Tag Archive - hack

Coolest Kindle / iPhone / Interwebs Hack Ever?

December 20, 2009 in Blogging, Technology with Comments Off

I learned something super cool this week:

If you use a Kindle and you read a lot of news, blogs and anything else on the web you NEED to know this.

What if you find something you want to read but you don’t have time to read it right that second? And what if you found it on your iphone or computer, or the internet or twitter or just about anywhere else? And what if it could get sent to your Kindle to be read later?

“You mean it could all go to my Kindle? Or my iPhone Kindle app? That would be AWESOME!”

Go to www.instapaper.com right now and set up a free account.

Its SO easy! Instapaper gives you a Read Later bookmark.

  • When you find something you want to read, but you don’t have time, you just click a “read later” bookmark.
  • Instapaper saves it on their server
  • Later, you can log in to instapaper to read it or even have it all sent to your iPhone or Kindle.
  • Its all synced in the cloud so you always have the ability to read your saved stuff on any device later.
  • If you use iPhone apps like Tweetie 2 or Netnewswire, Instapaper is integrated.

This little tech hack has changed the way I read blogs, news, stories, and etc that I find on the web.

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Christmas Light Life HACKS

December 31, 2008 in Creativity with Comments Off

Each year I get a lot of great comments on my Christmas lights. Thank you. I work hard on it.

Right after the “great lights Zak” usually comes some comment like “too much work blah blah blah I didn’t put lights up.” So, I thought I’d share my little Christmas lights hacks to help you out a little. They aren’t much, but they’ve made a BIG difference for me.

BEFORE you unwrap. When you get new lights, pull them out of the box and plug them in to test them BEFORE you unwrap and unroll them. A strand of lights is IMPOSSIBLE to put back into the box. This way, if the strand is bad, it will go back into the box easily for a fast return at the store.

Storage. Roll up each individual strand and put it in a plastic sack. Pack them flat on top of each other in a box or rubbermaid tub. Sure you can buy all kinds of storage tubs for $25 that hold 5 strands…or you can do this for free, get the same result, and store way more lights in a smaller space.

xmas lights2Hanging lights on tall trees. You don’t need a HUGE ladder. Just some PVC and screws. This is how I put my lights in the trees. Check out the pic. When it comes time to take the lights down, DO NOT yank on them. I tore up a tree pretty bad one year doing that. Use the same PVC stick to get the lights down.

Get ‘em while they’re cheap! There is no need to pay a lot for lights! Be sure to hit the sales after Christmas day and get lights for 88 cents a strand instead of $3-8 each. You will have to store them for the year, but you’re probably storing a bunch of Christmas junk already anyway. :)

Buy a timer. The BEST Christmas light display investment I ever made was buying two timers. I got them on sale after Christmas one year dirt cheap. December is such a busy time of the year that often you may not be home to turn the lights on or off manually. Hook them up to a timer and let it do the work for you. I usually set mine to be on from 5:30pm-midnight and then again from 6:00am to 7:30am.

Hope these little tips help you out next year!

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