Archive your Gmail email account

From Lifehacker.com: “Windows/Mac/Linux: Gmail Backup saves and restores complete archives of your Gmail email account using Gmail’s built-in IMAP capability. The Windows version comes with a simple graphical interface — just enter in your email address and password, select a backup folder, and click the Backup button. It will save your messages in Microsoft’s EML format complete with attachments. The Linux version (which also works with Mac OS X) is command-line only. Besides enabling offline access to your archives, you can use the restore feature to upload messages to another account, making it easy to transfer old messages to a new account. I supports regular Gmail accounts as well as Google Mail in Germany and Apps For Your Domain email accounts, as long as POP/IMAP access is enabled under Settings. Don’t want to risk using a backup tool that’s still in development?”

Tags: email

Excerpt from Lifehacker.com

Voice-to-text phone service Dial2Do sends text messages, emails, and reminders with the ease of a phone call. Similar to Jott, the popular voice-to-text service that just added significant limits to its free accounts, Dial2Do walks you through a simple voice-recognition menu to perform actions. Aside from email, SMS, and reminders, Dial2Do supports posting to tons of different services, including Twitter, Remember the Milk, and your WordPress or Blogger blog (again, much like Jott). As an added bonus, Dial2Do is currently available in 19 different countries. During its beta period, Dial2Do is free—though all signs point to pay accounts post-beta.  Read more…

Tags: reminders

Dell, the number 2 computer manufacturer, is being sued for $500 Million for sex and age discrimination.  Jan Chapman, the former Human Resources executive, claims that during her career at Dell she was repeatedely passed over for promotion and advancement by younger men.  In fact, three others have joined Chapman in the whisleblower lawsuit. 

David Fink, the company spokesman said that Dell is an “equal opportunity company”.  Furthermore, he stated to the Wall Street Journal that “we don’t tolerate discrimination in any aspect of employment”. 

Problems abound for the company as just this Monday CEO Michael Dell posted on the intenal Dell blog that the company is looking to cut additional costs in the fourth quarter.  The first thing that they have done is ask employees to take an upaid vacation.  One wonders what other problems will surface for Dell in the near future.

Everyone knows the old adage — “a file saved, is a file saved.”  But many of us don’t back up our files properly.  The following guide provides free and cheap options for this all-important task:

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/technology/back-up-without-breaking-the-bank.html

SOURCE:  lifehack.org

Tags: Backup

Regarding your lawnmower, your best investment is a cheap, side-discharging model.  Money spent on bagging devices is wasted, as bagging devices take more time than your other alternatives.

Tags: Lawn, Yard

Ponds get infested with algea and duckweed because of high phosphorus levels, which is often caused by fertilizer runoff from yards.  Rather than feed the problem by fertilizing your yard, here is an idea: 

Buy yourself a pump, and pump the water from your pond onto your grass.  In this way, the phosphorus and nutrient rich water from the pond fertilizes your grass.  

Then, so you don’t end up with an empty pond, use your garden hose to replace the water you pulled from the pond.

The net effect is that you are cleaning the water in your pond, and making your grass greener!

Tags: Lawn, Pond, Yard