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Follow these 3 simple steps to reset the “maintenance required” light on your Toyota Sienna: 1. Put vehicle into ignition mode (with keyed systems, turn key to position when dash indicator lights go on just before engine cranks. With push-button systems, push the “on” button twice with your foot off the brake pedal.) 2. With dash…

Equifax breech: Here’s direct links to freeze all 3 credit bureau reports

Concerned about the latest Equifax security breech that has affected nearly 150 million users? I was. I read a helpful article that recommended placing a freeze on my credit reports, which makes it impossible for new credit lines to be taken out. That sounded like the safest bet and best bang-for-the-buck, rather than paying $10-30/mo for identity theft monitoring. In about 10 minutes each, I had…

Why I no longer trust YELP for reviews

It only takes a few bad experiences to ruin a company’s reputation. In the case of YELP, I’ve had 3 out of 3 bad experiences with “5-star” reviewed service companies. As such, I believe YELP’s days of dominance are numbered. Here’s more on why: (Coming soon)

Review: why I’m not impressed with Tribe’s Events Calendar Pro

Screenshot, The Events Calendar Pro website, by Modern Tribe. // Credit: theeventscalendar.com Upon installing and setting up the calendar last week, I immediately encountered a few unexpected issues. Some issues had quick fixes via a search in Tribe’s forum, while other issues I was told to wait an unspecified amount of time to get the issue fixed in a future update. I post this review because…

Google’s Page-level ad earnings aren’t worth it. Here’s proof:

Wondering how much money you can expect to make with Google’s new mobile-optimized Page-level ads?  I was too. At first glance, Page-level ads seem like a great way to monetize traffic coming to your site from smartphones, but the reality is a very low CPC and minimal income, according to multiple bloggers who tried out the new vignette and anchor ads. Here’s a few excerpts of reviews: “I turned…

How to dispute a credit report issue in under 5 min (TransUnion)

Does your credit report contain information you don’t recognize or believe is inaccurate? Mine did. In my case, I found out TransUnion had an inaccurate lien notice of $123 from five years ago, which I had discovered in 2012 and had the county remove. A document online with the county even shows “removal invalid lien.” However, TransUnion hadn’t gotten that note for some reason, and it was…

Sky, cross. Photo credit: Luke Otterstad on Flickr.

Organizers: Why I use Pocket’s free app for productivity

Ever read an article online and then go back to find it and can’t? I’ve been using a free app called “Pocket” for the past few months, and found that it solves a few problems quite well. Downloading Pocket on a smartphone, and activating a browser add-on for desktops, will sync all your devices and allow you to save and categorize articles you read with just two pushes of a button. Now, when I…

Christmas. Photo by Luke Otterstad on Flickr.

Why I left Bluehost website hosting

So I found out today that the refund Bluehost promised if I weren’t happy with an upgrade to their “faster” Pro and Cloud hosting practically doesn’t exist. After running into consistent downtime and slow server speeds with Bluehost, I recently paid an extra $200+ to upgrade to PRO and then Cloud — hoping to get my site to speed up without the hassle of trying to switch to another hosting…

Cache plugins: fixing refresh/update issues

Does your WordPress-based website sometimes not show new content after you make a new post or edit? Most likely it’s an issue with your cache plugin. Every time I tried to activate a cache plugin to speed up my site, I found repeat visitors were seeing the same content they saw a few days ago when they had first visited. I would disable the cache and the problem was fixed — but how could I get…

WEB HOSTING REVIEW: Bluehost vs. WPEngine, server alternatives

After getting annoyed enough at Bluehost after “upgrading” to what I hoped would be a more reliable server at about $23/mo (Pro Cloud Hosting plan), my site went down mid-day for 22 minutes – just two days after the “upgrade.” The Bluehost customer service rep. I chatted with online about it suggested I “optimize” my WordPress site and linked me to an article that offered some basic tips about…

Short video shows what 500 frames per second looks like

Ever take a video of a cool lightning storm or another high-speed event and then go back to review the footage and find it… uninspiring — to say the least? That’s because a typical video is shot with 30 to 60 frames per second (fps), so even playing the video in slow motion, a standard camera can’t take a good record of high-speed happenings. This is why videoing lightning (for example) on a…