KPAO by Dave Cortright

TigerDirect has variable pricing

I was looking for an inexpensive USB flash drive on TigerDirect to fill out an order for free shipping. I noticed what I thought was a great deal on a 4GB one: only $9. But after I added it to my cart, I noticed the price of another item had changed. It went up by $4. Curious, I checked the TigerDirect site in a different browser.

Nearly all of the items I was looking at buying had different prices in the different browsers. The wifi networking cards were $2 more expensive, the headphones $5 cheaper... it was odd. After a bit of math, I ended up buying the cheaper cart (saving $4!).

If you do buy from TD, be sure to use Google Checkout for an additional $5 off.
 

Best ear bud headphones: Sennheiser MX75

I bought a set of these headphones a few weeks ago, and they are the best ear bud style headphones I've ever used. And believe me, I've used a bunch.

The key is the little disk that sticks out above the bud. It sits in the fold of your ear, keeping the ear bud in place. So even if you jounce around or turn you head, the headphones stay put.

They also have several different sizes of stabilization disks and speaker covers, so you'll definitely be able to find a setup that fits you.

The sound quality is really good, too. Maybe not as good as Etymotic ER4s, but definitely better than the ones you get for free with any MP3 player.

Right now they're on sale. $50 headphones for on $20. This is a great deal. Get them while you can!

Get MX75 headphones from Amazon

Another great song: The River Runs Low by Bruce Hornsby

It's a bit country, but the rhythm and chords of the piano work really well against the counterpoint of the vocals. I also like the contrast of the driving rhythm of the verse versus the more laid-back chorus.

The river runs low tonight
And eyes are closed on the waterline
The river runs low tonight
And you're always drifting through my mind
The river runs low tonight
And nobody waits for the tide to rise
I'm gonna wait 'til you make
The river run high

Everything is the best file search utility on Windows

Google kicked off a wave of desktop search utilities that produced clones from Microsoft and Yahoo, and eventually got this functionality baked into the OS. However, only the Yahoo utility was ever that useful to me. That's because you could actually set it to index all of the files on your computer, including system files, program files, hidden files, etc. These are the files I'm most interested in. Whether I'm trying to see if a particular piece of malware is on the computer, tracking down a program I installed, or looking for a file that was downloaded into a hidden Temp folder, most of my use cases involve files outside of my Documents folder.

There are a few problems with Yahoo! Desktop Search, tho. They stopped supporting it years ago, pushing people who want updates and support to pay a 3rd party. Second, it actually was overkill for what I needed, indexing the contents of all files rather than just the file names. Finally, it doesn't work very well on Win7. It crashes a lot.

I recently discovered Everything, and it's perfect for my needs. It only indexes the file name, but it does so for every file on your computer. It's wicked fast. And it works great on Win7. This utility has an official spot on my "core Windows apps and utilities."

Soldier's Daughter by Tonic

Here's a song I really like that I bet most readers haven't heard before. Nice variation between soft and hard, and a great chord progression in the bridge at 2'59"

Soldier's daughter
Did your daddy,
   did your daddy hurt you?
Did he make you feel bad?
Did he poison your views,
   with the water he was raised on?

Cleansing my Facebook profile

I'm probably just overreacting, but Facebook made some changes to their default privacy settings that seem a bit too self-serving. They are trying to "encourage" users to open up their information so that it can be seen by anyone on the internet, including search engines.

That's not so bad. I'm savvy enough that I know how to set things back to private. I'm sure 80% of users don't, and probably don't care.

But what's really annoying is the stuff you can't control. With this change, your home town, pages you're a fan of, friends list, and a host of other items are default public and there's nothing you can do about it. So I'm in the process of clearing out as much of this data as I can. If companies and brands notice an exodus of people "un-fanning" their pages, now you know why.

More info on this change from the EFF.

Best travel pen: Evo refill cartidges

I love my Evo pen. I picked mine up several years ago at the MOMA store. I love it. It's the most comfortable pen I've ever used.

