So you bought a new computer but you don’t have serial ports?

It’s surprisingly common these days – you find an awesome machine that does everything you want it to do, but then you get home and find out that amongst the lightning-fast processor and terabyte hard drive, you’re missing something – a serial port.

Most laptop manufacturers have killed RS-232

In an effort to enforce newer standards, such as USB and FireWire, many laptop manufacturers have let serial ports fall by the wayside. They don’t take into account the millions of people and businesses that still require serial ports for one application or another.

Add a true serial port with a USB adapter

You can use a USB to Serial Adapter to easily and quickly add a serial port to your laptop. The nice thing about the adapter is that you can use multiple adapters on one machine (using a hub or an add-on card) and dynamically set the COM assignment.

Various serial devices requiring some type of serial port

Many PDA’s, GPS units, routers, printers, fax machines, etc. still require serial ports. A lot of these devices are moving to newer standards, most notably USB, but many still operate on legacy technologies (serial or parallel) because of the difficulty in rewriting drivers for the newer standards.

Preston Wily is the Director of Marketing for Sewell Direct, a retailer of hard-to-find computer hardware and accessories.

Washing Sails

Often you will see a beautiful sail boat with a dirty sail, you say “yuk” and are glad that is not you out there. Sometimes you feel sorry for the gent, knowing that cleaning sails is difficult and can take hours. Have you ever washed your sails? Have you ever paid someone else too? Are you sure they knew what they were doing? How do you know they did not do more damage than good in cleaning it?

It is safest to wash sails by hand. Mix soap in a bucket and lightly brush with a soft bristle 18″ brush. If using a hot water pressure washer, put a 45 tip on it and cut pressure to 1100 PSI. Too much pressure wears out threads, often those who own boat washing companies are too hastily in their cleaning and inadvertently cause slight damage each time they clean it. Don’t put sails in a washing machine, many people still do this, however many of the newer materials are not conducive to this type of cleaning. This especially kills Dacron fabrics.

It is important to remove all of the salt and grime. Salt can act as an abrasive wearing down life, sealing in dirt and holding in moisture. Never put away a wet sail. Make sure it’s dry. Do not over brush or use too much pressure. Mold and mildew spots may need a mild form of bleach. On Kevlar sails, do not use soap. Rinse only and no bleach, please never use any bleach. You may be surprised that you can remove ten pounds or more worth of salt and dirt from a large sail. This will increase performance and you will be able to feel the difference.

“Lance Winslow” – Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

One way to make money on eBay that a lot of sellers underestimate is by making money on returns. Items get returned to almost every seller eventually as it’s impossible to satisfy all of the buyers all of the time. By turning your returns into profits you can make money on eBay without simply selling your items.

If you are going to make money on eBay from your returns then it is important not to refund shipping charges. You will probably make money on eBay from your shipping charges anyway if you are using cheaper materials and have a standard shipping cost for items, regardless of their weight. If you just refund the charge of the returned items but not the shipping then you are going to make money on eBay because you will be able to charge the same shipping cost to another buyer who bids on the returned item when you relist it. As you have already made a profit from the shipping charge the first time, you are going to double that profit the second time you ship the item and be able to make money on eBay from your returns that from your original listing.

To help you make even more money on your returned items you can charge a restocking fee. This is not something that buyers particularly like and it may lead to negative feedback but you are within your rights to charge a restocking fee and it is a surefire way to make money on eBay from your returns. It would be advisable to only charge a restocking fee on more expensive or bulky items to lessen the chance of receiving bad feedback which will have a negative impact on your chances to make money from eBay by reducing your sales.

If you have an item returned then the best way to make money on eBay is, of course, to list it in another auction. However, it is important to take note of the reason for the return to ensure that it does not happen the second time and make it impossible for you to make money on eBay from selling the item as it keeps getting returned. If the item was returned because it was not what the buyer expected then you have to make sure that you write your description more clearly the second time around to maximise your chances of having a satisfied buyer and being able to make money on eBay that you intended to in the first place.

Steve Gargin is the administrator of all-ebay-info.helper-guru.com which is a free resource site totally dedicated to helping visitors use eBay effectively.

I don’t know about you, but I live in a place where you can’t really do much in summer, except perhaps shed all you clothes, stretch yourself out tight in an air conditioned room, and pant like a dog. Getting out is a punishment, and no one does it unless they are forced to. Your very survival is at stake; activities are out of the question.

But since you have your summer vacation, you’d like to spend it doing something meaningful and fun. Now what are the most popular fun things that people all over the world do during their summer vacations?

In summer, people like to get in or near the water. They look for recreational activities involving water. For example, there is whitewater rafting. What can match the thrill of paddling furiously as your inflatable rubber raft pitches and bobs dangerously, moving swiftly with the turbulent rush of water in the rapids? You have trained and expert guides to take care of you in case you put yourself in any danger. There are canoes and kayaks waiting on the sidelines to pick you up in case you manage to capsize. But still you feel the delicious threat of living life on the edge of safety. Your adrenaline pump works overtime. You feel alive like never before.

But this sort of high-octane, unrelenting extreme sport is not everyone’s idea of good fun. What do you do if you are the quiet sort of person, not particularly athletic, and dislike too much physical exertion? Well, there’s a popular water-based sport for you too – there’s fly fishing. What’s more relaxing than watching the float minute after minute as you sit coolly by, perhaps reading a favorite book or perhaps chatting away to your heart’s content with like-minded friends or family members? And when a sizable specimen does indeed swallow your bait, the kick that you get out of it is hardly matched in any other sport.
There are many more aquatic activities for your summer delight. If you’d like to get in closer contact with the waves, why not try out scuba diving? There’s a whole new world waiting for you down there. If you choose your scuba spot wisely, you’ll get rich glimpses of a wholly different level of existence – the world of fish, corals, mollusks and other forms of marine life.
For some who want to really cool it off, water isn’t quite enough. They opt for snow and ice. Skiing, skating and snowboarding are some of the most popular activities of the western world. But how do you get snow in summer? The answer is, not cheaply. There are places in Canada and also in Europe where it is possible to indulge in these activities all the year round. But whether in the Rockies or in the Alps, this will be much costlier than any of your other options. Of course, if your budget permits it, then what the heck?

My personal favorite activity during the summer is one that suits my budget best. I simply take a collection of my favorite books and movies, and hole up in an air conditioned room for a few weeks. They push the food in through small hatches, and clear up the dishes at night. Try it sometime, you might even like it!

Visit the Hawaii Forum Today www.hawaiiforum.org to find more !