R4ndom H4cks

Gmail

noreply@blogger.com (Caleb) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 15:10:00 +0000

Maybe you already have a Gmail email. Maybe you've thought about it. Either way I hope I can show you something new.

(Note: Log-in to your Gmail before continuing and the links below should work.)

Themes:
Have you tried out some of the Themes available in Gmail. Some of them even change depending on time of day!

Filters and Labels:
Did you know you can create filters to add a label to certain kinds of emails. I use this to label the emails I have forwarded from my old email account.

Labs:
You may also want to check out the Labs gadgets. There are many useful and fun. Things you can add to your account to increase productivity and uniqueness.

Archive:
I find it surprising how many people don't use or don't know why you would want to archive your email. To archive any email just click the button at the top or bottom of an email. This moves the email to out of your Inbox. To find an email you have archived just use the search dialog at the top of the screen. Alternatively you can click on "All Mail" on the left side of the screen (you may need to click "More" first). NOTE: The mail in all mail is stored chronologically so if an email has been sitting in your Inbox for a while it will be lower in the list than a new email archived at the same time.

Offline:
Do you have a laptop as your primary computer? Gmail has an Offline setting you can enable and you don't have to connect to view old emails...

Trash and Spam:
Accidental delete an email, its most likely safely in trash (if the email is less then 30-days old). Missing an email you know was sent. Check your spam. Spam catching is one of Gmail's strongest and most advanced (if under appreciated) features. But I'm sure it can make mistakes. (I have never had an email I needed in the spam and in the 5+ years I've have a Gmail account only 3-10 spam emails ever made it to my inbox. WOW!!)

Be sure to check out your "Settings" page every once in a while as options are added and changed every so often. If your a Google Apps user some of these options my not be available yet, but keep an eye on your settings page as well as options are added for you too.

Caleb

dd-wrt. Advanced wi-fi

noreply@blogger.com (Caleb) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 15:50:00 +0000

This hack is mainly for advanced users. dd-wrt is a third party
firmware for wireless routers. Its VERY specific to certain hardware
but it does support a wide range of hardware. Linksys included, check if your hardware is supported here.
dd-wrt supports b. g. and n. Protocols. 10/100/1000mbps speeds. Auto
sensing ports ect...

oh and its freeware.

dd-wrt takes a basic router and turns it into a highly advanced power
router. you gain about 3-5x as many admin options. Including AP html
redirect support, ad-hoc connections, dhcp forwarding, ect...
I say this is for advanced users because there is a chance to brick
(make useless) your router, with routers costing about 70$ a piece
this is something to think about before jumping in.

Besure to read up on the dd-wrt wikis concerning your router I'll
leave links to the most important ones. But look and ask for help
before attempting the change.

Supported Hardware
Hardware Specific Install Pages
Support Pages
Installation
FAQ

I give dd-wrt 4 stars for the amazing power it adds to your router.

∞Caleb

Welcome Facebook Friends

noreply@blogger.com (Caleb) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 04:28:00 +0000

Well I'm just placing the links to my new Blog from Facebook so if your visiting from there Thanks!! Look and see if you find some articles that interest you (also check the archive), if so be sure to bookmark me, follow me on Twitter, and/or add my RSS feed. You can also follow me by Email for your convenience.

Here are some good articles to get started with: Make the most of your money, New Free Anti-Virus, Google Chrome, Free Budget software .

Be sure to leave a comment on how you like it or any questions you might have.

If you find any broken tools or links be sure to leave me a note so I can see that its fixed. Any advice on changes and improvements are also quite welcome.

Please Share my blog with your friends and if you have a blog that might be of interest be sure to leave a link.

∞Caleb

Keep Track And Make The Most Of Your Spending

noreply@blogger.com (Caleb) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 03:31:00 +0000

Use Cash

Lately I've been using cash almost solely. I have noticed this helps me track and be acutely aware of how much I'm spending, and how much things cost! Also I follow my budget closer. I have my Credit/Debit card for emergences and business purchases. But try not to use it too often.

Gift Cards

I quickly use the cash to buy gift-cards for fuel, groceries, ect. Many rewards programs also apply to gift-cards. I get 1000 points for every $50 I spend in Speedway fuel cards. I can redeem my points for a $10 gift card every time I buy about ten $50 gift-cards. Or I can save up my points for the future when I'm running low on cash.

