Bob's Tech Talk

Posterous – Blogging through email and text messages…

2010-03-13T11:50:00.001-05:00

If you were looking for in these simple and quick method of creating posts on the fly, Posterous could be a great program for you to use. You have the ability to connect multiple accounts to this site so that your posts or automatically shared with other online sources. In this test, I have linked twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and my BobsTechTalk Blog. Will these sites get updated automatically as on a post new entries into the Posterous blog site. Now here is the interesting part. You are able to easily add entries by either emailing your message to the site, Texting to this site, or making a web entry to the site itself.

The site is very simplistic, so don't expect a lot of extra capabilities. I have not tried live writer as of yet to see whether it could post directly to this site, so that will be something that I will try as time permits. If you send a video or attach photos to your e-mail when sending it to the site, it will be posted with the pictures, and will update the picture galleries and the sites that can accept pictures from you. You have the ability to add connections too many different sites and I am sure they will be continuing to add more as time goes on. So if you want a quick way to post a single entry two multiple sites in one fell swoop, this might be one quick and easy method of doing so.

But me know what you think of this program. I'd be interested in how many if you are using it or if you find it useful.

Test Message from iPhone

2010-02-18T19:28:00.000-05:00

This was written from my iPhone .

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

In Office Support Tools

2009-07-02T11:32:00.001-04:00

Are you in charge of creating your organization’s employee manuals and other support tools? You may want to consider adding Video support to your portfolio. There are so many tools out there that will allow you to accomplish this, it is very hard to make the choice of the right ones to use. Let me make a few suggestions for you to look at.

TechSmith is a company that has been producing software to help educators and support personnel to provide simple, professional looking video for quite a few years. I use several of their products to help me produce my How To Videos as well as short videos I use to respond to my clients at the office.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words but what is a video worth? I said I used several of TechSmith’s tools and this first one I am going to talk about is free. The Jing Project is a program that is offered by TechSmith that will integrate back into their other products. Jing has two components that will help you with your presentations. The first is a static screen capture. In Windows 7 you have that component as part of the operating system but you if you are not running Windows 7 you are missing it. There are many times when I am working with an article or proposal that I need to be able to capture part of screen display like I did with all of the images on this page. It is so much easier to be able to call on Jing to capture a little bit of the screen real-estate that I want to include without having to come back and work with my cropping tools to get it just right.

The second component of Jing is it’s video capture. While this may sound like the same thing, it most assuredly is not. With Jing I can capture all of my screen changes and narrate the subject matter at the same time and produce a quick, up to 5 minute presentation on the fly. The only negative, you have to do it in one take or begin again from scratch.

Camtasia Studio is the paid version of Jing on steroids. This product lets you take the next step forward and create content with much better focus and give you the ability to tie multiple videos and stills together and to overlap them all with a narrative that you can add after the video collection is complete. The big difference here is that ability to edit your video. Camtasia Studio will allow you to take video that you capture with Jing, Camtasia Studio or from some other static image or video sources and work with the content to achieve your creative result.

This leads me to the last component of the TechSmith Family that I use called Screen Cast. If you sign up with Screen Cast you will be able to easily store and serve up you video creations to the inhabitants of the Wild and Wooly Web (WWW).

So if you are interested in seeing these programs in action, don’t hesitate making an appointment with me to see them. I will be more than happy to show them off and help you decide if they are the right fit for your business.

About new things and other thoughts…

2009-07-02T11:31:00.001-04:00

I am sitting here are going my emails this evening, and it occurred to me that we have really gotten lazy or I have extremely high expectations of my fellow human beings. When I see comments come across the internet about why companies are upgrading products and making them better, faster and more usable (my definition), I wonder just how lazy and complacent we have become. Don’t you want to progress, learn and become better at what you do? Don’t you want you tools that you use day in and day out help you to make your job easier and more productive? I can’t understand the attitude of people that look at every possible step forward as something to disdain and fight with all their might. All that energy wasted on trying to stop normal progression when just a small amount of effort will get them to the next level. Hey! Don’t become the Neanderthal in your work group. Embrace, learn and become the better person. Such a simple thing and so hard for some of us to do. Sorry about the Rant. but if it hits home it sure is worth it!

