presto

One of my favorite things to do each Oscar season is to track down all of the nominated short films. The films are currently making the rounds of selected theaters, but many of them are also available right now online — and today, I have video from all five animated shorts!

This year's cast of animated characters includes a mischievous bunny, octopi in love, and a man taking a sentimental journey through his old house. Maybe watching these shorts will help you fill out your Oscar ballot! Check them out:

Oktapodi
How adorable are these octopi? In Oktapodi, these two cuties help each other escape the clutches of a tyrannical restaurant cook. But, even once they're out of the kitchen, their battle to stay together is not over. You hear that? It's animated sea creatures battling adversity. Watch the whole thing right now:

To check out the other four, just read more

The fact that my aunt prints up my emails and takes them over to my grandparents house made me realize that the following product would work wonders in my family. Presto is a great new service that is designed for people who don't use a computer or go online.

How it works: Using any email account, family and friends can send email and photos to a HP Printing Mailbox user (with its own individual email address) and Presto will convert regular emails into Presto Mail — easy-to-read color printouts. All you have to do is plug the printing mailbox into a power outlet and an existing ordinary phone jack and insert paper and an ink cartridge. Within a few minutes your parents or grandparents will have beautifully printed emails to read.

If you're worried about set-up and all that jazz (which they claim is quite simple), you can either do it from your own PC through the Presto site or call one of their representatives to do it over the phone. The HP Printing Mailbox is $100 and the monthly service is $10. Definitely a great way to stay in touch!