Eat In / Pack Lunch

Lets say you eat-out for lunch five times a week, if you try to eat cheap you are most likely spending about $5 a meal. Also lets say you have a nice meal once a week, for two people thats about $35 w/ tip. That means your spending about:

$5 x 5 days = $25 + $35 = $60 a week

$60 x 4 weeks in a month = $240 a month!!

Thats $2,880 a year!

Buy your food and cook at home, don't know what to make or how? Check out All Recipes.com they have a wide selection of choices you can see the ingredients needed and even chose the number of portions, only fixing for you? Make 2+ portions and pack one for your lunch! Looking for other lunch ideas? Check out this article by a fellow blogger "Brown Bag Brigade" whom has claimed over $1000 in saving a year!

www.allrecipes.com

cheaphealthygood.blogspot.com/2008/05/brown-bag-brigade-your-one-stop-shop.html

∞Caleb

Top 5 Technology Trends of 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Caleb) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 21:08:00 +0000

The "How Stuff Works" site recently featured this article. "Top 5 Technology Trends of 2009", It covers Smartphones, Netbooks, the PS3, the Search Engine Wars (Google, Bing, Yahoo), and Twitter.

Don't forget to f ollow R4ndom H4cks with your Twitter account.

If you have never heard of the "How Stuff Works" site before be sure to check it out as well!!!

www.howstuffworks.com
electronics.howstuffworks.com/gadgets/other-gadgets/5-technology-trends-2009

∞Caleb

Clipperz

noreply@blogger.com (Caleb) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 17:15:00 +0000

Clipperz is a online password manager. It stores your web passwords, credit/debit card details, burglar alarm codes, and any other data you want to secure. It uses 128-bit security to encrypt your data. Clipperz is a zero-knowledge web application, meaning they don't know your password, or even your username! It uses Ajax with Java for browser encryption/decryption. If your worried that they might have holes in their protection feel free to take a look at their source code, in fact they encourage you too!! Here is a link to their security information.

Features:
-128-bit security encryption
-One-click login, create a “direct login” link, no need for copy paste, works on many sites like Facebook.
-Import/Export
-Password generator
-And coming soon, Sharing.

I'm trying it right now and so far I'm happy, its nice to have one (safe) place to store all your info. Helps Keep me from using the same password on every site (very bad habit!). It also free by the way (but they do ask you to donate every once in a while and that could get annoying to some people).

4 stars
www.clipperz.com

∞Caleb

Alice

noreply@blogger.com (Caleb) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 02:49:00 +0000

Alice is an online store, it lets you select the things you need. From Shampoo to Gum, Batteries to Contact solution Alice has a little of everything. It lets you pick the products you use most (your fav shampoo) and put them on your "Shelf" for easy access anytime. You can have stuff shipped to you whenever you like.

Its features:

-Free Shipping!

-Its Free to sign-up with no fees.

-Prices seem competitive with the cheapest stuff I could find (keep in mind the free shipping too!).

-Reminders for those of us (ME!) whom are prone to forgetting these things till we are out, resulting in a last minute run to the store.

-Lets you sort by "Price Per Unit" to find the cheapest stuff.

-A neat "Budgeting" tab thats shows you were your money goes, what you buy most ect...

-An "Advance Planning" Tab that shows you what you need to remember every 2-6 weeks and months for planning.

-And a "Soon to be added" "Auto Ship" feature looks neat.

I will say they don't have a really wide selection in some categories but they do carry most of the name brands and Green/Organic stuff.

I'm hoping Alice will save me money by saving me trips to the store in times when fuel prices are sky high. Keep me alerted to when I need to restock saving frustrations. Help me track what I'm spending so I can easily use "Budget Sketch" to track my money. Save me time and money (time is money!). And just have a lil fun. :-P

I give it a 3 out of 5 stars (losing half a star for not having some things I looked for (but it appears to be a newer service so I'm sure more is to come) and losing 1.5 stars just cuz I have not been able to judge the checkout/delivery parts yet.)

If you want to check it out be sure to check out my banner at the bottom of this page or click HERE to get $10 off after you spend $50.

Leave your opinions in the comments and tell me about any services that you use.

www.alice.com

∞Caleb

Budget Sketch

noreply@blogger.com (Caleb) — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 02:04:00 +0000

Budget Sketch is the budgeting program I am using to track my finances. It's simple, it takes one month at a time. It does not carry anything over from the last month making it simple to use and keep track of even if you miss a month and eliminating the need to balance.

At the end of the month you put any leftover cash toward your "Goals". You set up your goals (savings, emerg fund, ect...) and "Debt Goals" (Car Payment, Mortgage, ect...).

Its very minimalistic not complex or requiring lots of time and effort to setup like some programs.

And its free!

I give it 4 stars (losing one for not having some features some ppl may want. (But I think are unneeded anyway.))

www.budgetsketch.com

∞Caleb

Evernote for Android

noreply@blogger.com (Caleb) — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 20:35:00 +0000

I just received an email contaning this:

"The long-awaited Evernote for Android is now available for free from the Android Market. It's great for creating notes on the fly and searching through all of your existing content. Notable features include automatic location-tagging of notes, the ability to upload files, and Evernote's amazing image recognition. Read on: http://s.evernote.com/androidapp"

So for all you Android users who use Evernote YAY, and the ones whom don't you should look into it. Evernote is great software.

∞Caleb

Google Chrome

noreply@blogger.com (Caleb) — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 20:29:00 +0000

I just downloaded Google Chrome. I've messed around with it before but this is my first real use of it.

First loads seem BLAZING fast. I like the fact that I can do my Google searches in the address bar this saves me from clicking/tabbing on to the Google search bar or loading Google homepage. I was concerned about memory usage but after running it for 3+ hrs with 3 tabs open and working (including this one.) its using 45,676K while Firefox on a fresh open with one tab (Google.com) is using 46,000K. I'm running 4+GB of RAM (WinXP-32bit) so I'm seeing little to no change in RAM usage vs. Firefox.

I like the Chrome minimalist look, the way it handles tabs and it imported all of my bookmarks from Firefox no problem.

I just noticed that I have 3 Chrome processes active in Task Manager using a combination of 100,811K of RAM!! I'm going to do some research and find out why.

EDIT:
Ok I've looked into the RAM usage found a great article from Google on the disadvantages and advantages of multi-process programs Here. Seems to be safer and can clean memory better after closing a tab. Also its not really using all 128,700K some of that is shared between the tabs ect... (Cool hint, to see Google chromes task manager press "Shift-Esc", for more info goto "about:memory" here you can see Chrome RAM usage also accounting for the shared memory.

I made Chrome my default browser.

I give it a 4 Stars (losing one star for RAM usage)

www.google.com/chrome

∞Caleb

Paint .NET

noreply@blogger.com (Caleb) — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 03:53:00 +0000

Paint.NET is a great free photo-shop substitute, its more powerful than windows paint but not overly clogged with "features" like GIMP or PS. It's got almost any basic feature you would need to edit home/phone/pro pictures, great for prepping photos for web use.

To prep a photo for the web using Paint.Net:

Select "Image>Resize..." (Ctrl+R)
Set the width as 800 (be sure that "Maintan aspect ratio" is selected)
Click Ok (Enter)
Select "File>Save As..." (Ctrl+Shift+S)
Make a name for your photo (example: "MyPhoto_Edited")
Make sure you save it as a JPEG file type.
Click save (Enter)
Then set the quality to 75 and click Ok (Enter).

I give it 4 Stars

NOTE: Paint.Net requires that the .NET Framework be installed, a link is provided at Paint.NET's web site.

www.getpaint.net

∞Caleb

Microsoft Security Essentials

noreply@blogger.com (Caleb) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 23:26:00 +0000

Microsoft Security Essentials is the newest Anti-Virus application.
Its free and it is said to be the best free anti-virus available
right now. MSE also protects against spyware and malware.
I'm using it on a few computers right now and it seems to be
running fine. Its only a 8MB download and runs quite
unobtrusively.

I give it 5 stars.

I'm still in shock that Microsoft is offering free software!!...

www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials

∞Caleb

New Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Caleb) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 23:00:00 +0000

Welcome to my NEW blog. I have not really done much blogging before so this is my first real attempt at it. My goal with this blog is to share some helpful tips I come across in my day to day life and possibly make a lil extra cash. (Google adds ect. I will not receive payment to push a product, but I will take any money they wanna give me for products I'm publishing about anyway. lol )

You will probably notice that I'm a big fan of Google. I'm also a big fan of freeware and will probably drop some links to stuff I like now and again. Like DimScreen, a neat lil portable .exe I'm using right now it can dim your screen anywhere from 0-90% its great to reduce some strain off your eyes and not be so annoying to the people around you.

Anyway I will add more stuff later. Have a Merry Christmas and thanks for reading, be sure to subscribe and bookmark me!

r4ndom-h4cks.blogspot.com

∞Caleb