Princeton Computer User Group

Picasa: Online photo's done right

2010-06-10T10:12:00.000-04:00

Well, I know there hasn't been a post for quite some time, but I had something that I wanted to share: the awe and beauty of Picasa, Google's online photo service.

I am home sick (really just riding out the 24 hr. after a fever, I'm better now) and my wife wanted me to put photos up on Picasa. Since we both have Google accounts, Picasa is our online photo storage place of choice. One big thing that needed to be done was to size all of the photos down so that we didn't fill up Picasa too fast (they provide 1 GB of storage). I had downloaded Picasa 3 which is the PC software that allows you to organize photos on your computer. I knew that there was some integration with Picasa 3 and the online storage, but I hadn't played with it much.

Well, long story short (too late) I am in the process of uploading the photos and it works like a dream. It lets me upload them to the online storage and resize them on the fly as they are being uploaded. SWEET!!!!

If you have a Google account, I would highly recommend using Picasa.

At this rate she will never be a movie star...

2008-11-18T23:01:00.003-05:00

Why so complicated?! For a long time now, I have wanted to spend some time understanding digital video formats and moving videos to and from various devices. I have TWO camcorders (one a mini DV and another a mini DVD) that I have NEVER been able to get video from. I can video all I want, but I can not get the video transferred to my computer so that I can burn it to DVD or even share it online. All this expensive equipment and I have to rely on a $200 Kodak Easy share for any video that I want to actually show anyone via the web. I have my very expensive Nikon D40 camera and I still keep the Kodak laying around and charged up because I can take videos quickly, easily, and I can even more importantly GET THEM OFF THE CARD and onto the computer easily.

Now that my daughter is 1 year old, I have VOWED to get this figured out. I WILL get videos from this damn camcorder. I WILL get them on DVD. It WILL happen.

A former co-worker told me that he uses the free version of Windows Movie Maker and it does everything that he needs. So I downloaded it. And I figured that it would be the easiest if I started tinkering with it in order to edit and title and prepare the videos that I already HAVE on my computer. Well, that wouldn't work. And frustration and time constraints have prevented me from figuring out why. Today I realized that a new baby would be coming in the new year, and I still have all of Ardyn's mini DVDs that I can't access, organize, or burn to a regular DVD.

So I researched. And found that
1. Most Digital Cameras take videos in the .mov format, which is the apple/quicktime format. Because it's apple, you can't open it in Windows Movie Maker (Argh.) and therefore in order to use WMM (Windows Movie Maker) for any .mov files from a digital camera, you would first have to download and convert all of your movies to a more compatible format, such as .avi

2. My Camcorder Disks cannot be read in a regular CDRom or DVDRom Drive until they are finalized. In order to finalize them, the Camcorder must be running on AC power from the wall adaptor. Unfortunately, we don't HAVE the cord to use as a wall adaptor, so we have to ORDER it for $16.95 plus shipping.

3. If you try to play a disk in your computer's CDRom Drive or a DVD player without finalizing it, not only will it not work, but you may inadvertently ruin the information on the mini DV, making it unusable and losing the videos. So, unfortunately, I have the fear of god that I may have ruined some of my daughter's videos of her first year, because this is exactly what I did.

And people wonder why the average joe gets all confused when trying to deal with videos. I will conquer this, and soon. But seriously, this is not simple folks. And to be honest with you, by the time I have time to sit down and study all of this again, it will be confusing and my head will be swimming and it will feel like I am starting from scratch. But maybe it will help if I come back and read this post first?

By the way, sorry that I missed the November meeting. I was getting ready to go out of town for a long weekend without my daughter or my husband, so there was alot of preparing to do at home and I had already been to Princeton twice that day. In fact I was asleep on the couch during the meeting. I was exhausted!

And in case anyone is reading this... the new baby is a boy!

SEPTEMBER MEETING CANCELLED!

2008-08-28T13:18:00.003-04:00

Spread the word. The September meeting has been cancelled.

The library has a meeting policy which states (rightly so) that library events as well as specific community events have precedence- and therefore get dibs on the meeting room, and there is a conflict on our regular meeting date. We considered rescheduling, but we were all equally busy this month and the dates just didn't work out.

We will see you in October and hope that you are gathering your helpful websites for the next meeting. (please see previous post for details!)

Solution: give it a new name

2008-08-15T17:43:00.004-04:00

Sometimes I need my fellow geeks to keep me in line. That being the case I would like to thank Meagan for calling me on the yarn I spun with my last blog entry and apologize to all of you who are in love with your wireless keyboard and mice. Type and click on.

Also on a side note, as some of you know I recently got married (two weeks ago today) and I would like to take this opportunity to tell the world how blessed I am to have ended up with the woman I ended up with. She is wonderful.

Anyway, I have a funny thing to tell about something I saw while watching Fox News video's online (O' Reilly Factor). Fox News inserts video ads in between video segments so you can't help but watch them. One of the ads almost had me for the first half. In this ad, people were asked, "Why haven't you switched to Windows Vista", and people gave their reasons (I will spare you mine). Next the interviewer asked the people to try out Window Mojave. I was somewhat excited at this point. I thought, "Well, Microsoft might have something better to offer. Cool enough." The people were excited and remarked on how good the product was to use. Then the bomb was dropped when the interviewer explained that they were just using Windows Vista and that they had renamed it for the purpose of the commercial interview experiment. Whoa!!!! Microsoft has stumbled onto a tactic that many other companies have tried. If people don't like your product, change the name. Don't like Coke, try Diet Coke. Don't like sour cream, try fat free sour cream. Don't like Windows Vista, try Windows Mojave. It's a gas. I think that it is totally funny that Microsoft thinks that computer users of any education level will buy into a cheap trick like that. I urge you to not be like the people in this commercial. WINDOWS MOJAVE IS WINDOWS VISTA, no matter what Microsoft says.

