My Tech Talk

Are you searching for a terrific gift idea for friends or family? Look no further than your collection of digital photos. Put that photo collection of family and friends to good use by creating memorable gifts.

Photos make great personalized gifts, especially when you can have them printed by Kodak onto memorable, enduring products.

As a long time Kodak Gallery customer, I can vouch for the quality of their products, their excellent customer service and the enjoyment giving such personal gifts will bring to the recipient. If I was not a satisfied customer, I would not be their affiliate nor recommending their products.

Why Photos Make Great Gifts

• Unique
• Long Lasting
  
• Affordable

Consider these creative gifts from the Kodak Gallery for your photos:

(Click a photo to visit Kodak Gallery for further product details)

Hopefully this list will help you with your holiday shopping.

ONE IMPORTANT TIP:  Always look for coupon codes for your Kodak Gallery purchases. You can search on Google for “Kodak Gallery Coupon Codes” or visit the DealTaker web site to see their list of coupon codes, which displays a lot of them.

Comments and feedback are always appreciated.

Tags: gift, Kodak Gallery, lists, Photos

What is WPtouch?

“Simply put, it’s a complimentary theme installed as a plug-in on your WordPress blog or website that will format your content with this Apple-inspired, full-featured theme when your visitors are using an iPhone or iPod touch. ”

That’s a direct quote from the coding gurus, Dale Mugford and Duane Storey, at BraveNewCode.  I couldn’t state it any more clearly.

They’ve developed a free Wordpress plug-in that makes your existing blog more friendly to iPhone/iPod Touch viewers.  With smart phones making people more mobile than ever before,  it is important to take their viewing needs into consideration.  This plug-in helps deliver all of your content in a slimmed down theme that helps your site load quickly onto mobile devices.

Best of all, it is easy to install and customizable.

Click here for further details about the WPTouch Plugin from BraveNewCode.

I was able to quickly install it for my blog and I’m thrilled with the results.  (I don’t use the word “thrilled” often when referring to technology, so take that for what its worth.)

If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch, please take a moment to visit this web site from your mobile device to see how the plug-in changes the look of this site to emphasize the content.

A Few Features to Highlight:

• Speed up the page loading on mobile devices (including Blackberry) on slower networks, like EDGE  from AT&T.
  • Uncheck the options “Javascript Effects” and “Enable Gravatar” in the plug-in settings.
• iPhone Users can click a link at the bottom of their screen to switch to the original view of your site.
• Customize colors and icons
• If using the WP-Cache plugin too, please read the following instructions to be sure the WPTouch plugin works properly on your web site.

So far, BraveNewCode claims 25,000 downloads and counting, a number which will surely grow steadily.

A special thanks to Brodie Beta aka iPhoneGirl for tweeting about this yesterday.  I wouldn’t have found it unless I read her tweet.

DOWNLOAD THE WPTOUCH PLUGIN

Tags: iPhone, Wordpress, WPTouch

There is a free online utility called QUIKMAP from Web-Wise-Wizard that can help you determine the X,Y coordinates needed to map an image. Click on the Quick Map button when you visit the web site.

To use the utility, you upload your graphic and then move your mouse over the image as it appears on the web site. It will then identify the X,Y coordinates you’ll need and you can write them down.

Click here for more instructions on the HTML code used in image mapping.

Image mapping involves identifying a specific area within an image, often to associate a link to it.

For example, a person may want to make the compass (see photo) a link to a web site, but not the entire graphic. To accomplish this, HTML image mapping is used to pinpoint the location of the compass with X,Y coordinates. (No, I didn’t map the compass in this example.)

Web-Wise-Wizard also provides a useful glossary to clarify the technical terms used to describe web graphics and images. Click here to visit the Web-Wise-Wizard Web Graphics Glossary.

Tags: Graphics, HTML, Web-Wise-Wizard

The beauty of the Yahoo Briefcase service is in its simplicity.

The service has been around awhile and it isn’t heavily promoted these days. Yet, it still exists which indicates that it is a good piece of technology.

You Should Take Advantage of Yahoo Briefcase if….

1. You’re working on a file and want to continue your work from another PC.

2. You want to manually backup your hard drive online , provided your data is 30 MB   or less.

3.  You like free products and services that actually work as intended.

4. You aren’t super tech savvy, but you know how to login to upload a files.

If you need to store a small amount (30 MB or less) of data online so you can access it from another computer, then you should consider using this free service from Yahoo.

These days 30 MB is not a lot of space. For most, this isn’t enough to serve as a “data backup” solution.  Instead, let’s call it a “data storage” solution, where you can conveniently access a handful of important files from anywhere.

