5 Energy Efficient Desk Lamps

Unplggd found 5 energy efficient LED desk lamps worth writing about.

Z-Bar High Power LED Desk Lamp is Unplggd's favorite. Its 66 LED lights only use 8.8 watts, and have an estimated 40,000 hours of life. Choose between red, black, metallic, and silver. $169.95.

The sleep looking Libra Desk Lamp contains 18 LED lights, and puts out 50 watts of power while only using 12 watts. Made from cast silver coated aluminum, this beauty only weights 2 lbs. 7 oz. The price will set you back $247.25.

The Humanscale Element LED Task Light has a different look, but its 360 degree swivel base and 60,000 hour life span makes it efficient and sustainable. $395.

Grandrich's 1.2 W LED Desk Lamp is only $29.99 at Kmart. You can't beat that deal if you're on a budget!

The Mini-Z LED Desk Lamp is an affordable $99 at Think Geek. It uses 40 LED lights and uses 7.2 watts.

Create, Collaborate, and Publish Spreadsheets with Edit Grid

Edit Grid is a powerful online spreadsheet application that allows users to create, share, collaborate, and publish spreadsheets, as well as access live data, from a secure online interface. Its features include most Excel functions, as well as additional features such as a bigger set of use cases and access to live data sources such as Alexa and Reuters, which can be delivered to your spreadsheet on demand. Edit Grid is free for personal users. Business users cost $5/month, with a free 30 day trial.

Where to Find Resume Templates Online

A clean, concise resume is an important tool for landing a job. If you're a first time job hunter, returning to the workforce after a long hiatus, or changing careers, crafting an impressive resume is a vital step in the job hunting process. The following websites offer free online resume templates to help you put your best foot forward.

Microsoft Office Online offers templates for basic resumes, job-specific resumes, and situation-specific resumes. Community templates are free to download, and user reviews help you decide which templates to try.

Land That Job offers resume and cover letter tutorials. Their unique process guides you step-by-step through the process, instead of just providing you with templates. They teach you how to use proper layouts and write effectively.

Resume-Resource has over 175 professional resume samples, and over 150 articles on resumes, job hunting, interviews, and more. Their examples include resumes for management, technical, education, legal, sales, military, and more.

Mobile Office Apps for iPods and iPhones

Air Sharing
This productivity app which allows you to use your iPhone or iPod Touch as a wireless device, received a PC Magazine Editor's Choice Award. View your documents on the go, drag and drop files between the device and your computer, and sort them into easy to find file folders for later use. Air Sharing comes with an advanced image viewer and enables you to view your files in almost any format, including Microsoft Office, HTML, PDF, RTF, Plain Text, or source code. $4.99.

Jaadu Remote Desktop
Though it will cost you $24.99, Jaadu Remote Desktop allows you to securely access your computer desktop and files from anywhere in the world. You can control any of your PC programs, including Microsoft Office, Outlook, Excel, Firefox, and more, edit any document, and even stream audio. The interface has received awards, and MacWorld calls it “an exceptionally well-built and polished app…”

Toodledo
Toodledo allows you create task lists, and sort your tasks by priority, start date, due date, time, length, or status of task, so you stay organized. From there, you can assign the task to a folder, context, or goal, and flag the task with stars or keywords. You can also add notes to your task, apply filters, create “hotlists,” and sync your tasks with Toodledo.com for backup. $3.99.

WiFi Finders
Find WiFi hot spots wherever you are with a WiFi finder app. There are numerous free versions available, but if you don't like any of those, try WiFi Directory for $3.99. Its database contains over 60,000 wireless hot spots. Once you download a WiFi finder, you won’t need an internet connection to find a WiFi spot.

Clipperz Secure Password Storage

If you have a lot of online accounts, and you use different passwords for security reasons, you know how hard it can be to remember or keep track of all of them. Clipperz solves that problem by securely storing all of your passwords in one place. Their online service is free, available online or offline, uses high security encryption, is easy to use, and requires no download or installation. You can also store other security data, such as social security numbers, bank account numbers, and security alarm passwords at Clipperz. Ready to sign up? Check out the Clipperz website.

USB Battery Charger

Plug the power station into any USB port and you can charge two AA batteries in 4-6 hours while working or surfing the net. An LED light will blink while the batteries are charging, and turn off when the batteries are fully charged. If you need to leave the batteries charging, no worries—a safety circuit will prevent the batteries from overcharging. Two AA nickel-metal hydride rechargeable batteries included.

USB Battery Charger from Useful Things.

