Black Friday…it’s coming…and it’s coming soon!

For some, it’s a sport.  For others, a drudgery.  Whatever it may be for you, it means big time savings from some of your favorite places to shop, whether online or in the store!

Check out my Best Black Friday Ads page and for a sneak peak at upcoming deals and save some money!

During this slow economic time in our country, many people find themselves doing whatever they can to make the dollar go farther.

If you already get the Sunday paper to take advantage of all of the great coupons, you can add to your money saving by using loadable coupons.

With loadable coupons, you can go to different websites, and load coupons on your Kroger card via the web, and then redeem them at the store.

Check out what the Stay At Home Moms Money Savers Blog has to say (including links to some of the websites that do this).

Happy Saving!

Though the economy is unsure you can still get some free education online.

HP is offering a free course labeled “Understanding Windows Vista Home Basic and Home Premium”.

Even if you don’t have Vista, you can learn a little about the operating system before you get it (since almost all machines sold today are loaded with Vista today).

Enrollment is open, and the class will end (for this session) on December 12th.

Happy Learning!

Gmail has now added the ability to allow users to not only just chat with text, but now with video and audio as well.  Of course to take advantage of the video chat, you will need a webcam connected to your computer.  If you don’t have a webcam they are working with buy.com for some great deals for you.  If you just don’t care to use a webcam, you can still take advantage of the audio feature.

And, this is all within the Gmail framework itself.  There is no separate application to run like with Yahoo or MSN.   There is a download necessary for the webcam feature to work though.

If you’ve never used Gmail before, it is a FREE email service provided by Google, and has many great benefits such as:

•  unlimited storage–you never have to delete anything!
• spam filter
• easy searchability!-this is probably my favorite feature, allowing you to search not only the subject lines of emails, but the text of the email as well!  So if you are looking for that email about “computers” that you received from a friend, but can’t find it, simply enter that search term, and Gmail will find it almost instantly!
• the Gmail chat feature will interact with AIM users
• and many more!

Plus, Google has many other great features to offer such as calendars, documents, notebook, and more!  To see other great features that Google has has to offer (for FREE), visit Youtube for some of my tutorials!

Looking for a laptop as a gift for Christmas for less than $300?

Check out these deals!

What if every time you did a search, you earned credit toward something for yourself?  This is just what Microsoft is doing with their SearchPerks rewards program.

I have not personally used this program as I am still a BIG fan of the MyPoints program for searching as well as earning rewards for online purchases I make and by simply clicking on email offers.

Check out all of the details of the SearchPerks program at SearchPerks.com, or

Check out all of the details of my experience (over 2 years worth) with the MyPoints program.

Either way, get something for your searching time! And Yes, they are both FREE!

…but not to me.  This is a Happy Blogoversary to emeriandjonahscloset.com (a website about making legitimate money online).

Do YOU have a blog?  If so, you can announce your own “blogoversary” by visiting blogoversary.com and put a little image on your blog like the one below:

Just what is a blogoversary? It’s simply the one year “birthday” of a blog (anniversary + blog = blogoversary).

And how is Amber celebrating HER blogoversary? You can win a free $10 Walmart gift card by simply doing one or all of the following to enter (up to five times):

• leave a comment on her blog (equals one entry)
• leave a comment telling your favorite season (equals one entry)
• write a blog post on YOUR blog about her blog (equals three entries)

Check out the new AccessoryGeeks Coupons!

Are you an internet junkie? Do you spend hours online and wonder where the time went?

Don’t worry, this is not an intervention. But why not get a little something for yourself for all of that time you spend online? You can do this with the free (and spyware free) MyPoints toolbar.

• Amazon.com
• Applebees
• Banana Republic
• Barnes and Noble
• Bass Pro Shop
• Bath and Body Works
• Bloomingdales
• Bonanza/Ponderosa
• Borders
• BP
• Burger King
• California Pizza Kitchen
• Cracker Barrel
• CVS Pharmacy
• Finish Line
• Foot Locker
• FTD
• Gamestop
• GAP
• Home Depot
• Hyatt
• iTunes
• JC Penny
• KB Toys
• Kmart
• Kohls
• Lane Bryant
• LL Bean
• Lord and Taylor
• Lowe’s
• Macy’s
• Marriott
• Old Navy
• Outback Steakhouse
• Overstock.com
• Panera Bread
• Papa Johns
• Pizza Hut
• Red Lobster/Olive Garden
• Sears
• Shell
• Staples
• Starbucks
• Steve and Barry’s
• Subway
• TGI Friday’s
• Target
• Walmart
• Walgreens

Can 6 million currently active members be wrong? I have personally received multiple gift cards. Check it out:

If you’re looking to do more with what you already have, or to just save money in general, check out Stay At Home Moms Money Savers Blog.

