Hasta La Gadget!

Windows 10 is due to arrive at some point this summer so the wheels are already in motion. NVIDIA has gone ahead with the release of its first beta graphics drivers for Windows 10, both 32-bit and 64-bit machines. This is a step towards future DirectX 12 support for NVIDIA graphics cards, DirectX 12 was announced at GDC 2014 and it will bring an improvement in graphics performance and energy efficiency as compared to DirectX 11.

NVIDIA’s entire lineup will obviously not be able to support all DirectX 12 features but it’s a good step on the company’s part to provide early support for the next iteration of Windows.

It’s not common to see driver availability before a new iteration of Windows moves into “release candidate” stage so NVIDIA is certainly doing something out of the ordinary here by releasing new drivers for the 600, 700 and 900 series GeForce graphics cards.

Supported models from the GeForce 900 series include the GTX TITAN X, GTX 980, 970 and the 960, among many others from the 700 and 600 series.

Those who were running preview builds of Windows 10 with NVIDIA graphics cards previously had to use unsupported or stock drivers which caused issues with performance, they’ll certainly be glad that NVIDIA has released beta drivers so soon.

The entire list along with the respective drivers is now available for download from NVIDIA’s website.

NVIDIA Drivers For Windows 10 Arrive In Beta , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

Back in the day, retirement was the last stage of life as we knew it. Stop working, start fishing. The end.

But nowadays — with longer lifespans and retirement options like living abroad in places like Ecuador, Panama, Thailand, and many others that can significantly stretch pension, annuity, Social Security, and other funds — retirement is fast becoming just another transitional phase.

Retirees can now live so long — and stretch their money so far — that with the right strategies they can look forward to two or three more fun and productive phases of life after traditional retirement.

For example, we know a lot of “retirees” who moved abroad for the freedom and space to finally do what they always wanted: run a B&B, open an art gallery, build their own stock photo business, write guide books, teach English, start a restaurant.

You name it, there are people out here in the world building new and exciting careers or doing wonderful volunteer work who, 20 or 30 years ago, would have been simply rocking on the porch waiting for the mail in the same home they’d lived in for 40 years or more.

What happens when you’ve been in one exotic location for a few years and get itchy feet? Today’s “retirees” often enjoy such good health — especially if they live a healthy, active lifestyle in a part of the world with clean food, air, and water — that they pack up and move again to the next spot that strikes their fancy. If it worked once, there’s no reason it can’t work again… and again… and even again.

But what happens when these footloose adventurers get the call to go back home? We’ve seen it happen dozens of times. For example, the kids back home suddenly present the folks with an undeniable draw… a new grandbaby!

We recently got a little present like this ourselves, and we can tell you for a fact that our granddaughter really ups the appeal of trips back to the U.S.

Today’s technology makes it easier than ever to keep up with family around the world. Not only can we communicate in real-time video, but we can quickly and easily hop on a plane and be sitting side by side in a matter of a few hours. It’s easier than ever to go back home for a visit when you want or need to do so.

And of course, some people do end up going back home for good after their great adventure overseas. We know more than a few former expats who got the urge to be closer to family or Medicare benefits or good old Skippy peanut butter and moved back. And not necessarily to the same place they left — many of them picked states with low or no state income taxes and low costs of living for their return landings.

And then there are the folks who never land — they become perpetual travelers. They don’t see the point in settling somewhere after their official retirement. After all, they’ve been settled somewhere all their lives. So they travel the world seeing the places they’ve always wanted to see. And lots of them write books and blogs about it while they’re doing it. They may focus on low-cost travel, or nature adventures, or hopping around between the world’s great cities…any travel style that strikes their fancy. Once they pull up their roots, they determine never to put them down again.

A variation of this style of enhanced retirement is the “gap year.” We have friends who decided to spend their first year or two after official retirement traveling the world looking for the right place to eventually settle…sort of a “best of both worlds” solution.

With a list of places that piqued their interest, they took their time visiting, living in, and exploring them one by one — keeping track of expenses, activities, weather, and amenities. When they eventually satisfied their travel itch, they picked the place they wanted to put down new roots based on a year or two of personal experience rather than an educated guess.