3 Free Security Programs for Your PC

There are numerous free antivirus, antispyware, and firewall programs out there to help protect your PC. Here are three worth checking out.

Avast Home Editon
With seven different shields, this security software is a great choice to protect your PC from viruses and the like, especially if you're worried about the software taking up too much space.

Online Armor Personal Firewall
Rated as one of the best firewalls around, Online Armor provides solid protection without the annoying pop-up windows asking for permission to access the internet.

Spyware Blaster
This antispyware software scans and kills spyware before it's placed on your computer. It also protects against Active X controls and keeps tracking cookies off your machine.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Exercises

Office workers often suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome, a debilitating condition that causes burning, numbness, tingling, swelling, and pain in the hands and wrists. These symptoms occur when the median nerve that runs from the forearm through the hand becomes squeezed at the narrow passageway at the base of the hand, otherwise known as the carpal tunnel. Many cases of carpal tunnel are eased by simple exercises that stretch the tendons and muscles that run through this area. Here are several to try.

Hold your arms straight out in front of you. Turn your thumbs down, toward your hand. Grab your thumbs with your other fingers, then tilt your wrists down, toward the floor. You should feel a stretch in the portion of the wrist facing you.

Hold your arms straight out in front of you. Gradually bend your wrists in and toward you, until you can go no further. You should feel a stretch in the back of your wrist.

Hold your arms straight out in front of you. Hold your hands up, with your finger extended toward the ceiling. Hold for several seconds. You should feel a stretch in the front of your hands and in your wrist.

Job Hunting Costs are Tax Deductible

If you're job hunting costs exceed more than 2% of your adjusted gross income, you can take a tax deduction. Costs you can deduct include employment and agency fees, resume services, transportation expenses, legal fees, and licenses. Other rules do apply. For instance, you can't be looking for your first job, and you must be looking for a job in your current occupation. You also can't leave the workforce for a year or two, reenter, and expect to claim a job hunting deduction. For more information, refer to IRS publication 529 at IRS.gov.

Stapless Stapler

Using a combination of a punch, a fold, and a tuck, this stapler is completely staple free, ensuring that you won't snag your fingers, clothing, or tear your important documents on any sharp metal edges. The Staple Free Stapler is safe for all ages, and works best on stacks of 2-5 sheets of paper.

Stapleless Stapler from Useful Things.

Staple Free Stapler

Using a combination of a punch, a fold, and a tuck, this stapler is completely staple free, ensuring that you won't snag your fingers, clothing, or tear your important documents on any sharp metal edges. The Staple Free Stapler is safe for all ages, and works best on stacks of 2-5 sheets of paper.

Staple Free Stapler from Useful Things.

Stationary Bell

This classic stationary desk bell looks great on any desk. Its stainless dome and 4" diameter black base bring a touch of class to the workspace, and is useful to boot. Use it at work, home, or anywhere you need a "call button."

Stationary Bell from Useful Things.

Where to Find Jobs Online, Part Deux

USA Jobs: If you're looking for a government job, this is the site for you. All of their jobs postings end up here, and they hire everything from secretaries, to engineers, to accountants.

Idealist: Looking for a job with a non-profit organization? Head to Idealist. They post paid positions in addition to volunteer work, internships, and consultant positions.

SoloGig: Only looking for a part-time or temporary job? SoloGig has listings for consultants, freelancers, contract, and other part-time work opportunities.

50 Year Calendar Paperweight

This attractive brushed metal calendar enables you to find any date from 2006-2055. Simply line up the month and year of choice, and the monthly calendar is revealed. The 50 Year Calendar is heavy and has a non-skid foam base, which allows it to double as a paperweight. It makes a great gift for any office and only costs $9.95.

50 Year Calendar Paperweight from Useful Things.

Stapleless Stapler

Using a combination of a punch, a fold, and a tuck, this stapler is completely staple free, ensuring that you won't snag your fingers, clothing, or tear your important documents on any sharp metal edges. The Stapleless Stapler is safe for all ages, and works best on stacks of 2-5 sheets of paper.

Stapleless Stapler from Useful Things.

Desk Bell

This classic desk bell looks great on any desk. Its stainless dome and 4" diameter black base bring a touch of class to the workspace, and is useful to boot. Use it at work, home, or anywhere you need a "call button."

Desk Bell from Useful Thing.

50 Year Calendar

This attractive brushed metal calendar enables you to find any date from 2006-2055. Simply line up the month and year of choice, and the monthly calendar is revealed. The 50 Year Calendar is heavy and has a non-skid foam base, which allows it to double as a paperweight. It makes a great gift for any office and only costs $9.95.

