What services/sites do you pay for?

@snapster I like that dollaraday idea very much but that's a fairly big committment to someone on a tight budget. Wish they had a quarter a day version.

@moondrake - Here you can donate food by playing trivia and language games: http://freerice.com/#/english-vocabulary/6170 Click "New subjects" for different topics.

@KDemo Thanks, I used to use that "free rice" site but forgot about it.

@snapster You can get Consumer Reports free through a lot of town public libraries, just a heads up

@moondrake Google has OneToday with a similar idea, except you select which charity to donate your dollar to, and you do not need to donate every day.

@Eris Thanks!

@moondrake How technical are you? I suggest AWS for photos and a VPN.

@Collin1000 I'm ignorant but clever when it comes to tech. My techie friends are often surprised at my odd workarounds. AWS.com doesn't seem to be the right site, what's the full name? PIA (Private Internet Access) and IP Vanish are listed mong the top three providers across about 15 review sites, so those are the ones I am looking at for VPN.

@moondrake amazon web services http://aws.amazon.com/

@moondrake I was looking for a VPN about two months ago. I found that most of the review sites were affiliate landing pages pointing people to the highest paying commission. I built my own VPN using Amazon Web Services not out of tinfoil "I don't trust other companies" fears, but because it's something I like being able to run myself. As for photos, I would suggest Amazon Web Services S3, last I checked it was way cheaper than Dropbox, pricing can be found here: http://aws.amazon.com/s3/pricing/

@Collin1000 Yeah, I was wary of that. But sites like Kickass torrents and PC mag seem pretty reliable. I am far from being sufficently sophisticated to build my own network. One of my concerns is being able to properly use a prefab program, or paying for the service and doing something wrong in setup and not getting any benefit out of it. A site with good customer service is one of the features I am shopping for. I'd love to pay for it with Bitcoin but that whole thing is just bewildering.

@moondrake Not sure about desktop, but for mobile, I'd recommend http://www.f-secure.com/en/web/home_global/freedome solely on the basis of the company being great at what they do, and very committed

@speediedelivery Look at Republic Wireless. Works great for me.

@ceagee Yeah, Meh is my $5 monthly charity site, too.

@barnabee lol

@Thumperchick what's that low carb forum? I'm very interested.

@grobbins http://forum.lowcarber.org/

@cwh That looks like a nice site but it's on the pricey side. I was paying $25 a year at Flickr for unlimited space but a password SNAFU and no customer service forced me out. Sadly, I can't get back in to retreive the 3,000+ images I have stored there, either. But Picturelife is $50 a year for 25g, which is probably just adequate for me. Why do you like this site more than the competitors?

@JonT I think Wikipedia needs a PBS style preroll.

@SSteve I love Maximum Fun! But I've never listened to Judge John Hodgman, only JJGO and dabbling in some others so far.

@JonT Judge John Hodgman is my #1 podcast. If you listen you should start back around episode 17 so you can get old references and also experience the show developing its identity and themes. It will be worth it.

@SSteve Sounds good, I'm just super far behind on a ton of podcasts. That's what I did with JJGO, went back about 100 episodes and caught all the way up.

@Starblind Cancel your Dollar Shave Club membership and order directly from www.dorcousa.com. It's the company DSC gets their blades from and you can buy them for less.

@Cinoclav Awesome advice Cinoclav. I just wish dorco had such catchy marketing : P

@gilar1ja If they did you'd have to pay as much as DSC!

@jsh139 That's all I have too. The subscription model hasn't really gotten me yet.

@caffeine_dude Yep, going to set my mom up with the E, use her as a personal beta tester, then get the updated Moto X whenever they start to ship it. Aren't I kind to family?

@Ringold IMHOP it is an easy gamble, if you have cell coverage. Your total investment for a test will be under $130 to try. If it does not work out in under 30 days you get most of your money back. https://republicwireless.com/sites/acquia.republicwireless.com/files/30-Day-Guarantee_11-12-13.pdf

@jimmyd103 Shoprunner & Amazon Prime? I'm guessing you really love buying things (or just hate paying for shipping). How is Shoprunner? I don't order much, but I've been curious about it.

@dashcloud It has been worth it. I got it for free when prime raised their rates.

Oh, and if I ever hook up any of the Xbox Ones cluttering my crib, I guess I'll have to do the Live thing. I don't know whether Live Gold buys me anything extra that I'd consider worthwhile.

@jenny What's your Amazon/Ebay stores?

@wishlish I judge you the same way I judge @JonT

@chibisara Stitch Fix is a crap shoot. I'm on my 4th or 5th box, and I FINALLY kept an entire one. They keep switching people on me. But my friend has it and she keeps nearly everything every time. I wish you well. Let me know what you think of it.
Even though I often hate stuff in my Fix, I have to say it's still really fun.

@Homechicken I've read about makerspaces, they seem super cool. I hear some libraries have the best ones with cool stuff like 3D printers. What do you make at yours?

@JonT Projects from Make magazine, some woodworking, some hobby circuits. Whatever strikes my fancy at the time. Makerspaces are great for developing an idea with other like-minded creative types. Sometimes it's fun to just bounce ideas around.

@bluejester Hulu's commercials are a profound irritant.

@bluedyn The guinea pig one. We want to be able to compare and contrast our experiences with yours and possibly occasionally experience the same shipping snafus. But unlike the rest of you suckers we get our VMP free, which is diabolical because I give a decent chunk of my paycheck right back buying crap from here.

@JonT Five bucks a month. That's quite a perk that @snapster is giving you.

@barnabee the stupid thing is it costs the company more than that because we can't stop buying our own stuff. But it just didn't make sense to ban ourselves!

@snapster I always wondered how you were able to swing the $5 flat shipping charges. I mean, I guess I always assumed it was a loss leader, especially when it came to really heavy items. Care to share what the "deal" is behind $5 shipping?

@jsh139 probably simplest to think of it as a loyalty program. We skim some off the top of the unwashed masses to fund your loyalty. Edit - oh, I answered for VMP not shipping...

@snapster Sorry, I wasn't really clear. I wasn't referring to VMP. I meant the $5 normal shipping for non-VMPs. Do you have some kind of crazy deal with FedEx in order to be able to only charge $5?

@jsh139 so shipping isn't much different an answer I guess - it comes out in the wash as an over/under amount across many items. On a few larger/heavier items we do have to factor it into what we can pay to acquire a deal but it usually doesn't stop us from being able to get something done.

@snapster Gotcha. Thanks :)

@JonT That IS diabolical. I wasn't far off when some time ago I suggested staff get paid in Meh scrip.

@snapster - so, I'm holding out for meh prime. Kind of the same thing on a bigger scale. Say, one year of free shipping and one fuku warning.

@joelmw Ira is the man.

@JonT I realize when I look at or listen to Ira that I might actually want to be more dweeby, because he totally makes it work. And he is just so damn good at what he does--and it's an important thing whose value is way underrated. Plus I want them to put together a collection of his bits for the pledge drives, because several of them are epic. I listen attentively to the pledge drive hoping desperately to hear his voice. That sounds a little sick, I suppose. I'm okay with that. I wish they'd bring back the annual simulcast (one of them served as my first synchronous long-distance date with the woman who is now my wife; I think she's okay with how I feel about Ira, btw). I could go on and on and on about Ira and TAL.