Keep Your Software Up-to-Date

CNet has a useful service called Tech Tracker. When you sign up, Tech Tracker scans your computer applications to see which ones are up-to-date and which are out of date, meaning you haven’t got the latest version. It reminds you if the appl is free, or a free trial, or purchase. Alongside each is a convenient Download Now button.—CNet

Lost Your Cell Phone?

We’ve all misplaced our keys or wallet at some point. Likewise, we’ve all hunted for a misplaced cell phone. The easiest way to find a cell phone, of course, is to call it. You will hear your phone and be able to find it. That’s easier said than done sometimes. Many have abandoned their landline and rely solely on a cell phone.
In that case, make a quick visit to WheresMyCellPhone. Enter your number, and it will ring your cell phone. It’s just the helping hand you need! The site does not share or store your phone number. But you can block your number if you wish. If someone else accidentally enters your number, your phone won’t ring.—Kim Komando

Do judge a book by its cover

There’s a lot of pretty obsolete and useless books taking up space on the shelves of libraries. They’ve been there for ages, and some librarians in Michigan decided to do something about it. They started the Awful Library Books blog that has become something of an internet hit, with around 30,000 visits a day. Enjoy some of the dreadful ones noted here, and perhaps submit your own.—Guardian Weekly

Is it Swine Flu? Maybe.

Not feeling so good? Think you might have the ‘flu? Could it be the H1N1 virus? Maybe you should visit the H1N1 Flu (Swine Flu) Response Center where by answering a few questions you can make up your mind if you need to go to your doctor. This is not medical advice, it merely helps you decide what’s going on.—Kim Komando

Reading Books Online

If you have a roomful of books and would like to recover some of that space, there are several options—including the extremely convenient Kindle DX. The upfront and ongoing costs might put you off, so you can try a free alternative at Read Print online. There are thousands of novels, poems and short stories available, mainly out-of-copyright classics. They read pretty well on your screen, especially a laptop.—Kim Komando

Aging Backwards

If you want to “age backwards” there is an area of Ecuador that is being hailed as The Valley of Longevity – the village of Vilcabamba, which is gaining exposure through Americans who have settled there. The climate is supposedly the best in South America and its elderly residents are very fit – locals say because they drink the highly oxygenated natural water, stay active and enjoy a diet low in fat and high in fiber. The editor discovered this via a recent article about Jackie Silver, founder and president of Aging Backwards, LLC –Jackie Seal

Google Fast Flip

Still being developed by Google Labs, Fast Flip looks like being another winner from this group. Large thumb-nails of popular pages from magazines, columnists and other web sources are displayed across your screen allowing you to quickly decide which to read in full screen mode—by one click—or pass on to another screenful. They are all conveniently organized into categories like Politics, Business, Entertainment, Sport, Health etc. It’s tough to see how print newspapers can compete with this kind of convenience—and it’s free. –Kim Komando

Your Life Expectancy

How much longer do you expect to live? Take a 34-question quiz and find out your life expectancy—with no guarantees of course. It’s sobering to watch the figure going up or down depending on your answers. Cappy says he is using his results to calculate when he dies penniless.—Bob Capellini

Create The Good

If you feel like giving something back to your community, why not look into the many volunteering opportunities listed at Create the Good? This AARP site showed me there are over 300 jobs currently available in the Tampa area, or you can search by zip code. You can even select opportunities that involve you in person or by phone or online.—AARP

Astronomical Images

The European Southern Observatory in Chile has a public site offering spectacular views of objects in our universe through “gigapixel images.” That means you can see unprecedented details, by zooming in on particular areas. For example, at Gigapixel Zoom, you’ll see a gigapixel image of the Milky Way. When looking at some objects such as a nebula be aware that what you see is made by combining multiple images taken through different filters, so the colors are there to make them more meaningful.—Kim Komando