50 Year Calendar from Useful Things.

Staple Free Stapler

Using a combination of a punch, a fold, and a tuck, this stapler is completely staple free, ensuring that you won't snag your fingers, clothing, or tear your important documents on any sharp metal edges. The Staple Free Stapler is safe for all ages, and works best on stacks of 2-5 sheets of paper.

Staple Free Stapler from Useful Things.

Stationary Bell

This classic stationary desk bell looks great on any desk. Its stainless dome and 4" diameter black base bring a touch of class to the workspace, and is useful to boot. Use it at work, home, or anywhere you need a "call button."

Stationary Bell from Useful Things.

Get More Life Out of Your Printer Cartridge

Is your laser printer lying to you when it says your toner cartridge is empty? It’s very likely says Farhad Manjoo, in an article written for Slate. Laser printer cartridges contain a sensor or software that try to predict when they will run out of ink. Unfortunately for consumers paying the hefty price of ink, the sensors are often wrong. The good news is, you can continue to use the cartridge if you cover the sensor with a small piece of dark electrical tape. For more information, and step-by step instructions, read the Oppressed Printer User's Forum.

50 Year Calendar Paperweight

This attractive brushed metal calendar enables you to find any date from 2006-2055. Simply line up the month and year of choice, and the monthly calendar is revealed. The 50 Year Calendar is heavy and has a non-skid foam base, which allows it to double as a paperweight. It makes a great gift for any office and only costs $9.95.

50 Year Calendar Paperweight from Useful Things.

Where to Get Good Deals on Computers

Most of the major computer manufacturers have outlet stores where you can buy refurbished, discontinued, or scratch and dent computers and other electronics. The outlet stores guarantee that their refurbished models are in top- notch working condition, and often times, you can buy computers that were purchased but returned unopened.

Dell Outlet
(http://www.dell.com/outlet/)
The Dell Outlet store offers three types of inventory—Certified Refurbished, which includes a 1-3 year limited hardware warranty, Previously Ordered New, and Scratch and Dent.

The Refurb Store (http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac)
Apple's Refurb Store offers terrific savings on computers, iPODs, and accessories. Save up to 30% on products that contain the same 1 year warranty as new purchases, all manuals and accessories, and new batteries and outer covers.

HP Outlet Store
The HP Outlet Store has a plethora of items, including computers, printers, software, cameras, mobile devices, and other accessories. Save 15-30% on items that have been thoroughly tested.

Desk Bell

This classic desk bell looks great on any desk. Its stainless dome and 4" diameter black base bring a touch of class to the workspace, and is useful to boot. Use it at work, home, or anywhere you need a "call button."

Desk Bell from Useful Thing.

Write, Edit, and Access Your Documents From Anywhere Online

Online word processors offer plenty of options computer-based word processors cannot. If you want to access your documents from different computers, for example, or collaborate on a file via the internet, a web-based word processor is useful tool. Unlike your computer-based word processor, you can write, edit, access, and share your documents from any computer in the world with internet access.

Here are five online word processors worth checking out.

Buzzword is a free web-based word processor brought to you by the Adobe team. It supports plain text, rich text, Microsoft Word, and Word XML files.

Google Documents comes with plenty of options and advanced features. Add a table of contents to your document, use their built in dictionary, and even save your file as a PDF or Power Point presentation.

Thinkfree comes with a 1 GB storage capacity and is "designed to look, feel, and behave like Microsoft Office." Your files are stored on a secure server for easy access, and you can run Thinkfree on Windows, Mac, or Linux.

Writeboard uses a slightly different process to store your documents. You can create as many "writeboards" as you wish, for free, with no size limits, but if you want to keep them all in one place, you'll need to sign up for their Backpack organizer.

Zoho Writer offers unlimited storage space until they are out of Beta phase. After that, you will get 1 GB with your free account. Their function are quite impressive for a web-based word processor.

50 Year Calendar

This attractive brushed metal calendar enables you to find any date from 2006-2055. Simply line up the month and year of choice, and the monthly calendar is revealed. The 50 Year Calendar is heavy and has a non-skid foam base, which allows it to double as a paperweight. It makes a great gift for any office and only costs $9.95.

50 Year Calendar from Useful Things.

Three Top Rated, Inexpensive Web Hosts

GoDaddy
(http://www.godaddy.com/)
GoDaddy features include a 99.9% network uptime commitment, 24/7 support, no set up fees, and no ad banners or pop-ups. For as little as $4.99 a month, you can get 10 GB of space, 300 GB transfer, 100 email accounts, and a whole lot more. Their unlimited plan starts at $14.99 a month, but you can get it cheaper if you sign up for 1-3 years.

