GeekSugar

How Often Do You Clean Your Keyboard?

GeekSugar — Wed, 07 May 2008 03:00:56 -0700

When I read this story on Lifehacker, I immediately got grossed out and bolted straight for the canned air and Clorox Wipes. Keep reading and you'll find out why.

A study conducted in a regular run of the mill London office concluded that the keyboards harbored more germs than a toilet seat and held 150 times the recommended limit of harmful bacteria. What's more, the mice were even dirtier! Ever wonder why office colds and flus travel around so quickly? Yeah, wonder no more. Let this be a gentle reminder to do the deed today, and keep doing it, cause I don't ever want to talk about this again.

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Trials of the Dead Mighty Mouse Scroll Wheel

GeekSugar — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 15:00:38 -0700

If you've gotten used to the joys of the Mighty Mouse scroll wheel, then you know how utterly annoying it is to go to scroll down a page and not have it work. I mean, where am I without a scroll wheel?! Back to the early '00s with the whole point, click, and drag thing, that's where. Since you can't get in there to find the cause for the breakdown or blockage, you'll probably assume it's time to replace it - but don't give up hope just yet. You might be able to save yourself a few bucks and try to bring the little guy back to life yourself.

I've done some legwork and attempted a number of cleaning methods to see which one worked the best. Test methods included pressing down on the wheel and scrolling, wiping down the wheel with cleaner, trying to smack whatever might be lodged in there loose by tapping the mouse on my desk, and spraying it with canned air. To see my verdicts, read more.

Unfortunately, pressing down on the scroll wheel and scrolling only works for so long. I even thought I might be at risk for pushing the little wheel down into the mouse, never to be heard from again if I pressed any harder!
No dice for wiping down the wheel with alcohol swabs. Unfortunately cleaning the wheel does not clear whatever is inside.
Smacking the mouse on my desk to dislodge whatever might have been stuck in the mouse proved more annoying to my officemates than effective.
The last and winner of the test was the canned air. I use this stuff to clean my keyboard, and it works wonders with the mouse as well.

It's been a number of days since I cleaned my Mighty with the canned air – having sprayed in all visible cracks to ensure my mouse was fresh and clean – and it's still scrolling along like the first day we met. If you don't keep canned air around, it will set you back at least five bucks, but you'll end up saving $45 to $65 in replacement costs!

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LappyMats Keep Your Screen Clean

GeekSugar — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 09:00:55 -0700

I abuse my laptop. I can't help it. I'm constantly on it, mistakenly touching its screen and leaving my fingerprints all over. So how does one protect their screen? Aside from being more cautious, you can use LappyMats, an ultra-microfiber cloth that was designed to protect your laptop's LCD screen.

The mats act as a soft cushion to be laid in-between your laptop lid and keyboard to provide full protection from scratches that are caused by your keyboard or trackpad while traveling. You can also use the cloth to clean dust, dirt and everyday oils off any part of your laptop.

The screen protectors are available for just about any make or model of laptop/notebook on the market from 11.1” widescreens all the way up to 20” custom laptops. They cost $10-20.

Google Increases Online Storage Limit, Drops the Prices

GeekSugar — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:43:13 -0800

A couple of years ago, Google announced its new online storage plans, which allowed users to upload more photos, save more emails and more. And I have to tell you, when I paid the $20 way back then to get 6 GB more of storage, I thought life couldn't get any better.

Well now, Google has just announced some pretty amazing storage plans that make it even easier to back up all of your photos, documents. . . and you don't have to worry about cleaning out your inbox (although I do encourage you to do so anyways!). So now with my $20 a year, I can get 80 GB worth of storage - magical I tell ya.

To see a chart with all of the new (and old!) storage prices, just read more.

YEAR	STORAGE AMOUNT	PRICE
2007	6 GB	$20 / year
	25 GB	$75 / year
	100 GB	$250 / year
	250 GB	$500 / year
2009	20 GB	$5 / year
	80 GB	$20 / year
	400 GB	$100 / year
	1 TB	$256 / year
	80 GB	$20 / year
	80 GB	$20 / year

Go here if you'd like to purchase a new storage plan!

Geek Out: Where Won't You Whip Out Your Laptop?

GeekSugar — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:05:09 -0700

In the movie Motherhood, which opens today, Uma Thurman plays a multitasking stay-at-home mom trying to raise two kiddos and keep up her passion for writing. Her busy schedule of feedings, cleaning, meal making, and party planning means she has to sneak short moments of computer time in wherever she can. She blogs in 10-minute increments at her desk while baby plays, at the playground, and even in the stairwell of her building.

I'm not a mom, but I can relate to whipping out my laptop in usual places (you know, the car, the laundromat, the camping ground) in order to get work finished and stay connected. Where won't I blog or log on? The bathroom. Unlike Brooke Shields' character on Lipstick Jungle, the idea of bringing my Mac to the powder room makes me cringe. Where is your no-tech zone?