The Best Features

1. Simple Setup: Get a free Yahoo account. Then go to http://briefcase.yahoo.com to access your briefcase. (Remember to bookmark the page) No additional software or configuration is required.
2. Simple Interface: Adding a file follows the same process as attaching a file to an email.
3. Simple Organization: Just like your own computer, you can create folders to better organize your online files.
4. Free 30 MB of file storage.

Limitations

1. 30 MB of storage space is not a lot if you’re looking to store lots of photos or video files. However, it is more than enough for most MS Word, Excel, or PowerPoint files, Quicken backup files, as well as a handful of digital photos.
2. Yahoo Briefcase does not enable online sharing with other users.
3. You can’t sync your files from your hard drive to the Briefcase. You must upload each one.

Click here if you’re ready to fill up your Yahoo Briefcase.

Tags: Briefcase, Data Storage, Yahoo

Computer users read the TOP 10 LIST to learn how to save money by reducing technology expenses or managing finances online.

Barter, Bargain or Bundle

10. Are you paying for technical support?

Why not barter for the support services of a tech savvy friend, colleague or family member?

You can barter a home cooked meal, baseball tickets, a ride to the airport or yard work and save money. Many times, a savvy computer user can resolve minor issues by remotely logging into your computer. A number of free online services exist to facilitate remote computer access, including:

• GoToMyPC.com

• LogMeIn.com

Read a MyTechTalk post about LogMeIn.

9. Look for Bargains online.

Price comparison web sites can help you find the best deal. There are web sites out to help spot a bargain. Also, don’t overlook used equipment. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Join the Yahoo Group called Free Cycle to see what people in your community are offering up for free (and it isn’t just tech stuff).

• Price Comparison: MySimon.com, Shopping.com, PriceGrabber.com
• Bargains: Ben’s Bargains, Dealio.com
• Free: Information on Free Cycle

8. Bundle Up. Take advantage of bundled services from Telecom or Cable companies in your area.

For example, AT&T and Comcast offer customers a lower price to bundle TV, Internet and Phone Services for a lower price.

Don’t Pay for Software or Hardware

7. If you need to renew your subscription for McAfee or Norton anti-virus products, consider switching to a reliable alternative: AVG Anti-Virus.

It doesn’t include a firewall, but most Windows computers with XP or Vista have a built in firewall that is more than adequate. ZoneAlarm also offers a free firewall software.

• Free AVG Anti-Virus Software

6. Do you really need to buy that Microsoft Office 2007 software?

Sometimes, the answer is No. If you are a computer user who writes the occasional letter or creates a spreadsheet from time to time, take a serious look at downloading the free Open Office suite of software programs. It contains word processing and spreadsheet programs along with several others that rival Microsoft’s software package. Google Docs is another option.

• Open Office Software
• Google Docs

Read a MyTechTalk post comparing MS Office and Open Office.

5. Store your data online for free or cheap.

Don’t buy an external hard drive for $100 or more unless you’ve got 100s of megabytes or gigabytes of data. If you need a lot of storage space, chances are the free offers out there won’t provide enough room for all of your data.

• Free options: Mozy.com (limit 2 GB), Yahoo Briefcase (limit 30 MB)
• Inexpensive: Mozy.com, Carbonite.com
• Cheap: JungleDisk.com (service utilizes Amazon.com’s reliable and secure data servers)

Read a MyTechTalk post on Mozy.

Upgrade or Downgrade or Replace

4. Upgrade computer memory or replace an older hard drive.

If your computer is 3 or 4 years old and slowing down, you may not need to replace it. Both are inexpensive options that will boost performance. You may also consider reformatting your current hard drive and re-installing Windows. If that sounds like a daunting task, then you’ll need to follow through up on #10 to get some tech-savvy help.

• Memory upgrade: Average cost $100
• Replace Hard Drive: Average cost $100-$150

3. Downgrade your Internet service.

Cable Internet is the fastest option for the home user, but it does cost the most too. Consider switching to slightly slower, but cheaper, DSL. If you already have DSL, you may inquire if there are different “tiers” of service and the prices of each one.

2. Replace your phone service with Skype and save money on local and long distance calling.

Skype is a service that allows you to make phone calls from your computer. If you call another Skype subscriber, the call is free! If you call a landline or mobile phone, there are fees charged. So, figure out which friend or family member you call the most and convince them to switch to Skype too.

Manage Your Money for Free

1. Mint.com offers a free service to track your income and expenses.

This web site offers a free service that rivals Quicken software.

You do need to be comfortable with online banking and finances to take advantage of their tools. Mint sends email reminders about upcoming bills and can be configured to alert you via email to transactions (like bank fees or deposits) or any unusual spending activity. Sometimes an email reminder can prevent a late fee and keep money in your pocket.

If you have any money saving ideas to share, please post a comment.

