Personal Technology Tips in Plain English
Raves
How To Gain Podcast Powers – Part 1
Jun 2nd
Have you ever listened to a podcast on your second generation iPod Touch or iPhone 3G?
You’re not alone!
But have you ever tried to record one on your Touch or iPhone? Probably not, right?
Everyone seems to have a blog and now a podcast of their own. And you can too. I recently had a chance to catch-up with fellow blogger and podcaster Graham Scharf in New York City to tap his experiences in searching high and low for the perfect mic for the job.
In this series of posts, Graham will go over key fundamental things you need to know about getting the hardware ready for your podcast-with-personality:
Until now your recording option was the built-in mic in the iPhone, or an external headset or lapel mic from Apple or a third-party vendor.
As a podcaster, I was shocked that there wasn’t a good way to capture high quality audio on top-of-the-line devices like the iPod Touch or iPhone 3G. (There are great recording options for the classic Ipod, but nothing for the Touch and iPhone.)
I was particularly frustrated that to record a face-to-face interview for a podcast, the app store had plenty of good options, but there wasn’t a good external mic to use with the apps.
Well, I wasn’t the only one who noticed the need. . . Read the rest of this entry »
Note To Cell Phone Users: Try The Unplugged Life
May 9th
Today’s tip will save you money, and save the world.
Did you know that 95% of the energy your cell phone charger sucks out of the electrical socket can be saved?
That’s right, by doing one simple trick, you can reduce your power consumption by 95%, but you’ll also be doing something green at the same time!
GreenhandsUSA.com recently shared a list of 5 different things you can do regarding cell phones for which Mother Earth will thank you for it. . . Read the rest of this entry »
Quick Recommendations for Neat-o iPhone Apps
Apr 8th
Seems like people can’t get enough after I posted some practical and neat recommendations recently for Apple iPhone and iPod Touch owners. The tip on transforming the iPhone into a Amazon Kindle Device was popular too!
The Apple iPhone App Store is what makes the iPhone unique…until Microsoft finally unveils the Windows Mobile Apps Store which it’s working on as we speak.
But until then, here are some more recommendations for new apps to download and try on your iPhone or iPod Touch from Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal. He’s one of my favorite personal technology general interest writers that I follow becuase his advice is simple, straight-forward, and marketing-spin-free. I’m sure you’ll agree after viewing his video recommendations for iPhone applications: Read the rest of this entry »
Why Tech Nerds Are Cool
Mar 26th
First, if you don’t know about TED.com, then you have check it out today. It is by far one of the BEST websites I go to for mind-stretching content. I love it and I’ll be you do too. But that’s another blog post…
This video is simply the #1 reason why NERDS RULE.
Solving Your Multiple Personality Problem On The Web
Mar 15th
More and more of us have multiple computers we use throughout the day or week.
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A computer at work, a computer at home. Perhaps you also have a laptop. Perhaps you use your spouse’s laptop on occasion too.
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But as you surf the web on each, you undoubtedly will save a bookmark (Favorites on Internet Explorer) or two here, a bookmark there. In fact, if you are like most other people, you have all kinds of combinations of bookmark lists across the different computers you use.
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What happens when you’re on your work computer and you needed to get to that gem of a website that you are SURE you saved as a bookmark before? Are you going out of your mind?
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That PERFECT website was exactly what you needed right now at the computer you are sitting in front of, but it’s not there! Where did it go? You could swear that you just saved it to a bookmark!
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Alas, you aren’t going crazy. You DID save that now-forgotten-website-URL to your computer indeed. The only problem is that when you did, you were….on your home pc in the kitchen!? ARGH!
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Here’s a super easy solution I’ve been using for awhile now and perhaps you can benefit from it in your daily e-life. Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal seems to like it too. Best of all, it’s pretty much dummy proof and free. . . Read the rest of this entry »
How To Edit and Fill Out PDF Forms Without Adobe Acrobat
Oct 20th
While the Adobe Acrobat file format is very useful and welcomed by all, the price of the Adobe Acrobat editing software is not.
For years, people would plunk down literally hundreds of dollars to be able to create PDF documents. I’ve written about various ways to convert documents into PDF format for free – both via virtual PDF printer drivers which allow you to save PDF files to your drive from any program like PDFCreator or online services like Zamzar or Koolwire.
But what about the times when you want to actually edit or fill out a PDF form you are given? For example, many of the IRS documents found online now or a simple passport application, etc.
Recently, I’ve been using a free online pdf editor service which allows you to open up PDF files from your computer or elsewhere on the Internet. And then you can easily add text to the various form fields. They even have a neat little “checkmark” maker to add check mark boxes found on many forms! I love this new website I’ve found. . . Read the rest of this entry »
Must-Know Free CD-Burner Back-up Utilities
Aug 22nd
The past month, I’ve been asked a couple of times about how to make a simple back-up copy of CD’s.
For some it was a simple audio music CD’s for others, it was multi-media CD-ROM’s. And for another it was a CD of photos they wanted to pass along to family members.
Although Windows has a built-in CD-Writer feature, making copies of CD’s sometimes is easier with a simple dedicated CD burning application. Here are a couple for you to download and try (without any piracy guilt because they are free, unlike the EXPENSIVE but good NERO program):
Read the rest of this entry »
I love tech, gadgets and the web. Hope you pick-up a useful tip or two here today that helps you use technology to your advantage! Better yet, why not share your own expertise in a comment on a post today to help the other readers that land here for answers!