These folks have figured it out: Their site contains a blog and member interaction. They have a Facebook page with (as of this writing) about 36,000 fans. They have how-to videos as useful as anything on television. You can customize your profile. There are newsletters and an RSS feed, and most useful of all, an iPhone application, with more than 30,000 recipes — by meal, by ingredient, by event (Mardi Gras, Super Bowl, you name it).

The app features customer reviews and even generates your own hand-held shopping list. How our mothers ever put a meal on the table sans technology is beyond me.

— By Erika Stutzman

But it’s so much more than that. The online dashboard shows your splits — how fast you’re running over the course of a run — and audio cues tell you how far you’ve gone and your average speed.

You can program your own workouts. You can join a team of fellow runners to inspire you and to compete with. You can manually enter gym workouts, and the GPS will also track your bike rides, your ski runs, your walks.

The extremely passionate users are on Facebook, offering support and tips. Measure your week-to-week progress with a simple bar graph. Want a smaller butt? Want something to inspire you to get out of bed in the morning? Yeah, there’s an app for that.

— By Erika Stutzman

For both events, and dozens more like them, word was spread via the social networking site TransitionColorado.ning.com.

“(Social-networking sites) have really served the Transition movement in this country very well,” says Dana Miller, an initiative group member of Transition Denver. “And Transition Colorado was the first Ning site to be put up.”

The Transition movement started in the United Kingdom in 2005, and spread across the Atlantic Ocean last year when Transition Boulder County became the first such group in the United States in May 2008. Since then, the Transition movement has blossomed.

Ning is an open-source Internet platform first launched in 2005 that allows users to create and customize their own social-networking site.

A large part of the Transition movement’s mission is to connect communities and facilitate sustainable-living practices in a time of climate change, and to reduce reliance on fossil fuels.

The Transition Colorado Ning site boasts more than 1,100 members. Smaller — Transition Boulder, Transition Denver, Transition Lyons, Transition Naropa, and several more — have sprouted from the Transition Colorado Ning site. Members can create and join discussions on various topics, and communicate with each other about upcoming events.

The movement might not have spread so fast if it had sprouted a decade ago, before the advent of online social-networking sites, Miller says.

Eco-Cycle has also joined the social-media trend by creating Facebook and Twitter pages. Updates on Eco-Cycle’s Twitter page have included links to stories about reducing waste, the problems with plastic, a look at mega-concert Bonnaroo’s Zero Waste efforts and eco-conscious facts.

– By Mark Collins

Catch us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/womensmag.
Be our Myspace friend: www.myspace.com/boulderwomensmag.

There are many easy-to-use online communities and shopping portals that offer great deals, easy to use coupons, as well as administrative areas to help you keep track of your spending and the products you need and use.

There are also fun ways to save, such as throwing a banana box party. Wondering what the banana we’re talking about? Check out our favorite ways to have fun shopping and find real bargains online.

Alice.com — Online shopping, real coupons and household organization at your fingertips.
This is a fantastic site where you don’t have to make bulk purchases, and shipping is always free. Here, you can organize your household purchases, as well as use real coupons on thousands of products.
Alice keeps track of your items, alerts you to coupons and reminds you what you’re running low on with an e-mail alert. Alice also assists you with planning and budgeting. Best of all, the site is free.
Coming soon: An option that will allow automatic purchases of regularly used items, a fantastic idea for those of us who like regular supplies of toilet paper and toothpaste.

The site makes online shopping fun and coupon hunting super easy. Save on gas and trips to the store.

Liquidation.com — The current economy is teaching us new ways of saving money online, and many consumers are starting to realize that purchasing in bulk not only helps you save a ton of cash but also can be fun.

Banana boxes are boxes full of various items — mostly groceries — and retail “shelf pulls” that are sold in bulk. (They’re packaged in banana boxes.) Banana box parties are popping up all over the country among savvy moms and college students. They purchase items in bulk via banana boxes and share the loot at parties. On Liquidation.com, click on “general merchandise,” and then click on “groceries” to find banana boxes of grocery products that you can bid on. Check the inventory list of items for each box to see what you’re buying. Many boxes also include photos so you can view product labels.

