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How to get notified when prices drop on Amazon

Say you're shopping for a gift or for an addition to your kitchen gadget collection, but you need to stick to a firm budget. You can scour deals sites, compare prices, and hope for the best--or you can install the great Chrome extension That Is Worth.

For now, it only works with Amazon.com, Direct2Drive, and Steam, but it lets you set a price for any product and then receive notifications when the price falls to your acceptable level. Here's how to use it:

Install That Is Worth from the Chrome Web Store. The extension automatically opens its … Read more

How to stop Facebook from sharing your location

Facebook is at it again, releasing yet another feature that I never had the opportunity to politely opt out of: location sharing.

When Facebook decided to withdraw efforts from its short-lived check-in service, Places, it quickly implemented a more passive location-sharing feature that doesn't even have a name. It's just there. And it's creepy.

Now, every time you compose a post on a mobile device or desktop computer, you'll see a light-gray location description in the lower left of the status box.

Facebook sneakily grabs your location via GPS or Wi-Fi router, and attaches it to … Read more

How to customize mass mailings in Gmail

Physical mass mailings can be easily personalized through MS Word and other programs, but it can be trickier to tailor mass e-mails.

A consulting firm called IT4SmallBusiness whipped up a simple e-mail merge tool in the form of a Google Docs template. One caveat: Gmail doesn't like its users to send out too many messages at once, spam being the nuisance that it is, so you may need to either limit your mailing or space them out over hours or days. Here's how to use the tool: 

Make sure you're logged on to Gmail and Google … Read more

How to monitor your time spent Web surfing

The Internet is full of useful information. It's also full of lots of distractions that can prevent you from being productive at work or at home. If you're curious what sites you spend the most time on, or are concerned with how much time you spend not working on the job, follow these five steps to monitor your browsing habits.

Begin by downloading and installing Gold Limiter. When installing, you will be given the option to add the Internet monitor and filter, or just the Internet monitor. Chances are, you're only interested in the monitor, so select … Read more

How to shop safely online

Savvy online shoppers know they can get great deals on their holiday items without having to brave the Black Friday crowds.

Cyber Monday will be packed with discounted products from many tech companies and shopping sites, giving online customers an opportunity to save big while skipping the Black Friday chaos.

But before you let your keyboard do the shopping this season, peruse these tips for safe online shopping.

Here's the condensed version:

Vet the site you're buying from before you make your purchase Record the details of the item and delivery terms to ensure you get what you … Read more

How to make Chrome go Incognito for specific sites

There are several reasons to disable browser history recording, ranging from personal to practical.

If you're a Chrome user, you have to toggle into Incognito mode in order to avoid adding to your browsing history. However, forgetting to enter Incognito mode or accidentally browsing with the wrong open window defeats the purpose of having an Incognito mode available. The Ghost Incognito extension for Chrome alleviates this issue by allowing you to create a filter that will automatically place pages in an Incognito window based on domain name.

Step 1: Install the Ghost Incognito extension from the Chrome market.

Step … Read more

How to create a universal wish list

As great as online wish lists are, maintaining more than a few of them can get cumbersome. This is especially true during the holidays, when your shopping lists are long and you're visiting every single site to find the best possible deals.

Fortunately, there's a way to create and maintain a universal wish list. A feature available for a few years now, Amazon.com allows you to add products from another retailer to your Amazon.com wish list. Here's how:

Step 1: Install the Add to Wishlist add-on from Amazon.com. There are versions available for Firefox, … Read more

How to add a multifunction clock to your desktop

Windows 7 includes some useful utilities like a calculator and the snipping tool. What it lacks, however, is an alarm clock and a stop watch.

If you use the Google Chrome browser, here's how you can add a multifunction clock to your desktop:

First, install the Clock app by Google, from the Chrome Web Store.

Next, click on the Clock app from your list of Chrome apps to launch it. The clock will launch into the time and date tab first. The other tabs are for world clock, alarm, timer, and stop watch.

Windows users who want to launch … Read more

How to schedule Gmail messages to be sent later

E-mail is hardly instantaneous--just ping an IM buddy or ring up a friend to see the difference. Still, it can feel that way, as most of us hit "send" as soon as we're done writing. Sometimes it can be handy to make use of that lack of immediacy, but scheduling e-mails can be a pain. Enter Boomerang, a sleek Firefox and Chrome extension that permits complex scheduling of Gmail messages and more. Here's how to use it: 

Install Boomerang here.Once the add-on is loaded, reload Gmail. Compose a message you want to send … Read more