Feb
18
Ever wanted to get the opinion of the masses on a specific issue? Survey Builder has a free and very easy to use tool to create a survey online for any type of audience. I have been playing around with it a little bit and in a matter of second was able to create the following testing survey:
http://www.surveybuilder.com/s/K6aySqOpoAA
I only put in one question in my example, but though you can have unlimited questions on your surveys.
Those who create surveys here have access to a statistics panel which displays all the submitted information in an organized chart, as well as other information such as the % of people who chose specific options, how many people started the survey, how many people completed, and the average time a person spent on the survey. Here’s a picture of the statistics panel:
I think the best part of this website is there was no advertising on it whatsoever. It was very clean and professional, even for free users. This isn’t something you’d expect on a free online survey.
If you are a business or just someone who wants more surveys completed, SurveyBuilder is offering a $100 credit to purchase an audience. Tools like this can be very beneficial to companies looking for insight from customers about what they are interested in, and what changes would have a positive affect on their product demand. For instance, if your business created black, blue, and white t-shirts, after surveying a few thousand people you may find out that many customers would purchase red and green t-shirts if the option had been available to them, giving your business more opportunities for income.
Feb
18
Twelve years ago I started playing my first ever online first person shooter game – on dial-up internet. It seems like an eternity since I’ve had to deal with 300ms pings in games, but I think it’s one of the few things I will NOT miss when reminiscing about the good old days of the internet. The others would have to be the slow download rates (remember when it took 45 minutes to send someone an mp3?) and the random connection drops. Oh those random connection drops were infuriating, especially when someone else in the house happened to pick the phone up. And even though I thank god every day that those problems are gone, I still have a fondness in my heart for how things used to be.
One of the great things about the internet in the beginning was the fact it was new to everyone. Chatting with others on services like AOL in 1990s was exciting, mostly because it was a new way to communicate and get to know people. Remember how giddy Meg Ryan was to get online once her boyfriend left for work in the movie You’ve Got Mail? That was me when I was a kid (though it was when my parents left). I’d sit there for hours on end getting to know people online, all the while having little to no social life off the computer. That was fine with me though. The other kids at school were mean, and I wasn’t a big fan of the bullying that always went on. I found that the internet was a great way for people to be judged for who they were and not for more superficial things like appearance.
Sometimes I wish I had been older during the rise of the internet, just so I could have enjoyed and understood it more when things were in development, but I am thankful that I did get to witness a glimpse of it.
Times eventually changed what the internet was and most of those changes were positive. I ended up getting off dial up and finally got dsl which improved my latency in online games dramatically. I became a significantly better player from that one upgrade alone. Mp3s would transfer in a matter of 2 to 3 minutes. No longer would my connection drop anytime my mom wanted to make a call. Things certainly were more convenient, but other parts of the internet started to devolve as well. It has become increasingly harder to meet intelligent people as internet service became more common for everyone to have. Thankfully, even though 90% of the chats out there are mindless sex rooms now, I’ve still maintained many meaningful relationships with people online, and that’s what keeps me coming on every day. It’s not the games, it’s not the mp3s, or even the fast transfer rates. It’s the people that make the internet interesting to me and I feel lucky to live in a world where such a fantastic thing exists to connect people.
Feb
16
It’s been almost two years since twin blizzards struck the Mid-Atlantic states, in some places dropping nearly five feet of snow, with much more widespread amounts of two to four feet. Last year I made an anniversary post of the systems at my hometown, so to avoid repeating myself I’d like to highlight some of the pictures and comments posted on some of the online weather message boards.
In this shot you can clearly see a mountainous snow drift at someone’s patio door. This was one of the harder hit areas of Westminster, MD which is east of Baltimore, MD and north of Washington, DC. For several days following these events, home owners couldn’t even find their mailboxes when they left their homes, because the snow was too deep.
Other people were a little more fortunate as their whitehall mailboxes had been installed in areas where the wind was blowing snow away from them, rather than on top of them.
There are other whitehall products such as plaques, bird feeders, garden accents, and more. Those who didn’t think ahead to pull them inside before the storm ended up having to dig them out, as illustrated below:
All in all these were historic events that many probably will never see in their lifetime again, at least in the DC metro area.
Feb
10
Imagine walking out your door early in the morning before the sun came up, and seeing this:
Unless you live in the northern hemisphere, an aurora is not something you’d see except on rare occasions. This picture was taken in Edmonton, Canada, and is one reason why I’m looking to Rent Edmonton apartments once it’s time to move from Washington.
The other reason it’s interesting to me is because of the climate.
At it’s warmest, Edmonton can reach 94.1ºF, and at it’s coldest -54.9ºF. Not many places have such a tremendous temperature range for their record highs and lows. Because of it’s latitude so far north, Edmonton can get quite cold when the air from the nearby arctic blows in during the winter.
Snow can occur in all but three months at Edmonton, but with an average yearly snowfall of 48.62″, it is hardly a tremendous amount. 48.62″ may seem like a large amount to some, but consider that it is spread out across 9 months rather than most southern cities 2 to 4 months of winter weather. In many cases, some cities further south located in the U.S. receive much more snowfall on a month to month basis due to the moisture from the Gulf of Mexico enhancing the frozen precipitation when it does fall.
Feb
5
This is a review for the TurboTax Deluxe Federal + E-File + State 2011.
(disclaimer: I am not an account or CPA you should consult them before making any tax related decisions.)
It’s tax season again and it’s time to file your taxes for the year 2011. If you’ve bought TurboTax in the past you would know it is the most used tax preparation software available. If you haven’t used TurboTax before and you want to do your taxes yourself this is your best option. You will save money on your taxes and get the job done quickly.
There are two versions of TurboTax blocks essentially the same product but one is downloadable the other is the actual box they’re both the same price $45.98. So if you want the product immediately you can gain access by purchasing the downloadable product:
Downloadable Version
If you’d rather have the box you will have to wait a few days but it comes with free shipping. This is the cheapest available deal for TurboTax Deluxe from a reliable vendor:
Turbo Tax Deluxe Mailed to you.
Here are some of the benefits of using TurboTax Deluxe Federal + E-File + State 2011
- Guaranteed accurate calculations: Should you incur any IRS or state penalty due to a TurboTax calculation error TurboTax will pay both the penalty and interest.
- Guides you step by step through your tax return. Through some simple questions it searches for more than 350 different deductions and credits
- Handles big life changes that might be complex such as: job change, marriage, bought a home, had a baby
- Full service respresentation by tax professional; you’ll never have to meet the IRS if you don’t want to.
- Transfer last year’s tax info no retyping necessary
- Easily import PDF from prior years
- Import financial data from software such as Quicken QuickBooks 2007 higher and Microsoft Money
- Free one-on-one expert tax advice live by phone or chat. Plus you’ll have instant access to answers to commonly asked tax questions on every screen
Here are some of the potential draw-backs:
- Costs an additional $19.95 file the return with the state which is sort of hidden/unmentioned.
- Pushes the more premier version for those with investment income but you don’t need in a much situation is rather complex.
- Some issues with the mac version with both updates and password protection.
- Customer service can take a bit of time(often over half an hour to reach someone with the possibility of being disconnected.
- It probably doesn’t work well if you have the operating system Microsoft XP 64-bit
Do you have some comments, additions, opinions or questions you feel should be included in this review? Drop us an email at:
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