Besides the start of a new year, long holiday weekends are the best time to tackle tasks you've put on hold for "one day". Make that one day, today. Ironically a holiday set aside as a day of rest from your professional life can be a most productive opportunity to reboot, reorganize, and rearrange your digital life...
1. Add Velcro To It!: It's such a simple idea, but just adding some velcro can be a most satisfying (and affordable) organization upgrade for nearly any corded appliance or device with a long cord.
2. It's Time to Take Shortcuts: Whether you're a Windows user or prefer OS X, keyboard shortcut proficiency is what separates the everyday user from the professional. Using shortcuts also save a lot of time in the long run, so get acquainted with Mac-only Command/⌘ key or the Control key for Windows. There's even a CheatSheet if you need one, so consider this a "must" upgrade to your mind's operating system.
3. So Simple, Yet So Darn Useful!: Sarah Rae was right, adding a second AC adaptor into the mix and adding an extension cord under the sofa can be time savers in the long run. I'm always going back and forth between docking my laptop to a monitor and traveling (or working from bed), so having an extra AC adaptor allows me to keep my docked setup intact, while a second unit is ready for mobile use, proving to both be convenient and preventing misplacing one of the most important accessories in the household.
4. Improve Your Home Theater System Sound In 5 Steps: There's a good chance you might be watching a movie, sporting event, or TV show today, so why not enjoy it with the best sound possible? It just takes 5 steps to calibrate your home theater setup for optimal sound and create your own "money seat". The problem could be solved with a simple tweak to your sound levels.
5. The Coolest Tech Accessory Might Be Inside Your Oven: It may officially be the end of summer, but heck, that sure doesn't mean it's really any cooler. Hot weather is the enemy of most every home electronic device, whether it be your laptop, the internet router, or a video console. Here's an affordable solution for keeping your hottest tech devices at safe operational temperatures with an item amusingly may be sitting inside your oven.
6. Learn How to Trim Coax Cable: How many of us call the cable guy to trim and connect cables? Too many. In reality, trimming your cable/internet coax cable is easier than lacing new shoes with just a few affordable tools. "Why should I learn how to do this?", you ask? Rearranging a home office or the perhaps changing the placement of your home theater often means rerouting coax cable for cable TV or internet access. You may need to shorten or lengthen the cable coming into your home and to their respective devices. Now you won't have to rely upon the reliably always-late cable guy!
7. Take 5 Minutes To Improve Your HDTV 100%: I'm not exaggerating when I promise that all it takes is 5 minutes and your HDTV's remote control to noticeably improve your set's picture like a pro. The secret isn't a calibration service or even a calibration disc...it's a website which lists pre-formulated/tested recommended settings according to the brand you watch. Worked for my HDTV set and also the one I purchased for my dear ole mom.
8. Upgrade Your Home Storage System to the 21st Century: I remember years ago Martha Stewart recommended sticking a photo printout of the contents of storage boxes on the outside. It's a great idea, but one that can be upgraded for the smartphone era. Snap a photo, upload the image to an image hosting site/Facebook/Dropbox, connect a QR code to the image's URL, and finally print out the QR code to affix to the appropriate boxes. This way you can point your smartphone's QR reader at any box and get the 411 of its contents, including multiple photos of the layers inside each box.
9. Maximize the Efficiency of Your Biggest Home Appliance: There are three simple tips for maximizing energy efficiency when it comes to the largest home appliance in the home, the refrigerator: 1. make sure there's at least 2" distance between the fridge and the wall, 2. regularly clean the coils in the back, and 3. if you're living the model lifestyle with only a bottle of Perrier and to-go leftovers inside your fridge, add a couple of gallon milk jugs filled with water, as recommended by one of our readers.
10. Declutter Your Tech Box Collection: You've got one...don't deny it. It's probably lurking in a storage closet. Or maybe it's hiding in your garage...a collection of empty boxes you've had for years all kept under the premise of "maybe I'll need it later". It's more likely than not you do not need the box for that 19" RCA CRT television or the 1999 microwave oven that last nuked a Hungry Man dinner back in college. Tech devices and home appliances are the biggest culprits of storage box bulge, so it's time for an audit to determine what to chuck out/recycle/donate and what to keep for the sake of resale value.
Coming to Terms with a Knockoff: Original vs. Reproduction Furniture Design
Monica & Austin's Charming Bungalow
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Ercol Bar Stool
True Greek Recipe: Paximadi Bread Salad with Tomatoes, Feta and Capers
RE: Storage boxes. I use mostly clear ones. Take a piece of paper, write what's in the box, stick it in the box with stuff so that it faces out on the end of box that faces out. Put lid on box and store it. No camera smartphone, no printer, no image hosting site, no image URL and QR code that needs special equipment to read it. I've happily done this for the last decade. If you remove something from box, cross out item name. Easy-peasy. Think KISS.
I'm with Stejeanne, KISS is the way to go. My fabric/craft stash is (mostly) contained in cardboard file boxes with contents listed in felt marker on the convenient space provided. Since the contents are organized by type, colour, etc it's easy to label. Some of the boxes are mixed or change a lot so I label those with colour coded sticky notes (projects in progress, assorted junk, too lazy to sort, etc).I have about 50 of these boxes stacked neatly along one wall in the sewing room and everything is easy to find. I just walk up, look at the boxes and select the one I want. Some of the boxes have a drawing to indicate what's inside, just for the fun of it. One has crossed knitting needles and a ball of yarn, another crochet hooks, yet another has artist's paint brushes and paint pots. Instant recognition.
@STEJEANNE and @MAYNELANDER, what is KISS?
@taxidriver: KISS = Keep It Simple Stupid (Silly if you are easily offended).
I keep my tech boxes for moving purposes, rather than for potential future resale value (same with boxes for dishes and cups in the kitchen). I've moved a lot over the past couple years for school and work and may be moving in the nearish future so I can't bring myself to throw them out just yet. :( I would really love to toss them though!
Something worth considering on the tech boxes is flattening them. A lot of boxes come with all folded cardboard insets now, so you can save space and the box. We also use clear storage boxes wherever possible.
I go with the other KISS approach, don't buy it; then you don't need to store it.
I've gotten nervous about getting rid of boxes after buying a DVD player (sometime around 2001) that completely crapped out on me after two weeks of use. The store wasn't going to take it back because I didn't have the box, even though I had the receipt and the paperwork. That was the source of one of my very rare sh*tfits in a store (I think I've had three), and now I save boxes when I buy anything fairly expensive.
I just moved (again) and realized that I had all kinds of tech boxes I didn't need. After reminding myself that none of the items that housed them were within the typical store's return perion (my laptop is 5 years old and going strong), I threw away the boxes for: laptop, ipod, iphone, DSLR camera, wide aperture lens for said camera, airport, wireless keyboard. They filled an entire recycle bin and I was thrilled to be rid of them. The only two boxes I kept were for my ipad (because it's sturdy and I store small craft items in it) and my printer--I kept the styrofoam padding and it survived the move in one piece!