Technorati : Advice, Hardware, Online, Save Money, Software, Technology, Top 10

Tags: AVG, Google Docs, Jungle Disk, LogMeIn, Mint.com, Mozy, Open Office, Skype

Read Michael Horowitz’s article, originally posted on CNET News, for some good common sense practices to help secure your web mail account on Yahoo, GMAIL, Hotmail and others.

Being Smart About Web Mail

Tags: Email, Yahoo, Gmail, security, Internet

Tags: Passwords, PC ABCs, Technology

Here’s a link to McCain’s Senate voting record.

Here’s a link to Obama’s Senate voting record.

Forget the hype.

Forget the spin.

Ignore the commercials, the editorials and the talking heads.

Watch the debates, but compare what is said with their past voting history.

Take a few minutes to review the Senate voting records of our 2 presidential candidates, John McCain and Barack Obama.

The Washington Post has compiled this information on ALL members of the United States Senate and the House of Representatives:

The links have additional information on the 2 men, but the voting records should provide a good indication where the candidate’s stand on a variety issues.

The Internet has put the facts at your fingertips. Reading them is up to you.

Remember to vote in November!

Technorati : Election 2008, McCain, Obama, Voting Record
Del.icio.us : Election 2008, McCain, Obama, Voting Record

Tags: Election 2008, Politics, US Senate, voting record, Worth a Look

The NFL Football season begins tomorrow. Millions of men and women will devote hours of time each week playing fantasy football at the expense of family time.

Well, why not include them in the fun?

Fantasy football can easily be enjoyed by families, much like board games or card games.

Don’t overlook its educational possibilities either. Math skills are key to keeping score, so young children can play with an adult and practice their addition, subtraction and multiplication while spending time with Mom and Dad.

Well, now there’s a free fantasy sports site for family fun. Check out http://www.familyfantasysports.com and enjoy the best of both worlds on Sundays this Fall: Family time and football!

Tags: Football, Sports, Technology, Worth a Look

The phrase “Automobile University” will be familiar to anyone who’s read a Zig Ziglar book or heard him speak. It essentially refers to the idea that personal productivity and development can be increased by using commute time for self-improvement and learning. Audio books and podcasts are excellent options for individuals looking to improve their productivity during their daily commute.

Of course, buying audio books isn’t cheap (podcasts are though), but you can take advantage of several online rental services. The various rental plans vary by price and many offer rentals without any late fees or due dates or shipping fees.

The web site eHow offers an article about what you need to do to listen to podcasts.

You can find a variety of inexpensive rental plans and prices from the sites listed below. Some even offer an audio download option , if you’d rather play one on an iPod or other handheld device.

Audio book Rental Services:

1. Audible.com (celebrating its 10 year anniversary)
2. SimplyAudiobooks.com offers CD rentals and MP3 downloads.
3. Booksfree.com offers rentals for audiobooks and good, old fashioned paperbacks.
4. Audiotogo.com offers a free trial of their service.

Of course, you can rent a good fiction novel to listen to in the car too. With thousands of choices, you’re bound to find a book to make your commute more educational, or at the very least, more enjoyable.

TIP: For many, money is tight these days. If that’s true for you, you may want to visit your local library to see if they carry any audio books. After all, the LIBRARY IS FREE and their selection may surprise you.

Tags: iPod, Technology, Worth a Look, Worth the Money

While doing some blog surfing yesterday, I came across Yousef’s post about PimpMySearch.

PimpMySearch is a fun, simple site that let’s you create a graphic in the Google style.

How? Type in any word(s) you want and they’ll be google-ized instantly.

You can then save the graphic as a JPEG file by right-clicking on the image.

For example:

Try it. You know you want to.

Oh, did I mention it is free?

Tags: Fun, Google

It’s easy to overlook the usefulness of YouTube amid the abundance of entertaining video clips posted by its users.

YouTube’s vast collection of how-to videos can help you with your computer repair questions.

For example, this video clip shows you how to replace a mother board in a Dell Optiplex small form factor PC.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48ePFw8DAjg]
Most folks start with Google or Yahoo to find their answers. YouTube’s videos don’t often find their way onto the search results.

Be sure to search the site itself if you don’t find what you need from one of the search engines.

Tags: Technology, Videos

How does holiday budgeting find its way onto a blog about technology? Well, it just so happens that technology can help you setup a budget and stick to it. Not to mention, there are web sites and blogs out there with good advice on personal finance.

While November and December is the time for family, turkey, thankfulness, holiday lights and gift giving, January tends to be the time for credit card bills and financial shock and awe.

Hopefully, setting a holiday budget can help you get the best of both worlds: Happiness in November and December without the shock and awe of credit card bills.

With Thanksgiving upon us and Black Friday Ads enticing us to shop and save tomorrow, I’ve located a few tools and advice web sites for you to use.

