Ask and Answer Questions About Taking Pets to the Vet [Help Yourself]

Every day we're on the lookout for ways to make your work easier and your life better, but Lifehacker readers are smart, insightful folks with all kinds of expertise to share, and we want to give everyone regular access to that exceptional hive mind. Help Yourself is a daily thread where readers can ask and answer questions about tech, productivity, life hacks, and whatever else you need help with.

Pets are wonderful companions, and they can help you relieve stress. But a sick pet can be scary and stressful; and even just taking Fido to the vet for a check-up can cause anxiety. Veteranarians are there to help your furry friends, and you can help yourself today by asking and answering questions about veterinarians. From selecting the right vet for your pet, to getting your dog or cat to the office without stress, let's hear those questions in the comments.

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Everything You Need to Know About Giving and Receiving Gift Cards [Shopping]

Gift cards are a great way to get someone a present without having to choose the actual gift, but they come with a few stipulations you might not be aware of. We'll look at the best practices for giving cards as well as what to do if you've received one you can't use.

Photo by Arvind Grover.

While you'll always be able to purchase gift cards directly from a retailer, gift card exchange sites have risen up as fast as gift cards. You can often find big discounts on cards by checking these sites first. Gift exchange sites allow you to purchase or sell your gift cards, so if you've received one you cannot or won't use, they're a great way to offload the card and not let the card go to waste. Let's start by taking a look at how the selling process works.

Selling Unwanted Gift Cards
These sites work in one of two ways if you're selling a card. Some, like Card Hub, allow you to set a price and allow someone to purchase directly from you, like eBay or Craigslist, while others will outright buy a card from you for a specific amount of cash based on demand. You can either mail your card in or give them the number on the back of the card. Based on our tests of a $60 Apple gift card, here are the sites we found offered the best price, although your results may vary based on the gift card you're selling.

Plastic Jungle: $55.44/Amazon Gift Card or $52.80 PayPal/CashCardpool: $52.80 by mailing it in/$49.80 by sending them the codeGiftCards: $42.00Gift Card Castle: $52.80/cash or $53.33 PayPal

As you can see, $52.80 is the most common offer. Each of the services base their payout rate on percentages. If you're okay with receiving an Amazon gift card in return, the Plastic Jungle offer is the best. The services seem to base percentage paid out on how many cards they have or demand, so you're going to get a different result depending on what you're trying to sell and when. For instance, a Chili's gift card for the same amount paid out a bit less, ($48 at both Cardpool and Plastic Jungle), so it might be worth shopping around a little before selling.

Purchasing Gift Cards Second Hand
You can, of course, also purchase cards from these resellers. The same principles as selling apply here, with the cards ranging in discounts on each site. The more specific the store and the higher the card's value, the better the savings are. Regal Entertainment, for instance, averaged about 15 percent savings at the same sites we checked above, while a store like Target or Nordstrom only offered savings of 2 percent.

For selection and overall experience, Cardpool seems to have the most variety in stores, with Plastic Jungle coming in next. GiftCards and GiftCard Castle don't have a lot, but they're worth checking when you make the rounds. If you're looking to check them all at once, including auctions on eBay, Gift Card Granny and Card Hub aggregate many of the deals in one place.

Obviously you want to pick a gift card to a store the person you're gifting to might shop at, but be sure to also consider their physical location if they're not in the same state. Check Google Maps with their address and a store's location to make sure they won't have to drive three hours just to use the card. The safer option is to purchase cards for outlets that have a good online store.

Since August of last year, rules protect you from wasting your gift card. You have at least five years to use the card, but the value can start depreciating after one year, so be careful if you're holding off on using the card right away. The card itself has all of the terms of use on the back, so take a close look if you plan on storing it and not using it right away.

If you purchase a card from a reseller that comes in an odd amount, MSNBC recommends taking the card into the retailer and having them break the card's total up into round number chunks before you give it away. If there's an awkward amount leftover, you can either use the remainder for yourself or add a couple dollars to the difference to round the total out.

If you've received a gift card for a company that has gone out of business, the FTC recommends calling the company or a competitor to see who might still accept the card.

If you struggle to remember to use your cards, you might also consider our previously mentioned tips of setting reminders in your calendar, keeping the cards in your wallet, and keeping track of the usage with services like Evernote. A card's value can start depreciating after a year, so it's important to use it quickly. Photo by Nate Grigg.

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Ask and Answer Questions About Flying [Help Yourself]

Oct 17, 2011 11:30 AM 3,337 49

Every day we're on the lookout for ways to make your work easier and your life better, but Lifehacker readers are smart, insightful folks with all kinds of expertise to share, and we want to give everyone regular access to that exceptional hive mind. Help Yourself is a daily thread where readers can ask and answer questions about tech, productivity, life hacks, and whatever else you need help with.