Here you will find online printable coupons and free tips on ways to save money…ways to “do more with what you have”.

You will also find actual shopping trips (some with photos) that this stay at home mom has done to see actual savings.  (There are even valid links to making a little extra money if you’re interested).

Check it out today, and start saving money

When do I set my clocks back for daylight savings time?  According to the US Naval Observatory, beginning in 2007 Daylight savings time (a.k.a “Setting the clocks back or forward”) takes place at two times during the year in the United States:

•  2nd Sunday in March (Spring forward-set clocks up an hour)
• 1st Sunday in November (Set the clocks back an hour)

Most cell phone companies today will automatically sync your phone to do this already.

If your computer settings adjust for Daylight Savings Time, then you won’t need to change it either.  To find out if your computer is set this way, in XP you can single RIGHT click on the system clock (on your taskbar) and select Adjust Date/Time.  You can then check to see if the automatic setting is check marked:

This is for more advanced users.

I recently put together some scripting (PHP) so that you can make a random image appear on your MySpace account in the About Me or other sections.  Note:  This only works in the ’sections’, not in the areas such as Pics, your main MySpace image, etc.

If you’re thinking, “Wait…MySpace doesn’t let you run scripts on their website”, then you’re right, and we’re not actually running the script on their website.  All that you will put in the About Me or other section of your MySpace, is a simple “<img src=”myspace.gif”>” line of code which IS allowed That reference is to the php file (below).  You will also need a reference to the actual image.

Here is how it works and what you will need:

1.  A web hosting account.  If you don’t know what a web hosting account is, it is simply the physical location of your website.  I use GoDaddy.com for my web hosting and get lots of bandwidth and space for about $5/month.

2.  the following php file (save it as myspaceimage.gif when you’re done):

<?php
// pick a random number
$mynumber = rand(1,3);

//set up file to be copied and final name of file
$file = ‘begin/’.$mynumber.’.gif’;
$newfile = ‘hold/myspace.gif’;

//loop until hold/myspace.gif exists
$filename = “final/myspace.gif”;
do
{
copy($file, $newfile);
}
while (!file_exists($filename));

//move the file to the hold directory and rename it
rename(”hold/myspace.gif”, “/home/content/m/y/w/myweb/html/final/myspace.gif”);
?>

Save this file as a .gif file since your .htaccess file will now treat this as a php page even though it has the .gif extension.

3.  an .htaccess file wherever you are going to put your images and info on your web server.  This will make your web server view .gif files as .php:

AddHandler x-httpd-php .gif

Let’s say you have 3 directories on your web server.  The first directory we will call “Start”, the second directory “hold”, and the third directory “end”.

The php code in the text file above has comments to explain how it works.  I read A LOT to get the pieces I needed to build this code.  I put the script together myself, and I now have one of three random images that appear on my Myspace in the About me section.

In a nutshell, it works like this.  You begin by having 3 files in your “Start” directory…1.gif, 2.gif, and 3.gif.  The script picks one of the numbers between 1 and 3, and uses that number plus .gif, so 1.gif could be the image used the first time.  Since it’s random, the next time it could be 3.gif, and then 1.gif again, or 2.gif, etc.

The script then copies the file from the “Start” directory to the “hold” directory and names it “myspace.gif”.  The image will always need to be the same name because you will later paste a simple HTML img src code in your About Me or other section of your myspace to reference the image.  Since the image is always changing, it doesn’t matter that MySpace is always looking for that name…the picture will still be different

If you have questions shoot me an email at gary@garyfarnam.org.

Or, you can also email me if you’d be interested in having this service set up for you (on my web server so you won’t need your own web hosting account) for $10 for one year, with the ability to give me up to 20 different pics per month each and every month–that’s less than $1/month!!).

Enjoy!

A couple of weeks ago, I purchased a Sansa Sandisk 4 gig mp3 player from Buy.com.  I ordered it as a refurb, so I was able to get it for $39.99 and the shipping was FREE!  I have been using it everyday, and I really like it.  If you’re looking to get a new mp3 player, I highly recommend this one.

With the Sansa Sandisk player, you can record voice, play FM radio, play mp3 songs, play videos on it’s 1.8 in color screen, and store and display images.  It also has a micro SD expansion slot for even more memory.

Since mine was a refurb, it didn’t come with the necessary software or manual, but I was able to download them for free online.

I just checked buy.com today, and they now have a 6 gig e270 for the same price that I gave for my e260!  Check it out!

Check out the FREE HALLOWEEN GAMES at Gary’s Halloween Games Page.