Your Favorite Websites: September

2008-08-14T15:06:00.000-04:00

So, for the September Meeting, we are asking each person to bring in AT LEAST one website that they use on a regular basis, that may be of help to another user. Hopefully these will be NEWER websites and not things that we have discussed in the past. We are not limiting these to computer websites, in fact, it would be nice to see some websites that are quite the opposite!

Bring your sites and we will compile them into a list!
See you in September.

We are ON for our August meeting

2008-07-20T18:36:00.001-04:00

I wanted to put a note out there to let you all know that We re ON for our August meeting. The First Tuesday of the month at 6:30pm at Matson Public Library. The library director himself will be letting us into the building and I *suggest* that you don't arrive early unless you want to be standing outside. :) He will be there at 6:30 and I don't think much earlier.

Hope to see you then!

Is a keyboard a keyboard?

2008-07-15T07:53:00.002-04:00

First off this is an issue that I got punched in the face with a few days ago. I have since gotten over it (I think), so I feel comfortable talking about it. The subject is horrible, frustrating, and it strikes fear in the heart of most IT people. This is WIRELESS KEYBOARDS AND MICE. In case some of you have them and swear by them, just hear me out. First off, they drain batteries. This is just one more item to troubleshoot when someone is having trouble. If you have used these devices in an office environment with many people around using the exact same wireless keyboard and mouse. This brings me to the second problem. Say for instance one mouse goes bad, their wireless connection device is still working fine, and someone at a desk a few feet away has the exact same mouse. Any guess what happens next? Yup, the person who has the working mouse is now able to control the pointer on the other person's computer which leads to massive confusion. My main gripe is this: I feel that when a keyboard/mouse poops out, that's it and you get another one. With these wireless devices, you generally have to buy a whole new setup in order to keep the all of the devices working.

The main complaint that I have heard towards wired devices is, "The cord is too short". Well I have a novel idea. Let's pay $15 for a 6' USB extension cable. With this simple item you not have to deal with these pitfalls that I have mentioned above.

NOTE: This entry was basically a rant about something that happened this last week. Give me a post back if you feel my pain. PEACE!!!!!!!!

Last night I dreamt....

2008-07-06T10:40:00.004-04:00

OK, this might be a little freaky, but I am going to recount a dream I had last night to you. Don't worry, it's clean.

I was walking around a building of some type (I think it might have been our local hospital). Then to my surprise there stood Billy Gates himself. Well, in spite of my anti-Microsoft mindset I had to say hello to him. So I ran up to him and said, "Hello Mr. Gates". "Hi", he replies. I proceeded to tell him who I was followed by some minor smalltalk, but he turned and walked away. What gives, I thought. I happened to glance down at the t-shirt I was wearing. In bright white letters along with the logo was printed Ubuntu Linux. I couldn't believe it.

Now, if anyone has dreams that are that ironic and humorus from a geeky standpoint, leave a comment below. Keep it real. Keep it clean. Keep it geeky. PEACE!!!!!!!!!

AVG is still free!

2008-05-29T01:59:00.002-04:00

I have had several people contact me this week. They have been frantic because their computers told them that AVG (the free antivirus that we love and that is so widely used) needs to be upgraded to the new version (8.0) and that the old version (7.5) will no longer be supported. Most people didn't notice that there is STILL a free version of AVG 8.0, and that they do NOT Have to pay for the new AVG 8.0 if they want to continue to just use the free AVG Antivirus. You may notice, however, that AVG makes it a little more difficult to find the "Free Download" with each upgrade. It's their way of selling more antivirus. For your convenience, I am providing a direct link to the AVG Free Antivirus, Version 8.0. If it's time for you to upgrade, feel free to follow the link and do so. If it's something you want to try, be sure to remove ALL Antivirus programs from your machine, and download and try it. But be sure to remove all old antivirus programs (McAffee, Norton, etc) before you install. Enjoy!

http://free.grisoft.com/ww.download?prd=afe

The Public Restroom Wormhole

2008-05-27T23:58:00.005-04:00

OK, I have been crazy busy with work, helping my fiance get our wedding going, and day-to-day stuff which she is very good about helping with (thanks Jenn). Anyway, I thought I'd write something that was completely unrelated to computers.

While on vacation with my bride-to-be and my folks, we stopped along the way at a Wendy's for a bite to eat and a much needed potty break. One thing that really gets me is that any establishment that clearly has room to facilitate a few dozen patrons only has a one-hole john (for each gender, of course). As is usually the case in those instances, especially when need has reached critical mass, there were two guys in line ahead of me who must have had an over-abundance of some food that was inhibiting them, or so it might seem. It could be that certain people, upon entering the bathroom, create what scientists theoretically call a wormhole. While this person in question is doing their business, those of us waiting outside are pulled through the mouth of the wormhole and sent through the space time continuum forward or backward in time. Either way, we end up doing the pee-pee dance in the hall waiting to be pulled back the present. Of course, on this particular day, the ladies room was not rendering the same effect on those waiting. For a moment I was tempted to thrust my way back through the wormhole and take momentary refuge in the other restroom, but due to modesty and fear of leaving the seat up I remained trapped for the next 8 minutes or so. This theory is inconclusive of course. I have no actual proof that the restroom wormhole exists. But, I feel that the evidence given above is undeniable and this theory should be adopted by the scientific community at large.

