Use Toothpaste to Fix Car Body and Headlight Scratches

Toothpaste: it restores old sneakers, de-stains MacBooks, un-clouds drinking glasses, and, it seems, heals whatever minor scratches ail your car, whether on the body, or the problematic kind that reduce your headlights' brightness.

Image via Jonas B.

Among the 35 (technically 34) non-tooth-related uses the Coupon Sherpa suggests for toothpaste, two of them are of particular help to anyone who's been nagged by the small scratches that accumulate on any car that gets actual use:

Auto Scratches
Much cheaper than expensive scratch removers, toothpaste can smooth over minor damage for mere pennies. Apply a dab of toothpaste to a damp sponge and rub with a circular motion. Wipe dry with a soft cloth. Just make sure you don't rub too hard or you'll damage the paint job. ...

Headlights
The dings and scratches sustained by headlight glass defuses the light and makes it harder to see. Eliminate this haze by thoroughly cleaning the headlight, then rubbing in a glob of toothpaste. Follow up with a good buffing to even out the glass, either by hand or with the buffer on an electric drill.

Click here for the 35 Uses for Toothpaste That Don't Involve Your Teeth.

The U-Socket Charges USB Devices Without an Adapter

Nowadays, many of our mobile devices are USB-based, but those darn wall socket adapters are so easy to lose (or not have enough of). Thankfully, this fall, you can plug those USB devices straight into the wall with the $20 U-Socket.

Most of us tech lovers have no shortage of USB cables in our house, but it seems like there are never enough adapters to go around. The U-Socket installs into any normal wall outlet (a little bit of DIY will be required) and accepts most USB devices, USB 3.0 included, giving them a good 10 watts of power (meaning you can charge even the iPad at full speed). Plus, it's Energy Star compliant, and only outputs power through the port if something is actually connected to it, so you don't spend power and money without getting a full battery out of the deal.

The U-Socket won't be available until October due to a last-minute redesign, but its getting so much attention since its appearance at Macworld this year that we recommend checking it out now, and getting in on the nice and cheap $20 pre-order action while you can. Hit the link for more information.

U-Socket

FillAnyPDF Lets You Electronically Fill In and Sign Any Form

Fax machines are going the way of the dodo, yet sometimes there's no easy way to transfer forms back and forth, especially ones that need to be filled out and sent back. FillAnyPDF steps in to fill the gap.

FillAnyPDF is a free web-based service where you can upload any file in PDF, PNG, JPG, or GIF format. You don't need to do anything to your form before or after it's uploaded; the service will do all the heavy lifting for you.

You can email a link to anyone and they can open the form and fill it in right on the site, no download necessary. Of course if they want to print out a copy for themselves, thats an option, too. FillAnyPDF lets users type right into a document, add images or HTML markup, redact, highlight, or white text.

The service allows accepts standard handwriting input from a mouse or writing pad so the document has a realistic signature on it. Digital signatures—a simple typed name—are acceptable as legally binding as well, thanks to the app's native IP logging and tracing features.

One obvious use for a service like FillAnyPDF is to make it easier for freelancers and clients to manage contracts, tax forms, and other paperwork. That's a lot of private information flying around the internet, but the company says your data is safe:

Your account and documents are password protected, so no one will be able to access your data unless you grant them permission.

All forms and sensitive information on the site are encrypted with full 128-bit SSL security.

Our servers are housed in state-of-the-art secured facilities with security and backup power. The servers have redundant hard drives (RAID) and daily backup to a separate device.

Even if you're not comfortable sending personal information via a service like FillAnyPDF, it's still a great tool for managing more generic paperwork that doesn't involve private information. If you give it a go, let's hear what you think in the comments.

Click here to check it out FillAnyPDF.

Get a free college education online

Not headed back to school this fall? You could be, minus the exorbitant tuition and without even leaving your chair. The web has made it easier than ever before to get a free education, and you'd join the ranks of great thinkers in history who were also self-taught, like Joseph Conrad, Albert Einstein, Alexander Graham Bell, Paul Allen, Agatha Christie and Ernest Hemingway. You, too, can be an autodidact; the breadth of free educational materials available online is absolutely astonishing.

