Computer and Web Articles

Attention all eBay addicts! I’d like to bring the time-saving eBay Toolbar to your attention.

eBay’s Toolbar is a helpful little gadget that keeps track of all the items you’ve bid on as well as all the items you’re selling. It e-mails or text messages alerts to you (when a buyer has asked you a question, when you’ve lost an item, etc.), provides Account Guard protection against fake websites, offers one-click access to your favorite eBay pages, and comes with oodles of other customizable features designed to make your eBay experience less time-consuming and more convenient.

All your eBay updates, sales and alerts are managed in one handy little browser toolbar — no more visiting your My eBay page every time you want to check on items in your account.

To learn more or to download the toolbar (which, by the way, is spyware free and collects zero personal information), visit http://tinyurl.com/7nl8z.

I recently had the honor of meeting Franklin Joyce and Juli Morey, the amazing folks behind Electricbaby.com, a design company debuting a new line of laptop sleeves, laptop sweaters, and accessory cord bags in a variety of unique styles. Each piece is beautifully designed; some are embroidered, some are made with a stretch-fit sweater material and some boast the artwork of popular graphic designers. Detailing includes neat little “extras” such as custom zips and interior pockets for documents and discs.

From the creation of interactive education projects to the provision of graphic collateral for nonprofits, Electricbaby is part of the new wave of young companies committed to making a difference in new and creative ways. Sales of Electricbaby products help fuel the company’s mission of mixing urban arts and community action.

Here’s the incredibly exciting news: for today’s contest I have two prizes from Electricbaby. The first prize is a BASS (silver) cord bag, a stylish little bag with protective padding for mp3 players, cords, flash drives, etc. The second prize is one of Electricbaby’s amazing laptopfolder bags: the “Smoke” folder bag, complete with a durable brushed canvas exterior, embroider graphic details and a deluxe satin-finish quilted liner.

To see these prizes, visit www.electricbaby.com. To win one of these prizes, just send an e-mail to info@timeforcake.com by April 4, explaining in two sentences or less why you’d like one of these prizes and what size/type of laptop you have. Winners will be chosen on April 5.

Here’s a question I hear quite often these days: How is Windows Vista different than Windows XP? I’m guessing you might be wondering the same thing. Here are a few notable changes:

Search is better. It’s now easier to find programs, documents, and files right from the main search box in your Start Menu. Also, any time you have a folder open, there’s a search box in the upper right-hand corner that allows you to search for just about anything on your computer.

Windows Vista comes with Windows Media Center, which lets you connect your computer to your home entertainment system. This means you can store music, movies and photos on your computer, but watch them on your TV or listen to them on your stereo system. You can even use your computer like a DVR by recording live TV right to your computer.

The Backup and Restore functions have been beefed up, making it harder than ever to come up with excuses as to why you’re not backing your data up.

Appearance. Windows Vista is loaded with 3-D animations, visual effects, transparent window borders and a variety of other visual upgrades. In my opinion, it looks much more Mac-like. Not that that’s a bad thing.

It’s easier to organize and manage your files. For example, when using Windows Explorer you can now see thumbnails of your files and view their contents without having to open them — all within a nifty new preview pane.

Of course, this list is just the tip of the iceberg. To view a comprehensive list of all the changes you’ll find in Windows Vista, you’ll need to go here:
http://tinyurl.com/3a42bz.

www.comeeko.com is a fun little site that lets you create your very own photo/comic strips.

Choose your layout, upload your photos, add your speech bubbles and effects, then share with your friends. These custom-made comic strips make great birthday cards and surprise e-mails.

If you’re a Gmail user, you just might be interested in the following shortcuts:

/ — Hitting this key jumps your cursor directly into the search box.

! — This is a great shortcut. Hitting the exclamation mark immediately marks an e-mail as spam and then removes it from your conversation list.

c — This key lets you compose a new e-mail.

Shift key + c — This key combo lets you compose a new e-mail in a new window.

u — Refreshes your page, then returns you to the Inbox (or list of conversations).

g, then c — This will take you right to your Contacts list.

s — Pressing the “s” key adds or removes a star to either a message or conversation. (Stars allow you to give messages and conversations special status.)

Tab key, then the Enter key — Once you’re done typing an e-mail, hit this key
combination to immediately send your message. (Doesn’t work on Macs. )

The next time you’re headed down to Denver for some shopping, to go to the airport, or to visit a friend, take a quick peek at how the city’s traffic situation is looking before hopping in your car.

Type “Denver, Colorado” into the search box at http://maps.google.com, hit “Search Maps,” then zoom out a bit from the map that shows up so that you have a good view of the main highways. Next, click on the “Traffic” button in the right-hand corner of the map and you’ll see, in real-time, where the smooth sailing is (green), where you might be slowed down a bit (yellow), and where the big traffic jams are located (red).
This Google Traffic service is offered for most major U.S. cities.

An alternative service offering even more detail can be found at www.traffic.com. This site rates “Jam Factors” on a scale of 1 to 10, allows you to set up e-mail alerts for specific traffic situations and locations, and provides information on scheduled construction times on various roads.

With Daylight Saving Time (DST) a full four weeks longer in the U.S. and Canada now, unless certain updates are installed on your computer, its system clock will likely be incorrect during the extra weeks.

Many Windows XP systems with Automatic Updates turned on will receive the necessary updates automatically — but not all. Hence, I recommend that you visit Microsoft’s Daylight Saving Time Update Guide at http://tinyurl.com/39ptt9 to determine whether or not you’ll need to manually update your computer.

If you own a Mac and are running OS X, visit http://tinyurl.com/25u55p to download the Mac-specific update.

If Google Toolbar is installed in your web browser, why not let it check your spelling when you type text into online forms? In your Google Toolbar, click on the Settings button, then choose Options, then Features. Make sure the Spell Checker box is clicked.

The next time you’ve enter text into an online form’s text area, click the down arrow next to the Green “check” on the Google Toolbar and select Autofix. Green words are fixed by Google, while the red words confused Google — so click on these and choose the correct spelling yourself from the drop down list.

Though the majority of my computer-related tips are geared toward PC and Windows XP users, I don’t want any of my readers to feel left out, including Mac users. That’s why I’d like to share a super-sweet site I came across this week with all my Mac-using readers. (And to all my dear PC-using readers, I really don’t mind if you know about this, I just don’t think you’ll care very much.)

A few days ago, a colleague told me about a site devoted to nothing but the troubleshooting of Mac problems. The site is called MacFixIt and, not surprisingly, the site’s URL is www.macfixit.com.

MacFixIt offers forums where people can post Mac-related problems and solutions, a “Mac Musings” section that discusses the latest hot topics in the Mac world, and a tutorial area filled with tips covering everything from preventing Mac sleep problems to setting up new user accounts. This site is a definite must-have bookmark for all Mac users.