This is another games page that I put together because people just like to play games sometimes, and Halloween is fast approaching.

If you’re not into Halloween games, how about Pacman, Sonic, Indiana Jones, and more?  Check out those games at games.garyfarnam.org.

Enjoy!

I read an article yesterday that there is a new YouTube virus that is infecting users.  It sounds pretty simple to avoid.  Here are some tips:

If you go to view a YouTube video, and it tells you that you need to download something in order to view it, don’t.  Find another video that you know is popular such as a music video you like, etc.  If that video doesn’t tell you that you need to download something in order to view it, then you know the first one could be a threat.  You might even try several other videos just to be safe.

The only thing you should need on your system to view YouTube videos is a web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc) and Flash installed on your system.  If you go to several videos and they are all telling you that you need to download something to view them, then go to Adobe’s Flash Player site (not the link they are giving you).  Download and install the software, and then try the video(s) again.  Again, DO NOT download anything that video is offering you.

This should keep you away from the most recent YouTube virus.

I just added Xtreme Pinball to mypinballarcade.com today!

If you like pinball, then you’ll love this site (created by me).  On this site you can play great pinball games such as:

•  7 up pinball
• Arka pinball
• Beatles Lady Madonna Pinball
• Crazy Ball Pinball
• Dr Rabbit’s Toothpaste Tower
• Electric Pinball
• Ikon City Pinball
• Jake’s Inferno Pinball
• Jurassic Park Pinball
• Max Breakout Pinball
• Original Hardcore Pinball
• Pepsi Pinball
• Pinball 4D
• Pinball King
• Pinball Smash Up
• Son of the Mask Pinball
• Snow Ball Pinball
• Tim Ball Pinball

Enjoy!  It’s FREE!

I went over to my local Best Buy store yesterday to take a look around since I hadn’t been in there recently.

I guess I just shop online too much anymore because I really didn’t find anything that I considered a “Best Buy”.  Now I’m not against Best Buy stores, and I have to admit, walking in there for me is like a kid walking into Toys R Us, but I couldn’t help but think as I looked at some items (skin for MP3 player, laptops, etc) that I could do better online through Buy.com and Amazon.com.

(If you don’t normally shop online because you are afraid of identify theft, etc, you can still shop safely by picking up a prepaid Mastercard at Walmart).

I get emails from Buy.com all of the time, and saw just today that you can get a 1 GIG MP3 player for $10.99!!  You’re not going to find that at Best Buy!  It is reconditioned, but it has FREE SHIPPING! If you’ve never bought an MP3 player before, this would be a good starter player! You can fit over 200 songs (or podcasts) an such a player!

And, Christmas is fast approaching, so this would make a great stocking stuffer for someone:

Information.  It’s everywhere.  It’s what most of the internet is about.  We have more information available at our fingertips today than we ever have in the past.  When I say “we”, I mean the average person.  There are online bibles such as BibleGateway.com.  There are online dictionaries such as Dictionary.com.  There are other great information sites such as HowStuffWorks.com.  This is not to mention news sites, blogs…the list goes on and on.  It’s all around us and most of it is free.

I’d like to add another FREE resource to your options of information–PDFgeni.com.

PDFgeni.com is a large collection of FREE ebooks (I didn’t find any that cost anything) on just about any topic you can imagine.  I did a quick search for “MySQL tutorial” and was given lots of ebook titles to choose from for my immediate download to increase my ebook library.

The site may look kind of plain, but it is has lots of content, and it’s functional, so check it out today.

TigerDirect.com is a household name when it comes to computer and other electronics at a great price. And now, if you are in the market for a memory upgrade, check out TigerDirect’s memory configurator.

With TigerDirect’s memory configurator, you can determine what RAM (random access memory) you need for your computer.

And, while you’re there, check out their other great bargains as well!

I found a great article on FoxNews about keeping your computer safe for little or no money. We all want security, but we don’t want to have to pay a lot for it.

If you’ve read my blog for any amount of time, you know that I am always about getting the better bargain, and I enjoy passing that information on to my readers.

Check out the article (be sure to look at the free alternatives before you buy anything) at FoxNews.com.

Check out this “loading….” tshirt:

This is part 4 in a series I am doing on why Google is so great. Today’s post is about Google Notebook.

Google Notebook is an online tool that you can use to store notes for later review by you, or by others that you want to view your notes.

It can be accessed from the web or from your mobile phone for easy reference. I recently had a friend use his for keeping track of which roofing contractors he had contacted.

You can even create multiple notebooks to keep everything organized. It’s a simple tool, yet still helpful.

Check out my YouTube video tutorial below: