Toshiba's U.S. subsidiary is recalling 142,000 AC adapters sold with the company's portable DVD players, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced Tuesday.

Toshiba recalls portable DVD adapters | Tech news blog - CNET News.com

From Wired:

Just like going to the video store without your movie list, visiting the internet without your bookmarks can lead to endless Google side trips and a possible stop at eBay. Wired's How To Wiki delivers a guide to making your bookmarks portable and keeping them in sync anywhere you go.

Manage Your Bookmarks / Wired How To's

The printers are getting cheaper, but the ink is getting more expensive- $5,000 a gallon by some calculations, making it the second most valuable fluid valuable to consumers- right after Chanel No. 5.

Here's a link to an article in PC World with some tips on how to curb the cost of printer ink.

PC World - Save Money on Inkjet Printer Ink

It's always best if you can give your computer helper the exact wording of any error messages you receive.  Here's a great tip from Lifehacker on how to do that:

Apparently since Windows 2000, you've been able to copy the entire error message to your clipboard by hitting the universal copy shortcut, Ctrl-C (who knew?!). That means the whole process of hunting down obscure error messages "especially those containing cryptic error codes" just got a whole lot easier.

Windows Tip: Copy error messages text to the clipboard - Lifehacker

The New York Times > Technology > Circuits > Basics: Fine-Tuning Your Filter for Online Information

If you find yourself constantly checking in with a number of news sites on the web often, you should explore learning how to use RSS feeds, which gather all of your news into one program so that you can read it in one place.

Check out the wikipedia article detailing Google's line of products and services. For those who think Google is just a place to go to search for websites, guess again. There are many products that Google offers that most people aren't aware of. Some of my favorites happen to be:

• Google Earth (maps and satellite imaging)
• Picasa (photo library application)
• Google Reader (rss news reader)
• Google Calendar (an excellent online calendar)
• Google News (a great news search engine)
• Google SMS (text message a search to Google from your cell phone)

See a complete list of Google products here.

It's that time of year again- time to start galloping from store to store searching for those holiday gifts.  If you start early (how about now?), you can save yourself some time, money, and a perfume-counter migraine.  Comparison shopping sites on the Internet can help you find the best deal buy searching thousands of different retailers for whatever product you're into.

My favorite comparison shopping sites:

• Froogle.com (by google)
• TheFind.com (Great also for getting ideas- know a Scrabble nut?  Type in "Scrabble" and see what develops)
• Shopper.com (by CNet- good for electronics and tech gadgets)
• UGenie.com (for books, movies, music, and games)
• Dealtime.com (this site has been around the block a long time)

Almost all of these sites are mentioned in a recent New York Times article:

NYT: How to Find Those Gifts in a Flash 

Everybody is always asking me if they should buy the assorted extended warranties and purchase protection plans that electronics manufacturers offer.  So here is an excellent article from Engadget about why you should stay away.

My personal opinion is that the purpose of insurance in life is to prevent absolute financial catastrophe.  Losing a home, a car, a life can all be devastating catastrophes with severe consequences.  Losing a laptop, big screen tv, etc, is probably not a life-wrecking financial burden for somebody who can afford such an item in the first place.  When you weigh the cost of the extra warranty against the risk you're taking by turning it down, you'd be better off keeping the couple of extra bucks in your pocket.  Sure, every once and a while you'll get stuck paying for expensive laptop repairs or a new refrigerator, but in the long run, you'll come out ahead.

How many websites do you go to each day to catch up on all of the news? Whether you're interested in Rummy's resignation or Jennifer Aniston's latest relationship, an RSS reader can help you gather all your news into one place for reading.
Blogs, news sites, and many other sites that offer daily content make their latest headlines available in what's called an RSS Feed. An RSS reader, whether it's a program on your computer or a web-based reader, can decode these feeds and display the latest news for you in one neat little package. For starters, I would recommend Google Reader. Simply create an account (it's free) and start "subscribing" to the feeds offered by your favorite websites! Hint: You can start by subscribing to www.helpwithasmile.com to read this and other articles on this blog from your RSS Reader.

What is a blog? Blogs come in a wide variety of formats, but the most fundamental concept behind blogging is having something to say that is interesting or useful to others. It's your own personal soapbox to stand on and share your ideas. I never considered myself a good candidate for a blogger, until I realized that I had something specific to talk about. The blog you're reading now is my way of sharing my ideas about effective computing with the world (and especially the non-tech-savvy, who need this information in plainspeak). It's an extension of what I am striving to achieve each day in my work. (more…)