The holidays are coming up, and for many people that means traveling. Today's topic is air travel, so use the comments to ask and answer your questions about how to breeze through security and make the most of your time in the air.

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Ask and Answer Questions About Digital Video [Help Yourself]

Oct 18, 2011 11:30 AM 1,615 21

Every day we're on the lookout for ways to make your work easier and your life better, but Lifehacker readers are smart, insightful folks with all kinds of expertise to share, and we want to give everyone regular access to that exceptional hive mind. Help Yourself is a daily thread where readers can ask and answer questions about tech, productivity, life hacks, and whatever else you need help with.

HD video recording is finding its way onto more and more cell phones and digital cameras, and the the file formats get increasingly easy to work with every year. There are so many ways to shoot HD videos and options for sharing what you have captured that it is easy to get overwhelmed. Ask and answer any of your questions about shooting, processing, and sharing digital video in the comments.

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Plan Your Projects Like You're Writing a Public Launch Presentation to Stay Excited About Your Work [Motivation]

By Adam Dachis Oct 13, 2011 12:30 PM 9,378 2

When you outline your work and try to put together a task list, it's generally pretty dry. If you were to finish your work and give a fancy Apple-esque keynote, however, it would be revolutionary. Github developer Zach Holman suggests that planning your projects like an exciting presentation might help you keep that same excitement while you're actually doing the work.

Whether it's presentation-style or a blog post about the launch of your new work, the idea is pretty simple. When you have a concept you want to bring to fruition, write about it like it's done. Once you do, you can transfer over that excitement to your task list for a constant reminder of how cool your work will be when it's finished. Sometimes it can be pretty tough to stay motivated when you're committing a lot of time to a given project, and you wish you could get back the same feeling you had when you started. This might be the way to do it.

Announcement-Style Development | @holman on Twitter

You can follow Adam Dachis, the author of this post, on Twitter, Google+, and Facebook.  Twitter's the best way to contact him, too. Related Stories

Ask and Answer Questions About Your Commute [Help Yourself]

Oct 11, 2011 11:30 AM 2,853 58

Every day we're on the lookout for ways to make your work easier and your life better, but Lifehacker readers are smart, insightful folks with all kinds of expertise to share, and we want to give everyone regular access to that exceptional hive mind. Help Yourself is a daily thread where readers can ask and answer questions about tech, productivity, life hacks, and whatever else you need help with.

Unless you are one of the lucky few who works from home then every day you face the dreaded trip to and from your place of business. Whether it is by car, bus, train, or bike, the daily commute can be the most stressful part of your whole day. Share your questions about how to minimize the suffering or your strategies for making the most of your time on the road in the comments.

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Ask and Answer Questions About Dinner [Help Yourself]

Oct 5, 2011 11:30 AM 2,557 54

Every day we're on the lookout for ways to make your work easier and your life better, but Lifehacker readers are smart, insightful folks with all kinds of expertise to share, and we want to give everyone regular access to that exceptional hive mind. Help Yourself is a daily thread where readers can ask and answer questions about tech, productivity, life hacks, and whatever else you need help with

After a long day at the office, then hitting the gym and running errands, getting dinner on the table can seem like a huge task. We've shown you how to speed up your dinner prep and how a meal plan makes cooking for the week easier, but everyone has their own tricks to turning out the evening meal after a long day. So if you make a big spread, fire-up the microwave, or just order in, ask and answer questions about getting dinner on the table in the comments.

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Learn About Business Management and Marketing from "The Macintosh Way," a Free Apple History Ebook [Business]

By Melanie Pinola Oct 11, 2011 7:00 AM 13,139 12

Whether you're an Apple fan or not, "The Macintosh Way" by Guy Kawasaki could be a insightful read for entrepreneurs or anyone interested in marketing and innovation management. The free PDF book gives an insider view of how Apple was run when the Mac was first introduced in 1984.

The book is divided into three parts, covering the history of the Macintosh, what the work environment and company structure was like, and things that kept the business running and eventually rise to success. Kawasaki worked at Apple for four years in the mid 1980's and was involved with marketing the Macintosh, and he offers a personal look at the principles behind Apple: "the genetic code of the Macintosh Way of doing business." You'll see some interesting stories about Steve Jobs' management style as well.

As Kawasaki explains the book:

This book is about doing the right thing and doing things right. It is meant for dreamers, revolutionaries, Macintosh aficionados, and all the people who want to learn about the Macintosh Way. It is aimed at the inner circle, and it is not meant to appeal to the largest possible audience or the lowest common denominator.

It's about 200 pages and a good read also just for the history of Apple and the tech business in general.

The Macintosh Way (PDF) | via OS X Daily

You can follow or contact Melanie Pinola, the author of this post, on Twitter or Google+. Related Stories