It's a little late for spring cleaning, but I've just started re-organizing my web browser bookmarks.

There are a few links that we reference pretty often:

GetHuman: http://www.gethuman.com/us/ 
If you need to bypass an automated phone system and speak with a representative fast, this will definately be helpful!

Yahoo! Tech's "The Mom" blog: http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/devlin
A great blog from a mom on the go

Xinu (one of many hosted versions): http://xinureturns.com/
Check your webpage stats easily, including your Google pagerank


Encore Support: http://support.encoreusa.com/
The best tech support solution for Broderbund, Learning Company and Encore titles

Dorling-Kindersley / Windows XP Sound Card Errors: http://www.learnatglobal.com/html/xp_sound.html
The most common support issue we receive, and the easiest to fix!

Disney Interactive Windows XP Patch: http://a.disney.go.com/adownload/bvg/support/xp_download.html
One download fixes almost every Disney Interactive Windows XP issue

In an effort to reach students in largely technologically underserved areas of the world, Microsoft is going to offer a special deal.

Microsoft will offer the $3 Student Innovation Suite to governments that agree to directly purchase PCs for students to use in their schoolwork and at home. The special package includes Windows XP Starter Edition, Office Home and Student 2007, and several educational products.

Combined with the low-cost systems some hardware manufacturers have developed for the same target market, there are going to be a lot of happy students around the world!

We're slowly making the transition from a regular phone system to a Skype-based phone system, and it's been great! We get a full year's worth of service for the same price as two months of regular phone service, with even more features.

For businesses thinking of making the Skype switch, here's what we've found:

Pros:

• Easy to set up
• Use with Pamela (www.pamela-systems.com) for call recording, personalized voicemail, and call transfering features
• Extremely affordable
• Great call logs
• Great voice clarity (but we have a T1 business internet connection - quality may vary with different speeds)
• With the right add-on phone, you don't even need a computer
  

Cons:

• Pricing might change at any time
• Can't transfer old phone numbers to Skype
• Website can be downright misleading at times
• No outgoing Caller ID
  
• Some Skype phone hardware can be difficult to set up or clumsy to use
  Notably: US Robotics
• Requires add-on software like Pamela for the best functionality. But then again, Pamela is free :)

I can't tell what I like better right now - Skype or Pamela!

We used to use Bax Global for a large portion of our larger international shipments. For those of you who don't know, Bax Global is a transportation company, and we regularly used Bax for shipments to Australia and parts of Europe... but no more.

Bax lost a large package of ours headed to Malta, which was frustrating enough. The package made it as far as Chicago, IL, and was stalled there for several weeks. We had to call the manager of the Chicago branch personally several times just to get them to process the package. Why would we have to call a shipping company to make sure they ship a package?

Then, once the package was transferred to Belgium, it stalled again. Only this time, Bax refused to provide any contact information for this office, and our account manager refused to call. Instead, he emailed them once, and would have failed to follow up had we not contacted him every day for two weeks trying to get answers. It took him two weeks to even call the Belgium office to check on the package, by which time the Belgium office had lost the package.

All in all, a package that should have taken one week to arrive took two months of poking and prodding before being lost. But that's not where the headache began. We've been working on an insurance claim with Bax for this package ever since we suspected the package was lost. It's been close to four months since we shipped the package, and it's still not settled.

Instead, we've gotten really great rates from other shipping companies, and plan on dropping Bax Global from any future business. This probably won't affect many eBay customers, but if you've received shipments from Bax Global from us in the past, you'll start hearing from a different shipper from now on. We've gotten some good rates using UPS (which includes the brokerage fee! and door to door delivery), and will use UPS for many of our large 50lb+ international packages.  Goodbye, Bax!