Creating a Blog
By nhevenor | November 15, 2007
If you can do email or wordprocessing you can create a blog. There are many free blogging sites where they will host your blog for no charge. One of the simplest and most commonly used is www.blogger.com. This is integrated with Google and Picasa which makes it even easier to upload your photos into your blog.
First of all - what is a blog? The word is now both a noun and verb - another recent addition into our English language. It is a contraction of the words “web log”. Blogs began as web travel logs. Travelers would post their experiences and people following the trip would comment on the blog. The blogging sites make all this easy, giving you the structure for dating the entries and storing them in a 24 fox ringtones free verizon wireless ringtones polyphonic ringtones samsung download free ringtones t mobile complimentary music real ringtones free ringtones maker download free composer ringtones free mp3 ringtones converter cell phone ringtones free bollywood ringtones free real ringtones verizon download nextel ringtones software cingular wireless ringtones free ringtones sprint download ringtones info personal phone remember ringtones cingular cell phone ringtones get free ringtones for my cell phone motorola ringtones maker free ringtones maker download database. The blogging site gives you many templates to choose from and you can change your template at any time. You retain all your blogging entries even if you change templates.
I not only have a personal blog, this series of “de-mystifying” articles is a blog. I also have created blogs for many of the clubs and organizations that I belong to. Blogger.com is nicely integrated with Google and allows for easy sharing of Calendars and documents. The best way to begin is with a google email address. Once you have a gmail account you can create as many blogs to go with it as you like. But when creating a blog for an organization I generally like to create a gmail account for that organization so that anyone can manage the account and it is not just tied to my email. I also try to use the same address for the email account as I am using for the url of the blog but this is not necessary. It just is easier to remember. For example I have created a blog for the Mystic Garden Club. I began by creating an email MysticGardenClub@gmail.com and then I went to blogger and created the blog www.mysticgardenclub.blogspot.com. Of course not all names are still available so you should check on availability of both items before you start. You use the gmail account as your login to the blogger account.
Once you go to www.blogger.com you create a blog and give it a name and location. Following the instructions you choose and template and you are ready to blog!
For further detailed instructions on creating a blog download the document from this website Blogging Instructions Part 1
Topics: Blogging, Websites, Technology Tips | No Comments »
Organizing Your Photos - Picasa to the Rescue
By nhevenor | November 2, 2007
Do you use it, love it or need it? Then Keep it! Otherwise a home organizer will encourage you to get rid of it. Sometimes the decision is the easy part. The difficult part is figuring out how to sell it or who to give it to. When it comes to your computer files jetisoning them is very easy. Trash that file and forget it. It’s all of the ones you want to keep that you need to take control of.
Digital Photos have invaded our lives like a tsunami. We have embraced these wonderful images of our lives whole heartedly. But most people have not gained control over them. Their numbers increase and they proliferate all over the place. Most people use the software that comes with the camera to load the photos onto the computer. One of the problems with doing this is if you get a new camera by a new manufacturer they may go in a totally different place. Also photos on CDRom from friends or from film cameras may be stored in a whole new place!
There are many ways to conquor this problem. I have a downloadable document you are welcome to download on this whole topic - Digital Photography Seminar. A wonderful, free software program to begin with is Picasa. You can download Picasa onto your PC by going to www.picasa.com from Google. This is primarily a Windows solution. MAC users can download a utility to upload to Picasa Web Albums but it does not offer the wonderful photo management that Picasa has for Windows. Older versions are available for Windows 98 and a Linux version is available on Google Labs.
Picasa will go out to your hard drives and search for all of the photos you have stored. It will create thumbnails of each of the photos that you can quickly scan through all at once. Picasa scrolls from folder to folder smoothly so you do not have to open and close folders looking for that one photo you want to use for you Christmas card. Picasa has all the simple editing features you want for most photos. You can easily crop, straighten, improve the exposure. Picasa always saves a copy of your original photo so you never lose that original copy.
Picasa makes it easy to email photos, to upload them to the internet and share them with friends and blog the photos. It is very intuitive to use and probably has more features than you can imagine for free.
If you haven’t tried Picasa you really should.
In future posts I’ll discuss some more details on Picasa and more methods for organizing photos. But today - download Picasa and give it a test run!
Topics: Getting Organized, Digital Photography, Technology Tips | No Comments »
Use BCC to Keep Email Addresses Private
By nhevenor | October 30, 2007
Most people send emails to groups of people. If you want to keep the email addresses from being visible to everyone in the group you can use the blind copy address line. This is abbreviated as bcc and is available on most email systems. Often the BCC line does show unless you click on a link to make it appear. For example in Yahoo the upper right corner of the compose message has a link to “Show BCC”
Once you click on the Show BCC another delivery line is added to the email message.
If you put all the email addresses on the BCC line they will be invisible to the receivers. That is what a Blind Copy means. The best practice is to put your own email on the TO: line.On Gmail the link to show BCC is right below the TO: adress line.
So try using the BCC to keep your addresses private.
Topics: Technology Tips | No Comments »
Free Website from Microsoft
By nhevenor | October 29, 2007
Microsoft will provide your business with a completely free website. They will even reserve a domain name for you for free. You need to provide a credit card number and are only entitled to one free website but it’s a great opportunity for a small business. To take advantage of this free service you can go to Office Live and request your free website. This is the only place I know where you can have the domain name of your choice completely for free. There are free blogging sites and gmail accounts of course but Office Live allows you to reserve the specific name you want - as long as it is available.
