Bobby

Fortune – $10 per year, and TIME magazine – $15 per year

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I just received a Fortune magazine subscription offer by mail and could not believe it. I was getting offered a 1 year subscription of Fortune magazine for $10! I checked online and the lowest price was $30 per year on Amazon. The only catch appears to be that you need to pay the subscription upfront and not forget to cancel the automatic renewal before your subscription expires.
1. Fortune magazine – $10 per year (20 issues). Recommended deal: $20 for 3 years (60 issues)
http://www.fortune.com/subscribe/
or
https://subs.timeinc.net/FO/fo_dm0110.jhtml?experience_id=255667&source_id=7&_requestid=434298
2. TIME magazine – $15 per year (57 issues). Recommended deal: $25 for 2 years (114 issues)
https://subs.timeinc.net/TD/td_monthsenior0309.jhtml
More info: http://www.dealigg.com/story-Time-Warner-Magazine-Subscription-Sale-Fortune-20-Issues-10-Time-57-Issues-15-More-2
Enjoy!!! 🙂

Screen capture from video / movies / DVDs on Windows

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Many of us have tried to print screen from a video and later found out that the video part is black. Programs like PowerDVD and SnagIT have a screen capture option. However, if you do not have access to a screen capture software, the following method works by changing some settings in Windows Media Player.

4. Don’t use Overlay
1. Open your Window Media Player and click Options on the Tools menu.
2. On the Performance tab, click on the Advanced… button.
3. Uncheck Use overlays from DVD video, click OK and restart the player.
Now you can capture images from any movies played in Windows Media Player using Print Screen (PrintScrn) key (or ALT + PrintScrn key). Once copied, the image can be pasted into Microsoft Paint (Start > All Programs > Accessories > Paint) or other image editor. If you have problems taking screenshots from a playing movie try to pause it first, then “print” the image.

These and other methods are described in detail in the following blog post from Amit Agarwal. Very useful post indeed.
http://labnol.blogspot.com/2005/11/capture-still-images-from-windows.html

 

Brother MFC-7840W Wireless Laser Printer, and Amazon Amzn.com Short URLs

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Brother MFC-7840W Wireless Laser Printer
Bought a Brother MFC-7840W All-In-One Wireless Laser Printer from NewEgg today for $219, no tax, free shipping. I feel it is a pretty good deal. I have been looking around for an All-In-One printer for some time. This one has a laser printer, a copier, a scanner, a fax; and has both wireless and ethernet networking capabilities.
Brother MFC-7840W – $219 on NewEgg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16828113303
Brother MFC-7840W Wireless Laser Printer - click to enlarge (177 kb).
Image Courtesy: www.brother-usa.com
I had a basic HP inkjet printer but the ink always seemed to dry up before I could use the whole cartridge. And I have often felt the need to scan or print something at home. I don’t think I will be using the fax option that much though.
The printer is available for $249 at Amazon – http://amazon.com/dp/B0016ZQ566/. It has pretty good reviews there.

Amazon Amzn.com Short URLs
Speaking about Amazon, I figured out a way to find the shortest possible Amazon URLs for a product. Of course, I can use tinyurl.com or bit.ly, but this is the shortest URL I could find using an official Amazon website.
In the example above, the original link was:
http://www.amazon.com/Brother-MFC-7840W-Multifunction-Wireless-Interfaces/dp/B0016ZQ566/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=office-products&qid=1265863094&sr=8-1
The standard shortened link is:
http://amazon.com/dp/B0016ZQ566/
However, it can be made even shorter by using the amzn.com domain name. The trick is to append the product id (in this case – “B0016ZQ566“) after “amzn.com/“.
http://amzn.com/B0016ZQ566/
More info about the amzn.com short URL service:
– http://www.geek.com/articles/news/amazon-introduces-amzncom-short-url-service-20090511/
– http://www.conceptualist.com/2009/05/08/smart-branding-amazon-short-url-broadcasts-its-own-brand/

 

Gmail HTML version link

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Click the link below if you wish to view the Basic HTML version of Gmail. This is useful when the regular Gmail version is having problems loading.

