How not to forget important engagements

You forgot to wish your mom on her birthday, your dentist's appointment, to pick up the dry cleaning. Maybe what you need is your own personal secretary -- or an e-mail reminder service. You'll find several ones on the Internet, like www.memotome.com. With this one, all you have to do is register and enter what you want to remember -- whether it's to pick up laundry detergent or a gift for your parents' 50th wedding anniversary -- and the service will e-mail you reminders as far in advance and as often as you like. You can also choose to be reminded of weekly, monthly, yearly or one-off events.

Before you register with any email reminder service, read its privacy policy: Some may share their registrant's email addresses with direct marketers or spammers. » Continue reading

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Tips to save printer ink

Color printer cartridges are costly, but there are ways to extend their lives, says Glenn Menin of PC Magazine Labs:

• Before printing, adjust your computer's print quality to "draft" and use less ink.
  
• When possible, use only the black-ink option, even when printing color pages.
  
• While printing web pages, just highlight (or copy and paste in a sparate file, preferably in a word processor to preserve the text formatting) only the text you want rather than printing everything on the screen.
  
• Most printer drivers today have a print preview option that lets you see what exactly you are going to get even before you actually print it. Use it to save wastages.
  
• Use your printer ink cartridges, both black and color, atleast once a week. Even if you don't have a need to take a print out, just print something small or run a diagnostic test.
  
• Use generic or compatible print cartridges which are almost half the cost of an original manufacturer brand OEM print cartridge. They are a definite money saver, especially for bulk black and white print jobs.

Looking for more tips? Here are some search keyword ideas to try it out on Google:

How to save printer ink?
How to save ink on bulk printing jobs
Ways to save ink when printing web pages
Printer utilities to save paper and printer ink
Printer software to save printer ink cartridges » Continue reading

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Cyber Hair

No need to try out wigs or believe your hairstylist the next time you plan to change your hairstyle. Explore new cuts and colors on the Internet for free at Clairol's Try It On Studio or iVillage's Makevoer-o-Matic. Pick a model who looks like you or just upload your photo, and have fun playing or take a printout or transfer it to your iPod / Mobile phone to show it to your hairstylist.

The Makeover-o-Matic has a dozen models with different face shapes, over 30 different cuts - short, medium and long - and full-color spectrum for hair and makeup. There are even accessories, such as glasses, that you can add to test the new you for all occasions. » Continue reading

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Why do computer monitors flicker when seen on TV?

Monitors are caught in the middle of the constant, super-fast loading of images that creates the picture on a computer screen, says Jennifer Ernst of the Palo Alto Research Centre. Most TV cameras capture images slower than computers produce them. Hence the flickering. » Continue reading

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Data freaks, unite!

You probably don't need one more time-wasting website, but we can't resist suggesting a look at swivel.com. This is sort of a YouTube for excel files, where people can upload statistics. The results are some really amusing graphs, such as comparison between wine consumption and violent crime or how when the temperature goes down in Apple's headquarters city of Cupertino, Calif., the company's stock price goes up - maybe because employees are staying inside and working more? » Continue reading

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Worthwhile Indian Podcasts

Podcasting might not have taken of in India like how blogging has but here is a short list of some really worthwhile Indian Podcasts.

Podmasti
Everything you wanted to know about India and Bollywood. Arguably the first India-based podcast site.
Author: Ruchita Gupta
URL: www.podmasti.com

Kamla Bhatt Show
A blog, radio site and podcast run by Chennaiite, Kamla Bhatt, since 2005, while shuttling between Bangalore and San Francisco. Kamla Bhatt studied at Madras Christian College and at Marquette University, Milwaukee, United States.
Author: Kamla Bhatt
URL: kamlabhattshow.com

Indicast
Mumbaikars Abhishek Kumar and Aditya Mhatre gave up jobs with major companies at home and in the US to create India's first podcast site focussed solely on news and views. The podcast focuses on topics, ranging from Sonia to Sania, with a view point of the common man (aam aadmi).
Authors: Abhishek Kumar and Aditya Mhatre
URL: www.theindicast.com

PodioIndia
Concentrates on a rich content of Indian music, served up by co-podsters Piya and Deb.
Authors: Piya and Deb.
URL: www.podioindia.com

Podbazaar
A great source for Tamil podcasts.
Author: US based Sujatha Jagannathan
URL: www.podbazaar.com

PodTech-India
One of the first podcasts for those interested in the achievements of Indian techies. A spin-off from the US based Podtech.
URL: www.podtech.net/indiatech

If you are a blogger or a podcaster don't forget to catch India's largest event on audio and video podcasting PodWorks, a workshop style unconference to be held at Tidel Park Auditorium, Chennai on the 9th and 10th of June 2007. » Continue reading

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Who am I, again?

Fed up with your current life? Want another one on the side to spice things up? You got it. Log on to www.secondlife.com, a 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents. More than six million people from around the word virtually live here. Residents can meet other residents, socialize, get involved in individual and group activities and even trade. The only thing you can't do here is go to the bathroom. Or eat and drink. For that, you'll have to visit the real world once in a while. » Continue reading

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