Even though you may not have received mail from your favorite uncle this year, he is expecting you to send your annual contribution to his bank account no later than April 18th. In recognition of the fact that many of us don’t use the printed tax forms that have traditionally been mailed to all wage earners, the IRS is saving money and not sending them unless requested. More and more of us either use professional tax preparers or have embraced computer software. There are several options and some of them are actually free.
The two most widely used commercially available tax preparation software packages are TurboTax from Intuit and TaxCut from H&R Block. I have used both and find them almost identical in function and ease of use. Both come in various “flavors” from versions that assist in preparing simple returns to versions that walk you though filing for a small business or a Chapter S corporation. Most include a module for filing state returns as well. Be sure to get a version that allows free E-filing for both federal and state returns.
Be prepared to spend from $50 to $100 for the software. The more features and more complex the return, the higher the price. Office supply stores like Staples and OfficeMax stock the products and, of course, you can get them on line and download a copy directly to your computer.
There are several other options available on line. Some are free and others very inexpensive. With so many offers on the web you must shop carefully. A Google search will provide hundreds of “official” IRS Tax Assistance Sites. Closer scrutiny will show that most have no relation to the IRS. Look for web sites that have a “.gov” suffix on the web address rather that a “.com” as the latter indicates a for-profit company.
If your income is $58,000 or less, the IRS has some free software that might be good to check out. It is called Free File. It's available only through IRS.gov. Some 20 tax software companies have made their products available for free. Some also support state tax returns for free. Since the IRS has checked these offers out, you can feel safe using them. You will find the software offer at www.IRS.gov.
There is no paucity of companies and services that want to do you taxes. I have seen ads on TV for car dealerships offering to do your taxes if you use your tax refund to buy a car. Furniture stores, too, will be happy to help you get your refund faster if you will spend it with them. If you shop wisely, you will find lots of good tools on the web. They might not make filing your return enjoyable, but they will make it less of a hassle.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Kindle - Even Better Than I Thought
A few weeks back Amazon.com announced that they were now selling more eBooks than all hardback and paperback versions combined. It was only about a year ago that they announced that eBook sales had surpassed the Amazon hardback sales. This meteoric spike in sales is due in large part to the sale of eBook readers. The Kindle from Amazon, as well as others like the Nook and the Sony Reader, are some of the most popular new digital must-haves. The iPad and other tablet computers can be used as eBook readers as can many smart phones.
My thoughtful wife placed a Kindle under the tree for me on Christmas morning and I have not put it down since. It is one of the most user friendly and well designed digital devices I have ever used. Part of the reason is that it is designed for one thing and one thing alone and that is to read eBooks.
The version I have is about the size of a paperback book but much thinner, less than ½ inch. It weighs only a few ounces. The display uses eInk rather than the traditional LCD screens found on the iPad, most laptop computers and smart phones. An eInk page looks just like a printed page and can be read in bright sunlight. The only down side is that it can’t be read in the dark. My aging eyes appreciate not reading from the bright back-lighted computer screen. eInk also is the secret behind the battery life of several weeks between charging.
Searching for and downloading a book is quick and intuitive. When you first turn it on, the Kindle takes you through a simple set up. If you already have an account with Amazon.com it links that information to your Kindle account. It took me less than five minutes to set it up and download my first book, Autobiography of Mark Twain. While I have not tried this, Amazon claims that the device can hold as many as 3000 or more books.
Purchasing a book is a breeze. The Kindle has a menu item called “Shop in Kindle Store.” The Kindle connects to Amazon either through a WiFi or 3G service. From there you can search by title, author or genre just like the regular Amazon.com online store. Once you find the book, pressing “Buy” is all you need do. The book is downloaded to the Kindle, in most cases in about 30 seconds, and your Amazon account is billed. You will get an email verifying the purchase. So in less than a minute you can have most any book in publication in your hands.
When you buy a book it is downloaded into you Kindle but is also available for free downloading in the future in case your device malfunctions or you exceed the 3000 book internal capacity. Most eBooks from Amazon are $9.00 or less. Books out of copyright are free.
For the avid reader, the Kindle is an exceptional digital device. It is inexpensive, well designed and it works.