I found one banana box with $120 worth of goods for an auction price of $10.

FatWallet.com — Get paid to make purchases online.

FatWallet.com is an “affiliate partner” of the merchants that advertise on the site. FatWallet gets paid a commission for each sale on their Web site, and the site then pays you a portion of that commission. Many merchants also offer custom coupon codes on the site.

FatWallet features fantastic savings and cash-back shopping for well known brands, such as Sears, Cooking.com, Buy.com, Bloomingdales, eBay and more. The list covers everything, from restaurants to grocery items, as well as clothing, jewelry and travel.

Membership is free, and you can sign up for e-mail alerts for new coupons that you’ll be hard-pressed to find anywhere else.

CouponCabin.com — Print it or click it; either way you save it.

CouponCabin.com is another site that negotiates exclusive coupons and savings from online stores. CouponCabin gets a commission for each sale and entices millions of savvy consumers to the site with their unique and, in many cases, exclusive coupons from top-brand stores.

You will also find printable and grocery coupons — huge discounts on name brand items at stores such as Target, the Home Depot, Barnes & Noble, Office Depot, Sports Authority, Sephora, Petco and Safeway.
You can even rent a car for 20 percent off, get a free Gymboree class pass, grab free samples and get access to coupons and offers with only a click of your mouse.

— By Heather Paulson
Paulson is the president of Boulder-based PaulsonManagementGroup.com, a full-service eCommerce agency specializing in affiliate program management, search engine management and eCommerce consulting. She has more than 13 years of experience helping businesses online. Contact her at 800-384-7760, heather@paulsonmanagementgroup.com or www.paulsonmanagementgroup.com.

Catch Women’s Magazine on Twitter: www.twitter.com/womensmag.
Be our Myspace friend: www.myspace.com/boulderwomensmag.

In its practical form, it serves as a mass instant messaging platform that allows you to message from your phone via text or from the Web site to friends and family who can be constantly updated on your whereabouts and doings.

Twitter is used in a professional capacity as a way of networking directly with company executives and other businesses or vendors. It is free, easy to use and rewarding for those who wisely make use of its great potential.

Sign up at www.twitter.com. Consider carefully what you wish to use Twitter for, however, before choosing a profile name and setting up your account. Is it for business or pleasure? Your Twitter profile should jive with your intentions.

People often make big mistakes using Twitter. For example, don’t use a fake picture as the avatar. Post a photo of yourself so people know whom they’re talking to. On the other hand, don’t include too much personal information. Posting overly personal or emotional tweets about politics, religion or other hot topics can turn other tweeters off.

Ten ways to be a good tweeter

1. Find out who is “tweeting” about you or your products at www.search.twitter.com. Search for your keywords. If you want others to tweet about you, post interesting messages that you think others would like to share.

2. Direct-message other Twitter users privately. This is like sending an e-mail. You might want to direct message someone to arrange a meeting or let them know about your product.

3. You can also “retweet” (or repost on your page) other people’s posts that you find engaging. Sharing other twitter followers’ information will please them, and they will be more apt to retweet one of your posts in return.

Photo by Flickr user Ed Yourdon

4. Use Tweetdeck.com. Here, you can find your retweets, as well as direct messages sent to you. You can also search for tweets about you. I use Tweetdeck to follow trends and monitor competitors.

5. How often you tweet depends on the topic. If you’re using it for work, make timely tweets about positive corporate news, such as new products. Announce events and what happens at the event to draw attention to it. Aim for at least 10 tweets per day, mixed in with re-tweets to ensure you’re interacting with your followers.

6. Tweet topics define you or your company. People like funny, reflective or educational tweets the best — not bad news. Keep it light and fun. Use Twitter as a marketing tool to shine a positive light on your company.

7. Be respectful of other tweeters. Don’t make fun of other people’s topics or engage in a word battle. If you don’t like what someone is saying, simply stop following them.

9. Include source links. If you talk about news or a blog, include the link. Use www.tinyurl.com to shorten your link so it fits in the allotted post space. Tweetdeck.com automatically comes with this feature.