Gmail Basic HTML Version: https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=html

To go back to the regular version, you can:

  1. Use the links at the bottom of your Gmail screeen, or
  2. Log out and log back in, or
  3. Use the following links to toggle between the different versions:

 

Good free FTP/SFTP server for Windows – Core FTP / SFTP Server

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If you would like to install a free but good FTP/SFTP server for Windows, CoreFTP secure FTP server is a good one. This is useful for transferring files between computers or to act as a standalone FTP/SFTP server.
CoreFTP secure FTP server : http://coreftp.com/server/
Tip: For faster downloads, use the CoreFTP Lite client which is also free.
I also tested freeSSHd which is open source. However, the transfer speed was very low – only about 35 kbps on an intranet. On CoreFTP however, I got around 600kbps between two computers on an intranet.

Count number of lines in a file using DOS

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To count the number of lines in a file using DOS, use the following command. Replace filename.txt with the actual filename.
findstr /R /N "^" filename.txt | find /C ":"
This is especially useful when the file is very large (say, over 250k lines) and using NotePad to open the file would definitely hang. Just tested the command on a 1.4M lines file and it took about 2 minutes to give me the result.
Reference: http://brett.batie.com/?p=25

How to use gift cards on Amazon.com

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Amazon.com does not allow you to use two payment options when paying for an item. But often, we wish to pay for part of a purchase using a gift card. The workaround is to use an Amazon online gift card for one part of the purchase.
Option [1] Buy an Amazon online gift card for the balance amount with your credit card (Amazon recommended method)

– Item price: $125
– Amazon online gift card: $25 (purchased using credit card)
——————————————
– Pay balance with gift card: $100

Example: Gift card: $100. Item price: $125. Buy a $25 Amazon online gift card using your credit card. Add the Amazon online gift card to your Amazon account. During checkout, the $25 Amazon gift card balance will be automatically deducted. $125 item price – $25 Amazon gift card balance = $100 balance. Make the final payment with your $100 gift card. This option is recommended by Amazon – see email at the bottom of this post for details.
Option [2] Buy an Amazon online gift card with your gift card

– Item price: $125
– Amazon online gift card: $100 (purchased using gift card)
——————————————
– Pay balance with credit card: $25

Example: Gift card: $100. Item price: $125. Buy a $100 Amazon online gift card using your gift card. Add the Amazon online gift card to your Amazon account. During checkout, the $100 Amazon gift card balance will be automatically deducted. $125 item price – $100 Amazon gift card balance = $100 balance. Make the final payment ($25) with your credit card.
Important Note:
Make sure you register your gift card so that you can use it for online shopping. Most gift cards will have a website listed on the back of the card which will provide additional information.
Email from Amazon customer service recommending option [1] above:
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Amazon.com Customer Service
Date: Mon, Apr 6, 2009 at 11:12 PM
Subject: Your Amazon.com Inquiry
To: Bobby Maisnam
Thank you for writing to us at Amazon.com.
From your message, I understand that you want to use more than one payment method to pay for the item you want to purchase.
We cannot accept more than one payment method for an order on Amazon.com. Because gift cards issued by the major credit card companies also work exactly like credit cards, this restriction applies to those payment methods as well.
You can, however, combine Amazon Gift Cards with a credit, debit, or gift card issued by a major credit card company to complete your order.
If you wish, use your credit card to purchase an Amazon Gift Card for the amount that your credit card gift card balance will not cover and have it e-mailed to yourself. Then you can designate your credit card gift card as the payment method on the order and enter the Amazon Gift Card number in the Gift Card field of the order form.
We recommend that you do not use your credit card gift card to purchase an Amazon.com Gift Card. The authorization for the Amazon Gift Card purchase will actually decrease the amount immediately available for your order by $1.
We appreciate your business and look forward to your next visit to our store.
—- Original message: —-
—————
04/06/09 18:59:54
Your Name:Bobby Maisnam
Comments:Hi,
I have $157.99 in my cart ($119.70 + $25.20 + $13.09). I have a $100 visa debit gift card (Simon giftcard). How do I pay for the items in the cart using the gift card to pay $100 and pay the balance $57.99 with a debit/credit card?
Thanks,
Maisnam
—————

Google Apps Free/Standard Version Link

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Looks like Google Apps has made the free/standard version harder to find. If you search for “google apps” in Google, you get pointed to www.google.com/apps/ but that does not have the link to the free/standard version.
As of 9/28/2009, the link to the Free/Standard version of Google Apps is:
www.google.com/apps/intl/en/group/
or
www.google.com/a/cpanel/domain/new
or
www.google.com/a/ and then click on the “Standard” link