For a lot of people it was a sad day when they learned that Google was dropping their notebook application.

I say this may be a blessing in disguise because now former notebook users can become evernote users.

Evernote is one of my favorite applications. You can access your information from the web, the application, or from your mobile device. I use it with my iPhone.

Here are some instructions on how to import your data into evernote.

This website doesn’t let you embed the video so click this link to watch this great video.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid8558025001/bclid8598996001/bctid8633859001

Free chocolate turtle chex mix

OK I’ll admit it I don’t really cook. Whenever I think about cooking I am very intimidated and can’t decide what to even try.

Krispy Kreme Celebrates the Freedom of Choice on Inauguration Day

Customers Can Enjoy a Free Treat at Participating Stores Nationwide

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., Jan 14, 2009 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ –

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc. (NYSE: KKD) is honoring American’s sense of pride and freedom of choice on Inauguration Day, by offering a free doughnut of choice to every customer on this historic day, Jan. 20. By doing so, participating Krispy Kreme stores nationwide are making an oath to tasty goodies — just another reminder of how oh-so-sweet “free” can be.

“Krispy Kreme is taking the inaugural festivities nationwide,” said Ron Rupocinski, executive chef for Krispy Kreme. “We’re inviting our fans in cities across the country, including Washington, D.C., to commemorate this historic day with a favorite American treat.”

The Inauguration Day promotional offer is good for one doughnut of choice per customer on Jan. 20. No purchase is necessary. To find a participating store near you, visit http://www.krispykreme.com/storelocator.html.

From Makeuseof.com

5 Ways To Reduce The Power Consumption Of Your Computer

Jan. 15th, 2009 By James Yeang

Since computers are in use more hours per day than they used to be, making your computer more energy efficient is becoming increasingly important.  Not only will not only go easy on your wallet, but you get to help out the environment as well.

Here are 5 ways you can help to decrease power consumption on your computer.

1. Tweak Google to Save Power

Blackle was created to provide a front end to Google, but with a black background.  Blackle saves energy because the screen is predominantly black.  A given monitor requires more power to display a white (or light) screen than a black (or dark) screen, so you get all the goodness of Google and with all the additional environmental benefits.

Yes, the difference a single computer makes is small, put together, this small tweak to Google has a potential to save 750 Megawatt hours a year.  As of now, they’ve already saved more than a million watt hours with this tool!

The whole concept of Blackle is slightly controversial though and it has its detractors.  This Wall Street Journal article claims that only older CRT monitors will see any benefit from the site.

2. Optimize Windows and Track How Much CO₂ You’ve Saved

CO2 Saver is a free toolbar released by Snap and is a lightweight application that runs in Windows. It adjusts your Windows power settings so that your computer, monitor and hard drive consumes less electricity when you’re not actively using them (similar to what you could do by adjusting your power options in Windows).

It then calculates how much power is saved, and converts it into pounds of CO₂ emissions prevented by having the toolbar installed.  You can see the amount of CO₂ saved by yourself and all toolbar users together so you can view the collective effort and what you have contributed to it.

At the time of writing, users of this tool have collectively saved more than 850,000 lbs of CO₂!

3. Use Energy Efficient Products

Energy Star is an international standard for energy efficient consumer products.  When you buy electronics, look for the logo (pictured above) or ask for similarly certified products.  This ensures that you’ll get something which is pretty much efficient in its class.

4. Use LCD monitors rather than CRT

Some sources quote CRT monitors as consuming 250% more power than LCD screens of similar size.  So if you’re looking to cut down on the power bill, consider dumping that old monitor and moving on to a less power hungry LCD which incidentally would also be much sexier looking on the table, and deliver crisper sharper images than a CRT.

5. Adjust Your Computer Settings

Whether you’re using a Mac OSX or Windows, you can adjust your settings accordingly so your system can power down when you’re idle.  On Windows, go to Control Panel then power options to fine tune when you want your computer to turn down the hard disk, monitor, or go into standby mode.

On a Mac, go to System Preferences, then Energy Saver pane, and then Sleep to adjust your energy saving settings.

So there you have it, five simple ways you can help save power on your computer. What methods do you use? I’m curious to know. Tell us in the comments!

Free Turbo Tax Business Version

MPack

Get a free Quiznos Sammie and a cookie

Here is a link with an explanation of how they work. If you don’t care how they work you’re just glad they do I have some free ones for you.

From there it can be downloaded and installed on your system. (I would uncheck the “include the hotspot shield community toolbar” in general extra toolbars are a bad idea)  and when you want to run it you can see it like a web page but it soon turns into an RSS feed type page. You will also see an icon in the taskbar.

I like it but the only problem is that it is advertising driven. This means when I searched google for more VPN information I got an add for cricket above the search results.

I didn’t like that so I ditched hotspot shield and tried hamachi.

Hamachi has both a paid and free version. It also works for windows, linux, and mac. If you are using it for non-commercial purposes then download the free version and make sure you choose non-commercial during the installation.

After installation follow this link for how to set it up.

During setup it will ask you to join the test group. You may get an error that it is full. Click cancel and close the guide window. Then create a new network by clicking the network button.

(it is the middle one at the bottom with the three dots that make a triangle) Choose create a new network then name it and give it a password.

Once it is setup there will be a client that you can close by clicking the upper left button and just let it run in your taskbar.

I noticed no problems when using hamachi and will be using it on my laptop from now on.

I do want to add that Hotspot shield has a VPN for your iPhone.

My cousin asked me a while back if I was worried about the data on my iPhone and I told her no. I rarely use it off of an encrypted network and when I do I am careful about what information is transferred. That got me thinking I had never considered the phone connection. Was it secure?

I checked my iPhone and found an option for a VPN and while researching this article I added it. You can also do this by following the instructions at http://hotspotshield.com/clientless/iphone/get_started.php