PC Magazine - September, 2008

Defeat Airport Delays: A bit of tech savvy is all you need to avoid getting stranded
-FlightStats.com: enter your flight numbers and you'll get the odds of the flights being on time
-www.fly.faa.gov: learn if there are any delays specific to your travel destination
-waittime.tsa.dhs.gov: not in real time, but a good estimate of how long your wait in TSA line will be

Save Gas the Geek Way: Boost your mileage with some high tech tips and save money
-Find the best gas prices on the web: GasBuddy.com, GasPriceWatch.com
-Track your gas use: dashboard gauge (ScanGauge.com) keeps track of your mileage and will trouble shoot your "Check Engine" light
-Know your car's health: use a diagnostic device (CarMD.com)

Best of the Internet
-Fiscal Zen (fiscalzen.com): learn the fundamentals of saving money during a recession and smart ways to spend your money.
-Twitter Spy (twitspy.com): peek into the lives of people around the world who are on Twitter right now.

Top Five Underused Google Services
-Google Labs (labs.google.com): testing ground for new products and services.
-Google Pack (pack.google.com): "essential software" for neophytes, including Google Earth, Norton Security Scan and StarOffice
-Google Translate (translate.google.com): translate a chunk of text or an entire site
-Google Custom Search (www.google.com/coop/cse): create a customized search engine with your company's branding or just search a specific set of sites
-Google Alerts (www.google.com/alerts): keep tabs on whatever/whomever

Extend Your Laptop's Life With These Tweaks
Keep it cool
-start with a cooling pad via 2+ fans
-blast the dust from your laptop's air vents with compressed air once a month
Opt for SSD
-solid-state drive, built with nonvolatile flash memory, with no moving parts, generating less heat and mor resiliant to being knocked/dropped
Carry it like an egg
-choose a bag that affords maximum protection
-when carrying without a bag, avoid stressing the case, don't hold it by the corners, use the sides or the middle
Baby your battery
-remove the battery whenever your notebook is plugged into an outlet (if left in, the AC power could cause the battery to overheat and overcharge)
-when running on the battery, use the machine until you get a low-battery warning, then let the battery recharge fully
Baby your battery, part 2
-Standby mode consumes some power, which burns through some of your charge/discharge cycles
-use Hibernate instead
Reformat the hard drive
-use your manufacturer's system-restore CD, just boot it and follow the instructions
-make sure to offload all documents, email, bookmarks, etc. to a network drive, external drive or DVDs before hand