10. Using “# hashtags” is an effective way to group events or respond to tweets about events or group postings. A hashtag is like a keyword. Put the pound sign in front of a keyword, and when people search for that keyword, your tweet will pop up.

For example, if your company is going to a convention in New York, you can tell your team members to mention “#convNY09” in their tweets. You can keep in the loop by going to www.search.twitter.com and typing in “#convNY090.” You will get a list of all tweets using that hashtag, such as “Hey team, I made it to #convNY09. I’ll be at the bar!”

Have fun with Twitter, and feel free to follow me once you have signed up: Twitter.com/heatherpaulsons.
Catch Women’s Magazine on Twitter: www.twitter.com/womensmag.  Be our Myspace friend: www.myspace.com/boulderwomensmag.

— By Heather Paulson
Paulson is the president of Boulder-based PaulsonManagementGroup.com, an eCommerce agency specializing in affiliate program management, search engine management and eCommerce consulting. She has more than 13 years of experience helping businesses online. Contact her at 800-384-7760, heather@paulsonmanagementgroup.com or www.paulsonmanagementgroup.com.

Photo by Garry Knight, Flickr user garryknight.

Most wired women could learn a lesson about online anonymity from the playful notes they wrote in middle school.

Picture this: You are 13 and bored in third-period geometry. You decide to write a note to your best friend who sits in the desk next to you. The note’s sparkly purple ink shines with all the intimate details of your day, including how much you secretly love Jimmy Gardner and how much you really hate this class. You fold the note with your intrinsic teenage note-folding origami skills. Scrawled across the top of the note are the words “For your eyes only!!!”

And yet this is the eighth grade. Despite your careful maneuvers, your BFF probably isn’t the only person who will read the note. You teacher might catch you mid-pass. Your best friend could betray you and show the note to Jimmy Gardner. Or she might throw it away, leaving the note available for any curious trash-digging third party.

The point is, once you write it down, you don’t have any control over where the information ends up.

All of these scenarios easily translate to the Internet. Another person can potentially view almost all that we do online. Despite most people’s confidence in secrecy, it’s rare that we are ever completely anonymous on the Web.

Take work, for instance. It’s likely your boss has access to your “private” employee e-mail account. You’ll feel like a silly schoolgirl when she catches you bad-mouthing her in an e-mail, the grown-up version of note-passing.

Or take your private life. As you sip your iced chai and access the free wi-fi at Panera, any computer-savvy customer can follow what you are doing by hacking the open network.

Even on secure severs, your Web movements are constantly tracked by companies. Every time you google something your search inquiry is stored in a Google database along with your IP address.

Still, anonymity on the Web isn’t something to lose sleep over.

Geek for Hire Inc. is a computer troubleshooting and repair company based in Nederland. The “principal geek,” Chris Eddy, says your private information is protected just by the sheer number of Internet users.
Most of the time there is so much data flowing in cyberspace that the chances of a hacker picking you out of a crowd are pretty thin. Users are “hiding in plain sight,” he says.

Still, there are a few precautions you can take to better protect your identity.

1. Every week you should clear out your cookies.

Think of Web cookies as thrown-away school notes; even after you leave a Web site or throw away a note, the information still exists, even if it is sitting in the trash can. Web sites plant bits of computer code on your computer in order to gain information about the sites you visit. On your Web browser, open your privacy tab through the tools menu and erase the stored cookies.

2. Check out sites such as www.torproject.org and www.anonymizer.com that offer browsing tools to make your search inquiries anonymous.

3. Finally, make sure that you don’t use work for personal e-mails. Sign up for a free and private account on Hotmail or Yahoo.

And as far as e-mail goes, in general it’s best to remember your mother’s advice. Don’t write and send any notes that you wouldn’t mind the entire class reading.

For more information on computer security or troubleshooting, call Geek for Hire Inc. at 303-258-8175.

— By Jessica Warnock

The author, in seventh grade, wearing the pink choker.

Turning 50 on Facebook scares me more than co-ed dodgeball in junior high ever did.

Don’t get me wrong, I could take the faceplants and cover for the sissy girls. I grew up in a male-centric household with a Boston-Irish dad who was taller than Frankenstein’s monster and could be scarier than “The Creature from the Black Lagoon.”

