Chuckwelch

If you're house hunting, you it's important to find a good real estate agent. Still, finding one can be tricky. Housing search service Trulia's new agent directory makes it a little easier. The guide offers agent reviews, filters for experience, expterise, sales history, and even client recommendations.

FInding a good real estate agent can be one of the most boring things on your house hunting to-do list, and most of us just ask a friend or family member to tell us who their agent was so we can give them a call. Word of mouth is still important, but so is research, and that's where Trulia's new directory comes in. In addition to narrowing the search results by location, you can also view homes that agent has sold or helped buy near you, check out their expertise (condos, luxury housing, detached homes, etc), and even see client recommendations written by people who have worked with them before.

The new directory is available now, and works just as well on your mobile phone or tablet as it does on the desktop. Hit the link below to try it out.

Find an Agent | Trulia

The process of finding a good mover can seem daunting (not to mention expensive). But doing a little research is worth it. By shopping around, you can save money—sometimes more than $1,000—and avoid scams. Here are 12 steps to help you through the process.

This is a guest post from Real Simple.

Get Recommendations

Ask friends, coworkers, and local real estate agents. Look in the phone book for moving companies that have offices near your home. You’re going to want to get an in-person estimate of how much your move will cost. Don’t rely on any estimate that comes from someone who hasn’t looked in every one of your closets. Don’t assume that big-name companies are best. Do not get estimates through websites that offer to “find you a mover.” Find the mover yourself and avoid the numerous scams associated with some of these sites. And don’t use household-goods brokerage services that find a moving company for you―they are not regulated by the laws that movers must follow.

Do an Initial Screening

When you have a list of recommended movers, go online to do a quick background check (you can do a more thorough check later). Call or go to the website of the Better Business Bureau (bbb.org). You also can call or e-mail the American Moving and Storage Association (moving.org, 703-683-7410, info@moving.org) to see if a moving company is a member, which means it has agreed to abide by the organization’s published tariffs and to participate in its arbitration program. AMSA membership is voluntary. As long as a moving company checks out in all other ways, the fact that it is not a member shouldn’t rule it out.

Be sure to check the consumer-advocacy sites movingscam.com. Each of these has a blacklist of companies with a history of consumer complaints, as well as tips and general information about the moving industry. You can also do a search using the company name at Rip-off Report (ripoffreport.com).

Have At Least Three or Four Companies to Call For an In-Home Estimate

If you’re moving to another state, ask if the company will give you a written binding estimate or, even better, a binding not-to-exceed estimate. Both types of estimates put a guaranteed cap on what you will pay for your move. While nonbinding estimates are legal (as long as they’re given free), as the U.S. Department of Transportation moving guide warns, “You should expect the final cost to be more than the estimate.” And while interstate movers are allowed to charge you for binding estimates, most will offer them free.

Estimates for interstate moves will be based on the weight of the items you’re moving and the distance of the move. For moves within the same state, rules about estimates vary: Some states (such as California) require that movers give a written and signed binding estimate; others (like Illinois) forbid them to. Either way, estimates for these movers are based on the amount of time the move will take.

When an Estimator Comes to Your Home, Show Him Everything

you want to have moved―in the closets, the backyard, the basement, the attic. If on your moving day the foreman believes you have significantly more stuff than was calculated in your estimate, he can “challenge” the original estimate (before everything is on the truck, not after). He can’t force you to pay a higher amount, but he doesn’t have to move your stuff for the original amount, either. And at that point you probably don’t have a lot of other options. Also, make sure the estimator knows about any conditions at your new home that might complicate the move, such as stairs, elevators, or a significant distance from the curb to the closest door.

While the estimator is at your home, get as much information as you can about the company. Make sure it will be moving you itself, not contracting the job out to another mover. Find out how long the company has been in business. (You want one that’s been around a few years at least, and ideally 10 or more.) By the time the estimator leaves, you should have collected all of the following:

• The company’s full name and any other names under which it does business.
• The company’s address, phone numbers, and e-mail and website addresses.
• Names and contact information for the company’s references.
• USDOT (U.S. Department of Transportation) and MC (motor carrier) license numbers.
• The U.S. Department of Transportation booklet called “Your Rights and Responsibilities When You Move.” Federal law requires any interstate mover to provide you with this guide, which is the official rule book of the interstate moving industry. (You can download a copy at fmcsa.dot.gov.) For in-state moves, movers are regulated by the state’s department of transportation or its public utilities or commerce commission. Some states publish their own moving-guide pamphlets.

Review the Estimate

The estimate may be a combined document that, when signed by you and the moving-company representative, serves as your order for service and bill of lading, too. These, along with the inventory list created when your goods are loaded, are the basic documents any mover should provide you with. Make sure you see the words “written binding estimate” up top, as well as the mover’s signature with a date at the bottom. For an interstate move, the estimate should clearly describe the type and quantity of goods you’re shipping, the distance to your new home, when your things will be picked up and delivered, and any additional services (such as packing) and supplies the moving company is providing.