I look at the skill sets that we all need to have in our jobs and wonder when it was in my youth that I learned that I was going to be a student for the rest of my life. This is something that we all need to realize. In all honestly I can’t wait until the day that I retire and can begin the next part of my life. Because, you see, work sometimes gets in the way of the learning. It is funny how this can happen. There can be so much fun, amazement and improvisation with all these tools that so many magnificent minds provide us. When you begin to allow learning to become fun, then you have finally allowed all of life’s amazing wonders to fill your soul. Let it. You will be amazed at the outcome.

Windows 7 Delivery for Netbooks

2009-07-02T11:30:00.001-04:00

There is a lot of worry about how Microsoft is going to deliver Windows 7 to Netbooks that don’t have built-in optical drives. I personally question why this is such a problem. If the operating system is delivered on an optical drive, just take the DVD to a machine that has a DVD player on it and copy the contents of the disk to a USB Flash Drive. I have made complete article available on how to make a USB drive bootable and to install Windows 7 from a Flash Drive. My experience so far with our customers is that the NetBook is usually not their only computer and that they have another computer available to them. If not try going to your local library. They have computers and they will probably let you do the transfer from the optical disk to a USB Drive if you explain what you need to do.

I know this is an extra step that you probably wish you didn’t have to take, but let’s be reasonable. If you own a NetBook you are either computer savvy already, or, who ever set it up for you is, and will be able to accomplish this for you. This is not the end of the world as some people would have you believe or a very big deal at that… Come on people get real…

$59,000 Coffee Table?

2009-07-02T11:29:00.001-04:00

I get to see a lot of new technology on a daily basis and this is one that causes us gadget hounds to salivate. Touchtable makes a product that allows a user to network different sites together using a large screen table top designed touch screen system. Touchtable, Inc. CEO Rocky Roccanova showed Wired Science TV’s Ziya Tong different uses for this interesting device. Mr. Roccanova stated that this device was originally designed for children to learn geography, but it really shines with applications for the oil and gas industry, military and public service areas. Take a look at the video above and I am sure you will be wowed.

Microsoft sets Windows 7 pricing, upgrade programs | Beyond Binary - CNET News

2009-06-28T10:25:00.001-04:00

Microsoft has released information on the pricing for Windows 7 this past Wednesday. As reported by CNET, the pricing is comparably to Windows Vista pricing. If you preorder your copy between now and July 11 you will get a substantial discount for the operating system off your choice. These upgrades will be available at many of the major retailers like OfficeMax Costco and Staples. Be sure to read the full story at the link listed below.

Microsoft sets Windows 7 pricing, upgrade programs | Beyond Binary - CNET News

Worm-bearing Twitter spam on the loose - Network World

2009-06-19T09:01:00.001-04:00

Since I have been talking so much lately about different online blogging products, Twitter of course being one of them, I thought that I should post a pointer to this article as well. As always, don’t open an email or other form of communication that contains attachments if you don’t trust or know the sender. Be very careful and you will LIVE LONG AND PROSPER!

Worm-bearing Twitter spam on the loose - Network World

New iPhone 3GS gets a lot of Press Coverage

2009-06-15T07:55:00.001-04:00

Even though we are not an Apple Fan House if you are a gadget geek you have got to love the Apple iPhone. Apple Announced the new iPhone 3GS ($199 for 16GB and $299 for 32GB and will be available June 19th) and drops the price on the 3G to $99. The new 3GS is faster, launching Messaging 2x faster, almost 3x faster to launch a web page and includes OpenGL/ES with 7.2MBps HSDPA support built in.

Probably the best new feature that new owners will use is the 3.0 megapixel camera. There are some really neat features including:

Tap-to-focus - tap an item in the photo to focus on it. Resets the light balance too.
Improved low-light sensitivity.
Automatic macro photographs (10cm).
Video capture, 30fps VGA.
Videos show up in photo library. You can trim them, share via email, MMS, YouTube, MobileMe.

Voice Control has also been added to the unit. Hold down the home button for a few seconds in any application. Commands that you can say float across the screen. Examples include: “Dial computer connections”, “play andy mckee”, “play more songs like this”, “what’s playing now”.

Other features: Built-in digital compass, New accessibility settings, Nike+ support, Hardware data encryption, Improved battery life. 9 hours on WiFi, 10 hours watching video, 30 hours audio, 12 hours 2G talk, 5 hours 3G talk.

