The View From My Cube

6:27:26 AM EDT Since I won't be posting any more entries on this journal, please save this address and come visit me.  It's cozy and friends are always welcome.

http://makingofahome.blogspot.com/

Good to hear that The Farm and Kitchen Chatter and The Cube will be moved.  So I don't have to worry about that.  I don't have time to recreate all them.  :-)

Most important are friends so please don't lose touch and here is my gmail address as that's the one I use on Blogger.  I always check account for mail so you can always reach me there or on AOL mail.

deb.baumgartnerATgmailDOTcom  Just change AT to @ and DOT to .

Hope that makes sense.  See you on Blogger!

Deb


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12:37:54 PM EDT AOL Journals are going away.  I hope they will provide a way to move our journals.  I have backups some of mine but this one is not backed up.  I hope this can be moved. 

In the mean time, PLEASE save this so we can stay in touch.

http://makingofahome.blogspot.com/

I will post all the news about other blogs and moving of blogs on on Blogspot, so bookmark it, follow it or subscribe to the feed.



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6:38:10 AM EDT I just downloaded the Flock Browser and it looks interesting.  I've heard good things about it and I'm ready to test drive.



Since I use Twitter and Facebook and now Yammer I am going to see how this all integrates in to one browser.

It's easier to show you some screen shots.  Check it out.






So, what do you think?  I think I'm gonna give it a try to use at home.  I don't think work would appreciate me using this browser.  LOL

Click here to get started or just read more about Flock


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6:25:30 AM EDT

Printing a webpage can be a real pain in the butt.  I hate printing pages that include huge graphics and endless ads.  I usually copy the text into Notepad and print the text I want.  Now, there's a better way.

PrintWhatYouLike helps you to convert any webpage to a printer-friendly format within seconds.

Just enter the url, set your preferences and you're ready to go.! No more printing of ads.  You can also connect multiple web pages.  Give it a try. Here's what it looks like.

Here's how it looks when I put in a URL for a test drive. This is my Faceless Eating Blog and you can see it has graphics.  To the left are the controls you can use to set exactly what you want to print.

Here's the before

Here it is after I removed the images and isolated a single post/recipe.  I printed this and it was perfect.  Great way to avoid wasting ink, paper/trees and energy.

I think this is great and I hope you enjoy it as well.

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9:44:38 AM EDT You can host as many images as you like, without any restrictions on the file type, size or bandwidth usage.

It also allows you to organize, and edit your images.

Sign up for free and then it's as simple as 1-2-3. Seriously, it's just 3 steps and you're done.

See what I mean?  Here's the screen after you login.

Let's pick a photo and see how it works.

After you select your picture, you're ready to upload

Once the upload completes you'll see your picture and several choices of code to use for posting and sharing.

Here's the picture using the HTML link on AOL.  Just switch your 'View as' to HTML and insert the code. Click on the picture and you will be taken to the original image.

If you want to edit the picture, click Edit and it will open up Picnik. See my previous entry on Picnik.  Good stuff and easy.  This is just a quick example. There's much more to do but this will get you started.

What's Good About Iimmgg:

• Host and share your images online for free.
• Host as many images as you like. No file size or bandwidth limitations.
• Edit your images online using integrated image editor called Picnik.
• Embed desired photos onto your blog or personal profile page.

Check out iimmgg @ www.iimmgg.com

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7:29:03 AM EDT
Hearing Good Morning America How do you like that subject line?  Well, this post is about Earfl (pronounced Ear Full).  This is very fun.  However, AOL won't allow any embedding but that's OK.  There's a link you can share.

OK, I'm getting ahead of myself.  What is Earfl?



Earfl is a website which aims at creating a new revolution similar to what blogging did by letting people write about their personal life and publish it online easily, but in a different manner.

Here instead of looking at articles written by people, you actually get to hear them. Earfl is actually a cool way to create, share and listen to stories online. And the stories are in the form of voice recording of those who narrated it over the phone to Earfl. It adds a human factor to the stories by letting people record it in their own voice and share it online.

Let's take a look.



it’s a pretty simple process. You first need to register at the earfl site and then call up 415-223-3802 and read out your story which gets recorded in the form of a voicemail and when you hangup it appears online in your Earfl account. It also asks you to enter your phone number during registration to automatically save recordings from that phone number to your account.

Additionally, you can join groups or just listen to stories submitted by other members while watching the cool slideshows.

You can see there are lots of things to do.  You can add photos, send email invites.  Embed your feed on a blog or website other than AOL.  You can embed just one audio file or just use the links.  I've just started using this.  Here's what I've done.