How to Organize Your Networking Accounts

GeekSugar — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:01:15 -0700

Cataloging your trillions of social networking accounts makes cleaning out your packed closet feel like a walk in the park with an ice cream. There's TeamSugar, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Flickr, Picasa, Twitter and every other revolutionary community you signed up for to spy on friends and explore the digital landscape. I don't have enough mental bandwidth or time to keep up with every community, but I have come up with a few tricks for keeping up with all my friends across the world wide web.

Photo courtesy of The CW

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Website of the Day: The Printliminator

GeekSugar — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:15:35 -0700

Do you ever find yourself printing up maps, recipes, or articles from the Internet, but rather than just getting the doc you want, you end up with a page filled with advertisements and graphics? A new site called The Printliminator, which I spotted on makeuseof, is a bookmarklet tool that will help you remove all of the "junk" on webpages before you click print - helping you save ink and paper.

To get started, just drag the bookmarklet into your bookmarks toolbar, and then go to the website you want to print from and click the button. From there you'll be able to select the stuff you don't want included on your page. Be careful what you remove because there isn't a back button (you can always just go back to the site if you want to make changes). If you like this site, another website to help you print clean and easy to read webpages is PrintFriendly.

Have an interesting website you want to share? To learn how to post your favorite websites to our Website of the Day group, read more.

First of all, join the Website of the Day group.
Click "New Post" under the website of the day tab at the top of the page.
Give your story a "Title."
Fill in the "Body" with a link to your favorite website and the reasons why you love it.
Type "Technology and Gadgets" in the Categories box
Add keyword(s) in the tag field with relevant tags (for example mine for this story was "Website of the Day").
Choose whether you want the post to be private or public.
Click "Create Post" to submit content.

Disk Inventory X Shows What's on Your Hard Drive

GeekSugar — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 14:00:10 -0700

If you have your computer stocked full of movies, MP3s, files, and applications and hardly ever trash anything, then it's no wonder you get that strange error message that pops up saying that your "disk space is almost full." I'm sure (like me) you've bypassed that little note saying to yourself "yeah, right" or freaked out and had the geek squad on the phone before you could say microchip.

In either case, it's a good idea to get a handle on what you are storing on your hard drive (or hard disk as it's so lovingly called) so those nasty messages don't keep popping up and ruining your fun. I'm a visual gal, which is why I use Disk Inventory X to see what is on my hard drive. It's mapped out so that I understand what a big chunk of space that burned copy of BSG Razor or my entire ELO collection is really taking up. To see why Disk Inventory X holds a special place in my heart, just read more.

Disk Inventory X is not only a great way to get you to delete unused or unwanted files, but it's an awesome learning tool that will help you visualize what 657 megabytes or four gigabytes looks like on your hard drive. Disk Inventory X is free for Mac users, you can download at any time and it's totally easy-peasy to use. Plus, there's a one-minute instructional video that will walk you through getting started, so you don't have to call in the cavalry to save you. It's all gonna be okay. I promise.

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5 Ways To Get Organized This Fall

GeekSugar — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 01:43:22 -0700

I'm all about getting organized to be more productive all year, but right now is the perfect time to clean out the old, and freshen up your workspace to prep for those upcoming midterms. Back to school isn't just for students though, you can get fresh for Fall at any age. I have five fine ways for you to get started here.

Store the Chargers: Tidy up your unused cords and chargers in a pretty box so they are ready to go when you are. Use a special box for the cords you use most often, and store it by the door so you have easy access whenever you need it.

To see my remaining four tips, just read more.

Clean Up the Game Cabinet: Straighten up your gaming cabinet now, so you don't feel the need to when you have a term paper due in three months. Cozy up your controllers with a storage system, so they're ready to go when you need to blow off some steam.
Control Your Cables: When you have a lot of messy cables lying around, you can get a bit distracted with where they are supposed to go. Control the cable clutter with a simple organizational system, or a cool cable clutter organizer.
Let Your Apps Lead The Way: Keeping your life organized can get overwhelming, so why not let a few apps on your phone help you out along the way?
Scroll, Don't Surf: Use an RSS reader already! Don't waste precious time jumping from site to site to see what's new, just scroll through your Google Reader or Bloglines.

How are you getting fresh and organized for Fall?

A Place For Everything and Everything in Its Place: BackPack

GeekSugar — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 13:25:49 -0700

OK, so I know aesthetics aren't everything, but even though I bought myself a nice-looking external hard drive to back up all my data, sometimes I just want to find a safe place to keep it out of the way and off my clean desk. If this sounds familiar to you, and you have an iMac or a cinema display, listen up: the BackPack is here to save you.

The BackPack attaches to the backside of your iMac's stand, and is height adjustable, so you can secure two or maybe even three shelves on the back of your machine. Store your external, your phone or iPod while they charge, or even a USB hub for more plug-in ports. And don't worry about scratches - there's no drilling or screws involved. I'm all about saving and utilizing space to the max, and for $30 bucks, you know I've got this on this year's back-to-school list.

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