If you want to purchase additional insurance from your mover (above the standard 60 cents a pound that the mover’s insurance covers), make sure you understand the costs and details of that coverage. For an in-state move, for which you can’t get a binding estimate, you should still get a written estimate that sets out the hourly rates and any additional costs you may incur (for supplies, tolls, driving time to and from the mover’s facilities). If you’re not sure about anything in the estimate, call and ask. And have the company send you a revised written estimate if necessary―don’t just take someone’s word for anything.

Collect Estimates in a Brightly Colored Moving Folder

Keep this (hard to lose) folder open in plain sight as later estimators come in. This shows them you’re doing your homework, which encourages them to be honest and perhaps give you a more competitive quote.

Compare the Bids

Be wary of any company that comes in much lower than the others. Look at high bids to see where the extra costs are coming from. Call and ask questions if you don’t understand anything. If you have several reasonable-sounding bids from reputable companies, don’t be afraid to negotiate to get the best possible rate. Especially in a market where there’s lots of competition, most movers will work with you on pricing.

Check Out the Contenders in More Detail

Take the information you’ve gathered and get back online. First, make sure they’re incorporated in your state―and confirm how long they’ve been in business―by checking your secretary of state’s office. Some have searchable databases of businesses online; if not, call the number in the government pages of the phone book.

Make Sure Your Moving Company Has the License and Insurance it Needs to Move You Legally

(Yes, there are movers who solicit business without the legal authority to do so.) Go to safersys.org, the website of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), and enter the company’s USDOT number and click on “Search” (you can also search by name or MC number). If you have an accurate DOT number, you’ll be shown a screen with lots of information on the company. Here’s what to look for:

• The company’s name, address, and phone numbers. Are they the same ones the company gave you?
• The “Out of Service” field, at the upper left of the form, should say “No.”
• The fields labeled “Power Units” and “Drivers” tell you how many trucks and drivers the company has. A company that claims to do 100 moves a month but has only two trucks deserves skeptical treatment.
• Under “Operation Classification,” there should be an X next to “Auth. for Hire.”
• Under “Carrier Operation,” if you are moving out of state, there should be an X next to “Interstate.”
• Under “Cargo Carried,” there should be an X next to “Household Goods.”
• Farther down, in the “Inspections/Crashes” section, you should be concerned if the company’s average is much higher than the national average shown. In the “Safety Rating” section, if there has been a review, the results should be “Satisfactory.”
• At the bottom of the page, click on the “FMCSA Licensing & Insurance site” link. On the next page, click on either the “HTML” or the “Report” button under “View Details” to get to the “Motor Carrier Details” page. Under the column “Authority Type,” there are three listings: “Common,” “Contract,” and “Broker.” The “Authority Status” column to the right tells you if the company’s authority is active. At least “Common” should be listed as active, with “No” under “Application Pending.”
• In the next table down, there should be a “Yes” under “Household Goods.”
• The bottom table contains insurance information. A moving company is required to have both bodily-injury and property-damage (BIPD) insurance ($750,000 minimum) and cargo insurance filed. Under the heading “Insurance on File,” BIPD should be at least $750,000, and “Cargo” should say “Yes.”
• You can also call the FMCSA to get information on the status of a company’s licensing (202-366-9805) and insurance (202-385-2423).

Call the FMCSA’s Safety Violation and Consumer Complaints Hotline

Call 888-368-7238 (open 24/7) and ask about complaints against your moving company. And, if possible, go to the company’s address and check out the facilities in person.

Now! Select a Mover

You should feel confident about any company you’ve run through the checks above. Confirm the dates and details of your move, and make sure you get a signed order for service and a bill of lading.

On Moving Day, Get a Written Copy of the Mover’s Inventory List

Provide the movers with specific directions for getting to your new home, and make sure you have a number where you can reach the movers throughout the move.

12 Steps to Hiring a Mover | Real Simple

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Say you're working at your desk, and you feel your phone buzz in your pocket. It's not exactly onerous to pull it out, but doing so can break your workflow. Desktop Notifications solves this all-too-common minor annoyance by displaying device's notifications on your main screen, with practically no setup.

Once you grab the free app from Google Play, it will direct you to install a browser extension on either Firefox or Chrome. From here, you just add your Android device's unique identifier obtained from the Desktop Notifications app, and everything should be synced up. Now, any notifications on your phone will pop up in the corner of your screen, assuming your browser is running. As the app routes more notifications to your computer, it will detect the apps sending them, and let you disable them piecemeal to keep the onslaught under control.

The idea is a lot like previously-mentionedAndroid Notifier, but it's a lot easier to set up since everything runs in the browser. It also doesn't require your phone and computer to be on the same network, or paired via Bluetooth, which can be handy at work if your phone can't access the main network.

