Split The Rent Evenly…

 

I was thinking about this a lot in the past few days, what's the best way to  split the rent evenly and fairly that won’t lead to the destruction of friendships. In particular this became a point of importance as I plan on spending my summer in San Francisco with some friends. Fourteen to be exact. Now the easiest thing would be just split the rent 14 ways were we all to live together, but clearly this isn’t going to be fair or even. Also there is NO CHANCE I’m sharing one place with fourteen people.

So what is the fairest way to split the rooms and split the rent. Well I came across this blog.

http://splittherent.blogspot.com/

This whole thing was created by Jonathan Bittner (No, I’ve  never seen is spelt that way either), and astrophysics graduate student from Harvard.

The basics of how it works are this. Split the rent gives you the “market” value of how the rent should/could be fairly split between all parties involved.

What is handles best? Well according to the site, unequally sized rooms, couples sharing, up to 8 bedrooms and the extras of the rooms such as windows, closets, toilets, etc... (It takes note of every factorial it can think of)

Now this calculator clearly isn’t for everyone, if you find yourself in the worst of rooms, but are willing to pay more rent, something needs to be negotiated there. It all comes down to, negotiation over rooms with your friends once you use the calculator. But give it a go now, see if it satisfies your needs.

Go to Jon’s site here: Split the Rent Calculator

Dropbox, More Than Just Storage…

 

If you’re like me then you probably have multiple computers that are constantly in rotation. Or you might be using a work computer and so you don’t have access to your usual collection of tabs and bookmarks that you’d like. The familiarity of your home browser is nice right?

Well Dropbox, my favourite find ever comes in to save the day, again. With the use of a the lovely little portable versions of Google Chrome and Firefox and a few other extensions you can have the familiarity of your home browser anywhere without having to carry around a memory stick as seen above.

Now lets get started, get yourself Dropbox by clicking ME.

Ok, now that that's installed. get these, one or the other, or both if you’re partial to switching browsers:

Google Chrome

Mozilla Firefox

When you download them make you pick their install path as the Dropbox folder. (As portable apps they take up minimal space)

Now for those of you who are completely lost as to where we’re going now it’s all quite simple. Get yourself Google Sync for Firefox and this will sort you out.

For those using Chrome, in options you’ll find sync computer settings in the basic browser settings.

Now it’s just that simple function of syncing you’re browsers.

Ta-Da you’re done. Now you have some fully portable apps wherever you go, and its all there in your Dropbox and no one else can gain access to anything you’ve browsed, including history, mistakenly left open Facebook's etc.

If you require any other portable apps, for anything from video editing, to openoffice, check out this site; Portable Apps

Enjoi Tiny Browsing.

A quick apology to any readers...

This is just to say sorry for the lack of content lately, I have been swamped with work and college and assignments, I've also been freelancing a lot lately too. From tomorrow onwards i start work with the Dubliner and plan to focus my time more so I might fit everything in, expect more content in the coming days.

- Greg

CloudMagic…

 

Windows/Mac/Linux (Chrome & Firefox): This is CloudMagic, the video explain it all really but in short, what used to be a speedy Gmail only app is now covering Google Docs and Contacts too. Helping you find your entire life in the cloud easily.

CloudMagic also doesn’t retain your Google password, for that little extra security too and although its not as in-depth as some search modifiers it is a lot faster.

Working with Chrome and Firefox on all kinds of Operating Systems get CloudMagic here: Integrated Instant Search for online data – Gmail, Google Docs & Contacts

Fun Fact for Apple Fans…

 

Ever return a product to Apple only to be told that your warranty has been void due to water damage, even if you’ve secured it in a water proof vault on top of a mountain, how could this happen?

Well it turns out there’s a small lightly coloured dot inside a lot of devices that turns red/pink when exposed to water. Put in place so that when a service technician is looking for a problem they can stop right there and pronounce your beloved gadget "dead”.

But according to a policy change at Apple, a significant argument can move your iDevice along the repair line. It turns out cold weather conditions and other such events can cause this dot to show. So next time you’re told it’s just water damage and out of their hands, make your case.