saving gas

Gas prices are still on the rise. I looked at GasBuddy's web site today to get the averages across the nation. Per-gallon prices are between $3.759 (Missouri) and $4.779 (Alaska). Here in Florida, the average is $3.948. I've been staying home a lot these days and I know I'm not the only one. I'm doing my shopping online and spending a lot of time playing with toys for my computer. That's why I thought I'd show you some Things you can find on our web site that will give you something to do with all that extra time at home.

I'm probably dating myself by telling you this, but I have about a thousand records. Remember those? They were also called "albums." They were really big and made of vinyl that scratched, broke and melted easily. Some popular titles have been digitally remastered and re-issued on CD, but a lot of the older, more obscure stuff will probably never make it to the new digital medium. So I bought this Instant Music gadget. It plugs into your computer's USB port and you can use it to record from any analog source, like a turntable or cassette player. Then you just choose the format you want and convert your music into digital files that you can download to an MP3 player or burn to a CD. This Thing has kept me busy for hours!

Along the same lines, our Digital Picture Converter digitizes your old 35mm negatives and slides. You just put your slides and negatives a tray, position in scanner and press the "copy" button. Five seconds later, your old photo is a digital image that you can store on your computer. It even includes photo editing software. The scanner plugs into your computer's USB port for both power and photo transfer.

I got this Digital Microscope for my nephew, but I had so much fun "testing" it for him, I think I'm going to buy one for myself. It displays magnified images right on your computer screen. With 6x - 130x digital zoom, you can see a live image of everyday Things on your computer monitor. You can also store the images with the click of a shutter button.

If it's too expensive to go see your friends and family this summer, keep in touch with the Talking Email. It's really easy-to-use. You just plug the microphone into a USB port on your computer, press a button and start talking. When you're finished with your message, press the button again and then press send. The recipient gets your e-mail in their inbox just like a regular e-mail, but instead of reading it, they listen to it. And they don't need any special software or hardware to listen to the message.

I don't know about you, but I'm saving gas by shopping online. These days, there aren't many Things you can't find on the Internet.

Time to go back to my records and old pictures. See you next week,

Bobby