Desktop Notifications (Free) | Google Play via Ghacks

Instructables user narced133 was sick of having his bike lights stolen, so he decided to build a pair of lights directly into his helmet. Instead of just strapping some on, he built them from scratch and made them rechargeable.

Read more...

When Google looks at your email data, some might picture a scenario out of a romantic comedy starring Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grantjackman. You know, a bunch of employees hovered around a computer screen, laughing and pointing: “Oh god, she emailed him again two minutes later? And she promised she wasn’t crazy? This is good stuff.”  The reality is a lot less juicy, but still worth knowing about.

If the government requests your e-mail records for use in a law-enforcement investigation, it’s likely not looking to see how often you email your mother or how many unsent drafts of a “let’s get back together” email you are never going to send to your ex.

Instead, the National Journal (via Quartz) says we can get a look at the kind of metadata Google includes when handing over your info using the Immersion tool from Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab.

Immersion takes all of the e-mails of senders and recipients in your account — the metadata info Google would give to the government during an investigation — and shows the patterns in your digital relationships as a neat looking interactive graphic.

It looks like a pretty little web of brightly colored dots and blobs, with the dots and blobs representing email contacts and gray lines between them showing the connections between people you email. If the blob is especially large, that contact plays a big role in how you email and go about your digital life. Here’s a sample from Immersion’s fake demo for the fictional Tony Stark:

If you’re comfortable handing over your e-mail metadata, Immersion will chew up and spit out your own nifty chart, breaking down data by year, month, a week — however you want to see it. Afterward, you can tell the program to erase your info from MIT’s servers.

As long as the government isn’t giggling over my Cheese Lovers Anonymous weekly newsletter, I’m relieved.

A Hypnotic Visualization of Everything Gmail Knows About You and Your Friends [National Journal]

If you’re depressed about the state of newspapers after this, here’s something to cheer you up: a long post on the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s website that actually lays out the math for a proposed stadium deal and reports its findings. The stadium in question is for the minor-league St. Paul Saints, it’s set to cost $66 million, and nobody knows where nearly half that money will come from. Simplifying the article’s charts a bit:

Ballpark Construction Capital Cost: $66.1 million

Upfront Capital Cost Breakdown (by Municipality / Private Entity):
State of Minnesota: $27,000,000
City of St. Paul: $9,000,000 *Agreed to provide $17 million
St. Paul Saints Organization: $1,500,000

Total Monies Available: $37,500,000 *$66.6m Total Cost with $37.5m Avail. in 2013 = $29m shortfall

The Saints have also agreed to pay an additional $340,000 a year, though as they won’t own the building, the article notes, this is more reasonably considered “rent” than an actual contribution to the construction cost. And in any event, this still leaves the stadium with a rather large shortfall, in part because of increased environmental cleanup costs, in part because the Saints tacked on some new features to make their minor-league park “first class,” and in part because St. Paul officials apparently have some trouble with addition.

The story goes on to estimate the tax revenue benefits to Minnesota, and while the numbers are a bit speculative, it’s clear that the total impact amounts to “not much.” If the Saints are able to increase attendance from 5,000 to 6,000 per game (the new stadium is supposed to hold 7,000), concludes the article, “For St. Paul to make up its end of the financing bargain, they would need to immediately impose a $1.13 tax per ticket sold over the next 25 years, not accounting for debt service payments.”

There’s more that could be done to fine-tune this analysis, but in all it’s a fine piece of reporting, and we should applaud the Star Tribune for having one of its reporters actually crunch the numbers rather than just taking team marketing claims at their word. So, props to Nathaniel Hood, who is … “a transportation planner and blogger living in St. Paul”? Wait, this is an op-ed post on the paper’s YourVoices section, not something that the Star Tribune assigned to one of its own reporters? Okay, you can go ahead and be depressed about the state of newspapers after all.

Google hasn’t updated Voice in ages. Once heralded as the amazing service that would unify our phones, it now lags behind thanks to a lack of MMS support, decent voicemail transcripts, and a variety of usage quirks. With a few third-party apps and services, you can leave Voice behind, just like Google did, and have a better experience in the process.

Not only will this home-built option be more powerful than Google Voice, but all of these alternatives work outside the US, so international users can finally get the Voice features they've been wanting. It takes a bit of work to set up and there are a few differences, but overall it's an awesome way to manage all your calls and texts. Here's what you need to do.

Sync Your Text Messages Everywhere

Google Voice syncs your text messages to all your devices, so you can get them anywhere. Well, unless you get a message with a picture or video or one sent to a group. You really only have one alternative depending on your mobile platform.

Android and Windows PCs/Macs

Android has a variety of options, but one stands out as the definite best alternative to Google Voice’s synchronized text messages: MightyText. While advertised as iMessage for Android, you won’t find that terribly accurate if you’ve used both services. MightyText actually works a little differently than iMessage, plus it does more.