Note: Many colleges and universities offer free courses online in the form of podcasts, lectures, tutorials and full-blown online classes. Most of these courses, while extremely smart-making, will NOT award any college credits or degrees.

Free online college courses
Grab some learnin' from the University of Washington's free online courses; Greek mythology, American Revolution, Heroic Fantasy are just some of the offerings. If you get tired of that, you can study economics at the University of Nebraska.

Teach yourself sign language from Michigan State University. Browse through the vast treasures at the Library of Congress. View free videos on all sorts of subjects from Annenberg Media, a major supplier to most distance learning universities, or read the core documents of American democracy.

Feel like a little light reading? You can study theology at Covenant Seminary; course offerings are delivered via a combo of free downloadable .pdf files and podcasts, and include subjects ranging from Church History to the Modern Reformation.

Learn mathematics with this extensive list of free online math courses from Whatcom Community College. Visit Carnegie Mellon University and take Biology, Causal Reasoning, Statistics, and more, all for free.

Penn State University offers a free Swedish language course, in addition to a free Hungarian language course. Or, you can take an Italian language and culture course from Brooklyn College. California State also offers a free Conversational Mandarin Chinese course, and you can learn Turkish via the University of Arizona.

The University of Washington School of Medicine offers free CPR classes online, complete with video and instructional guides. You can also take health courses from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; anything from adolescent health to population science.

Prepare for the US citizenship test from the Missouri Southern State University. Learn linear algebra from the University of Puget Sound. Learn about bioterrorism (really) and other hazards from the University of North Carolina.

Get free online mathematics textbooks, videos, and lecture notes from New York University. Take advantage of Tufts University's open courses on dentistry, medicine, nutrition, and more. Learn about cognitive science from Hampshire College.

Take eight different courses via the Sofia Project, a collaborative effort between select California community colleges. Brigham Young University offers independent study in subjects such as Family History, Family Life, and Religious Scripture Study. Get access to ten free seminary courses from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

Learn about human resources in 52 (!) different free courses from ERI. Browse a huge variety of materials in the University of Michigan's courses and seminars on Internet laws.

Ivy League
Take advantage of Stanford University's free CS education library. Go to college by taking free classes at MIT. Go to Berkeley with your iPod. The University of Pennsylvania has an extensive online library; over 25,000 books are listed here.

Just debuted, you can take free courses from Yale (funded by HP) on such diverse subjects as the Old Testament or Physics. Watch or read free online lectures in archival format from Princeton. Get a free Introduction to Probability text from Dartmouth.

Google tricks
Using the right keywords, find course syllabi (insert your own subject), lectures, tutorials, notes, podcasts, and various sorts of online books using Google.

As time goes on, I'm sure we'll see even more colleges and universities making even more of their courses open access.

Resource: Wendy Boswell

5 Social Media Secrets That Work Effectively For Offline Networking

Social media has created an Internet phenomenon and has taken online networking to a dynamic level. Do you ever wonder why social media is so successful? It’s viral and it spreads quickly – just like word-of-mouth spreads quickly in offline networking.

When you meet people for the first time, take a few lessons from the social media gurus and apply their secret tactics to your offline networking strategy.

Secret #1- Social means both talking and listening. Listening is just as important as talking

When you interact on a forum or leave comments on a blog, you first read what the other person wrote and then you comment. If you constantly leave comments about yourself and don’t interact and comment off-topic, you will make a bad first impression. Other members will ignore you.

This same philosophy applies when you are first introduced to people. You want to learn about them and ask questions. How can you learn about a person if you are constantly talking about yourself? Pay attention, listen and ask appropriate questions according to the conversation topic.

Secret #2- Widgets that instantly find thousands of followers don’t always give the best return on investment

Social media gurus always tout the benefits of handy widgets that automate Facebook and Twitter followers. Do you realize that the 5,000 people you just added probably won’t be interested in your products or services? You just wasted time and money adding people who don’t care about what you’re pitching.

Use this same social media approach when you attend networking events and collect business cards. Don’t just pitch your products/services to just anyone you meet. Talk to people who might actually benefit from what you offer. It doesn’t make sense to attend a networking event filled with seniors if you are a nightclub owner whose target audience is 21 year-old college students.