I was a scrappy kid, lanky and loquacious. I chewed gum off the sidewalk. I ding-dong-ditched neighbors and crank-called friends. At show-and-tell, I told the longest stories, often using non-verbals to heighten my drama; “And then he choked me like this.” In choir, I sang with my head thrown back, mouth wide open. (“I can always hear you best,” mom said.)

Still, Facebook at 50 scares me. You never know who’s going to crawl out of cyberspace and ask to be your friend.

I logged on to Facebook for the first time a couple of years ago to join a political candidate’s group. Nothing much happened with that social networking effort, so my profile sat silent until last fall when a guy from the good old days wanted to be my friend. I had to think: Was he one of the creeps who used to beat me up? Being curious, I accepted his invitation.

Even though I was a knockabout tomboy, I wasn’t a bully. Well, except that one time with Joanne Guercio. She was my best friend for a summer; we were inseparable. I don’t remember exactly what happened but by fall we were archenemies. While in a leg cast from knee surgery, I talked my little brother and his friends into chasing her home. They threw her schoolbooks in a garbage can and stayed on her terrorized tail right up to her front door. All the while, I was home watching “Gilligan’s Island” and drinking Kool-Aid.

After accepting the guy-from-the-good-old-day’s Facebook invite, I started getting all sorts of friend requests. I’m pretty sure a couple of them used to bully me a bit. So does the excitement of finding someone from their past trump what they actually did to that person?

As a kid and teenager, I wasn’t physically bullied a lot but I did get my fair share of revilement. We moved around a lot. My dad was climbing the corporate ladder while germinating his nuclear family. I recall the first day at my new junior high. I wore shocking pink hot pants and some shrimp called me a “slut.” I didn’t know the meaning of the word and was too afraid and embarrassed to ask my mom what he meant. From that day on, the slut guy and his buddies set me in their sights every now and again for a good verbal bulldozing. I quit choir that year.

As I stare at my Facebook friend requests and their profiles, my brain clatters through memories, searching for the younger version of the face, the voice, the insult, any clue that could help me remember who these people are. As I gawk at the thumbnail of a man on a mountain bike, I wonder if he is slut guy. I pull my magnifying glass out for a better peak. I reach down to rub my burning bunions. I stop and take my Omega 3 and daily aspirin. I look at the photo again then sip my green tea and yank out a stray gray hair. I yawn a few times. I forget what I’m doing.

Yep, I am definitely turning 50. My Facebook friends poked me into posting my birthdate on my profile. Now the entire social networking world knows my mid-century milestone.
Who knows who will crawl out of the Web to wish me a happy birthday or to ask to be my friend? If slut guy does, I’ll ignore him. If Guercio asks, I’ll humbly accept her invitation.

— By Bridget Cassidy

I heard about a shocking study that turned my fashion world upside down: When polled, the vast majority of men say they think a woman is prettiest when she’s wearing jeans, a T-shirt and a ponytail.

When I heard this (on the radio, mind you. I couldn’t find the actual study online anywhere), I had to laugh. All stylists I’ve ever interviewed agree that the universally most flattering thing for a woman to wear is an A-line dress. I agree, which is why my closet contains 99 percent dresses and a few other things, I don’t really know what, I should probably ship it all to Good Will.

I went home and told my boyfriend about the study. I laughed. Then he stopped me.

“No, it’s true,” he said.

I stood stunned. First, because I couldn’t even remember the last time I wore jeans. How uncomfortable – having to have fabric sewn tightly between your legs like that! And T-shirts don’t have twirling capacity. Plus – yawn. How boring. I couldn’t imagine getting excited about wearing the single most cliché outfit in the United States. But did my boyfriend think I was not looking my best for him because I had (gasp!) been dressing up all this time?

Join the debate –are jeans and T-shirts really the sexiest outfit for a woman? — and read more on Aimee Heckel’s blog, www.boulderandthebeautiful.com.

This year resolve to keeping your digital space organized. This can cut the virtual clutter and make your machine run more smoothly. Here are five ways to clean up your computer for 2009:

1. E-mail

Go ahead, clean it up. Create folders to organize your inbox. Options: by sender, topics categories (i.e. family, yoga, travel). Download attachments so you can delete the large e-mails and free up space.