HostMonster
(http://www.hostmonster.com/)
All HostMonster accounts come with unlimited disk storage, unlimited domain hosting, one free domain name, and tons more. Their Professional web hosting starts at $6.95 a month.

InMotion
(http://www.inmotionhosting.com/)
At InMotion, you can get cheap personal hosting for $3 a month! Though basic, it may just provide you with what you need. For $6.95 a month, you can sign up for their business hosting plan. InMotion has won numerous awards and specializes in technical support.

Fill Out PDF Forms Online with PDF Filler

If you need to fill out a PDF form for work, school, or other important purpose, check out PDF Filler. Most PDF forms received online are not editable. The only way to fill them in is to print the pages and handwrite in the information it calls for, which isn't exactly professional looking. By using PDF filler, however, you can create exceptional looking PDF forms that will look great and help you stand out. Though PDF filler does charge a small fee, for only $9.99, you can get access for 30 days, in which time you can upload, edit, print, email, fax, and export as many forms as you want, as many times as you like. A one year subscription costs $69.99, which amounts to a 40% discount. PDF filler is web-based, so you don't have to download any software, and it supports any browser.

Access Your Desktop From Any Computer, Anywhere

Desktoptwo allows you to access your personalized desktop from any computer, anywhere with internet access. If you use more than one computer—at work and at home, for example—using Desktoptwo means you'd never have to go without the following features again:

• your calendar
• address book
• files
• programs
• applications
• email
• messenger
• rss feeds
• mp3 player
• and more

It comes with a personal control panel and hard drive, as well.

Where to Find Jobs Online

Craigslist
(http://www.craigslist.org)
Select your city or area and search dozens of job categories. Refine your search by choosing part-time, telecommute, contract, internship, or non-profit.
Monster.com http://www.monster.com Check jobs, create a profile, upload a resume, learn about careers, get advice, and more.

Career Builder
In addition to searching for jobs, you can post your resume, search career fairs and advice, and take advantage of their job recommendation technology, which targets jobs to the key words in your resume.

Yahoo Hot Jobs
(http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/)
In addition to their job listings, you can network, learn how to write resumes, prepare for an interview, calculate salary and more.

Tips for Working From Home

Whether you work from home full-time or occasionally, it's important to set some basic guidelines and boundaries. The tips below will help you work from home successfully.

• Take your home office and the work you do there seriously, or no one else will.
• Set regular work hours and stick to them.

• Dress as if you were going into work.

• Stay organized. Create a filing system and use it.

• Make the space comfortable and personalized. If you don't like your office, you won't like going there every day.

• Keep all receipts for purchases used for your business. Most of them are tax deductible.

• If you qualify, don't forget to take your home office as a tax deduction!

Free, Easy to Use File Recovery Software

Have you ever accidently deleted data from your computer, camera, or other electronic device? In most cases, you probably had your data backed up, but that's not always the case. If no back up copy exists, fear not. Download PC Inspector File Recovery, free, easy-to-use software that will help you recover what you've lost.

To use the program, select the drive that contains your deleted information, search the directory tree for your files, photos, etc., and if the file is in good condition, you can restore it.

PC Inspector is compatible with Windows, NT, 2000, 9.x, Me, XP, and Vista.

Five Top FTP Clients

If you work on the web uploading and downloading files to and from your computer or website, you know how important a reliable, easy-to-use FTP server is. Surveys show that the following five ftp clients are consistently rated customer favorites:

FileZilla– a free, open-source FTP client compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Windows Secure Copy (WinSCP)– a free, open-source FTP client.

FireFTP– this Firefox extension is a basic FTP client perfect for occasional use.

Cyberduck–a free, open-source FTP client for Mac users.

Smart FTP—compatible with Windows, Smart FTP offers a free trial download.

Send and Receive Faxes Without a Fax Machine

Fax It Nice is an online service that allows you to send and receive faxes using only your computer. It's great for people who have a home office from which they occasionally need to send or receive faxes, but who don't want to spend the money on extra equipment.



Choose from several different packages: receiving only, sending only, or a plan that allows you to do both. Each selection comes with different pricing options also. You can choose to pay a one-time fee, purchase credits, or subscribe to a monthly plan. The FaxIt Once option is perfect for people who rarely send faxes, but are in need of fax services fast. There’s no sign-up—”just upload your file and enter your details and your fax will be on its way!” The most expensive and flexible option—the FaxIt Elite package—gives you 1100 free pages a month and still only costs $29.99.

Check out Fax It Nice and find a plan that works for you.