CNET’s Review of the new Palm Pre

2009-06-14T09:40:00.001-04:00

While CNET’s review of the Palm Pre was more positive than negative they did have some concerns that they voiced about the product. The feature that grabbed my interest most was the ability for the phone to handle multi-tasking. I did not realize that there weren’t any smart phones on the market that can run more than one application at a time. Not even the iPhone. However, is this enough of a benefit to jump from the iPhone bandwagon? My wife thinks that I am attached to my PC by an umbilical cord sometimes and I have a problem running a computer without multiple monitor these days. It is not unusual for me to have eight or more applications running at one time. If I could have more monitors I would. Of course not everyone bounces from one function to another as much as I do but I can see the need for having more than one application available at your fingertips. Anyway, if you are interested in what CNET has to say take a look here to see what they have to say about the Palm Pre.

Paperless Books! EBooks are in the News…

2009-06-14T09:39:00.001-04:00

There are several stories coming through the internet today about Electronic Books or EBooks. Amazon is the best known with their Kindle devices and book services combination. They have put together a well coordinated method for acquiring books, magazines and newspapers electronically anywhere you have a cell phone connection. While the purchase price for a Kindle device is a little steep, quite a few new releases are available for digital download with substantial price reduction as compared with comparable hardback pricing. Amazon has released the shipping date of its new Kindle DX, a large format Kindle, for June 10, 2009. The Kindle DX is suggested to be a great unit for student text book replacements as well as making it easier to read Newspaper stories.

I have loved reading and listening to books distributed for electronic devices for many years. Currently, most of the books that I “read” are acquired through Audible.com (another Amazon recent purchase) and luckily I was an early implementer of their technology. My current subscription is grandfathered in giving me 5 selections per month for just 39.95, typically the cost of one audio book if purchased on CD or tape. In fact, I have over 800 books now in Audible format that is always in my library if I wish to listen to any of them again. The great thing about this format the industry wide acceptance of the Audible’s DRM format and the large numbers of devices that can accept the format.

I had also been an early EBook reader as well. I had very early on purchased a Rocket EBook reader that allowed me to purchase books online as well as download .txt file to the unit. It was a little clunky getting the information onto the reader but it had enough memory on it to make it worth while. It was capable of holding hundred or more books, depending on size, and it made it much easier to bring my reading material with when I was traveling.

Today’s EBook devices have better battery life because of the new page display technology. Sony and Amazon have both utilized this technology and this and their ease of acquiring books has given these kinds of devices a rebirth. This industry is in the early throws of its infancy though but it does show a lot of promise. So much so, Google today has announced that it will be offering electronic books as well in the very near future. According to a NY Times article, Google plans to make implement this program by the end of 2009. This would give Amazon a run for their money. Book publishers have complained about Amazon’s pricing strategy and with Google’s entry into this field it will give them a competitive option to choose from. (Currently Amazon charges $9.99 for most best sellers and up to as much as $25 for some new book titles).

Google has another EBook project that is still going on where they have scanned over 7 Million books, the majority of which are out of print. This project is a totally separate venture. From this project Google has made over 1 million public domain books available to mobile phones and Sony EBook Reader. Google doesn’t plan to limit the availability of these books to any specific devices.

The third news item revolves around the purchase possibility of E Ink, the company that invented and produces the e-ink displays for the Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader devices by Prime View. There is a relationship between these two companies currently. E Ink provides the flexible displays and Prime View assembles them. E Ink suggests that this deal will provide the financing to continue the development of color displays that they hope to be shipping in late 2010. This would bring the a much needed upgrade to the current EBook readers that is their main complaint today for being used for text book replacements. Hopefully they will be successful.

FriendsFeed

2009-06-14T09:37:00.001-04:00

Social Networking has become the WORD for a lot of us lately and I am as susceptible to trying out a new service as any other. While listening to a recent TWIT podcast they discussed their use of this site for their sharing of information rather than using a site like Twitter. I must say this is much cleaner than Twitter and has the ability to allow more in depth commenting and sharing. And isn’t sharing information what it is all about? Anyway, I have setup my site at http://friendfeed.com/bappleby and if you want to subscribe you can find me there. Some of the benefits of this site is the ability to place your contact subscriptions into groups to make it easier to sort out the comment flow. You can make as many different categories as you like to make this useable. It comes populated with Favorites, Personal and Professional to get you started but after you have played around for awhile I am sure you can come up with many different groups.

