Personal Technology Tips in Plain English
What I’m Buying Myself
Blogging On My iPad with Blogsy App
Jun 12th
One of the biggest challenges in becoming a successful blog author and publisher is to figure out ways of integrating that actual sitting down and writing a blog post into your daily workflow.
And usually, producing posts take longer than your really think it will take, at least when you’re first starting out – mostly for the little things that add up like formatting, making sure you have appropriate graphics or photos accompanying each posts, etc.
This is why with my coaching clients, we spend a lot of time upfront trying to reduce the friction in getting things out of the blogger’s head and into the computer. If you can solve that ongoing battle for your time and attention’ you are in a for a great blogging experience. The question is just how can you do that?
So I was very happy to hear about the Blogsy app for iPad the other week. The developer was kind enough to let me take the app for a spin for this review and so far I’m impressed.
This just might do the trick for my writing praxis while I am out and about with my iPad.
Out of the gate, there are a couple of things I really appreciate about the Blogsy app. Here are 3 of them:
- You can easily search for video/images on Flickr, Picassa, YouTube, or even search on the web for images — all right from inside the app. This is a huge time saver since on the iPad, you would normally have to jump out of the app, launch a new one, find the image or video, copy paste the copy for it and then go back to the writing application. You don’t understand the convenience until you do it yourself with Blogsy.
I do wish Blogsy supports Vimeo soon. It seems like it is on the to-do list to add for new capabilities by the developer. But at least you can use the in-app browser to go to vimeo.com and grab the HTML embed code.
- You can manipulate any inline embeded image and video size via pinch and zoom. Again, one less hassle which actually takes advantage of the iPad platform touch screen controls.
- Multiple blogs support. Anyone that is a serious bloger is more likely to have multiple blogs. Having access to all of them from one app is a treat. . .especially when I am on a trip, I won’t have to consider bringing my laptop or not. This makes my iPad just that more productive while I am traveling or out of the office for extended periods of time.
Blogsy just got updated to version 2.0 this week, and I have seen a couple of crashes, but I assume these will be addressed in the coming weeks by the developer.
I have written a couple of drafts already in Blogsy, but this is my first live blog posting by the actual Blogsy app itself.
I will be blogging more about Blogsy 2.0 and beyond as I continue to use it, especially on an upcoming international trip where I will certainly ditch my laptop for the iPad (actually, with TeamViewer, I will be able to use my laptop on my iPad remotely just in case, but that is another blog post).
Are you a blogger with an iPad? How do you write and publish blog posts on your iPad? Please leave a comment below!
How To Cancel Vonage Phone Service
Jan 26th
Over the years, I’ve had various Vonage Voice Over IP (VoIP) telephone lines for different business ventures. I’ve ported numbers from landlines to the Vonage account. Vonage service has been a good alternative to the phone company.
However, now, it is time to let them go. Other alternatives like Phone.com do the same thing for less and even offer neat features like iPhone apps where I can make and receive calls right on my iPhone 4.
So today, I went to Vonage.com and tried to disconnect my service. Lo and behold! You can’t do it online — you have to call into their customer service department and speak with a live agent to cancel the service. Of course, you know why, right? Because they want to pass you along to their “retention department” and pitch you on staying a customer longer.
The specific number to call in order to cancel service is buried within their FAQ’s.
Here’s the Vonage Cancel Service Telephone Number: +1-866-243-4357
Be warned though that there are certain terms where you might be charged a disconnection fee. How crazy is that? That’s like a gym membership termination fee. You have to PAY to stop doing business with them.
This specific line was with Vonage for over 6 years. They hate to see me go, and offered me an extra 1 month’s free service to think it over.
When you do a quick comparison, it’s a very easy decision. Check out this chart comparing Phone.com, Vonage, Time Warner, and Cablevision VoiP telephone services . . .
An Apple A Day. . .
Sep 1st
Today was a big Apple day.
Steve Jobs donned his jeans and black shirt again to announce the latest round of updates to Apple hardware.
Among them was the 4th generation iPod Touch which now includes dual video cameras for FaceTime video conferencing, an HD back cam that is basically turning this device into a FlipCam killer, and the super-resolution screen and Game center that makes the device a PSP & Nintendo DS all-in-one killer too.
I just might have to get one of those too.
But in the meantime, back iPhone mania…
But there’s another reason I celebrated Apple today when I got home today.
That’s because this was waiting for me on my doorstep. . .
Apple made good on their word to give me a free iPhone 4 bumper or case. I chose the Speck Tartan fabric-back fitted case.
After taking my temporary iPhone bumper off and putting on this 2-piece click-together case, I’m happy I chose it. Thanks Steve for the neat-o iPhone case.
QUESTION: ARE YOU USING A CASE ON YOUR CELL PHONE RIGHT NOW? Please share your answer in a comment below!
How To Get Free Access to 3 WiFi Hotspot Networks
Aug 12th
Last time, I blogged about getting access to Comcast’s WiFi hotspot network for free. It’s a little known secret that the marketing department over at the cable internet company hasn’t really pushed for some reason.
But today, I found out that there’s more to the story!
Comcast customers now get free access to two other cable internet wifi networks, completely free…and vice versa.
If you are a Comcast Internet customer like me, all you have to do is log onto one of the three wifi networks: xfinitiwifi, optimumwifi or timewarnercablewifi with your comcast email address and password like you do with your own Comcast wifi network
If you like Free, this is like FREE TIMES THREE.
If you don’t believe me, just look-up the coverage map for Optimum Online’s WiFi network and Time Warner see for yourself!
This is a huge win especially those that live in the tri-state New York City area since each company dominates different geographies around the City. So now when you travel about the region, you are most probably near either a Starbucks or McDonalds — or one of the three major wifi cable company wifi networks — You’re covered!
Check out this quick video that shares the details of the wifi network collaboration, worthy of to be called the real triple-play deal!
QUESTION: IS IT TRUE? DO YOU SEE ANY OF THE THREE WIFI HOTSPOTS IN YOUR AREA? LEAVE A MESSAGE TO SHARE THE RESULTS IN YOUR AREA!
How To Get Free WiFi Hotspot Access If You Are A Comcast Internet Customer
Aug 10th
Ever been out and about wishing you had a wifi connection?
Of course you have!
Instead of trolling for open wifi signals, you might want to consider a more reliable solution. Of course, you could sign-up for Boingo, Wayport or other WiFi networks, but if you are a Comcast Hispeed Internet Customer (randomly branded Xfinity recently to confuse customers as much as possible of course), you might want to check out this option before you go out and spend any more money.
I recently found out that I can get access to a free WiFi hotspot roaming account just because I’m a Comcast customer — and so can you!
In fact, through this largely unpromoted feature of Comcast Internet accounts, you already have it! There’s no need to turn anything on, upgrade or change anything on your account.
If you take a look at the coverage map of NYC and the Tri-State Area, you’ll see that there are TONS of Free WiFi Hotspots available for you to connect to in almost any general vicinity.
Check out the quick video blog update below which I recorded today and uploaded using the free WiFi connection that details how to get free WiFi access across town and while traveling:
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!