Once you’ve registered you can chose from their templates to put up information. The interface can be a little tedious but it allows you to have a professional consistent look for your website. You can use it to add photos, slideshows and to upload documents. It allows you to create up to 25 emails for your site. So if you are starting a new business named I Sell Junk you can look for ISellJunk.com. If it is available you can have this for your business website. And you can create emails like info@ISellJunk.com .
Microsoft even provides some accounting software and simple ways to advertise on search engines.
Microsoft does all of this for free. It does add a logo that says Powered by Office Live. If your business outgrows the free version you can upgrade to a $20/month plan. This allows for off-line editing, has more webspace and other features. They even have a premium plan for $40/month. But if you have a small business you can get away for free!
Topics: Websites | No Comments »
Digital Photo Frames
By nhevenor | October 16, 2007
Digital Photography has come a long way in the past few years. The acceptance by the public is fantastic. There are so many wonderful things you can do with your photos. My favorite new gadget is a Philips Digital Photo Frame. I absolutely love this electronic photo frame. Every time I come into the room I know I will be able to enjoy a new memory. The screen is bright and clear and the photos look terrific.
The 8 inch size frame cost around $200. It takes most types of memory. You can take your memory card out of your digital camera and put it in the picture frame to watch the photos you just took. I recently brought one as a gift to a birthday celebration and the party goers were excited to see the festivities. I’d also loaded on a lot of photos I had of the guest of honor. It was a big hit.
The Philips Photo Frame has software to download photos from your computer into “albums” on the photo frame. You can watch slideshows of the album. You might want to organize them by trips or holidays. You can change the duration and the transitions. You can also select the background color as white, gray or black. Another nice feature that the Philips Photo Frame has is that it has a battery which charges when it is plugged in. This is very convenient for showing someone photos easily.
Topics: Gadgets, Digital Photography | No Comments »
On Line Sales - Steep & Cheap
By nhevenor | October 14, 2007
I’m always willing to take advice from my kids when it comes to internet websites. The last time I saw my son he was opening a package from one of his many on-line purchases. I was envious of his nice Burton roll-on luggage that he purchased at a 70% discount. He told me about the website www.steepandcheap.com. The sales only last until the merchandise is sold - which can be minutes or hours. Most of the merchandise is outdoor wear and sporting goods of good quality. It is a better source of presents for my children and nieces and nephews than a source of things for myself but I enjoy seeing the great deals. Try it out!
Topics: Websites | No Comments »
Going Green - Reusable Shopping Bags
By nhevenor | September 29, 2007
It’s not surprising that the plethora of plastic shopping bags is not good for the environment. I have been reusing my plastic bags whenever I go to a wholesale club but other than that they collect in my kitchen at a prodigious rate. So I decided to buy some reusable shopping bags. I have been very pleased with the bags I’ve received so I thought I’d share what I’ve found.
First I bought a nice, light, reinforced roomy bag from Alchemy Goods. It is very surdy and lightweight and it is completely constructed with recycled materials. The bag is made of recycled banner material and the straps are used seat belts with the handle reinforced by used bicycle tires. The resulting bag is handsome, very strong and lightweight. Not inexpensive but I am very happy with it.
Now one bag will just not get me home from the grocery store. So I purchased a group of 5 nylon bags from EnviroSax They carry twice the amount of a typical plastic grocery bag and they are small and light enough to fit in a little sack in my glove compartment.
Now my major obstacle is just remembering to bring these into the stores! I have succeeded a few times so I’m hopeful I can be retrained. They are a pleasure to use - nice and strong and I’m not inundated with more plastic bags to litter our environment. So I heartily endorse both of these items.
Topics: Getting Organized | No Comments »
Brother P-Touch Label Maker
By nhevenor | December 29, 2006
One of my very favorite gadgets continues to be the Brother P-touch QL-500 Label Maker. I received it as a gift and I thought it looked interesting but I didn’t imagine how much I’d enjoy it! Certainly, I’ve printed sheets of labels on my laser printer for years. When I installed the software and plugged it in (USB of course). I wasn’t too impressed with the look of the software or the way it interfaced with Windows .. but I decided to make a few test labels. They came out crisp and FAST. I thought that was nice. I confess my desk was piled high with papers, etc. I started sorting and making file folder labels. It was exhilarating! Somehow the nice crisp labels inspired me. In no time at all I had organized stacks of papers. I was fulfilling resolutions I hadn’t even made. The next thing I knew my desk was clear .. I had a whole drawer of organized, Labeled files .. and I felt IN-CONTROL! Anyway - there’s a great rebate which makes this little dynamo a real deal. Click here Amazon p-touch Link I also found you can get the labels cheap from Sams Club On-line. I just thought I’d share this discovery. Of course maybe you don’t need to file anything these days! But somehow I don’t think I’m the only one. Let me know what you think.
Topics: Gadgets | No Comments »
Shopping on Line - Tips
By nhevenor | November 20, 2006
Some Interesting Websites
Looking for a good deals on line? You should try out Brad’s Deals. Brad’s Deals(http://www.bradsdeals.com has lots of internet shopping deals - special discount coupons, etc.. I was able to save $60 on a $199 on line Christmas purchase using this website with a 20% off coupon and $20 off for using Google Pay.
Google Pay is a new online payment method - similar to Paypal. To generate more users it is offering $20 off on your purchases of $50 or over right now. I signed up and got the discount on 2 items yesterday! Look for it while doing your online holiday shopping.
Topics: Websites, Technology Tips | No Comments »