2. Photos

Download images off of your camera so you have space to take more photos. Again, create categories on your computer so you can easily find pictures you’re looking for. Print out images (www.mikescamera.com) so you can show off your grandkids without lugging around your laptop or be stuck with tiny images on your camera screen.

3. Desktop

Surprise: more folders. Creating a folder called “applications” for all of your shortcut icons. Create a folder called “travel,” and then create sub-folders for individual trips. That way, any trip itineraries, confirmation documents and post-vacation photos can all live in one handy place. You may also want to change the icon of the folder to be a quick visual guide.

4. Empty your trash (e-mail and desktop)

When you move items to the trash, your computer creates a new folder for trash items. In order to actively “delete” these items, visit your e-mail and desktop trash folders and click “permanently delete.” While those items will be gone forever, your slate will be clean and your programs will run faster.

5. Organize passwords

I know this goes against your IT-guy’s recommendation, but maybe you want to create a document and jot down all of your passwords. Sometimes personal sanity has to outweigh network security. Another option is to create a “Whisper” file (www.securityconfig.com/whisper-32-114), which is a software program to keep track of all those passwords.

– By Libby Niemi

Niemi is a Web consultant for Prairie Mountain Publishing. Her blog is www.libbylines.pmpblogs.com.

Check out www.womensmag.com for blogs, photo galleries and links to all of our stories online.

And while you’re on the techno-kick, be our Myspace friend: www.myspace.com/boulderwomensmag.

Every month, we as the same question to women of different ages.

This month’s question:

How are the holidays different than when you were a child?

20s

“Well, when I was a child, there were presents. As I have gotten older, there are fewer and fewer presents. This holiday season will be the third time that I will not go home. The first time that I didn’t go home was a little depressing, but this year it’s just another day. When I was a child, it was a countdown to Christmas. In my hometown, there was a house that would do a countdown in the upstairs window: 30 days to Christmas, 25 days to Christmas, two days to Christmas — very exciting.”

– Sonya D. Gaona, of Denver

“The holidays have changed for me because it is no longer about the presents. It is about being surrounded by the ones you love most. It feels great to spend that time curled up by the fireplace and telling fun stories about previous holidays.”

– Suzy Marie Winton, of Evergreen

30s

“I think they’re more about spending time with friends. I live further away from my family now. It’s more the personal interaction rather than the getting and giving presents. More about spending time together and time away from work and to do exactly what you want, rather than a celebration about material things.”

– Wendy Wray, of Denver, who works in Boulder

40s

“When I was a child (in the Honduras) I was very grateful to get one gift. Generally it was from our father. Our parents used to make presents. If we received one gift, it was one of the happiest moments for us. We built a lot of things; I did not expect anything, and so it was a great surprise to get something. …I can’t put into words what it means to a family when we deliver shoes, giving them to a parents who can’t afford them. I can’t…. so this holiday, there will be families receiving shoes and it will bring a smile to their faces. And that is enough for me.”

– Ana Weir, of Boulder, and Women’s Magazine’s cover story subject

50s

“They were a lot more simple, and there was a lot less of everything. They’re a lot quieter for me now. I’m not with my original family unit, so they’re smaller and more intimate.”

– Constance Stallard, of Louisville

“Commercially, they start earlier and earlier every year, and commercialization has seemed to over-run them. …The lights go up earlier and earlier, the hype gets going on TV and that sort of thing.”

– E. Rivera, of Boulder

“Far more stressful. They’re a financial drain because when you were a kid you didn’t have to pay for anything. I basically dread them. It’s a time for getting sick, and if there’s not good relationships for families, when families come together it’s awkward. It’s not fun and magical like it was when I was a kid.”

– Terry S., of Erie

70s

“I used to believe in Santa Claus. It made it much more fun, let me tell you!”

– Barise Borovicka, of Lafayette

Next month’s question: What tips can you share on how to save money during these tight financial times? Send us your responses to speakup@womensmag.com.

– Compiled by Caitlyn Willox