After meeting all these active and interesting people, we’ve come to the conclusion that the new stages of life that now come after traditional retirement are much longer and more varied than anyone could have imagined just a few decades ago. This, in our opinion, is a great example of how things change for the better as you grow older… and they’re getting better all the time.

Related Articles:
A Happier, Healthier, More Affordable Retirement Overseas
A Simple, Powerful Tool for Retiring Overseas
How to Enjoy Your Retirement on the Road

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Question:

Dear Steve,

Hi – I have a question – my mother is in a nursing home, Medicaid pays for the home – she must turn over her social security and small pension to them each month. She has no money – she has a credit card from Bank of America with $3500-$4000 on it – she is the only user of the card, I am not listed as an authorized user – I have been making the minimum payments – I can no longer afford to do this – what should I do?

Thank you.

Beth

Answer:

Dear Beth,

If you stop paying then Bank of America may try to collect from her but if she has no assets then there is nothing to go after. Even if they decided to sue her and they won, it sounds as if your mother is what people call judgment proof. This just means there are no assets to go after to try and collect the judgment. Typically, public benefits and Social Security are exempt from being garnished.

Alternatively, your mother could file bankruptcy to legally terminate the debt in about 90 days. In this case she would not face any possible tax liability from the charge-off of the debt and it would stop any future collection attempts.

The cost of filing bankruptcy might be around $1,900 when all is said and done but the rapid elimination of the debt and the ensuing quiet might have some value as well for you and your mother. That is a question you will have to consider.

If bankruptcy sounds like the better way to make your mother’s future days better without the threat of the debt hanging over her, then I would suggest you talk to a local bankruptcy attorney and discuss her specific situation. Most bankruptcy attorneys will gladly talk to you for free.

Before I go I wanted to leave you with three easy action items you jump on right now to address your situation. Just click here.

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This article by Steve Rhode first appeared on Get Out of Debt and was distributed by the Personal Finance Syndication Network.

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I have noticed that, now that I’ve entered decade #6, my brain is frequently abducted by aliens. Not that it’s never been abducted before, but now it seems like a daily abduction can be expected, particularly in the midst of important conversations. As you can imagine, it’s very embarrassing when in mid-sentence you suddenly can’t think of a word, or can’t remember what you were talking about.

What, you may wonder, happens when the brain is abducted by aliens? I imagine it’s something like “Aphasia,” a collection of language disorders that can vary from occasional trouble finding words to speaking gobbledygook that makes no sense to others but makes perfect sense to you, to not being able to speak at all. In such cases, the part of the brain responsible for speech and language, known as Broca’s Area, is injured in some fashion. According to the National Aphasia Association, “Aphasia is always due to injury to the brain-most commonly from a stroke, particularly in older individuals.”

Though I am an older individual, I haven’t had any strokes or brain injuries that I know of, unless listening to “Axis: Bold as Love” at full volume for several years has somehow scrambled the neurons of my gray matter. However, other definitions include the onset of dementia in it’s various forms, and I think it’s safe to say that the development of plaque in the brain results in injury just as surely as going helmet-to-helmet with a 320 lb. linebacker.

So what is a boomer to do when you have a mini-aphasiac moment and find yourself suddenly high and dry in the middle of a wordless desert? What of those moments when the proverbial cat has got your tongue?

According to a local therapist, honesty is the best policy. I can corroborate. I have found that simply admitting that “my brain was just abducted by aliens” can be very effective, depending on who you’re talking to. If such an admittance results in an icy silence, well, you probably don’t want to be employed or have anything to do with that person, or those people, anyway. Of course admitting to an alien abduction may raise other questions about your sanity, in which case you might be better off to simply say, “Sorry, I’m blanking,” or “sorry, I forgot what I was going to say,” “wait a sec, it’s on the tip of my tongue,” or “excuse me I’m having a brain cramp.”

Whether these alien abductions qualify as aphasia or not doesn’t seem particularly important when you’re sitting there red-faced and tongue-tied. But there are always ways to lighten up a potentially dark situation. Other random phrases that have worked for me include:

“Danger Will Robinson! Danger Will Robinson!” This is really effective in F2F meetings where you can stand up and wave your arms around. And while it’s true that the joke is apt to be lost on anyone under 50, when you explain that the reference is to a TV show entitled “Lost in Space,” you may elicit some sympathy for your condition.