If you read this, thanks. Some times I just have the urge to write a wacky entry. I will try to get some technology stuff up on the blog soon. Keep getting your geek on.

P.S. I did actually research wormholes. For more information, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wormhole.

A cheap shot at Microsoft

2008-03-28T00:31:00.004-04:00

Once you start reading this, I am sure you are going to think that I am a complete Anti-Microsoft Nazi. Well, I'm not. I see many Microsoft products as the industry standard. I do, however, think that Microsoft has settled for mediocrity in many of their products for the sake of the almighty buck. It is for this reason that I am taking a cheap shot at Microsoft's CEO, Steve Ballmer.

As a person who loves Google, I am constantly looking at their products and development platforms. I think that Google will come up, at least, in the top 5 internet software providers. I did recall reading an article in USA Today a year or so ago in which Ballmer was quoted describing some features of Google's Document application as saying, "You can't even put a footnote in. Now, last time I checked, that's still kind of important to give attribution. (Laughter.)" I'm sure Steve-O wasn't born yesterday and missed out on the break-neck speed with which Google has implemented many web-based services that are extremely robust. Unless Steve was thinking about Google not making any innovations to their product (like his company, HA!!), I am sure he could foresee them adding this feature. I personally saw this remark like telling an aircraft carrier mechanic that a pebble dinged up against the hull when it left port. I think that Steve was taking a cheap shot at a company that could be a real threat to Microsoft.

As a side note, I checked Google Docs earlier today and they have implemented a Header/Footer functionality to their program. Sorry Steve. Reload and take another shot!!!

To read the original article from USA Today, click here.

The Amazon Kindle: You'll want one, too

2008-03-27T12:28:00.006-04:00

I just happened to be surfing YouTube (a future past-time of mine, I'm sure) and I came across a video describing a piece of consumer electronics manufactured and marketed by Amazon.com. WAIT!!!! Amazon is the internets answer to Borders, Walmart, and every other store. Why would they make their own gadget? Well, as many of you know, Amazon started out simply as an online book store, ergo the Kindle was made.

The Kindle is a an e-book reader. But, unlike any other e-book reader, the Kindle allows you to buy books in electronic format from Amazon and download them directly to your Kindle. The technical cretique of how this is accomplished is a bit long winded. Let me just say that it's not dependant on Wi-Fi and there is NO SUBSCRIPTION FEE!!!

OK, so this is just another way for Amazon to make a buck, right? Of course, they plan on making millions on digital book sales, I'm sure. But what if I have an electronic file (word document for example) that I would like to have available on my Kindle? Well, through some conversion features offered by Amazon, they will take your document, convert it into an acceptible format, and deilver the converted file to you so you can put it on your Kindle. WAY COOL!!!!!

I have to say, as an avid user of PDF's and digital documentation, I have been waiting for a device like this for years. I hope this takes off like a rocket. Here's a video describing the Kindle.

The Best of Network TV Online

2008-03-04T00:26:00.004-05:00

In spite of the fact that I can't get CBS to come in on my new digital TV tuner, they are quickly becoming my favorite network TV website (www.cbs.com). I am a person who overall favors the classic TV shows (with the exception of Lost). If you want to catch some reruns of classic TV shows like MacGyver, the original Star Trek, or the Twilight Zone, you may be forced to either buy an expensive DVD set or wade through your local TV schedule to find these. But where other networks have failed to step up and make use of the internet in this way, CBS has succeeded by streaming video-on-demand of many classic TV shows from their website. This is a wonderful thing that they have done and I hope other networks follow suit. Please check out all of the great classic TV shows on www.cbs.com.

What is a Blog

2008-02-26T09:02:00.002-05:00

Since you are looking at this article and it is on a Blog, I can only assume you know what a Blog is. But, what is the advantage to a Blog over traditional internet media sources or even traditional non-digital media? Blogs are able to harness the main advantage of the internet: worldwide instant communication. This video was made by the same people who made the RSS video I posted a while back and it is very informational.

A True Digital Library

2008-02-26T08:34:00.002-05:00

If you have been exposed to the internet for any length of time, you have more than likely heard of the analogy comparing the internet to a huge library. Well, I have found a few websites that are truly a digital library, providing classic literature, reference, and archives of all sorts.

The first site is a reference site of sorts: www.ibiblio.org. This site contains a plethora of reference information on topics from literature and theology to technology and mathematics. This site also offers scholastic news articles and many radio stations of a public nature.

The next two sites go together in their main purpose: www.librivox.org and www.gutenberg.org. The purpose of these sites is to disseminate classic literature in audio and print format respectively. Project Gutenberg (as the name implies) provides literature in print format. For the literary works used on this site copyright is not an issue, as all of the offerings have entered the public domain. Librivox is an extension of Project Gutenberg. Taking the print literature from Gutenberg, librivox uses millions of worldwide volunteers to read the literature and provide it in audio format for download on their website. All your favorite Mark Twain and L. Frank Baum are available for free in print and audio format.