• Use a spreadsheet to set up and stick to your budget. Too busy to set one up or don’t know how? Problem solved. The folks at SmartMoneyTips.com have created one for us and were kind enough to share. Click here to download a holiday budget spreadsheet.
• Read the article “5 Ways to Avoid Holiday Debt” from those SmartMoney folks.
• Are you a more visual person? Then this web site may be a better option to help you track your spending. Click here for a holiday spending calculator.
• Bankrate.com’s Dani Arthur offers up some advice in an article titled “Tips for Stretching Your Holiday Budget.”

Do you have any tips or tools that you can share regarding a budget? If you do, please share them.

Happy Holidays!

Tags: Money, Organize, Technology

“Americans throw away 25% more trash between Thanksgiving and New Year’s!”

Quote from article,”Green Your Holiday”, by Jaclyn Hope and Amy Gotliffe

The “Green Your Holiday” article was written by Jaclyn and Amy for ROAR Magazine; a quarterly publication for members of the Oakland Zoo. I found the article interesting and informative, so I wanted to create a post to share some of their suggestions.

This post will essentially paraphrase their article published in ROAR for Winter 2007, Issue 30.

Tips to Keep the Holiday Green:

1. Keep cut trees out of the landfill! Visit Earth 911 for ideas and info.

2. Buy LED Lights - they are 80% more efficient than regular lights.

3. Put holiday lights on a timer.

4. Consider gifts that won’t end up in a landfill, like tickets or a gift certificate for a massage.

5. Re-use greeting cards as colorful gift tags.

6. Travel Light by carpooling with friends or family.

Web Sites for Green Gift Ideas:

1. NorthStarToys

2. Worldwidechild

3. Realgoods

4. Globalexchange

5. Greenshopping

6. Ecomall

7. Laptops.org

Think local, fair trade, organic, sustainable, handmade and creative!

I’m finding some good blog posts today. I’d recommend reading Qiyas II’s entry about the Top 100 software tools for learning and productivity. It’s always interesting to see what tools and services are being created to help us learn in new ways.

Here’s a link to his blog.

I’m planning on testing out some of these tools. Who knows, I may find the topic for a future post myself!

Tags: Technology

You need to try Jing software by Techsmith. I’ve been using it for a few weeks now and am very pleased with its ease of use.

What does it do, you ask?

Here’s a quick definition, courtesy of the JingProject.com web site:

The concept of Jing is the always-ready program that instantly captures and shares images and video from your computer to anywhere.

Why do I like it?

1. Easy to use.
2. Great for sharing.
3. Great for troubleshooting computer problems.
4. Great for demonstrations and training.
5. Great for blogs.
6. Easy to share recordings with others.
7. Free (for now). Hopefully, inexpensive when out of beta.

# 6 deserves additional explanation. Techsmith has integrated JING with its Screencast.com file hosting service. When you complete a recording, you can click a SHARE button and the recording is immediately uploaded to your account on the screencast.com web site. From there, you can share the recording as a URL.

I believe the Screencast.com web site is fee-based, but Techsmith offers a free account for those using JING in beta. I am not expecting the free Screencast.com account to last forever, but it is impressive to be able to quickly upload my recordings to their site and share them.

What don’t I like?

The one down side for me is the 5 minute time limit on your recording. Users cannot record longer than 5 minutes.

The program does a good job of tracking your time left with a clock during the recording process, so you shouldn’t be surprised when the recording stops. It would still be helpful to have the option to record a bit longer though.

Please keep in mind that this software is simplified screen recording. It also can capture screenshots in better quality than your “Print Screen” button. It is designed for the average user to capture and share these recordings. It doesn’t allow you to edit your recording after the fact. That said, if you don’t like your recording, then your only option is to delete it and re-record.

How to Use Jing

How many times have you written up instructions about a computer process for a family member, a friend or a colleague? If you’re like me, the answer is a lot.

With JING, you can now show someone how to do it.

Best of all, you can record the steps quickly and send the person a link to view them. It may not be a polished, presentation ready demonstration, but it is intended for an individual not a group. Jing gets the job done quickly and that’s what counts.

Competing Products

Adobe Captivate 3 and Camtasia Studio 4. In basic terms, both of these products offer screen recording/capture. However, these two programs have much better editing tools and options for formatting and presenting these recordings. They also have a much higher price tag.

Final Thoughts

Try it. You’ll like it (sort of like green eggs and ham). Ideally, I think this type of technology should be included in future operating systems. The ability to quickly record my PC activity and share it with others is a great way to educate and train users on new products and features via email, blog or instant message. It is also a great way for a person to show tech support exactly what steps they took to get an error.

The 5 minute time limit is a little short. However, realistically, most people have short attention spans and a 5 minute video may be enough to get your point across.

As an example, I used JING in an earlier blog post to demonstrate how to mail merge.

For details, FAQs and to download the software, please visit JING Project.

Tags: Free Software, Jing, Worth a Look