Computer and Web Articles

All right now, let’s take a poll. How many of you out there either own an iPod or know what an iPod is? Raise your hands. Mmm. Okay.

I saw a few embarrassed people out there twiddling their thumbs and looking around innocently, as if they hadn’t heard the question. Not to worry, I’ll quickly explain iPods for you so that we can all move on together and talk about Podcasting.

Podcasting is a rather important topic, considering that the New Oxford Dictionary just announced “podcast” its 2005 Word of the Year.

An iPod is just a modern, fancier and cooler version of a Walkman or Discman. The best part about iPods is that you don’t have to keep your tapes or CDs around whenever you want to use your iPod, since all of your songs are on your iPod at all times. This is why they’re ultimately so popular. Unbelievable convenience.

Plus, it’s easy (and some might say a little too easy) to put new songs onto your iPod. Connect to the iTunes store and with one click of your mouse, practically any song you want will be on its way to your computer, then your iPod. So go get one already; they’re fantastic and they do so much more than what I noted in this summary.

For the rest of you, stop yawning. I know you already knew all of that, but it didn’t take long and now we can all learn about today’s topic - Podcasting.

If someone is Podcasting, they’re simply distributing audio (or video) to other people through the Web. The neat part is that people can subscribe to these Podcasts, and then listen (or view) the material whenever they like. If my mom read my articles, I’m sure she would stop here and think, “Well, now isn’t that convenient. Just like my TiVo.”

You can listen to World News, your favorite NPR show, Jim Lehrer, Technology Updates, Discover Channel Programs, Spanish lessons, or Sports updates. Even the little guys have their own Podcasts: You can subscribe to Wild Animal Park iZoofari from the San Diego Zoo, or perhaps you’d prefer to subscribe to Oz’s Oz Wine Show, or Theo MacKinnon’s daily Blues Tunes, or Dr. George Lundberg’s Weekly Medicine Podcast.

Be careful when you first enter Apple’s directory of Podcasts, since you’ll feel like a kid in the world’s biggest candy store. So much to listen to, so much to learn, so much to try … so little time.

Of course, if you’d like, you can create your own Podcasts and submit them to Apple’s master Podcast directory.

Have I mentioned yet that pretty much all Podcasts are free? I’m not sure if all will remain free in the future, so best to get started now, eh?

If you’d like to learn more, http://www.apple.com/itunes/Podcasts is a great place to start.

Today’s article is for all you smart people out there who have stopped using AOL or Internet Explorer and are now using Firefox as your web browser. (If you don’t use Firefox, it’s time to start. Yes, you!)

Ooooookay. So you use Firefox. My question for you is: Do you make use of Firefox’s tabs? If you said “No,” you’re in for a very special treat today. (For all of you who said “Yes,” you can skip to the “advanced tab trick” at the end of the article.)

Firefox let’s you load just about as many web pages as you want in different “tabs” that show up at the top of your browser screen. Essentially you can have, 10 different sites open at one time, and instantly switch back and forth between them as you wish.

This is great when you’re reading the news, waiting for a slow site to load, trying to shop, and emailing your friends all at the same time. Let’s try it together, shall we?

It’s easy, I promise. OK, first open up Firefox and go to a site that you like. Any site will do. Now let’s say you’re reading over this site but want to keep an eye on an eBay auction at the same time. Just hit the Ctrl button (at the bottom left of your keyboard) and then the “T” button - and a new tab opens up. (And yes, the “T” stands for tab.)

Don’t worry, your old site is still open - see the tab to the left with your old site’s name on it? You can go back there any time; just click that tab.

Now that you’re nice new tab is open, type www.ebay.com into the address bar (the place where all the website addresses go). Now you have your first site and eBay open - at the same time, in the same window, but in different tabs. Hit Ctrl + T again, and type in another website, such as www.timefocake.com. Now click back to eBay.

Now click back to your first site. How easy is that???

Tabbed browsing is a lifesaver for all us multi-taskers. I usually have at least six or seven tabs open at once; in one single window I’m able to read the news, search on Google, watch a few eBay auctions, keep an eye on industry updates, etc.

Once you try it, you’ll never go back.

Advanced tab trick

Now, here’s the advanced (and awesome) Firefox trick I mentioned earlier. If you’re like me, you have at least a few favorite websites you visit every single time you hop onto the Web in the morning. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to have all these websites open automatically in tabs as soon as you open Firefox? It’d be just like having a whole bunch of homepages instead of just one.

Here’s how to do it. First, open up all your favorite websites in Firefox tabs. Next, click on the Tools menu at the top of the page, select Options, then select General. Under “Home Page”, go ahead and click the “Use Current Pages” button. Nice work.

Now whenever you open Firefox or hit your “Home” button inside of Firefox, all your favorite sites will load up in tabs for you. With just one click. Pretty cool.

One last tip for today: Although you can always click different tabs, you can also cycle through your Firefox tabs by using Ctrl + Tab.