Secret #3- Freebies don’t always mean more subscribers, BUT worthwhile freebies make all the difference

Freebies don’t always mean instant success. Contests don’t always draw thousands of new members to your site either. In the social media world, if you make your prize too abstract or unappealing, you will drive away visitors.

This social media tactic also applies to freebies offered in the offline world. If you attend networking events and conduct raffles or contests, make your prizes worthwhile for guests. Target your audience and get inside their heads. You want your guests to actually use the product or service you’re giving away.

• How will this freebie benefit the contest winner?

• Will this freebie make them contact me for more services or products?

Secret #4- Don’t scare away others with the “me me me” syndrome

If you start every blog comment or tweet with “I did” or “I want” then you are headed down the “me me me” syndrome path. Social media is all about helping others. Being an expert in your field doesn’t mean acting like an egomaniac.


Secret #5- Always use professional Net-iquette

Don’t come across as rude or condescending in your Facebook or Twitter updates. You never know who will come across your updates in the cyber world, and how it can come back to haunt you.

This tip should always be applied to offline networking. Always remember to practice professional, ethical etiquette whenever you meet new people. Think before you speak, and remember that you represent your company/business. First impressions make a lasting impression, so always put your best face forward.

If you liked this article, tell all your friends about it. They’ll thank you for it. If you have a blog or website, you can link to it.

Source: John Boyd of MediaWave

PortableApps.com Suite and PortableApps.com Platform

PortableApps.com Suite and PortableApps.com Platform
your computer, without the computer™

PortableApps.com Suite™ is a complete collection of portable apps including a web browser, email client, office suite, calendar/scheduler, instant messaging client, antivirus, audio player, sudoku game, password manager, PDF reader, minesweeper clone, backup utility and integrated menu, all preconfigured to work portably. Just drop it on your portable device and you're ready to go.

Choose Your Download 1.5.2 for Windows
Starting at only 1MB Download Details


Included apps:
All versions of the PortableApps.com Suite include the integrated PortableApps.com Menu (pictured at right) and the PortableApps.com Backup utility along with a set of custom icons, an autoplay configuration, folders and a quick start shortcut. In addition, the packages include:

* Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition (web browser)
* Mozilla Thunderbird, Portable Edition (email)
* Mozilla Sunbird, Portable Edition (calendar/tasks)
* ClamWin Portable (antivirus)
* Pidgin Portable (instant messaging)
* Sumatra PDF Portable (PDF reader
* KeePass Password Safe Portable (password manager)
* Sudoku Portable (game)
* Mines-Perfect Portable (game)
* CoolPlayer+ Portable (audio player)
* OpenOffice.org Portable* (office suite)
- Writer (word processor)
- Calc (spreadsheet)
- Impress (presentations)
- Base (database utility)
- Draw (drawing)

* The Light Suite includes AbiWord Portable (word processor) instead of OpenOffice.org Portable.

Pioneer To Bring Pandora To Your Car In March

Look for it to get easier to listen to internet radio in your car as PANDORA has entered into a deal with electronics maker PIONEER CORP. that promises to get a built-in spot on dashboards for the new technology. "The development represents a direct challenge to broadcasters of satellite and traditional radio, who have long dreaded the arrival of Internet radio in cars," writes THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

PIONEER is set to sell a navigation and entertainment device begining in MARCH that will allow PANDORA users who currently stream the service on their iPHONES to easily access PANDORA in their cars. "The $1,200 navigation system, announced at the CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOW in LAS VEGAS, will detect iPHONES and iPOD TOUCHES that have PANDORA installed, and put the consumer's Pandora settings on the navigation screen. That will allow drivers to hear their favorite PANDORA radio channels."

"Maybe a year ago people would have said PANDORA is a computer thing," said co-founder TIM WESTERGREN. Now, "they're beginning to realize that Internet radio is an anytime, anywhere thing."

So how serious a threat is this to terrestrial broadcasters? Many in the business have long felt in-car Internet services as the real threat to AM and FM radio, because they will allow drivers access to an unlimited number of streamed radio stations. PANDORA's deal with PIONEER is the beginning of that future.