Install the Android app, which listens for new messages and syncs them to the MightyText service, then visit the MightyText webapp on any computer. MightyText offers a variety of other apps, like a native tablet app, a Chrome extension, and a Gmail extension that integrates SMS right into the interface. Unlike Google Voice, MightyText supports MMS in all its forms so you can receive multimedia and group messages. You must keep your phone on and connected to the internet in some way for MightyText to function, but so long as you meet those two requirements the service provides a great multi-platform texting experience at no cost whatsoever.

iPhones and Macs/Windows PCs

If you have an iPhone and a Mac, you can really only use iMessage. While a great service in theory—much like Google Voice—Apple failed to fix a lot of bugs and it doesn’t always work perfectly. On top of that, you can only get messages from other Apple users so you’re not really receiving texts that sync everywhere.

Alternatively, you can turn to a number of “free” texting apps that solve part of the problem. Textfree provides apps for iOS, Android, and the web so you can essentially access your text and picture messages from any device, and your friends don't need Textfree to receive them—it works just like SMS. MySMS can do the same. Neither service has a native desktop app like iMessage, but they provide a reasonable alternative to iMessage and Google Voice.

Get Calls Everywhere with a Single Phone Number

Google Voice truly handles one-to-many phone calling better than any other service. If you want people to call one number and have every phone you own ring all at the same time, you might want to simply stick with Google Voice for this feature then use MightyText (and any of the other services) alongside it. That said, you do have some alternatives.

If you want to pay business prices for enterprise level call forwarding, you can with RingCentral. While the service offers plenty of features, you probably don’t want to pay $25 per month for this when you can get it for free with Google Voice. You do get SMS messages with your number, along with plenty of other features, so this may appeal to people with deep pockets and a need for RingCentral’s other options.

Some services can forward from one number to another, which may prove sufficient for people who just want to receive out-of-state or international calls like local ones. Skype and Vonage both provide this option at a small cost. With Skype, you can even forward in the other direction by calling a number local to you that then dials any number around the world at Skype rates instead of your carrier’s much higher rates.

Get Better Voicemail Transcriptions

Google Voice has a hard time transcribing your voicemails. It may seem like it just can’t manage with poor call quality, but more often it creates ridiculous transcripts regardless of speech clarity. Let’s look at an example from a listener who called into the Ask Lifehacker Podcast:

Hey Lifehacker, I'm calling for a question My question is. You guys are going to poor your tutorial orange sources where I can look up at ability, Yes to wi-fi Network for like large public area, for example, let's see how hospital.

The message should’ve been:

Hey Lifehacker, I’m calling in with a question. My question is, do you guys have any tutorials or sources on how to build a guest Wi-Fi network in a large, public area? For example, a hospital.

To some extent, this isn’t Google’s fault. Computers can’t understand human voice very well. In fact, humans can’t understand human voice very well. We can, however, piece together the meaning of a sentence more easily when we don’t hear many of the words in it because we formulate similar sentences ourselves. As a result, you don’t want your voicemails transcribed by a computer but rather a service that uses actual humans.

Human-based voicemail transcription services cost money, but if you don’t receive a ton of voicemails you won’t pay very much each month. Personally, I only get about 10 messages per month since most people will just hang up and/or text nowadays. If you fall into the same category, you can use a service called CellScribe to get more accurate human transcriptions for $2 per month (up to 15 messages, and your first month is free). If you need more messages, you’ll pay $0.30 for each additional one or you can upgrade to a higher volume account for a greater monthly fee.

For the most part, you just need to sign up for an account to start using CellScribe. The page will ask you a few questions about your phone, provider, and how you want to receive messages. After you sign up, CellScribe will provide a page of specific instructions to set up your phone to receive voicemail transcripts. It will include a code you need to enter to configure your phone so CellScribe can intercept the messages. After that, you just need to record your voicemail greeting and you’re all set.

CellScribe provides more accurate transcriptions than Google Voice, but most any service will even without humans to help. If you don’t like CellScribe for whatever reason, try PhoneTag instead. Humans won’t transcribe your messages, but you’ll get better transcriptions than Google Voice currently provides.

Use a Business Solution for a Well-Rounded Replacement

All the apps and services mentioned in this post don’t fully replace Google Voice on their own. They replace most features in bits and pieces and improve upon them, but you might still wish for an all-in-one option. If you do, you have to make one sacrifice: your money. If you don’t mind paying a little bit for better service, you can sign up for a solution designed for businesses.

While you have a variety of options that handle most of the functions of Google Voice, only SendHub replaces just about every feature and adds a few. You can make calls via VOIP, send and receive text messages, get your voicemails transcribed pretty accurately (I confused the system by saying “onomatopoeia” but it understood everything else), choose your own number, and download apps for both Android and iOS (including tablets). SendHub currently does not support MMS messaging, but unlike Google Voice they have plans to add it and you can get notified when they do.

If you want to use SendHub instead of Google Voice, you can for free with some limitations. The basic account only allows 60 VOIP minutes and 500 text messages to non-SendHub numbers. You can upgrade and get much more, but it’ll cost you $25 per month at minimum. We think this option may work for some, but so long as SendHub doesn’t offer MMS you might as well stick with Google Voice and just outsource your voicemail transcriptions. Nevertheless, it provides a solid alternative for some.

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Although a piecemeal option can feel a little like a poorly made chimera of third-party services, it provides you with options. If a better app or service comes along, you can replace what you currently use. If you still want to use Google Voice and just want one specific feature, you can implement just that feature. Hopefully someday Google will update Voice, rather than abandon it officially, but until then you can patch together a bunch of third-party options and make your own upgrade a reality.

Bananaphone by LEGEN -wait for it- DARY (Shutterstock).

Google has a great built in service to transfer your email to a new Gmail account, but it only works with Gmail. If you're taking your email somewhere else, tech blog Digital Inspiration created a script to make the transfer process easy.

Digital Inspiration uses a Google Script to accomplish the task. When it runs, it forwards all your email from your current Gmail account to your new address. It's not a perfect solution, but it's better than nothing. Head over to Digital Inspiration for the full guide.

Transfer your Gmail Messages to Another Email Address | Digital Inspiration

If you have a spare lamp tower with multiple, adjustable lamp heads, you can repurpose it into a portable speaker holder.

This awesome project comes courtesy of Instructables user sbanas. All you have to do is remove the light housings from the main stand, and cut the wiring to remove the light sockets. Then, run some speaker wire through the piping, solder it to some small circular speakers, and glue them back into the housings. He also attached an Altoids tin to the lamp to hold his iPod Nano, but for a smartphone you'd probably need something bigger.

The finished product is easy to move around the house, and you can even redirect the sound as necessary by moving the lamp heads. For a complete walkthrough, check out the Instructable through the source link.

Turn Lamp Into Speaker Tower | Instructables

Quebec, as you may know, is the fiercely francophone province of Canada that has held two failed secession votes and somehow still remains part of Canada. The question “is Quebec a part of Canada?” is loaded with centuries of history and ton(ne)s of baggage. So, of course, Best Buy Canada stepped in the middle of it in the interest of selling some TVs.

Yesterday, July 1, was Canada Day. That’s the day that commemorates when the United Kingdom united their four remaining North American colonies into one country: the Dominion of Canada. It’s like Independence Day, only without the actual independence from Britain. That came later, but the Dominion Day date stuck as a Canadian national holiday.

In Quebec, it happens that many leases end on June 30th, making Canada Day the optimal time to pack up your apartment and move. “Moving Day” is a holiday there, though not an official one. Just the kind that you might see in store flyers to encourage you to buy crap.

So there’s a holiday that might encourage people to buy new electronics as they move into a new space in only one province, and the national holiday in the entire country. How did Best Buy handle it? By leading with Moving Day on flyers distributed in Quebec, and Canada Day on flyers distributed everywhere else.

Since we are talking about Quebec, after all, here’s the Moving Day flyer in French:

Reader Trapper Jock submitted this story, and he explained how it looks to Canadians:

The nexus of this is that Quebec is quite nationalistic and many French speaking Quebec citizens push for sovereignty from the rest of Canada. By placing an ad in Quebec that is for the English speaking population (who want to remain in Canada), and ignores Canada Day replacing it with Moving Day, while the of both French and English Canada outside of Quebec got Canada Day sales ads, shows that once again, an American company doesn’t get it.

Though, as we already showed you above, the French ad distributed in Quebec postal codes also refers to Moving Day.

In a statement to CBC News, a Best Buy representative explained that they didn’t set out to exclude Quebec from Canada: it’s just that they have this special holiday that lends itself to selling stuff more than Canada Day does.

Like every year, we feel it is important to recognize the Moving Day holiday in Quebec because it is a significant day in this market and it’s the only place in Canada where this happens. We want to celebrate and recognize this as an important day.

Well, we were paraphrasing.

‘Moving Day’ replaces ‘Canada Day’ in Quebec Best Buy ad [CBC]

The artesian well in Pettibone Park has been closed due to high bacteria levels in the water, La Crosse officials announced Wednesday.

Voice search is one of those features that seems silly, but is awesome once you start using it. Not convinced? Here are a few ways to turn voice search from a silly gimmick into a useful productivity tool.

Why Voice Commands Rock

Google's been pushing voice actions for awhile, adding tons of new features and trying to make it seem more appealing. I, like many of you, thought the whole thing was pretty silly until I actually started using it. Now, I realize that it actually solves my biggest cellphone annoyance: typing on phones sucks.

Voice search, on the other hand, is fast. Really fast. On Android, all it takes is a quick swipe up from the bottom of your screen to access Google Now, after which you can just say what you want and be on your way (iPhone users have to do a bit more work, unless they're jailbroken). No tapping, no correcting typos (as long as you're in a reasonably quiet room, of course), and no scrolling through menus for contacts if you're trying to call a friend. You can do everything nearly instantaneously—and it's more than just search.