Then when I was packing for a long international trip, I stumbled upon the idea of taking one of the Evo cartridges with me in my money belt. It worked brilliantly. At 2.5" long, it's short enough to fit comfortably with my credit cards. But it's long enough to be usable for filling out travel forms and taking brief notes.

They are also very reasonably priced, at only $1 a piece (though you have to get them in sets of 3). I recommend you pick up an Evo pen while you're at it. At only $3, it's a great deal.

Get Evo pen refills from Amazon

Free iPhone Apps

iPhone app developers occasionally drop the price of their app to generate more interest. Of course the most interesting price is free. The app shopper web site is a nice, comprehensive good list. If you're looking for something new for your iToy, check it out.

Best USB computer keyboard: Apple aluminum keyboard

I love my Apple aluminum keyboard. The flat keys, short travel, and ample margins between the keys make it the easiest keyboard I've found to type on. Plus it is quiet. No loud clicking to distract me from the thoughts I'm typing.

Of course the annoying thing is that it's designed to work with Macs. Still, that doesn't stop me from plugging it in and using it with my Windows PC. The only real difference is the Command key sends a Windows key event. Personally, I use the SharpKeys utility to remap my keys so that the Command key on the keyboard sends Ctrl and vice-versa.

You can also get a narrower version without the number pad on the right. This gives you a bit more space to operate your mouse on the right without straining your arm way out to the side. (I keep my mouse on the left, so I don't have this issue.)

Get an Apple keyboard from Amazon

I love Amazon

I suppose it was about 10 years ago when I told Amazon to close down my account. There was news of them storing and sharing personal data inappropriately, and I got all indignant and exercised my power as a consumer. Yeah! Take that, big corporation! Maybe now you'll learn how to treat customers.

Well, it turns out Amazon does know how to treat customers. Granted, I've had my share of issues with them over the years, but overall they continue to impress me. While they don't always have the best price out there, they do a lot of the time. And when they don't it's pretty darn close. If you didn't shop around and just bought from Amazon, odds are you'd be doing pretty well. Even in a category you know nothing about, if you sort by best-selling (the default) or user ratings, you'll find some pretty good options. (Still, I always check any purchase against eBay and Google Products before buying; you never know…)

Plus the free shipping is simply genius. I know I tend to buy more stuff because shipping is "free". Even though we all know it's baked into the cost of the item. That's ok. Psychologically it works better for me this way. And with Amazon doing it, it puts tons of competitive pressure on the little guys to do the same. In the past week I bought an $8 USB flash drive and a $17 motherboard from smaller shops, and both had free shipping. Love it.

Amazon has even gotten better with the returns process. I did 2 returns over the past year. The first they had me use a pre-paid shipping label. They ended up charging me for the shipping, but it was using the Amazon negotiated rate, so it was really low. And the convenience of not having to go through a whole 'nother transaction was great. The other time I had to pay up front, but they reimbursed me. Apparently they were doing a "free shipping both ways" trial taking a page from Zappos' book.

Amazon Marketplace is great, as both a buyer and seller. I've sold a bunch of books and CDs over the years. The cut they take is definitely steeper than eBay, but it's a lot more convenient. And I've found the liquidity of the market to be a lot higher. You can sell an item faster and for a higher price on Amazon than on eBay.

Amazon MP3 is still my favorite place to buy music. They were the first big player to go DRM-free, and they are the only one to offer 256kbps, as far as I know.

And of course their affiliate program was the first and is still one of the best ways for an average person to earn a little cash on the web (in addition to Google AdSense). I use Amazon affiliate links for the majority of my product and service reviews on Rated Best. It's making me enough money to cover the cost of the domain and hosting.

While I don't use it, the Amazon Web Services have also been a trendsetter in the cloud computing space, and they are enabling a lot of small web startups to bootstrap and not worry about IT infrastructure or scaling.

Lest you think I'm a fan boy, I should point out that I've never had an Amazon credit card, and only signed up for Prime once as a free trial. I don't own a Kindle (and don't plan on buying one), and I think the Gold Box and other time sensitive deals are just BS to get people to buy stuff they really don't need.

That said, overall they have an amazing selection, great prices, good customer experience, and free shipping. And that's why I keep coming back.