The final website is a very general archive of all sorts of content: www.archive.org. To start out with, the Internet Archive offers a video library including many things from educational videos to full-lengthpublic domain movies. They also have a library of audio content which includes music, audio books, and much more. Like any good library, the Internet Archive has many thousands of articles on many subjects. In my opinion, the most valuable feature of the Internet Archive is the Wayback Machine (the name harkens to Adventures of Peabody and Sherman). This is a feature that allows you to search for versions of almost any website that may have existed in the last 15 or so years.

Check out all of these great useful websites. You might find something of interest to you.

Meeting Announcement

2008-02-05T16:48:00.000-05:00

With the adverse weather and the prediction of up to 20 inches of snow on the way, we would like you to determine whether or not it is safe for you to travel to our meeting tonight, and plan accordingly. At this time Meagan will not be attending (babies and their mamma's are better off at home), and Dorene is going to try to make it in. She has a new toy that she wants to demo! At last word, Andy too was planning on attending.

If the weather gets worse than it is at 4pm, Dorene will stay home.
Tonight's presentation will be a practice presentation and will be given again in March, so please don't feel that you will miss something important if you decide not to attend. Happy traveling, or in my case, happy staying home! Have a lovely evening!

Free Phone Services

2008-02-04T22:51:00.000-05:00

Back in December we discussed some phone services that are available for use for FREE!!!!! Let recap what was covered.

First we covered a directory assistance phone number: 1-800-FREE-411. This is a great 411 (Directory Assistance) number. It allows you to look up any residential or business from any phone. It also allows free connection to any business (I became aware of this feature since the presentation).

Another 411 service we looked at was 1-800-GOOG-411. This is a service provided by Google. GOOG-411, unlike the FREE-411, is only able to search business listings. Google's service also offers the free connection. Even though GOOG-411 has less features than FREE-411, I am still holding out. Google has created some great products and I don't think they will leave GOOG-411 where it is.

The final service we spoke about was Google SMS. SMS (Short Message Service) is a technology used to send and receive text messages on cell phones. If you send a formatted text message to 466453 (the numeric value of GOOGLE), Google will send back information based on the message you sent. For information on how to format your text messages, go to www.google.com/sms/. This is a perfect example of some of the great services offered by Google.

RSS: What is it anyway

2008-01-18T16:06:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone. I'm working on getting a posting out detailing my phone number presentation in December. But I ran across a video online and thought it best to share it. I feel that among most computer users, something that is very useful and not well understood is RSS. RSS (which stands for Really Simple Syndication) is a method of retrieving news headlines with links to the whole article without going out to many sites. Take a look at this video. It's really helpful.

See y'all next month. PEACE!!!!!!!

No Meeting Tonight!

2008-01-01T14:41:00.001-05:00

Tonight's meeting of the Princeton Computer User Group will not be held.
See you in February! (Bring your sweetheart and maybe I will bring mine?)

The Library Classes held on the 2nd Wednesday of each month will now be held at 10am. Mark your calendars!

Happy New Year!!!

December Meeting Misprint

2007-12-01T23:47:00.000-05:00

The December Meeting of the Princeton Computer User Group will be held on December 4th, Tuesday, at 6:30 pm at the Matson Public Libary. The News Tribune mis-printed our meeting date as December 6th. Hope to see you there!

New Meeting Place for the PCUG

2007-08-14T14:38:00.001-04:00

As some of you might know, the Princeton Public Library has opened at it's new location at 698 East Peru Street (the old BOGO's Grocery Store). Yea, I know what you're thinking. A grocery store got turned into a library? Ha!!!

But, it's unbelievable once you see it. It has far more accessibility and expandability that the old building didn't offer along with a contemporary architectural design. I urge you to go check it out if you haven't already.

Anyway, for those of you who are interested in attending our September 4th meeting, we are going to meet at the Princeton Public Library. WiFi will be available!!! Hope to see you there!!!

For more information about Princeton Public Library, visit www.matsonpubliclibrary.org.

Save the Internet!!!

2007-07-08T22:46:00.000-04:00

OK, I know that I have been really bad about not writing much lately, with work and 10,000,000 other things, guess what falls by the wayside. In my random surfings earlier this evening, I came upon something that I wasn't sure about at first, but I now see that it is something that should be of the utmost importance to us all.

Network Neutrality.

Huh? What is that? I confess that when I first found these words, it sounded like a set of words that meant absolutely nothing that some guy got payed way too much to make up. That's what I thought. Until I looked around a while. Let me give you the skinny on Network Neutrality.

Imagine you are searching for a recipe or trying to locate a family website. You'd go to Google (or some other search engine) and search away. Now, imagine the website your looking for is restricted. That's right. A 100% clean website would be deemed unaccessible. This is a possibility with respect to certain pieces of legislation that could be handed down to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Why would the FCC do this?

Like anything else, it would be for money. There is a wide-area communications medium that they currently have very little control over. They would have web hosting facilities pay a fee to guarantee Quality of Service (QoS) for their internet connection. Organizations that do not pay this fee, will not be given QoS and therefore not be accessible (or at least not as easily). This is a huge problem!!! Many private or non-profit organizations provide content that is useful, unique, inspiring, and not available, in some cases, anywhere else on the internet. Imagine such content being wiped off of the face of the internet. In my mind, this is one step closer to big brother being fully realized.