Search for Information

Obviously, searching the web is one of Voice Actions' biggest features, but it's more than just a faster way to type a search query. The more Google's "Knowledge Graph" grows, the more voice search actually becomes worthwhile, since it gives you a very straightforward answer to the things you ask. Here are some of the cooler things you can ask:

• How many quarts are in a gallon? Everybody knows Google can make calculations and perform conversions, but boy, it's a lot faster to ask it than it is to type it in. This is especially handy when you're in the kitchen and just need a quick answer, when you want to convert Fahrenheit to Celsius, or...anything having to do with the imperial and metric systems, really.
• Define "bellwether." My friend and I didn't know what this word actually meant, so I just asked Google.
• Show me a video of how to peel garlic. If you specify that you want a video, Google will ensure videos show up at the top of your search results. The same works for images, too: Show me pictures of the Playstation 4 will push image search results right to the top. You can even give it more detail, like Show me pictures of the Lincoln Memorial at sunset.
• When does Whole Foods close? This is way faster than looking it up on Yelp or Google yourself.
• What's the weather like this weekend? Weather apps are usually just a tap away, but this is nice if you want to see the weather for a specific day without having to scroll through a bunch of information, I suppose.
• When is Father's Day? I hate holidays that change every year.
• What's a good Thai restaurant near me? It'll search nearby Thai restaurants. If you change your mind, you can then ask How about Mexican? It'll understand you're still searching for restaurants nearby and act accordingly.
• How long is The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey? As if you didn't already know the answer was "too long."
• What is area code 909? This is awesome for when you get those unnamed calls.
• Who is the CEO of Ford Motor Company? Google knows who a lot of people are.
• When is the next Red Wings game? You can also ask for the score of the last game, and other such things.
• What time is it in Tokyo? Never try to convert time zones in your head again.
• What is the status of US Airways flight 200? There are already a lot of other apps that deal with stuff like this (and can do more), but it's good to know that Google can do it too.
• What's the theme song to Firefly? Shocker: it's not called "You can't take the sky from me."

You get the idea. It knows a lot more than you probably think it does, and anything you can ask, it can probably answer. Of course, if you're doing real research, this isn't helpful—but it's great for that quick stuff that you just need an answer to right away.

Integrate It With Your Android Apps

That's all fine and dandy, but if you're on Android, voice actions also integrate with a lot of apps on your system—and not just the built-in apps, either. Here are some really cool uses for it:

• Text Kathleen "when are you coming home?" Okay, you probably already knew about this one—it's been around forever. But, did you know you can give your contacts "phonetic names" so Google can understand the more complicated ones? Just head into your address book, edit that contact, and add the phonetic name field to help it out. You can use a similar command to make calls, too.
• Create new calendar event, lunch with Zach at 12:30 pm. Creating calendar events is a lot faster than it used to be on your phone, but it's still one of the slowest, most annoying processes I've come across. This is so much faster.
• Note to self: I'm parked on level C3. This used to just make a draft in Gmail with that text, but now you can use it to add a note to Google Keep, Evernote, or Catch, which is awesome.
• Set alarm for 30 minutes from now, label, get laundry. This is much faster than opening up the clock app and setting it manually.
• Remind me to call Mom tomorrow at 2 pm. We've talked about this one before, but no list of productive voice commands would be complete without it.
• Navigate me to The Alibi Room. This immediately starts navigation to my favorite taco restaurant, no searching or addresses necessary. You can also add phrases like "on foot" if you want walking navigation.
• Call the Culver Hotel. Similar to the above, if it can find what you're talking about, it'll help you skip the search step and get straight to your call.
• Listen to Never Gonna Give You Up. This will start searching your music library for that song, but you can also pull it up on YouTube if you don't have it on your phone, which is pretty cool.
• What's this song? No need for Shazam anymore. This trick will work for finding out what's playing wherever you are. (You can also just tap the mic, then tap the music note icon instead of saying "What's this song?")
• Integrate it with tons of web services. If you have an app that doesn't integrate with voice actions, you can usually work around this. If it integrates with SMS or email, then you can make it work with voice actions by adding its SMS code or email to your contacts. For example, you could add your Facebook email address to your contacts, call it "Facebook Post," and say something like Send email to Facebook Post: I'm using Google Voice search! and it'll post that status to your Facebook.

Do voice commands work perfectly every time? Absolutely not. It doesn't really work in loud rooms, and sometimes it just doesn't understand you (I tried to look up what a "morel" was the other day, but it just kept telling me what "morals" were). But, once you start using it, you'll get the hang of which stuff it does well and which stuff it doesn't. After that small initial learning curve, you'll realize you can save a ton of time with it over opening your browser and typing.