Cup your ear and say “Did you hear that?” The conversation is likely to come to a screeching halt, giving you time to collect yourself and start over. Another conversation stopper: wrinkle your nose and say “ewww, what’s that smell?” (Note: these do not work as well over the phone, but may be worth trying on Skype.)

Break into Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address: “Four score and seven years ago…” or some other complete non-sequitur. It’s the verbal equivalent of hitting control-alt-delete on your computer. The entire conversation is likely to reboot.

Other effective non-sequiturs include:

“What’s your favorite color?”

Shifting slightly in your chair and saying “Oh dear. I’ve had the worst gas lately.” (Chair shifting unnecessary on the phone.)

“Oh damn. I think I forgot to turn off the oven.”

“How about those Giants?” (Or other team of your choice.)

Again, the experts say that when you blank out in a conversation, honesty is the best policy. Alien brain abductions can happen at any age, so it’s likely whomever you’re talking to will know what you’re talking about. Why, just the other day I was talking to… oh, you know… whatshisname… and he said… hmmm… he said… aw hell… what did he say…?

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On May 1st First Lady Michelle Obama will celebrate College Signing Day at Wayne State University by addressing more than 2,500 students from over 40 Detroit area high schools. Her Reach Higher Initiative is aimed, in part, at developing a strong college-going culture that normalizes the pursuit of education beyond high school. Encouraging students to “Reach Higher” is as nonpartisan as it gets: No new legislation is required, no emergency school board meeting necessary, and the only budget implication might be $20 for a new college t-shirt that proudly displays your alma mater.

While celebrating the fact that America is experiencing the highest high school graduation rates on record, there is a need to simultaneously be concerned with how to move the college enrollment and graduation needle. Presently 40 percent of adults ages 25-64 in the U.S. have a postsecondary credential. The U.S. now lags behind other industrialized nations in the proportion of citizens with a college degree, and it is estimated that this percentage will need to grow to 60 percent in order for the U.S. to again be first in the world. This means that the country needs to produce 20 million new degree holders above the current projections. Yet, the fastest-growing groups of young people in America are among the least likely to attend and graduate from college.

Educators are clear about many of the major barriers to achieving this goal, including the rising cost of attending college, the fact that too many students who leave high school academically ill-prepared for college-level coursework, and the fact that too many students who start college do not complete with high quality degrees. The numbers of working-aged adults, for example, with some college education but no degree (36 million), outnumber those in the same age group with bachelor’s degrees (32.9 million).

Business leaders, elected officials, workforce analysts and social critics all agree about the need to produce a greater number of citizens with a college degree or postsecondary credential. As policy wonks, researchers and advocates fuss about how to most effectively treat these issues, it is important to also consider the significance of culture — values, norms, socially acceptable behavior and communal expectations — and the ways in which culture influences access and success in higher education. Cultural norms are not static but progressive and reflect social learning over time. Some might remember when it was socially acceptable to smoke in the workplace or transport children in cars without being properly restrained. Others may attest to how societal expectations have changed with regard to the universal incorporation of mobile technology or the acceptance of post 9/11 security protocols. College Signing Day events are significant because communities come together to signal to students the importance of college-going, they transmit expectations to enroll and complete college, and perhaps most importantly, they celebrate all students, not just star athletes and valedictorians.

This Friday May 1st, more than 400 events across the nation have been planned to celebrate College Signing Day. These events will acknowledge students’ decisions to pursue their education beyond high school. These events represent wonderful occasions for communities to celebrate every student, future chemistry majors and athletes alike, who took the necessary steps to be admitted to college. These events also signal to students that they have a community of adults and peers supporting their critically important decision.

Changing attitudes, expectations and social behavior among students and communities is an important component of the nation’s degree completion agenda. Communal expectations associated with college-going are especially important for students who will be the first in their families to attend college. Closing attainment gaps and dramatically increasing the number of college graduates in the U.S. will not simply be a matter of finding the right policy solutions or adjusting budget priorities, it will require a progressive cultural shift that makes becoming a college graduate the rule rather than the exception for an increasingly diverse generation of young Americans.

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