I urge you as soon as you can to look into Network Neutrality. For more information, visit http://www.savetheinternet.com/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_neutrality. If nothing else, please be aware of what this legislation is and what it could do. The internet was partially founded as a means for wide-area educational purposes. Don't let someone tear this textbook in half.

To let the FCC know what you think, visit http://www.savetheinternet.com/yourstory and fill out the form. Be aware that as of today (July 8, 2007), we only have 7 days to make a difference. Please help keep the internet open.

Isn't Technology Great?

2007-06-19T18:06:00.000-04:00

I thought some of you might enjoy this link, which depicts penny postcards from all over the State of Illinois. I especially loved those in Bureau County, and the Clark Hotel in Princeton had me smiling.

July meeting cancelled.

2007-05-21T17:48:00.000-04:00

There will be no JULY 3rd Meeting of the PCUG. The June meeting will go on as planned, but July will be canceled due to it's close proximity to Independence Day! Everyone have a great holiday.

Tuesday May 1st Meeting

2007-05-01T16:30:00.000-04:00

Tonight is the May 1st Meeting of the PCUG in the basement of the Clark House in Princeton, at 6:30. No specific topics planned, so come with questions!

Something Every Household Should Have

2007-04-17T18:47:00.000-04:00

Being the prepared individual, I am constantly thinking. My husband recently told me of someone who has all of their important documents in order, kept in the safe, and ready to evacuate with him in the event of an emergency.

This set my head to spinning. What if there was a fire or a flood or a tornado and I had to head for cover or leave my home? What if my home were destroyed? Would I be able to lay my hands on my insurance policy numbers? A Copy of my own personal identification? Contact Information for people I need? No.

At Target last weekend, I came across a product that I think would be beneficial in every household and could be a lifesaver for anyone, regardless of age. It's called a Life Doc Binder. It comes with computer software (which you can use or you may fill everything out by hand) and it allows you to keep all of your important information in one place. Then if anything ever happens to you, your family will know exactly where to find the information they need. If you ever need to leave your home, you can grab the binder and take it with you.

I think this is an excellent idea and I think everyone should know about them. Check the office supply area at Target. You can also look inside the binder, read details, and purchase online at http://www.getbuttonedup.com/shop/life_doc.php?pid=%22shop%22

And what an excellent gift for couples just starting out, new homeowners, the parents of a new child, or even your family members and yourself.

Tonight's Meeting!

2007-04-03T10:59:00.000-04:00

Tonight's Meeting is at 6:30 in the basement of the Clark House. We hope to see you all there. We don't have any "topics" so please bring your questions!

Another interesting thought. We have had 96 visits since we launched the site a month ago and NOT ONE comment. In case you didn't know, bloggers thrive on conversation and feedback about their posts. They love a little discussion now and then. So for those of you "silent lurkers" please post a comment and let us know you were here, and what you have enjoyed!

Who's been here so far? Click the Image for a Large View.

My Top 5 Open Source Software Picks

2007-03-21T08:03:00.000-04:00

As promised, I have compiled a list of open source software. After thinking about it for a few seconds and in an effort to not overwhelm anyone, I decided to only list those software items that I use on a daily basis at my job. This will demonstrate the real-world usability of these packages. It should be noted that all of the packages I am explaining below are available for Windows, Linux, and MacOS X.

OpenOffice.org – Think MS Office, only without the $500 price tag (not sure exactly what it costs). OpenOffice contains a word processing application equal to MS Word, a spreadsheet application equal to MS Excel, a presentation application equal to MS PowerPoint, a layout application similar to MS Publisher, and a database application that is almost on par with MS Access. In fact, the word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation application is almost 100% compatible with MS Word, Excel, and Powerpoint, respectively. In the area of macros, I believe that StarBasic (comparable to VBA in MS Office) is capable of doing most common automated tasks. But for the average small business, I feel that OpenOffice can provide a superb alternative to MS Office.

GIMP – Adobe Photoshop has become an “industry standard” in the world of graphic design, be it for print design or web design. I should mention that of the commercial software companies out there, Adobe is one of my favorite. However, spending $1000 on a suite of software that I might or might not use every day is an investment I'm not ready to make, especially since I'm not that good at design. But the Open Source community has come through again and provided a tool that, in my mind, is 99% as capable as Photoshop for editing photos and creating pixel based artwork. It's the GIMP (which stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program). The GIMP offers many tools for image manipulation and adjustment. Some of the more advanced ones are: image level and curve adjustment, Gaussian Blur and Unsharp Mask. It is easy for a novice computer user to get lost in the complexity of the GIMP. It is again my hope to post a tutorial on some of its basic functions.

Inkscape – Again, Adobe holds the market in vector graphics editor with their Adobe Illustrator software package. And again, the Open Source community has thrown a punch back at them with Inkscape. If you are unfamiliar with Adobe Illustrator, you might wonder what vector graphics is. A vector is a mathematical term for a line, thus vector graphics is artwork that is created through the use of lines. In vector graphics software packages, like Inkscape and Illustrator, lines can be given texture, shape, colors, and some other cool effects. The advantage to vector graphics is amazingly enough the same downfall of pixel based artwork (the GIMP does pixel based): the inability to make an image larger without losing quality. That is, you can take a piece of vector artwork and increase the size of it indefinitely. Therefore, vector graphics is extremely useful for printing artwork or when you need multiple sizes of the same piece of artwork. In all of these basic areas, I have found that Inkscape is very comparable to Illustrator.

