Personal Technology Tips in Plain English
How To
How To Transfer Big Files To Co-workers, Friends, Family Via Email
May 15th
These days, sending big files to other people via email (or even yourself!) is becoming more and more common.
Any video file, or those huge 12-15 megapixel photos of the kids’ soccer game, etc sometimes exceed the email attachment limits of your email provider.
Most of the popular web-mail email services like Gmail, Yahoo!Mail, and AOL all have file size limits of 25 MB or so for attachments. This means that you may have to send multiple emails, each with the various files you want to send, or you may even be prevented from sending the file at all if it is a large file. Video files typically encounter problems when trying to send through email.
So what can you do besides invoking snail mail? or waiting to hand over a CD or DVD the next time you see the other person?
There are free services online that let you upload files, and then simply send a download link that are live for a limited period of time – many times just a week or less, giving the recipient enough time to retrieve the file before the file become unavailable. Although there are services which let you transfer files via peer-to-peer, so that you don’t have to upload and leave your file in the hands of someone else, most people will want to use web-based services which temporarily hold onto your file until the recipient grabs it at their own convenience.
One of the services I’ve recently been using has an upper limit of 1 GB of file size, deletes the file after 5 days, allows up to 20 downloads of the file and is free. . . Read the rest of this entry »
How To Enlarge Your Field Of Vision: Multi-Monitor Set-Ups
Apr 20th
As HDTV flatscreen TV’s get bigger and bigger, so do computer monitors.
As of April, 2010, Samsung makes the largest LCD computer monitor at 46″ in size. . . But you can enjoy the benefits without paying $48,000 that is required to buy a big fat computer LCD monitor display!
If you have more than one monitor, that will work too.
It’s one of the best ways to increase productivity (and your geek factor) – chances are you have an extra monitor lying around in the back closet somewhere – it doesn’t even have to be a flat-screen monitor to add value either.
Setting up a multi-screen computer monitor set-up is easy. Windows and Mac have built-in tools to extend your desktop to more than your main screen.
But sometimes it’s better and easier to use 3rd party tools. Lifehacker to the rescue with their roundup of 5 multi-monitor management tools for the pc (actually it should be 4 since the include Windows 7 as one of them):
Of course there are bunch of other utilities out there to use, but the first two above do offer freebie versions which may work for what you need. And the other two made the list for good reasons too.
QUESTION: ARE MULTIPLE MONITORS ONLY USED BY GEEKS? Share your comments below!
How To Schedule Meetings Without Pulling Your Hair
Apr 1st
“Let’s do lunch sometime…”
“Do you want to grab some coffee soon?”
“When can we get together?”
This happens all the time. And of course, it never happens…for the majority of people you hear this from.
Here’s a neat little web app that’s good at what it does. It is simple and straight-forward. Introducing. . . Doodle.
A cute little, easy-to-remember name too!
Basically, you go to www.Doodle.com and set-up a mini “poll” where you can enter the topic, location, and then as many options as you want – with a label for the day & time. It auto-generates a neat little web-form that your friend or associate can respond to with their best options available.
What I love about Doodle.com is:
- It allows you to ask the receiver about a *more than one* potential meeting times
- It allows the receiver to input *preferences* for each time proposed that’s very easy to do. No more strings of back-up options explained in long, lengthy, sometimes confusing emails (I can do Tuesday from 1-2p and then again from 3-3:30p but if that’s doesn’t work, Wed and Thurs from 10:30-11:30, and Wed only at 4pm-5pm. . .yada yada yada)
- It’s easy and free.
You can probably see how practical this is for setting up your next meeting, group/committee session time, etc. No more hair-pulling stress going back and forth and back and forth between the team members. Hope you can find some good use for Doodle.
Try it, you’ll like it!
Here’s some more reasons why you’ll like it!
- There’s an iPhone app
- You can use doodle from within Facebook, iGoogle, and other places
- Words with Outlook Calendar, Google Calendar, iCal, Lotus Notes, Y!Calendar and more.
QUESTION: What group or meeting do you think this service could help out with in the next month?
Email Super Powers
Mar 26th
Are you being slayed by your inbox or are you successfully slaying your inbox?
There’s a big difference between the two. Productivity these days goes to those who understand how to manage their email inboxes effectively.
People have tons of different approaches and strategies to win the war on the overflowing email account that we all deal with in today’s world.
Check out some of the neat little tips for becoming more proactive and productive with respect to your email life on The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur’s site.
While you’re there, can you spot MY TIP amongst that list? 
 That’s right, Michael Michalowicz featured my contribution on the site.
How To Download YouTube Videos
Mar 6th
Sometimes you need a video clip that’s available online for offline use – like using it as an example for a class or workshop.
Other times, you may want to be able to play it offline for your own review at a later time when it’s more convenient for you, or when you know you won’ t have internet access (like on a plane).
There’s definitely a bunch of sites available now that let you download videos from YouTube and other video sharing sites out there.
Usually all you have to do is copy/paste the video page URL from Youtube, MetaCafe or other video site into the form on the video download site and you’re all set to go.
But once in awhile, your favorite Youtube video grabber site can’t download the video file. That’s when you have to go looking for other options.
Other than Kisstube and Vixy, I found another favorite that seems to work for me . . .
SaveVid.com works just the same. This site does give a couple of download options including flv format, mp4 as well as HD video which YouTube presents sometimes.
SaveVid.com also shares some of the videos that others have used the site to download so you can get a sense of what people are watching and downloading.
Do you have any other favorite sites to download videos from online video platforms? Please add them in the comments below.
How Mass Unfollow Your Following On Twitter
Feb 24th
This past week I’ve decided that some of my twitter accounts have gotten unwieldy with the auto-follow features set to “ON”.
At first, I took my Twitter following list and purged all the tweeters that are, well, not tweeters – since they haven’t sent a tweet in over 90 days. I was able to filter the twitter people I follow list based on date of last tweet and then do a mass unfollow via a service called untweeps.
But that wasn’t enough. What I really wanted was to “start over” as some other famous Twitteratti have done.
But tools like Twitter Karma have disabled the mass unfollow feature.
So I tweeted for help. And @xanpearson came to the rescue.
She had recently suggested a list of 30 different twitter friend management tools to check out. And there were plenty to poke around with.
So far, ReFollow.com has a decent interface and it does the bulk unfollow feature I have been searching for.
There’s a bunch of other neat features that this site does. It’s definitely worth checking out if you want to manage your follower/following lists in bulk.
How To Sync Twitter Tweets With Facebook Status Updates
Feb 22nd
Most of my friends think I live on Facebook and Twitter because they see so many tweets and FB status updates stream across both social media platforms all day every day.
The truth of the matter is that I spend 1/2 the time they think I am on both sites. How?
I have a Facebook-Twitter application which takes anything I tweet and it automatically posts it to my Facebook status immediately. Thus, my Facebook status feed looks well populated throughout the day and week. The truth is that I may not log into Facebook for a week at a time, but it sure looks like I’m over there (another great tip is that you can both read and respond to Facebook posts outside of www.Facebook.com with TweetDeck.
Now whenever I tweet, it will automatically sync my Facebook status update with the same thing!
1) Click on GOODIES at the bottom of any page at www.twitter.com
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!