time/money investment in the process. The bad part is giving these companies your personal information so that they can then sell that information forward or use it to their advantage.

If it’s free, they’re selling you something, or they’re selling YOUR INFORMATION forward. So, always be cautious and make sure you actually need an app before downloading it, or giving our your personal information away.

Battery Backups cannot handle the big amounts of energy a laser printer needs when it is in the fuser stage of printing and can damage the battery backup, the printer itself or both.

BEST BET is to plug the laser printer to a basic surge protector or directly to the electrical socket if you have good, reliable electrical service.

So my pug got on my lap to watch a video then got a bit too excited and walked all over the laptop keyboard…result? My screen is now upside down! How do I fix this?????

Sometimes laptops have specific software that controls the display and you would go under a specific menu. In this case there was a Keyboard shortcut, and apparently the pug wanted to mess around with her owner. In her case, it was all fixed by pressing a combination of keys:  CTRL  +  ALT  +  UP ARROW  (can also try DOWN, RIGHT, LEFT ARROW).

My ipod nano brought its own earphones but I just can’t jog comfortably with those types of earphones that just sit there, waiting to fall out in any moment. I like the in ear ones because they fit better, isolate outside noise, and make the music range sound better.

Many people swear by the Skull candy brand of earphones. They sell them everywhere from Best Buy, to walmart, to Marshalls and come in a LOT of varieties apparently, prices ranging from $9 to $60.  All shapes, color and sizes.  From in ear earphones to those big headphones they use in movies to make sure you know the person in listening to music.

After listening to the quality of the cheapy $9 ones, I must admit they are not as bad as you might expect coming out of a couple of $9 earphones, and If i’m going to go through them at this rate i might as well get 2 just in case.

Skull Candy Link

I have been using Dropbox since it started years ago and have not had a single problem with them. The only downside is their free offering of only 2gb which isn’t much for large media files and photos. You can upload files through their website, through their windows/mac application on your computer, or through a smartphone app. You can send a shared file link to a friend to share large files without having to attach to an email. You can even host a webpage from your cloud storage.

I have recently started using Sugarsync, which offers 5gb free. The big downside is its not as straightforward as dropbox. It advertises all these features and has smartphone apps just like dropbox does, but the control panel and the program just look messy and confusing. You can upload from email, from your smartphone, from desktops, laptops and other friends sharing documents, but they have so many locations and categories where the data is uploaded that it is hard to get a hold of it later on without browsing around all the different folders. In the end it’s 5gb for free and thats what most people care about.

In the end they all do the same thing: backup and sync the data you need across all your devices (smartphone, laptop, desktop). In this day and age everyone needs to have some sort of local backup but a cloud backup as well.  There are a ton of other similar options. These two are the ones I have used and do the job they say they do well. So if you still dont have one, choose one and try one!

- Dropbox link

- Sugarsync link

I have been using stumbleupon.com for more than a year now, and its great. Its the web, organized into categories, then you choose which categories you want to surf and click the Stumble! button.That’s it!

A new web page will come up having to do with the specific category you chose, OR you can stumble ALL the categories (similar to a shuffle all on your i-pod).  If you enjoy a specific site you can Click on the Thumbs Up button which means you like it, or you can click on Thumbs Down, with which you can block the whole website, report spam, or just say you don’t like it. You can then click on the stumble button again, or set it up so that it automatically Stumbles to another page when you Thumb down or thumb up.

When you click on the thumbs up button you save it as a favorite page, which then is saved to your preferences and your own stumbleupon  page. These can then be shared with other people through email or if they are fellow “stumblers” you can just share to them.

You can start your stumbleupon session (’cause believe me they can turn into long sessions!) by visiting their website and logging in after creating an account, OR you can setup an add on that sets up a nifty toolbar in you browser. I set up the toolbar as I use stumbleupon on a daily basis, but you don’t have to if you start to stumble through the stumbleupon website.

As I stopped watching TV years ago, this is my favorite internet passtime when I just need to wind down. I have found many interesting pages and information using stumbleupon. I know you will too!

A couple of months ago I stumbledupon a very cool music streaming site: 8tracks.com. After using Pandora and Slacker for years, this was something different, as it let users create their own mix of songs and offer a public playlist so other people could enjoy (or hate), comment on it and share their own mixes at the same time. Pretty cool stuff!

I made a mix just to try it out. (http://8tracks.com/maltinej/just-plain-cool-in-auditory-form) It was pretty straightforward. Upload your tracks, enter track information if it is missing, upload a playlist cover picture and thats it!

They even have an i-phone app to listen to mixes – no android app though  AND they just announced an android app is on the way

An interesting thing is the playback never pauses or stops to buffer as it does with other services like pandora and slacker. Even with slow connections it plays smoothly.  Was just using it and it indeed started buffering in a slow connection. I guess buffering and intermittent service it’s inevitable  with cloud apps

I have tried treadmills but its just so BORING after a while. The fun of going out, changing the routine of the daily grind, talking to friends, breathing semi-fresh air (its the metro area after all), and exercising is very unique and does not transfer well to a treadmill/indoor setting.

So i searched online and found an interesting, albeit useless, article about what to do in Puerto Rico in a rainy day.

The article can be found here: http://gopuertorico.about.com/od/planningyourtrip/tp/PuertoRico_RainyDay.htm  and sure its targetted more towards tourists, but basically translates to ” you are out of luck, stay inside and spend your cash shopping or in casinos”.  The even sadder  part is I’m a local and I can’t think of any options either!

The thing is I try to find activities that are different, new or exciting if i’m going to spend money on them, if not I try to stick with the free stuff (hanging out with friends, exercise, cooking/eating at home, dog agility, throw frisbee to my dogs, watching movies at home, surfing the internet, etc.) Free = good in my book.

Anyone have any other options or ideas for stuff to do during the week/weekend, when its raining constantly that are on the cheap/economic side?

It is basically a small box with outputs (hdmi, component, composite, digital audio out) and USB inputs for flash drives or external hard drives. You just plug in your drive with all your mp3, avi, mkv, mp4, jpg or whatever media-type files and it plays them. It apparently plays any type of media file, as I have tried several and it plays them with no problem. It even runs 1080p  HD files with no problems. You can connect it to a network switch or router through its ethernet port or plug in a compatible usb wifi adapter to connect to a local network and stream files through it. While connected to the network you can also listen to Pandora radio online, check the weather and watch Netflix movies. While watching family photos you can share through facebook if you want.

A very impressive little box with a ton of features and for less than $100. There are various other similar media players out there and some have more features but what this one does it does well. If you have a lot of media (home movies, music and photos) this helps to share with familiy and friends without having to take your pc or laptop with you.

WD TV LIVE PLUS INFO PAGE

Any suggestions?