Tip #10: Save money on cell service by going to prepaid!

photo credit: http://www.sellmyblackberryblog.com/

Sorry it's been a while since I've posted. Life is so crazy. but this tip couldn't wait any longer.
So I finally took the plunge. After reading about how others are saving money on their cell phone plan by going to Straight Talk or T-mobile's prepaid plans and bringing their own cool smartphones, I finally got off the sprint "everything data plan" and even after only a few months on sprint contract and breaking contract, i'm going to get off contract and be able to take my number anywhere when new deals pop up. if i did it last month i would have saved $100 after selling my old sprint smartphone on ebay, but unfortunately i waited too long and now my old phone is worth less, so I'll pay only $10 more over the course of the next 2 years AFTER I bought my new cool international samsung galaxy note smartphone (but you could save alot more by buying something less complicated than mine), but I'm keeping my eyes peeled for better deals each month on prepaid accounts so as to maybe even save more.

The new Straight talk unlimited plan has unlimited voice and text and data (up to 2 Gigabytes, which i'll never get to) for only $45/mo plus 8% tax (in Albany).

There is a nice perk, however, in that I can pop my sim card out of my cell phone (it's a world phone) and then plug it into the free Google Chromebook i won in a pilot program (only runs a google chrome browser but is lightning fast!) and get mobile broadband while on the road almost anywhere with 3G and even 4G (gsm/hspa+) in most places I go in Albany and the surrounding areas. Sprint still only has 3G service around here with limited "older" 4G wimax service on some phones. Here's a good comparison chart for 4G service if you are curious as to the differences.

I even ported my number, but if I don't auto-refill it each month, i could lose it. I better be sure to keep my credit card up to date! =)

Have you found a great deal on unlimited smartphone cell service? let me know. I'm off contract for good now, so I might try it for a month!

Tech Tip # 9: Setting up Automatic actions using Ifttt.com

I was wondering just the other day "how can I have some kind of automatic text tell me the day before the forecast says it's going to snow?" and then Just today I ran across ifttt.com which stands for "If this then that" which basically allows you to set up automated tasks to happen using your various internet accounts/information like twitter, gmail, weather, the time, etc.  It is one of the most interesting developments and creative ideas I've yet seen on the internet. Of course it's free. Try it out!

One of the best features is that it shares popular ideas that others have figured out with you on their main "recipes" screen so if you also want to have that automatic task happen for you as well,  you can just activate it and so it saves you the time of setting up your own automatic "task" from scratch.  Often times it has information in it that you wouldn't know, like the RSS feed for NOAA Severe Weather Alerts. What a great way to share ideas!