online

I am told that buying an engagement ring is even more stressful than mustering the gumption to propose.

Choosing the right ring is an expression of who you are and what you feel. It can leave you a wreck, feeling like you should check into a halfway house for spiritual guidance.

An enterprising online jewelry brand called Ocappi would like to give you a chance of survival, an opportunity to finally impress your lover beyond standing next to her at a party and grinning like a stuffed fish.

Ocappi will send six rings of your choice to your home, so … Read more

A decent shrink costs at least $100 an hour.

A decent pair of shoes can cost you the same and they last a lot longer. They understand you better too.

Surely, therefore, we shouldn't be surprised that more than half of all Americans admit that if they want to feel better, shopping is their chosen Xanax.

With just a click or two, you can be clicking your heels and forgetting the awful lover who told you that this was surely forever before becoming surly last night.

I have on my screen the results of a survey performed by TNS … Read more

If your federal or state taxes are easy to figure out, it hardly makes sense to pay someone else simply to file your returns. One option is Liberty Tax Service's eSmart Basic Service, which offers some advantages over other e-filing options we've tried, starting with the obvious one: It's free. The Basic online filing service has other things going for it, as well, including the ability to import data from competing tax software such as TurboTax, H&R Block at Home, and TaxAct; free technical support via Chat; and free CPA support if you're audited. … Read more

Reviewers have fawned over surround-sound speakers from Energy, a unit of the Klipsch Group.

Two years ago, CNET's Matt Moskovciak dubbed the Energy Take Classic 5.1 system "the best budget speaker system we've reviewed." The sound from the speakers is incredible, he wrote, and the $399 price tag unbeatable.

It was, anyway. A few months ago, upstart online retailer Monoprice debuted its 5.1 Hi-Fi Home Theater Satellite Speakers & Subwoofer system at $249. The speakers aren't just similar to the Energy system, and they don't just have the same dimensions and sound … Read more

Yelp has a new tool in place for business owners to gauge the value of its service.

The company yesterday announced a new tool, called "Revenue Estimate," that helps business owners determine the amount of revenue they're generating from their Yelp listings. The free tool multiplies the number of customer leads from Yelp each month by the company's average revenue per customer lead.

Yelp's Revenue Estimate follows a study released last week by the Boston Consulting Group, which found that local businesses with a free Yelp account saw revenue rise an average of $8,000 … Read more

Online storage provider RapidShare is expanding what it offers for its free service -- but it's also scrapped its earlier unlimited plan, even for customers who paid in advance for a longer-term period.

The Swiss company, with more than 50 employees, more than a thousand servers, and the capacity to store several petabytes of user data, announced the change March 12. Paying customers get a choice between a 250GB plan costing 10 euros ($12.96) a month and a 500GB plan costing 20 euros a month. The previous unlimited-storage option vanishes Wednesday.

The change reflects a reality for cloud … Read more

Web app Padlet calls itself a "multimedia friendly, free-form, real-time wiki." Which is to say, it's a blank canvas where you can throw ideas around with a virtual group. Each participant can post his or her thoughts, along with any files, photos, videos, and links that pertain to the discussion.

I hosted a Padlet conversation between me, myself, and I using a MacBook, a Windows laptop, and an iPad. Padlet worked flawlessly on each device. Let's take a look at how it works.

To start a Padlet session, head to its Web site and click the … Read more

Google's decision to sunset its Google Reader has proved a wildly unpopular one, and users of the RSS reader have turned to popular medium for effecting change: the online petition.

Google announced this afternoon that it will shutter the service in July. In a company blog post today, Google said the decision was based on declining usage of the RSS reader, which was launched in 2005.

Many turned to Twitter to express their disappointment with the decision. While some said they relied heavily on the service, others admitted their use had become less frequent. Still, others said Google greed … Read more

A California state senator plans to introduce a bill tomorrow that would make California the first state in the nation to require its public universities and colleges to award academic credit for faculty-approved online courses.

The bill, to be submitted by California Senate President Darrell Steinberg, comes as state budgets for higher education are being slashed across the U.S., resulting in fewer spots for students in courses required for graduation. Credit for online courses would help students who are unable to register for impacted classes, possibly preventing expensive extended stays in school.

"We want to be the first … Read more