You used to have to make less than $56,000 per year to use the IRS' Free File program to submit your income tax forms online (with help). Now everyone can e-file for free this year.
As the Consumerist blog points out, you'll have to know pretty much exactly what you're doing with the right forms, since those making more than the $56K limit won't be given any pointers on what goes where. But if you're a DIY type who isn't fond of post office trips or the back-of-mind uncertainty of mailing financial data, Free File has opened up the doors to any and all. And if you're lucky enough to have a family friend or gracious accountant who does them for you, you can submit the prepared forms at no cost.
Does the no-cost free filing option tempt you to hunker down on your own 1040s? Using another free-file option? Tell us your tax technique in the comments.
A week ago we pointed toward indications that a Google storage solution—unofficially called Google Web Drive—was on its way. Weblog Google Operating System continues the sleuthing, this time uncovering a new Web Drive icon buried in the depths of a CSS file for Google Apps, hosted on Google.com, and blown up all pixely in the screenshot to the left. Snazzy.
If a great recipe leaves you with leftover fresh herbs, don't leave them to wilt away in the fridge. A few minutes in the microwave can have them ready for long-term storage.
Household tips and tricks blog TipNut.com has a guide to drying fresh herbs in your microwave, oven, or in the open air. To microwave your herbs, wash them carefully, then pat dry to remove all extra moisture. Then, through the magic of controlled radiation:
Place herbs in a single layer on a paper towel, cover with another paper towel. Place in microwave and heat for 2 minutes on high. Turn paper towel and microwave for another 1 minute or reheat in 30 second intervals until herbs are dry and brittle.
The microwave method is radically more expedient than using the oven or air drying, which take several hours and several weeks respectively. Make sure to watch the herbs carefully and dry them in small increments, though—you don't want them to be tinder for a microwave fire. Before storing your herbs, ensure they are completely dry and check their container condensation the following day. If there is even a small amount of moisture, discard the herbs, because it's not worth the risk of mold exposure. Need a source for those fresh, then dry, herbs? Get started with one of our favorite house hacks, an indoor one-pot herb garden. Photo by shawnbot.
The foul-mouthed folks at Ars Technica wondered why their iPhones weren't updating and recognizing their, um, custom verbiage. Turns out there's only one way to make sure an iPhone/iPod touch learns the words you use.
The iPhone's custom auto-correct dictionary (located at /private/var/mobile/Library/Keyboard/dynamic-text.dat for all your jailbreaking, SFTP-ing types) doesn't update itself when you're using, say, Notes. Using Mobile Safari's Google search box, however, seems to instantly refresh the file:
... Clearly, not every iPhone application can "learn" words. Notes seems to be brain-dead in that regard. At the same time, using Safari's Google text entry field worked every time, expanding the database and adding new items to my keyboard dictionary.
At the same time, Notes and other type-friendly apps will pick up whatever additions you make with Mobile Safari. Whether that information is worth spending some time creatively searching in Google to train your device is up to you and your time constraints (and finger thickness).
A data-capture study finds that from ages 15 and 48, women tend to watch TV while surfing the net at the same time nearly twice as much as men. The data, released by Integrated Media Measurement Inc., also finds that while men's use of both major screen media tends to drop off toward age 40, women's ramps up, possibly due to the time constraints of children.
The study leaves a lot of questions lingering, of course, like what kind of "internet use" is being done. Whether surfing channels while surfing the web is benign background tasking or destructive switchtasking depends on the person, and the data being handled. It is intriguing, though, to look down the road and wonder whether multitasking will remain a young person's game, or become a fact of grown-up life.
Times are tough, money's tight, and nobody should be spending more than they need. If you think you've exhausted all avenues for saving a buck, check out our ten suggestions for saving money in a recession.
Photo by Bob Jagendorf.
It's the kind of stuff that fueled your grandparents' stories about hard times: Stretching supposedly disposable, used items further than most consumer companies want you to; Using your mind—and your hands—to solve problems without jumping in the car and busting out the wallet. We suggest finding inspiration from how Lifehacker readers creatively reuse disposable items. Re-purposing isn't all about balled-up tinfoil and grimacing, of course. Our most popular re-purposing posts of 2008 show that a little thought and some creative tinkering usually pays off with a one-of-a-kind solution to household needs.
Other than shelter (rent) and water (also rent, or municipal bills), food is the one thing you have to spend money on every day. If you really want to hack down your bills, carnivores can save money by buying whole animals—a process that's easier than they might think. For a weekend kick, you can make your favorite chain restaurant recipe at home. Stay away from the high-fat cruft on dollar menus and switch to a cheaper, healthier Mediterranean diet or these twenty health foods for $1 or less. And for those nights when cooking a full, heal...
In the strange-but-true category of thriftiness: it's quite possible your local TV station is sitting on a pile of restaurant gift-certificates that could be yours for a steal
You can buy heavily discounted restaurant gift-certificates from your local TV station to restaurants in your area.. Cheap meals courtesy of Channel 5 News? What? Paul Michael from the financial blog Wise Bread did some investigating after his wife was tipped off this the gift certificate/TV station relationship and found it was entirely legitimate. As explained by Stephanie Riegal of BusinessReport.com:
The company that came up with the concept is the Cleveland-based IncentRev, and it's a coupon broker that facilitates the on-air promotions. Essentially, it works like this: A retailer—say, a new restaurant—"buys" exclusive air time with the station in exchange for 100 gift certificates, which the station then promotes on air for half-price. Viewers can buy the gift certificates on a first-come, first-serve basis by accessing the station's Web site. All parties involved say it's a win-win arrangement. Viewers get a bargain. A small retailer essentially receives free advertising. And IncentRev, which does all the paperwork, and the station split the money.
The only catch seems to be that as the deals become better known, the certificates are harder to come by. You can search for certificates by plugging in the call letters for the local station into the URL for IncentRev, like so: http://XXXX.incentrev.com where XXXX is the call letters. You can also search for deals in your city or state by flexing a little google-fu and using search terms like site:incentrev.com new york. Photo by Wolfgang Staudt.
