Ideas from Mark Stout

I'm a late in life cook.  Being a geek, I've discovered a world of cooking information online. This week's Family Tech.

If you are outside my area, your local school district probably has a similar ability to send you text messages alerting you of snow days.  This week's Family Tech column .

In my Family Tech column for Sunday, January 23, 2011 , I talk about how to receive text message alerts for various emergencies.  Some of the services schools use to alert parents, teaches, and students of snow days provide emails for free, but charge for text messages. I have audible notifications for emails on my phone turned off since I receive so many emails.  I do have audio notications on for text messagres, since I receive them infrequently and they always tend to have information I need to know sooner than later. It is possible to send an email to a text message : To send an email and receive it as a text message,  just replace "phonenumber" with your phone number. For example, to send an email to the text message 703-555-1212 if the cell phone that number uses Sprint, then just address the email to "7035551212@messaging.sprintpcs.com" You need to change the part that comes after the @ symbol depending on who the carrier is for the phone number you...

There were a few facets of the iPhone on Verizon not necessarily apparent,  I covered those in this week's Family Tech column .

In the column appearing tomorrow [ link to column ], I start to list all the devices my Smartphone  has replaced.  I realized that list alone could fill the entire column. I've seen lists like this before but bear with me.  I think I'll have a few other lists do not. Alarm clock Clock eBook Reader Flashlight Remote terminal for my Desktop PC Barcode Scanner Web access Calculator Calendar Camcorder Camera Address book Document Scanner File Cabinet Email device Movie Guide Cassette Tape player Maps GPS Navigation Device MP3 Player Portable Video Player Weather Radio TV Guide Kitchen Timer Voice Mail TV Station Photo Album Study Guides Two way pager and of course.... Phone Looking over the list, most are natural.  Even if someone hasn't  owned a Smartphone, most know it can play videos, music, has an alarm, can show photos, take pictures and shoot video.  A couple are probably a bit of a surprise. File Cabi...

Cheaper professional gear, so cheap amateurs can buy it in some cases, is what makes reality shows possible.  These advances in technology, and lowering of prices, was the topic of   Sunday's Family Tech column .

Last Friday I went to a friend's house to help get her Christmas present, an HP netbook, up and running. I had done the same for her when she bought a new laptop several months ago.  She wanted to make sure the same programs she used on the laptop were on the netbook, and she had access to the same files. I looked on the laptop for the notes file I had made with the list of applications, and her logins and passwords, specifically for Dropbox.  Dropbox is very useful for making sure the files she uses on the laptop, she also has on the netbook, and indeed, on her office computer. I couldn't find the notes file on the laptop, but I quickly pulled it up on my phone in Evernote where I'd stored a copy. When we decided she needed a copy of Office on the netbook, I reminded her she was eligible for a student discount.  We went out to one of the many websites that market Office to students.  When it required a scan of her student ID card, I used DocScan on...