My thoughtful wife placed a Kindle under the tree for me on Christmas morning and I have not put it down since. It is one of the most user friendly and well designed digital devices I have ever used. Part of the reason is that it is designed for one thing and one thing alone and that is to read eBooks.
The version I have is about the size of a paperback book but much thinner, less than ½ inch. It weighs only a few ounces. The display uses eInk rather than the traditional LCD screens found on the iPad, most laptop computers and smart phones. An eInk page looks just like a printed page and can be read in bright sunlight. The only down side is that it can’t be read in the dark. My aging eyes appreciate not reading from the bright back-lighted computer screen. eInk also is the secret behind the battery life of several weeks between charging.
Searching for and downloading a book is quick and intuitive. When you first turn it on, the Kindle takes you through a simple set up. If you already have an account with Amazon.com it links that information to your Kindle account. It took me less than five minutes to set it up and download my first book, Autobiography of Mark Twain. While I have not tried this, Amazon claims that the device can hold as many as 3000 or more books.
Purchasing a book is a breeze. The Kindle has a menu item called “Shop in Kindle Store.” The Kindle connects to Amazon either through a WiFi or 3G service. From there you can search by title, author or genre just like the regular Amazon.com online store. Once you find the book, pressing “Buy” is all you need do. The book is downloaded to the Kindle, in most cases in about 30 seconds, and your Amazon account is billed. You will get an email verifying the purchase. So in less than a minute you can have most any book in publication in your hands.
When you buy a book it is downloaded into you Kindle but is also available for free downloading in the future in case your device malfunctions or you exceed the 3000 book internal capacity. Most eBooks from Amazon are $9.00 or less. Books out of copyright are free.
For the avid reader, the Kindle is an exceptional digital device. It is inexpensive, well designed and it works.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Social Media & Internet Serious Players
If you read this column regularly you know that I often take issue with new gadgets or technologies that seem to spring more from the fertile minds of engineers and computer programmers than from real needs of regular human beings. The current situation in Egypt, Tunisia and some other mid-eastern countries has demonstrated clearly that the technologies that many of us might use for some trivial pursuits in our daily lives are helping to change the geopolitical landscape.
Social networking, webcams and mobile phones have enabled direct and almost instantaneous communication among political activists. These same technologies have opened a window from which the world can watch what was happening in real time in public squares and streets from Alexandria to Tunis. Of course the major news operations, CNN, BBC and others, had people on the ground reporting with their “Special Reports.” Their network’s promo announcements looked more like ads for a new car than for a news report of worldwide significance. The real story was not originating from the major media; in many cases it was the mobile phone video or the Facebook and Twitter exchanges that gave us the real picture.
Early on it was interesting to see how those in charge were quick to try to shut down the Internet and mobile phone networks. With the proliferation of satellite phones and other long range technologies, this was futile. The days of any real control of the distribution of information are gone. Since banking, utility networks, and even traffic lights and emergency services in any modern city all require the Internet, turning it off for any length of time is not an option. Blocking certain services like Facebook and Twitter are also futile as a high school age hacker will soon navigate around these blocks.
This “brave new world” of instantaneous communication does not come without a serious negative. Seeing should not always be believing. Digital manipulation of images and video can be done on a laptop in seconds and transmitted to the world as “truth.”
We should not be too quick to embrace as the “whole truth” information coming directly from the citizen journalists on the streets of Cairo without also reviewing the more traditional reporting. I for one would like to have the critical eyes of trusted media along with the unfiltered steams of Twitter and Facebook.
Social networking, webcams and mobile phones have enabled direct and almost instantaneous communication among political activists. These same technologies have opened a window from which the world can watch what was happening in real time in public squares and streets from Alexandria to Tunis. Of course the major news operations, CNN, BBC and others, had people on the ground reporting with their “Special Reports.” Their network’s promo announcements looked more like ads for a new car than for a news report of worldwide significance. The real story was not originating from the major media; in many cases it was the mobile phone video or the Facebook and Twitter exchanges that gave us the real picture.
Early on it was interesting to see how those in charge were quick to try to shut down the Internet and mobile phone networks. With the proliferation of satellite phones and other long range technologies, this was futile. The days of any real control of the distribution of information are gone. Since banking, utility networks, and even traffic lights and emergency services in any modern city all require the Internet, turning it off for any length of time is not an option. Blocking certain services like Facebook and Twitter are also futile as a high school age hacker will soon navigate around these blocks.