Audacity – Most computers have a plug-in on their computer for a microphone, but I imagine that the majority of people don't use it. This might be because there was not an easy-to-use, inexpensive recording software package. Audacity is this software package. The Open Source community again came through and created a very robust software package that turns your computer onto a digital sound recorder. In the same way that you put a cassette tape in the recorder and it the record button, when you click the record button in Audacity it begins recording every sound your microphone picks up. When you are done recording, you can save your recording as a WAVE audio file or an MP3 audio file instead of fumbling with those tapes (you must some additional software to save as an MP3). A couple cool features of Audacity is the ability to do multi-track recordings and add special effects to your recordings. Audacity is very comparible to any audio recorder I have used that you have to pay money for.

OpenClipart – Unless you are a extremely creative artist (which I am not), if you want to add some flavor to a document or presentation you reach for a piece of clip art. OpenOffice, unlike MS Office, doesn't come with a complete clip art library. Don't worry, because again the Open Source community has come together to create an extensive library of vector based (Inkscape) and pixel based (GIMP) artwork. The library contains many categories with hundreds of pieces of clip art. If you want to place a piece of clip art directly into OpenOffice or whatever application you are using. If you want to tweek the artwork a little bit before you use it, you can open the vector based artwork in Inkscape and save it as a pixel based piece of clip art. This might seem confusing, but I plan to do a post on this vector-to-pixel conversion process.

Open Source...A Community Effort

2007-03-09T11:54:00.000-05:00

The world of computers contains a vast array of people who control the electronic destiny of us all. Some of these people are motivated by a profit to keep them sitting pretty into their retirement years while other are idealists of sorts. This second group of people found that if other idealistic computer enthusiasts are provided with the tools of software development and productivity software, they can shape their own electronic destiny, and in so doing, benefit the global computing community. These visionaries started what has become the GNU Project and the Free Software Foundation (FSF) and have shaped the way all of us, even those profit seeking pseudo geeks, use our computers every day.

The GNU (pronounced with a silent G) Project was founded in 1983 by Richard Stallman. At the time, the project was set up to develop a computer operating system (OS) complete with development tools. Their intent was for the GNU software to be distributed to people all over the world and have the recipients continue creating software that could be redistributed to others.

The community-and-sharing idea is central to what GNU was founded under and has taken on a more globally applicable form in what GNU has evolved into: a legal mechanism. Currently, the GNU project focuses much of it's effort towards keeping GNU software legally accessible to anyone who wants to use them. The GNU General Public License (GPL) is a legal description for software that is to distributed in the same manner that GNU software was.

To aid the progression of the GNU project and similar projects, in 1985 Stallman established the Free Software Foundation (FSF). This non-profit organization provided funds that were used to pay developers to create software for the GNU project. Many of the applications developed for the GNU project are still used every day by software developers and end-users. The FSF has also worked to develop, update, and maintain new versions of the GNU GPL.

In the grand scheme, it seems that the GNU OS (which was originally at the center of the GNU project) didn't see the light of day, relatively speaking. This full-flowering and reception of the GNU OS was hindered by another community effort, actually a community of 1. In 1991 Linus Torvarlds, a Finnish software developer, began development of a operating system to replace a previously GPL licensed operating system. Since the mid-1990's Torvalds' operating system (Linux) has been developed by the free software community. Thanks to the community effort put into Linux, it's abilities rival those of commercial operating systems like Windows and the MacOS.

Thanks to a few probably misunderstood geeks, the software industry has been rocked on it's heels and has been changed forever. The hope of the free software community, I should think, is that whenever you need a piece of software to do a certain task you will look to them for a solution. The community-minded efforts of the millions of software developers to create freely available computing solutions have not been in vain. But if we allow the community to fail and their purpose to stop being realized, the efforts will fail.

Preface:

I urge all who read this article to research open source software. Unless you are a seasoned software downloader, I advise against downloading software. I will be providing a list of viable open source software in subsequent posts. PEACE!!!!!!!!!

Sources: Wikipedia

Turkey shuts down online access to You Tube

2007-03-07T20:13:00.000-05:00

Internet Customers in Turkey found a rude awakening when trying to access "You Tube" this week.

Access to www.youtube.com site has been suspended in accordance with decision no: 2007/384 dated 06.03.2007 of Istanbul First Criminal Peace Court.

According to Reuters "A Turkish court banned Google Inc.'s
YouTube because it showed a video ``insulting'' the country's
founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the Vatan newspaper reported.
The video-sharing Web site will be shut down in Turkey after
judges ruled in favor of an Istanbul prosecutor's petition
against YouTube for showing images of Ataturk and a Turkish flag
that included obscenities in English, Vatan said. It is against
Turkish law to ``insult'' Ataturk.
Unidentified officials at Turk Telekomunikasyon AS, the
fixed-line phone monopoly that runs the national Internet
infrastructure, told Vatan that access to YouTube will be blocked
as soon as they receive legal notice. The state owns 45 percent
of Turk Telekom.
The Turkish Justice Ministry has appealed to the U.S.
Justice Department for help in tracking down the person
responsible for the video, the newspaper also said. California-
based YouTube also featured a video alleging Ataturk was a
homosexual, Vatan said. That video has been removed."

