You may have seen the promotional banner asking you to take a test drive of our new beta site.

Do me a favor, willya? Put down the Wii controller, take a look at the new site and let us know what you think.

This redesign is a slicker, updated version of our present layout. You'll still get all of the breaking news and daily Advertiser content that are at the core of our services.

But we're also introducing a suite of social networking tools aimed at giving you a virtual space to be on stage or connect with friends and family.

You can build a personal page, exchange messages with friends, upload photo galleries and contribute to our gazillion forums.

What we'd like to see here is whole crowds of people building communities of interests, whether they be around iPhones or extreme skateboarding or the meaning of meh — get some pals together and start building infrastructure. I've always wanted to plop that word in a sentence.

I'd especially like to hear ideas on how to use these networking tools for business and personal productivity. Post your comments below or e-mail us at feedback@honoluluadvertiser.com.

Anybody want to start a Fisher Hawaii fan club?

After last week's rather somber blog entry, I was in dire need of a shot of mirth to boost my endorphins, not to mention my productivity.

My usual antidote to days that turn blue is to listen to the Daily Giz Whiz, a funny podcast about tech gadgets. It's how I learned about the Clocky, an alarm clock on wheels that jumps off the table squawking at your wake up time, forcing you to chase it down the hall to shut it off. Owning the Clocky means never having to ask, "Are you up yet?"

It was fortunate last week, just when I had run out of new Giz Whizzes to plug into my ear, that the ThinkGeek.com catalog arrived in the mail. I frequent the Web site on the pretense that I need to shop for co-workers, but the catalog is much better. You get the full experience thumbing through its pages, filled as they are with screaming monkey slingshots, wi-fi detector T-shirts, 20-sided fuzzy dice, USB rocket launchers and the like.

I'm seriously considering the $22.99 marshmallow shooter because there are several people I really, really need to take out with peeps. The Airzooka also caught my eye, until I read the blasts of air it shoots are harmless.

For those who wonder what all of this has to do with productivity, I direct you to allegedly valid studies that suggest workplace humor increases output and creativity.

Laughing 'til you get the hiccups may not boost widget sales, but it feels a lot better than throwing yourself under a bus. Plus, if you do the latter, the e-mail tends to stack up.

So, what's your sure-fire way of pulling yourself out of the doldrums, and do you work better as a result? Do share.

Having recently experienced the death of a family member, I can share the observation that you can't prepare enough for the day when you or someone in your care passes away.

Taking a few steps ahead of time will save you or your family considerable heartache at the end, so skip the ball game this weekend to put things in order.

Here's what you need:
--Health care power of attorney, to give your family the authority to make decisions about your medical care if you are unable to.
--Health directive or "living will," to let those close to you know if you want life-sustaining medical treatment in the event you are incapacitated.
--Your will, just so your obnoxious nephew doesn't get the high-def TV.
--Social security numbers, IDs, financial accounts, insurance policies, veterans benefit information, funeral plans, trust documents and anything else that your family will need to know about.

Put these in a binder tucked away in a safe place and tell your trusted family members where to find it.

The University of Hawai`i Elderly Law Program has sample forms and information on health care power of attorney and advanced health care directives.

Consult an attorney to draft a will or trust and arrange for a funeral plan if you want dye-colored pigeons flying overhead at your service.

Have you any pre-need insights to share? Let us know.

Buying gasoline these days cuts such huge holes in people's budgets it's no wonder that feeding the family car is contributing to the tanking of the economy.
In urban Honolulu, we're not yet near the $3.95 a gallon seen elsewhere, but prices are quickly rising to those nose-bleed levels.
So while we're all in the mind of saving on gasoline, I thought I'd review the sites that can help ease the pain.
GasBuddy.com taps into the wisdom of the crowd by listing the cheapest gas around the country. People contribute by reporting the price of various grades of gas at different locations. For Honolulu, Costco, Aloha and the 7-Eleven location at School Street and Kam IV Road were reported as selling the lowest-priced gas at $3.32 for a gallon of regular this morning.
Elsewhere in Hawaii, the Waipio Costco was selling the cheapest gas at $3.37.
You can search these prices by communities and type of stations, just in case you are particularly loyal to the Big Gulps at 7-Eleven. And, if you are civic-minded, which I know you all are, you can contribute to the listings in your neighborhood.
So time to share. What have you been doing to cut down on your gasoline consumption? Has your carbon shadow been haunting you to act locally?

It's downright fascinating to me to watch Microsoft, the corporate giant that once ruled the world, flailing about for a strategy that will ensure its future.
This company was such a perceived threat that whole governments felt compelled to prosecute it occasionally, just so it wouldn't get so cocky.
In its latest scramble for survival, Microsoft has made an unsolicited bid for Yahoo! which is reacting like it's been asked to the spring prom by the school nerd. It's busy trying to find another date so it'll have an excuse for the night.
Microsoft vs. Yahoo! isn't just a dry business story. It's all about how you and I will do computing in the future. Very soon if the stars align, we won't need to buy overpriced, underdeveloped computer software on CDs or in downloads to our computers. We'll just hop on the Web for the apps we need.
Already some amazing Web-based services are available, often free, and this so-called cloud computing is getting better all the time.
Try Google Docs or the photo editing site Picnik and you'll see what I mean.
Microsoft knows what's happening and it's figuring maybe it oughta get positioned for this Internet thing. If it swallowed Yahoo! it just might get it, or maybe not.
OK, your turn: what's your favorite Web-based service? What site can't you live without?