Deal: 8GB Class 10 Micro SDHC Memory Card with Adapter

I try not to spam you too often with deals that I think are mildly interesting or fairly good. :)

But, if you happened to be in the market for a new SD card for your camera - this one might fit the bill nicely.
I personally didn't jump on this deal because we just bought a new 32GB card for our new camera. Yeah, our old camera died. :(   So we had to upgrade. :)


Anyways, the Class rating on SD cards is important when you start saving video and taking lots of high res pictures. The higher the Class rating, the faster the read/write times to the card. New cameras suggest at least a Class 4 or 6. Obviously, the higher the Class rating, the more expensive the card.

Another caveat to this deal is that you'll want to check out your camera's maximum SD card size that it can handle. It won't do you any good to buy this 8GB card and find out that your camera only can handle a 4GB card. Essentially, you'll pop it in, and your camera will only see 4GB instead of the true 8GB. It can be a bit difficult to find the actual specs on max card size for your camera, so some searching may be involved.

The fact that the actual memory is just the microSD form factor size is not an issue. Even if your camera only accepts the standard SD form factor size, the adapter will not negatively affect performance because it is just a direct connection pass through adapter. I just smile at how a standard was adopted and technology zoomed on ahead.

This might be a good deal, if I needed more cards for my camera. I also thought it might work as an upgrade to my current jump drive, but then I'd need a USB adapter like this.
Suddenly, it's not such a great deal. Too bad it didn't come with that kind of adapter to begin with. Although, it's so tiny, it's hard to hold on to and not lose. A friend of mine already lost his.
And if I'm going to spend $12 on an adapter, I start to wonder why I didn't just go for a 17million and one card reader, but that wasn't the original intent, so yeah, back full circle. This might be a good deal if I wanted a smaller card...whatever.

Final thoughts: The deal isn't so hot for some because of the rebate. Additional research on Amazon and Newegg also shows only average reviews. But, regardless, I hope the above information will aid you in your quest the next time you upgrade.

How to add a percentage sign without multiplying by 100 in Excel

I become frustrated with software that tries to do everything for me. Automatic install wizards dumping icons all over my desktop without asking or my word processor auto correcting things it thinks are wrong. Luckily, while we all universally hate Microsoft (yet use it every day) there are options to customize and do it your way. Maybe that is why I don't hate them entirely. But, hey, today's post is about a trick in Microsoft Excel, not in hating software giants!   



There are lots of websites that have thousands of Microsoft Office tips and tricks. But today I wanted to feature a less well known trick that is harder to find online. 


How to add a percentage sign without multiplying by 100 in Excel?


For example, when I do my work I do my own calculations. After calculating a row, or column of numbers I wanted to format them so that they displayed with the percentage symbol. If you have ever used Excel for your budgeting you know that a simple Right Click and Format Cells will allow you to choose Currency and voila! All your cells are instantly formatted to two decimal places with the $ sign. 


If you choose the percentage format, there is this caveat. 

"Percentage formats multiply the cell value by 100 and displays the result with a symbol."

If your number is '4' it will be represented as '400%'. Argh! I don't want Excel to do anything to my numbers. What can I do?


Option 1) Create a new column or modify the equation preceding your results to divide them all by 100.

But what if they are already divided by 100? Or you have your own reasons…


Option 2) Right Click, Format Cells, Custom. Manually type in "0.0\%" without the quotes.

If you want more decimal places to show, just add in zeroes. "0.000\%"


For example, if your cell contents are '4.35' then with the above custom format it would appear as '4.350%'.

This solved a big headache for me. I found it answered by J. E. McGimpsey on a Mac forum for MS Office users! Hence, my jab at the controversy for fun at the beginning of this post.

Hope it helps!

Free Applications for your Computer

I am on ZDNet's mailing list and get an email compiled of their latest articles and updates every so often. One article that caught my eye was their list of "Seven great (and free!) applications for Windows 7."  Truthfully, I wondered why it was necessary to include Windows 7 in the title. There wasn't anything on the list that you could not run in Windows XP. And, ironically, most of these programs are coming from open source operating systems like Linux. Why pay for software?

I have found it helpful to see what programs people use to accomplish their work. It gives you an insight to examine the alternatives and decide for yourself if there might be a better way that you simply did not know about before.

I actually found the list of 30 that Trent Hamm, from The Simple Dollar, compiled way back in 2006 to be quite useful. He has since updated it to include a list of 25 for Mac users and recently included an updated list of his nine most commonly used pieces of free software.

I have used a lot of open source software and think that is great. Firefox is the first thing I install on a new machine. I actually still use Microsoft Office - but that is only because I am able to purchase it through enormous company discounts. Otherwise, I would always use OpenOffice. I also use CutePDF and my wife plays around with GIMP to do serious photo editing.

What are your favorite free applications that you use?