I have posted a picture of my startup page to give you an idea of just how simple the interface is. You can add a favorites link to your browser that allows you to post a site and/or photos to your comments easily. This is what you see in this photo.

You can use this site as an aggregator for all of your blogs, Facebook, photo galleries (Flickr and Picasa), Gmail/Google Talk, Yelp, YouTube and others. So if you are around a lot of sites with your postings this may make it easier to share the information around without reposting.

Bob

Laurel Mountain Post Supplemental – July/August ‘09

2009-06-14T09:15:00.001-04:00

I haven’t done this much before except to post when the new issue has been released. But I thought that I would start posting supplemental information to the blog to give my LMP Readers more information about what was written there. In this post you will find pointers to the sites mentioned in the article and more. Let me know if you have any questions and I will do my best to answer them for you.

Social Networking Websites:

MySpace – I consider it a place for the younger generation, but be my guest…

FaceBook – A little more sedate.

BeBo – seems a bit cluttered to me but lots of gadgets and stuff to play with

Cozi - Wish you had some help organizing your family life? Get Cozi. It's the new way busy families keep up with appointments and lists, coordinate home and work schedules, and share favorite memories and photos. All in one place.

Plaxo - Connect to your family, friends, and business network.

ecadamy - offers business networking and features aimed at corporate users looking to grow their contact network. Most of what I see are professional trainers trying to get gigs…

Spoke – provide company research and communications between individuals.

LinkedIn - is an online network of more than 30 million experienced professionals from around the world, representing 150 industries. When you join, you create a profile that summarizes your professional accomplishments. Your profile helps you find and be found by former colleagues, clients, and partners. You can add more connections by inviting trusted contacts to join LinkedIn and connect to you. Your network consists of your connections, your connections’ connections, and the people they know, linking you to thousands of qualified professionals.

Messaging Websites:

Twitter – simple mini-blogging

FriendFeed – very much like Twitter but simpler with less clutter has some nice functions to pull in info from other sites

Jaiku - Jaiku's main goal is to bring people closer together by enabling them to share their activity streams. An activity stream is a log of everyday things as they happen: your status messages, recommendations, events you're attending, photos you've taken - anything you post directly to Jaiku or add using Web feeds. It offers a way to connect with the people you care about by sharing your activities with them on the Web, IM, and SMS - as well as through a slew of cool third-party applications built by other developers using our API.

Blog Host Providers:

Go Daddy – full service for online anything. Setup personal or business domains, email, website design, blogs, video and photo galleries, etc…

SquareSpace – this is a new comer in the industry that is getting a lot of hype from many of the industry pundits. Its primary draw is ease of use to create a very professional looking web space. Primarily a geared towards blogging it can be used for general website creation as well.

Google’s Blogger -Express yourself with a blog on WordPress. Add WordPress to your profile and share your blog with the people you choose.

WordPress - Express yourself with a blog on WordPress. Add WordPress to your profile and share your blog with the people you choose. one of the oldest and best know blog hosting sites

blog.com - All blogs start free. Just sign up and your account will be registered as a free account. You will have access to most of blogging and photo album management features. Free blogs are ad-supported, so a small advertisement square banner will be placed on your blog to help pay for bandwidth and hosting of your blog. You won't be asked for any payment details.

LiveJournal - Express yourself, share your life, connect with friends online. You can use LiveJournal in many ways: a private journal, a blog, a discussion forum or a social network.

Office LIve – this is a service that I have been using for a number of years. Great to set up you business with. Allows access to files from any computer. Promotes collaboration and sharing of data with everyone in your group. Setup Blogs, Email, Personalized Domains and more. Pieces of SharePoint services available as well.

SquareSpace vs LiveSpaces 001

2009-06-01T07:35:00.000-04:00

One of my first worries was that I didn’t think that I was going to be able to use LiveWriter on this blog site. However, all needed to do was put in the right password and low and behold I was connected. So, obviously that is not a problem. The first impression that I see is the ability to put more than one category on a blog entry. That makes it easier to find previous entries in the blogs by the categories that are in them.

The next problem I was having was putting my logo on the page and it was coming up with some sort of black/grey background. Not what I want… I was using a copy/paste function, didn’t work. So by inserting the picture directly from my gallery worked. Good! That's all for now. Need to get back to work.