Daylight Savings Time Changes, Vista, Google Apps, and Other Goodies

2007-03-07T09:03:00.000-05:00

Last night's PCUG meeting was a nice quiet one. Dorene had Andy help her with an Access database and I ran the meeting, with a small mention of Google Apps and a quick presentation of some Vista Screen shots. We had a Vista Presentation provided by Microsoft but it was very much a reiteration of what we had talked about last fall when Vista wasn't released, and I thought that rather than here more technical terminology and specs, users might want to see what it actually looks like. Andy has Vista on his new laptop, but he tends to use the Classic View to avoid all the "new" confusion.

We answered some questions regarding preparing taxes online, and another regarding Google Desktop, which one user got on her PC and is really annoyed by. We talked her through uninstalling it through the control panel, as at least three other members, including myself, had done a trial of Google desktop and found it to be unnecessary. We also discussed concerns about the new Daylight Savings Time patch through Microsoft. Today I learned that Microsoft Windows 2000 Machines can't be fixed by adding a patch, because they are "no longer supported" by Microsoft and therefore there is no "patch" written. Other Older Operating Systems (95, 98, ME, NT) may have the same issue. There IS the option of editing the registry to get the clock set correctly (eeewwww!) and if you want to try that (please, if you don't know what the registry is, DO NOT attempt this. Messing around in the registry as an ameteur is a BIG no no.) Visit Microsoft's website for support at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/914387/ For more information on daylight savings time, and how it effects everything worldwide, including our precious computers, visit Wikipedia HERE. Remember: You don't need to edit your registry or install a patch if you would like to manually adjust your clock. The match and the registry edit allow the computer to change it's own clock when Daylight Savings time happens. There is no need to panic, because even without the patch or registry edit, you can still change your clock manually.

To all of you who must have "found the blog" make sure you sign up to post a comment! If you don't want to sign up, choose "Other" and type in your name or screen name to post a comment without signing up! Thanks!

Tuesday March 6th Meeting

2007-03-05T19:29:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow's PCUG Meeting will be held at 6:30pm in the basement of the Clarke House in Princeton. The Topic will be Vista, and look forward to seeing lots of Vista Screenshots! We hope to see you there!

Clear your mind, and your pockets!

2007-02-12T20:32:00.000-05:00

Do you have sticky notes everywhere? Bits of paper by the phone, notes cluttering your desk? A long shopping list in your purse? A pocket calendar wherever you go? How about business cards cluttering up your wallet? Lists of telephone numbers?

Have you ever thought about a PDA? Oh NO! Not me! I don't need one of those fancy things! I am no high powered executive! I don't have lots of meetings to attend! I don't need to check my emails on the run! No?

But what about that grocery list in your purse? Those pieces of paper with your kid's addresses and phone numbers. That sports schedule?

PDA's are NOT just for high powered executives. They are for everyone! Mom's keeping soccer schedules, dentist appointments, grocery lists, and emergency contact information at their fingertips. Grandparents who don't want to sift through a pile of letters and notes to find that bit of information that they "KNOW they wrote down just yesterday."

PDA's can hold so many many things for the average person. PDA's provide the ability to keep a calendar, and to give you audible reminders (like the alarm on your watch) when it's time to do everything from watch your favorite TV show to taking your medication to picking up your family at the airport. They allow you to setup a phone and address list-

Let's just say you are at your sister Judy's house one Afternoon:

Judy: You know, I don't believe that I have Michael's new mailing address? I really wanted to send him this funny birthday card I bought and I just keep forgetting to ask you for his address. Do you know what it is offhand? I really should get this in the mail before tomorrow, or he won't get it in time.

You: Um... you know I have it somewhere... at home. How about I call you tomorrow morning and give it to you (you write yourself a note, reminding yourself to find the note that has your son Michael's address, and then to call Judy in the morning. The note goes into your purse with all your receipts, your grocery list, and all your other notes.)

Let's just say that you have a PDA. You are at Judy's house and when she asks for Michael's address, you reach into your purse and pull out your PDA, open your address book, and read her Michael's new address, phone number, AND email address. Wasn't that efficient? How much time and stress have you saved yourself by having that information at your fingertips? How relieved would Judy be?

PDA's allow you to keep and quickly update a complete contact list. As a matter of fact, you could have given her Michael's work mailing address, his fax number, his office suite number, his direct line, AND his company title if you had wanted to. Not to mention the birth dates of all Michael's children and his wife name, their anniversary, and her cell phone number. All of that information, literally at your fingertips.

My PDA balances my checkbook. I have purchased an inexpensive PDA version of Quicken, called Pocket Quicken. I can enter checks, debits, deposits, and all types of transactions in the PDA, and I can categorize them and Quicken will keep a running balance on my PDA that can by synced to the Quicken program on my home computer. Now when I get done with a big trip to the mall, and to get groceries, and I stop by McDonald's for a cheeseburger meal and the gas station to fill up on the way home, I can spend a few minutes in the restaurant or in the car in th parking lot, and grab all 6 or 8 receipts from my purse, and enter those debit card transactions into my PDA, and Quicken will tell me exactly how much money I have left to spend (if any!) and will categorize all my spending to be synced at home when I am ready. No more calculator, checking register, or purse/wallet full of receipts.

Next time you are at a doctor's office or a meeting and you need to schedule a follow-up appointment, you can open your PDA, check your calendar, find a clear spot on your schedule, and enter the appointment right there. No more lost appointment cards or over scheduling.

PDA's have a built in calculator (why carry one of those in your purse too?) and even fun features like games. You can even turn the sound off and play bejeweled while you wait to have your teeth cleaned!

