Desktop: Appreciation

We must give thanks. Or at least not bite the hand that feeds us. Didn't you mother ever teach you that?

We must give thanks. Or at least not bite the hand that feeds us. Didn't you mother ever teach you that? (Hey - leave my mother out of this!) Motherly advice or not, I think all of us would agree that we must show appreciation to those who provide us with a useful service or some good information. So, I know you will never, ever use the great money-saving strategy I am going to provide you now in conjunction with our dear old alma mater, The Jerusalem Post. Since you read about it here, you are morally obligated to continue buying this paper as a sign of appreciation for the wonderful service I am about to render. This idea can only be used for other newspaper and magazine Web sites. I'm glad we're in agreement. So, what is this great idea? Well, nowadays, as you know, it's easy as pie to go to the Web site of a publication and print out any article that interests you. For those who prefer their digital content on old fashioned paper, it's easy to print out reams and reams of reading material. This we knew. However, there is a slight problem (other than running out of ink): If you want your material formatted in a readable style, you are stuck with the actual printout of the Web page the story appeared on - including ads, text breaks and all sorts of Web junk that might look okay on screen, but just wastes time and ink on paper. Instead of printing out whole pages - useful and useless - build yourself a customized "newspaper" with content from all over the Web using HP's Smart Web Printing program (http://tinyurl.com/2h39wl). Smart Web installs itself into your Internet Explorer 6 or 7 toolbar, and when you want to print out content on a Web page, you click on the HP icon (top right of the main IE toolbar) and right click on the text block you want to print. You then have the option of printing right away or saving the block on the Edit Clips box on the right. You keep assembling content - text or graphics - and when you're done, you can edit them into a single sheet of paper. In other words, text articles can appear on one or two pieces of paper, instead of 20; you can assemble a montage of photos from all over the Web and print it out; or assemble your own little "newspaper" with stuff that interests you. You can even save it into a PDF for easy e-mailing. Note that Smart Web prints what it sees on the screen, so if you don't like the resolution of the printed text, change the font/size on Tools > Internet Options (Fonts and Accessibility tabs - check all three "ignore" boxes in the latter) in IE. And remember: You may not stop buying the Jpost using this idea. This idea can save you thousands; you owe me. http://www.newzgeek.com