This “brave new world” of instantaneous communication does not come without a serious negative. Seeing should not always be believing. Digital manipulation of images and video can be done on a laptop in seconds and transmitted to the world as “truth.”
We should not be too quick to embrace as the “whole truth” information coming directly from the citizen journalists on the streets of Cairo without also reviewing the more traditional reporting. I for one would like to have the critical eyes of trusted media along with the unfiltered steams of Twitter and Facebook.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Where Did My Channels Go?
Now that we all have converted to the digital broadcast TV system in the US either by subscribing to a cable or satellite service or by purchasing a digital TV or converter, all should be well with the video world. Well, not quite yet. There are still a few bugs in the system. Let me try to give you some hints on solving two of the most prevalent issues.
Hardly a week passes that someone doesn’t ask me about disappearing TV channels. This is a problem experienced by individuals receiving broadcast TV using an antenna. The story usually goes something like this. “I was watching (fill in your favorite channel here) last night. When I turned on the TV today, the channel was gone and I got a message on the screen saying ‘no signal.’”
A digital TV must have stored in its memory certain technical information about each of the broadcast channels it receives. This information is loaded the first time you plug in the TV set and go through the set up process. This information is supposed to remain in the TV’s memory forever, but this does not always happen. On some TVs, the loss of electrical power will erase the memory. On other models, pressing a certain combination of buttons on the remote will erase the memory. Still other TVs seem to have a mind of their own and just drop one or more channels from memory for no apparent reason.
If you were receiving a channel one day and it is gone the next,, the fix is easy. You only need to do a channel rescan. If you still have your TV’s owner’s manual you will find directions. If not, just go to the on-screen menu and look for the “adding channels” or “scanning for channels” function. Even if you only lost one channel, I recommend doing a complete re-scan. If all else fails, bake some cookies and call a teenager to help.
For those of us with cable, many experience intermittent audio synch, or lip synch problems. When this happens it can be painful to watch a show. While there are several reasons that you might experience this problem, they are too complicated to go into here. Nevertheless there is an easy fix. I have found that on certain cable set top boxes, powering the boxes down, i.e., turning them off for 10 seconds, rather than unplugging them, will fix the problem. This will also work for some digital TV sets not connected to a cable set top box.
There is no doubt that the sound and pictures on today’s digital flat screen TVs have never been better. Nevertheless, there remain a few bugs that can be really irritating. I hope this helps. Keep the questions coming.
Hardly a week passes that someone doesn’t ask me about disappearing TV channels. This is a problem experienced by individuals receiving broadcast TV using an antenna. The story usually goes something like this. “I was watching (fill in your favorite channel here) last night. When I turned on the TV today, the channel was gone and I got a message on the screen saying ‘no signal.’”
A digital TV must have stored in its memory certain technical information about each of the broadcast channels it receives. This information is loaded the first time you plug in the TV set and go through the set up process. This information is supposed to remain in the TV’s memory forever, but this does not always happen. On some TVs, the loss of electrical power will erase the memory. On other models, pressing a certain combination of buttons on the remote will erase the memory. Still other TVs seem to have a mind of their own and just drop one or more channels from memory for no apparent reason.
If you were receiving a channel one day and it is gone the next,, the fix is easy. You only need to do a channel rescan. If you still have your TV’s owner’s manual you will find directions. If not, just go to the on-screen menu and look for the “adding channels” or “scanning for channels” function. Even if you only lost one channel, I recommend doing a complete re-scan. If all else fails, bake some cookies and call a teenager to help.
For those of us with cable, many experience intermittent audio synch, or lip synch problems. When this happens it can be painful to watch a show. While there are several reasons that you might experience this problem, they are too complicated to go into here. Nevertheless there is an easy fix. I have found that on certain cable set top boxes, powering the boxes down, i.e., turning them off for 10 seconds, rather than unplugging them, will fix the problem. This will also work for some digital TV sets not connected to a cable set top box.
There is no doubt that the sound and pictures on today’s digital flat screen TVs have never been better. Nevertheless, there remain a few bugs that can be really irritating. I hope this helps. Keep the questions coming.
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