Create lists! To do lists, Gift Idea Lists, GROCERY LISTS! You can check items off as you put them in your cart! You can check off to do list items as you complete them.

I purchased my PDA for less than $75 on eBay, used. It came with the box, the software, the paperwork, cords to connect to my computer, and a wall charger. I was able to buy an extra cradle (for sync to my computer) and a hard case for less than $15 on ebay. You don't have to pay a lot to own a PDA and you don't have to feel like you are wasting your money to try something new.

Let a PDA clear up your clutter, your purse/wallet, and your mind. Toss out all those paper notes and keep everything clear, concise, and up to date.

If you decide to get high tech, you can purchase cards that will give you internet access ANWHERE, download programs like Adobe reader that allow you to view entire books on your PDA, or accessories like foldable keyboards and wireless LAN Adapters to connect to wireless networks. The possibilities are endless and PDA's can expand to handle whatever it is you need.

Scared of Vista? Get Ready for "Vienna" in 2009

2007-02-09T19:13:00.000-05:00

Need some weekend reading? Check out the IT News headlines for today!

File Extensions and File Associations

2007-02-08T20:31:00.001-05:00

Computer Files have varying file extensions. File Extensions can be hidden or shown, depending on your settings. An example of a file extension? Have you ever heard of a "jpg" or a "rtf" file? jpg (or jpeg) files are image files, and rtf (Rich Text Format) files are text documents that can be read by most word processors, including word, works, and word pad. A file name followed by a .doc extension is USUALLY a Microsoft Word Document. A gif document (Graphics Interchange Format) is an image file that can show transperency.

Each document or file has a file extension. If you have a word document, and you save it as "Christmas Card Addresses", your full filename, including the file extension, would be:

Christmas Card Addresses.doc

Many programs, including word, allow you to save files in several different formats. If you use Adobe Phoshop, and create a logo or graphic, you could save it as a Photoshop Document, which supports layers and has a psd extension. Or you could save it as a jpg, gif, tiff, or png format, or one of about 14 other file extensions.

A File extension always follows the document name, after a period.

How about file associations? It's best to understand file extensions before you ask about file associations. A file association is the method that Microsoft Windows Operating Systems use to determine what program will open what type of file extension. If you have Windows Picture and Fax Viewer, you may have it set as your default viewer for jpg and gif (image files.) Windows looks at your file extension and then matches it up to the appropriate program.

Let's talk about an example of file association, in the Simplest of terms. An HTML document contains text and code that makes up a webpage. When viewing a webpage, you can use any variety of programs, called "Web Browsers." Web Browser examples: Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Netscape, and Opera. Each of these programs interprets or reads the code and displays it in the webpage format that we have grown so fond of.

Sometimes when you open a program, like Internet Explorer, it may give you a message (see below) stating "Internet Explorer is not currently your default browser. Would you like to make it your default browser?"
If you answer YES to this question, windows automatically sets the program Internet Explorer as the program that opens HTML files. That is how IE becomes your default browser. If Mozilla asks you the same questions, and you answer yes, Windows will set Mozilla Firefox as the default program to open HTML Files.

This is all just a "file association," associating the file extension HTML to the program Internet Explorer. When you install Microsoft Office, it automatically associates the "doc" extension to the program Microsoft Word. It associates the "xls" extension to Microsoft Excel, and the "eml" extension (email document) is often associated with Microsoft Outlook, if not when installed, when Outlook is opened for the first time. You will be asked "Do you want to make Microsoft Outlook your default email client?" and if you answer yes, the file association "magically" takes place. This is how, when you click on an email address on the web, Windows automatically knows to open Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express, to start a new email message. All of this is determined by file association.

Some of you may have experienced problems, like we discussed in our meeting in February, with files opening with a program that you don't WANT them to open with. There are many ways to change file associations, or to work around the problem, and I will share with you the two simplest ways.

Right click on the file that you want to open. Choose "Open With" and then "Choose Program." This will pop open a new window, from which you can choose the program you wish this file to open. If you want this to be a permenant change, you can check the box that says "always use the selected program to open this kind of file" and it will change the file association for you.
Open the PROGRAM first, then do a file/open and browse for the file. This is a one time work-around and will not change the file association, but will open the file in the program you chose.

There is another method to go directly to your file associations and change them. Older versions of windows (Windows NT, ME, 98, 95, and older) contained a file called "win file.exe"
Which is a file extension/association manager. I do not recommend that just anyone go into winfile.exe and monkey around, but if you have more advanced computer skills, google winfile.exe or read more about Winfile at Wikipedia.

Be My Valentine

2007-02-08T19:56:00.000-05:00

Looking for a fabulous gift for your valentine? Here are a few clever suggestions.

Short But Sweet

2007-02-08T19:37:00.000-05:00

February's meeting was short but sweet. Attendance was low due to the weather, and Dorene received several calls and told people not to make a point to attend if they had far to travel. Those of us in attendance answered a few computer questions, and did some gossiping about the East Peoria Festival of Lights, which several of us attended this Holiday season. Although it may not SEEM computer related, the light show begins with a parade the Saturday after Thanksgiving, in which more than 40 lighted structures are taken through the streets. The structures, and many other lighted decorations are then placed in VFW Park, where visitors can drive through the park for as little as $5 per carload. Many of the light displays are very detailed and run by computers.

The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, March 6th, and a presentation on Windows Vista is scheduled.