Windows: If you have a spare USB drive or SD card lying around, use RMPrepUSB to turn it into a PC troubleshooting tool or a way to install a new OS without burning a disc. You can use the tool to format and partition any storage device, load it up with ISOs or other disk images, and then multi-boot when you need to.

RMPrepUSB is free, and once installed on your PC, you can use it to turn USB thumb drives, hard drives, SD cards, or almost any external storage into partitioned, bootable media that either loads an ISO or boots to a fully installed partition on the drive. You can also use it with drive images, so you can boot to or install backup images of your PC in case there's trouble. The app has a ton of features, most of which you can check out here.

The tool supports grub4dos and easy2boot, so you can load up Linux ISOs, Windows ISOS, install Linux right to the USB drive, or customize a Windows partition, then just plug the drive into your PC to boot directly to it like it was an internal drive. Keep in mind though that while RMPrepUSB will prep and partition your USB drive to be bootable media, you still have to have the operating systems you want to boot to, and the images you want to load the drive partitions with. It makes the job easier, but it doesn't do everything for you. For examples of what the app can do, check out some of the app's video tutorials, which guide you through using easy2boot to add Windows partitions, using the app to build a USB version of the Ultimate Boot CD for troubleshooting, and more.

Thanks to Whiznot2 for the tip!

RMPrepUSB

When you think of a humidifier, you probably picture a fairly large device filled with water that you plug in and keep in a corner. Those traditional options don't work so well when you need to move them around and require a bit of effort to clean. The Satechi Portable USB Humidifier just attaches to any water bottle and gets power from any USB port of charger.

If you need to add humidity to a large space, you'll need something a little more powerful than a portable option. If you just need a little humidity in your part of the room, however, you can set a water bottle by your bedside or wherever you are. If you move, you can take it with you. If you can't be tethered to an outlet or a computer's USB port, get a portable battery. (Ideally, we'd like to see a version of this device that contains its own battery to operate on the go for a few hours, but generally speaking you won't need that.) Most humidifiers cost at least $30, but this portable version only runs you $23. While it might not provide as much power, it gains versatility and convenience. If you need a simple humidifier—especially if you travel often—give this one a look.

Satechi USB Portable Humidifier ($23) | Amazon

Windows: Everything, one of our favorite desktop search tools, just updated for the first time in months with new features that will make finding lost files on your system easier. You can now filter results by type from a drop-down menu, create custom filters and keyboard shortcuts, and more.

Everything seemed like it had dropped off the face of the earth for several years, but a few months ago we got a new beta, and now the developer has released a major update, packed with new features and designed for newer operating systems. The drop-down filter on the right side of the screen is a long time coming, and lets you quickly search and filter results based on file type. Similarly, you can create custom filters, macros, and keyboard shortcuts for those filters to make your searches even faster. Those filters can use regular expressions, or you can use Everything's own search syntax, which has also been vastly improved.

Ultimately, the new version of the app keeps everything we love about it and adds some more powerful search features that will make it easier to unearth files you've long lost on your hard drive or buried in a Dropbox folder. There's even a 64-bit version now. Best of all, it's still free. Hit the link below to grab the new beta.

Everything Search Engine | Voidtools via Freewaregenius

If you prefer a desktop feed reader to a web-based one, FeedDemon—our favorite RSS reader for Windows—has just made all its pro features free, including article prefetching, newspaper views, content filters, and more.

Sadly, with Google Reader's demise, FeedDemon has announced that it's shutting down and won't be releasing any more updates. However, if you never synced with Google Reader in the first place, FeedDemon is still a great reader—and now its pro version is completely free. That means no more ads, plus all the additional features of FeedDemon pro, including:

• My Stream: Quickly receive and view new articles in your most important feeds—great for frequently-updating status feeds such as those from Twitter and Facebook.
• FeedStation: Download multimedia files and have them automatically copied them to your iPod or other portable media player. You can even schedule your downloads so they happen overnight - when you wake up, you'll find new content waiting for you.
• Prefetching: Prefetch the images and web pages linked in your unread items so they're available when working offline (without an Internet connection).
• Content Filters: Instead of seeing every single article in every single feed, create a content filter which automatically hides articles that don't interest you.
• Newspaper Styles: Customize FeedDemon by selecting from four different newspaper styles, and assign different styles to individual feeds, folders and watches.
• Secure Feeds: Subscribe to authenticated feeds, including Twitter OAuth feeds and Intranet ("behind the firewall") feeds.

Hit the link below to download the final version of the app.

FeedDemon | via Ghacks

Have you noticed your milk getting frosty? Meat spoiling quickly? It’s likely your refrigerator is set to the wrong temperature. The FDA recommends keeping your refrigerator at or below 40° F (4° C), and your freezer at 0° F (-18° C) to keep your food fresh for longer and to prevent the growth of bacteria that could cause food-borne illnesses. Here are some more tips to help you ensure your perishables don’t perish.