See the stuff you can do!  This is my first recording and I took a screen shot of the page.  Lots of stuff to do and playback is very clear.

See how many ways you can record?  Pretty fun is you ask me.

Now, here's the links so you can see and hear for yourself.

My Earfl Page: http://www.earfl.com/profile/1338

My First Post Page: http://www.earfl.com/recordings/4994 This looks the same as the first one since I only have one recording.

Check it out.  Also, if you want to see the player embedded you can visit my Blogger Blog.  I'll have the player on the side bar and the single post embedded in today's post. 

My Blogger Blog: http://makingofahome.blogspot.com/

If you try out Earfl post about it and share.  Oh, I'll post my main Earfl Account link on the side bar of my main journal and in the About Me Section on this blog, so you can keep up with me.

Go to Earfl to get started.

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5:31:51 AM EST You have to check out PicNik. This is so fun and it's free. If you want to play around with your pictures and edit them and add effects to them and then save them on your computer to share or whatever.

They have a premium membership for $24.95 a year but for me and for now the free is fine. It could become addictive. LOL You do need a high speed connection for this.

Check it out. Below are screen shots from their web site.  Click Here to start PicNiking!






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8:24:44 AM EST Here's a list of some great free software products. I hate paying for software so every time I find something good I try to remember and post it here. Anyway, check it out it's worth the read.

A dozen free & essential apps for Windows by ZDNet's George Ou -- Every time I build a new Windows computer, there are a dozen free and essential applications that I always install for other people.  These applications all seem to fill essential functions and they all seem to be well-behaved installers and uninstallers, in other words it won’t crash your computer or drag it down with gunk.  [...]

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9:51:42 AM EST If you ever work from home and connect to your work network, you are probably using a VPN (Virtual Private Network) connection.

I depend on my VPN connection for work and I "assumed" Micro"shaft" would continue to make it simple to connect via VPN.  I've been using VPN connections for the past 7 years without a problem.  Until Vista. . .

Seems Vista makes it a pain to connect via VPN.  First try I discovered error 732. In a nutshell that means that Vista does not allow for MSCHAP or PAP protocol selections.  You have to go back in and find the advanced security settings.  OK, I did that.  Now I have Error 807 which essentially says the VPN server is busy.  Not true.  I checked the connection on my XP computer and it was fine.  I am stumped and after searching the internet I'm not the only one.

Here's a big reason why Vista will never be a business solution. 
I sent our IT guy an email to see if he and some other Vista testers in our organization have figured it out.

Stupid move by Microsoft!

Anyway, as the weekend winds down and the New Year arrives I'll be spending some time with the files and folders and sharing options in Vista. So stay tuned for more tips and tricks.


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10:07:49 AM EST Before I talk about File Extensions I have an update on my previous entry.

One thing about QuickPlay.  Once you save the video, it lands in the public/videos folder.  It took me a good while to find them.  Once I did I made a short cut to the folder and put it on my desktop. 

Also, when QuickPlay saves the file it's not in .avi format.  So, I had to import it into Windows Movie Maker.  From there I exported it in .avi format and put in the regular videos folder.  It took some time to figure this out but it's worth it.

Now on to file extensions.  One thing I like is to see the full file name, including the extension.   Why Microsoft decided to opt with no file extensions being viewed is beyond me.  in making things easier Microsoft actually makes things more difficult.


File extensions help you identify what kind of file it is.  For example.

.doc = Word document
.xls = Excel Document
.txt = Text document (like Notepad)
.ppt = Power Point Presentation
.pdf = Portable Document Format

There are tons more but you get the idea.

One reason I like to see the file extensions is because I will change them if I need to email them.  Sometimes you have avoid the rules of email applications just to get an legitimate file sent to someone.  For example if you try and email a file with a .exe extension you will most likely be stopped.  To avoid this I change the extension to something like .old  Then when the person gets the file they just change the extension back to .exe and all is well.

Well, you can't do that without being able to see the extensions.

Here's what you have to do in order to see the file extensions.

1. Open Windows Explorer (choose Start --> Documents)

2. Press ALT to show the menu; then choose Tools --> Folder Options and click the View tab.

Look for the selection that says "Hide Extensions for Known File Types" and UNcheck this box. Click Apply and OK



Now you should see the file extensions like the ones below.



That's it.  Now, wasn't that easy?

Oh by the way I created the screen shots and the arrows and circles with The Snipping Tool that comes with Vista.  I love this tool.  I have used the program Gadwin Printscreen forever.  Now, Windows has built in the functionality.  Good feature and very useful

Oh as a side note.  I have decided not to do a cooking video quite yet.  I have to work on the best way to film something like that without the feedback from the speakers. 



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