The Archives

Happy New Year from everyone here at Saugus.net.

If you took our advice (given in our earlier article advocating the use of a secure and modern browser like Firefox over Microsoft Internet Explorer) and are now enjoying a more pleasant web browing experience, you may also want to check out a more modern and secure e-mail client, like Thunderbird.

Thunderbird will do for your e-mail experience what Firefox does for your browsing experience. It's more secure than Outlook Express, and has advanced features like Usenet news support, RSS feed support, and even (with an optional calendar plug-in) iCalendar support.

Don't forget that both Firefox and Thunderbird are free upgrades. If you've not yet tried Firefox, you should make a point of doing so before the new year gets in full swing. You won't be sorry.

We have good news for fans of the popular annual Saugus Historical Society Calendar. It looks like it's going to happen after all, and may be available as early as next week. We'll keep you posted.

The Saugus Area Entertainment, Recreation, and Sports page was updated today.

The News Sources page was updated today.

The office will be closed today for the holiday to allow everyone at Saugus.net to spend some time with their families. However, the Community Events Calendar and other like pages will continue to be updated.

A few local businesses including Able Home Inspection, All Sports Images, and the W.J. Roberts Co. were recently updated.

The two Saugus-based non-profit organizations Saugus High School Alumni Association and the Independent Home Inspectors of North America were recently updated.

The Legal, Financial, and Real Estate Resources page was updated today.

Amazon.com's free shipping is no longer guaranteed for December 24^th, and in fact today is the last day for their least expensive shipping option to be guaranteed for December 24^th. Both the iTunes Music Store and Simply Audiobooks have other delivery methods and can be utilized right up until the very last minute, though. Remember that if you use any of these links here on Saugus.net and place an order, you'll be helping to support the numerous free services we provide here at Saugus.net in addition to saving yourself time, aggravation, and money.

This is just a reminder for those who are shopping for the holidays: there is only a short time left to take advantage of free shipping that's guaranteed to arrive on or before December 24^th from Amazon.com. Remember that if you use one of the Amazon.com links here on Saugus.net (or one of the links for the iTunes Music Store or Simply Audiobooks) and place an order, you'll not only save yourself money and aggravation, but you'll be helping to support the numerous free services we provide here at Saugus.net, too.

The General Internet Search Facilities were updated today.

The Television & Radio Information page was updated today.

The local business Downs Sails has just gone online. Its direct URL is:

http://www.downssails.com/

and it'll be listed on the Miscellaneous Information page.

The Computer Terms Glossary was updated today.

The Legal, Financial, and Real Estate Resources page was updated today.

The Guide to Free Software was updated today.

The Educational Resources page was updated today.

Longtime readers of Saugus.net will know that certain resources here are syndicated, meaning that people (and even other websites) can subscribe to them for free. In particular, the Dailies and Saugus Community Events Calendar are two such examples, the former using RSS and the latter using iCalendar. Today the Guestbook joins them; Firefox users can click the little orange button on the bottom frame when browing the Guestbook to subscribe. Users of other applications can subscribe to it directly.

The web sites of local businesses Alarm Controls Systems and Digital Aviation Images both had recent minor updates made to them.

Photographs from this year's Saugus Hammersmith Holiday Stroll are now available online.

The annual Saugus Hammersmith Holiday Stroll will be held today. Traditionally this is a big series of coordinated events held at sites all around town accessible via free trolley buses with free parking available at a couple of stops. This year there will be fewer sites and no trolleys (although there will be free parking at Anna Parker Playground and free shuttle buses to the events in Cliftondale Square). There are more details available in the Saugus Calendar.

The holiday lights in Saugus Center will be lit tonight for the first time this season in a brief ceremony. The details are in the Saugus Community Events Calendar. The Hammersmith Holiday Stroll will be held tomorrow, but since we were not given a schedule of events this year, we can't pass along too much more information.

Also, the Saugus Historical Society site has been updated with some pictures from this year's annual tree trimming.

The Saugus Area Entertainment, Recreation, and Sports page was updated today.

We've added a few new features to the Saugus.net Dailies RSS feed. In particular, on most browsers it will no longer look like gibberish if you hit it directly. It's still geared primarily for a news aggregator, though (you can find one via the Free Software page) or a browser like Firefox that is RSS feed savvy. If you're using Firefox, just click the little orange button on the bottom frame to get the Saugus.net Dailies delivered to you via live bookmarks.