[The Letter Always Wins via wisebred]

Photo: iStockPhoto

Somehow among our many ways to contact a company and complain about products: email, toll free numbers, in person—the old fashioned letter still seems to be the squeaky wheel getting the oil.

Case in point. This week Smucker’s Jam agreed to replace two of my grandmother’s Pineapple Jams that she ordered. She talked to them on the phone and they apologized that the shoddy packaging caused the glass to break. But it was her letter that got her two free bottle replacements. (I’m not sure why they even make pineapple jam but grandma digs it and hardly anyone seems to stock it).

The husband thinks all products made now should be made just like they were made sixty years ago. He holds companies—especially old companies to high standards. But he’s also a cheap bastard that predictably buys the same brand over and over again. He’s bought the same model of New Balance running shoes four times and they’ve all worn and cracked in the exact same place. He called and complained a few times, but his last letter earned him a pair of new New Balance shoes free.

Okay. Two is a coincidence. But we’ll go with three being a rule of thumb. Playtex replaced not one but two nursing bras I had because the stitching around the underwire came undone and nearly poked my son in the eye (it did poke him in the back before I realized what was happening). I called their toll free number and they apologized but I got two free ones after my letter was sent.

[ 101 20-Minute Dishes for Inspired Picnics via NYTimes ]

By MARK BITTMAN

Published: July 2, 2008

THERE is something both innocent and exciting about a picnic, even if you are only packing a few things at the last minute and heading down the street to the park. It may be nothing fancier than bologna or tuna salad on white bread, but you’re still likely to have a good time, which is probably why many of us remain devoted to the same picnic foods we’ve eaten all our lives.

But at some point, you may get the urge to vary the menu a bit. With that in mind, I’d like to make a few — or, actually, 101 — suggestions, ranging from snacks to dessert. With a little shopping, a little effort, and 20 minutes or less for assembly, you can create the kind of carry-out food that will put the local prepared food shops to shame while saving you a small fortune. No matter how faithful you are to your old favorites, I’ll bet you will find something intriguing here.

1 BEET SALAD Peel beets and grate them (a food processor will keep the juice contained). Add pistachios or hazelnuts; dress with orange zest and juice, and olive oil. Add bits of goat cheese and chopped parsley.

[Mikogo via MakeUseOf ]

Mikogo is a screen sharing app that lets you host live presentations and share whatever you see on the screen - in its true color quality - with upto 10 people at the same time. Quite handy for online meetings, product demos, presentations, webinars or even remote tech support. You can run it as a separate program or access it directly from Skype.

Meeting hosts (aka organizers) have a full control over the conference session and praticipants. Pause or end transmission at any time, change presenters, give remote control to certain users and much more. Basically, it gives you pretty much everything to organize and moderate online conference meetings.

Features:

• Host live presentations and conference calls.
• Screen sharing: Share your screen view with upto 10 people at the same time.
• Tech support: Give someone full control access to your system over the internet.
• Meeting Organizer: pause/end transmission, switch presenters, send files, lock the meeting room, grant remote control etc.
• Skype extra: Use it directly from Skype. Read more here.
• Security: All data transfers are encrypted using 256-AES end-to-end encrypt method.
• Currently available only for Windows PCs.

[via lifehacker]

On Thursday we asked you what books have changed your life, and over 250 thoughtful comments later, it's clear you all have book shelves stuffed with meaningful tomes. Now it's time to share the love. Today we've compiled some of the titles that you mentioned the most, with summaries and links to Amazon so you can check 'em out further—and get a glimpse into the minds and lives of Lifehacker readers.

[Google Patents via MakeUseOf]

Another excellent service from mighty Google. This patent search engine, lets you search the United States Patent and Trademark Office (in short USPTO) for patents. Search through a massive patent database with over 7 million patents. At the moment Google Patents available only in English and searches only US patents, however it plans to expand the service to cover patent offices in other countries as well.

We have already profiled a patent search tool earlier, it’s called FreePatentsOnline. However Google Patents is a lot better. It’s a lot more than just a patent search tool, more like a massive patent information database. On each patent page you can see:

(1) Patent summary: All important details summarizing the patent. These includes dates of interest, associated parties and classifications.

(2) Patent Claims: Lists the specific claims made by the patent.

(3) Drawings and Pictures: Thumbnail shots of pictures found in the the patent.

(4) Option to search within that specific patent.

(5) Citations: List of patents that are cited by the patent.

(6) References: List of patents tha reference the given patent.

Furthermore, you can read the full patent contents online or download and save it to your PC as PDF document. And another really seful fetaure is the advanced patent search. Using this search option you can find almost any patent you need by applying a whole bunch of filters.

[Saving Money via Lifehacker]

Good money management is a mental exercise in self-regulation and focusing on the long-term goal, even when you're sure you just can't go on another day without buying that Kindle or MacBook. Even the most uber-organized and priority-minded people can stumble when it comes to money—how to save more of it, how to stop spending it, and how to keep doing both over and over again. While every person's financial needs are different, anyone can set up simple systems to help themselves stop buying what they don't need and almost automatically save money they'll need later. Let's take a look at 10 ways you can cut costs and do right by your money without much effort, after the jump. Photo by Darren Hester.

[TextOnPhone via MakeUseOf.com]

Great ebook reader app for your iPhone or iPod Touch. TextOnPhone brings over 30,000 free books and novels to your Apple device. Access and read books, bookmark and mange your favorite titles in one place, add notes, create shortcuts on your home screen to jump directly to the book of your choice, and lots more. Watch video below for quick walkthrough.

Features:

• Read eBooks on your iPhone or iPod Touch.
• More than 30.000 books and novels available. Read as many books a you like.
• Add shortcuts to your home screen in order to jump directly to the book of your choice.
• automatically takes you to the page you stopped at during the the last session.
• Customize: change font type, size, color, and apply different backgronds.
• Add personal notes to any page.
• Cashing feature that preloads the pages in advance making the service faster.
• Add favorite books to your reading list.
• See recommended books, featured books, book of the day and most influential books.

Two articles, I found that could help weatherphobic people in deciding their plans earlier, first with clouds and then general observations.

Predicting the Weather with Clouds

Being able to predict the weather by observing cloud formations is a skill that is somewhat lost on us modern humans. Most of us can easily look at a cloud and see the unicorn or ice cream cones, but very few of us can look at clouds and see the approaching cold front.
Fortunately, being able to predict the weather is easier than one may think. Follows is some helpful information to get you started. It will no doubt wow, impress and keep you dry on your next family outting into the great outdoors.

step 1Categorization

Clouds can easily be broken into four categories. These categories are high clouds, middle clouds, low clouds and clouds with vertical growth.
Clouds are also identified by shape. Cumulus refers to a "heap" of clouds. Stratus refers to clouds that are long and streaky. And nimbus refers to the shape of "rain" because we all know what rain looks like.

step 2High Clouds