The best temperature for a refrigerator

Avoid the "danger zone." If you want to ensure your food isn’t developing harmful bacteria that may make you sick, keep it out of the cold-but-not-cold-enough “danger zone” in which bacteria thrive. According to Good Housekeeping, the ideal fridge temp is between 35° F (1.6° C) and 38° F (3.3° C).

How to monitor your fridge's temperature

Get a thermometer for your fridge. “I never trust an appliance’s self-reporting temperature; I’ve had enough ovens with hot spots to always be wary,” advises a user on the food safety forum at Stack Exchange. “With our fridge, our crisper drawer regularly frosts and partially freezes our veggies, and with a thermometer I was able to determine why: it’s significantly colder down there than the 35° F the rest of the fridge is set on. By at least 5-8 degrees.” Move the thermometer around to check for cold and warm spots, and arrange your food accordingly.

Bulb thermometers, the kind with red liquid that moves up and down, are easy to read, reliable, and you don't need to change their batteries. If you don't have one, you can still check if your fridge is too cold. Place a container of water in the back of the fridge on a low shelf (usually the coldest part) for about 24 hours. If it freezes, then that's a sign you may want to raise the temperature a couple degrees.

Keep your refrigerator full

If you’re opening your refrigerator and freezer regularly, then keeping them stocked may help keep the temperature consistent. “With an empty fridge, every time you open and close the door you cycle most of the air in it, replacing the cooled air with warmer air, which has then to be cooled again,” say fridge enthusiasts on The Naked Scientists. “With a full fridge, there’s not only less air to be cycled and re-cooled, all the other items that have been cooled stay in the fridge. The presence of many items in the fridge may also reduce the airflow, meaning even less air is exchanged each time the door is opened and then closed.”

But don’t overstuff it

Keeping the fridge and freezer full is more efficient, yes—but packing it too tightly will restrict circulation and air flow, ultimately forcing it to work harder to keep things at the right temperature, according to Hunker. Another risk: jamming too much in the fridge can block air vents, leading to a host of temperature and moisture issues, and potentially causing some foods to spoil more quickly.

Check the air vents

To expand upon that last point: Air needs to pass unimpeded between the freezer and refrigerator in order to keep the temperature steady. If you’re seeing frost in your fridge, make sure there isn’t a wayward loaf of bread stuffed up against the air vent, preventing circulation. You should be able to find a guide for your particular refrigerator model online.

Know your fridge’s naturally coldest areas

“The temperature within your fridge can vary rather significantly with normal usage,” says Stack Exchange’s hobodave. “The coldest parts of your refrigerator are the back, and the bottom. The back because the cooling element is there, and the bottom because warm air rises. If items you don’t want frosty are getting frosty, then move them away from the back of the fridge.”

Don’t put spoil-prone items in the door

The fridge door is likely to be one of the warmest areas of the fridge, and a spot where the temperature fluctuates the most—so don’t store anything likely to spoil there. “The items in the door of your fridge can easily get as high as 59° F (15° C), and do so often,” says hobodave. “Putting milk and eggs in your door will significantly decrease their shelf life.” In fact, speaking to Well and Good, dietitian Lisa DeFazio recommends never storing milk, eggs, dairy or meat in the door. Instead, keep those items toward the rear of the fridge, where temperates are colder and more stable.

One of the companies that provides bandwidth to Netflix claims that Verizon is allowing a traffic jam of data to build up at its connection points to the huge telecom company, resulting in a degraded connection for customers.

Cogent Communications is one of the nation’s largest bandwidth providers, and given that around 1/3 of all downstream Internet traffic in the U.S. is Netflix-related, it’s not a surprise that one of Cogent’s big clients is Netflix. Cogent has had a peering arrangement with Verizon, wherein the two providers allow the free exchange of traffic across their respective lines, but the company claims that Verizon isn’t being as peer-like as it used to be.

See, when a peering port hits around 50% capacity, it’s expected that another port will be opened up to keep things from getting congested. It’s like opening up a new checkout line at the supermarket when there’s a sudden rush. Cogent’s CEO says that Verizon is now letting these ports fill up without opening new ones.

“They are allowing the peer connections to degrade,” he claims. “Today some of the ports are at 100 percent capacity.”

Cogent says that Verizon’s explanation for the lack of cooperation is that Cogent is now providing bandwidth for large streaming video service. And we’re guessing Verizon isn’t talking about the new RedBox streaming, as Verizon owns a good chunk of that service. Come to think of it, that financial investment in a competing streaming service could be an incentive to make Netflix look bad to the end-user.

GigaOm asked Verizon about the Cogent/Netflix logjam and received the following non-response:

“Verizon operates one of America’s lowest-latency, highest capacity networks. The various classes of Internet speeds we offer are among the fastest in the nation. Time and again, customers rate us best in class in various reports and surveys. Our customers enjoy a consistently superior Internet experience because our networks can adapt and grow with their use.”

Having problems with your Netflix? You can blame Verizon [GigaOm]