Computer and Web Articles

Gickr.com lets everyday people instantly create animated photos (i.e., mini photo-slideshows) for their websites, to send to friends via email, and for Facebook, MySpace, and Flickr accounts, etc.

Choose up to 10 images or photos you’d like your image to animate through, choose your image size, then choose the animation’s speed. Easy!

Gickr even provides you with the code you need to drop your animated photos into sites like Friendster, WordPress, Orkut, Hi5, and LiveJournal.

Check it out at www.gickr.com.

1. www.macosxtips.co.uk – To make up for the fact that my column has a heavy PC-bias, I’d like to share this gem of a site with all you Mac OSX folks out there. Great tips, tricks, and commentary on everything Mac OSX, from GarageBand to iMovie to iChat to Finder.
2. www.30boxes.com – A super simple online calendar that “lets you connect with the people who matter most.” 30 Boxes promises to help you remember birthdays, know what’s going on, get stuff done, keep up with friends, and engage in painless organization and sharing. Free sign up.
3. http://tinyurl.com/9u246t - This PDF file is guaranteed to come in handy the next time you can’t remember what WD-40 does. In fact, this 10 page PDF sheet contains a list of over 2,000 uses WD-40 claims to be good for. Take the list with a grain of salt though – I’m pretty sure that lubricating your bike chain with WD-40 is actually a rather unintelligent thing to do. And I don’t know using WD-40 to clean your cup holders when you have a damp rag handy is the wisest of choices.
4. www.logmein.com – LogMeIn offers several services focused on making business resources available 24/7. Their main program, LogMeIn Pro, allows people to securely and simply access their computers from pretty much anywhere.
5. http://tinyurl.com/cavywd - I’m really not sure it can get much smaller than this. Have a look at this super-duper teeny-tiny itty-bitty little Flash Drive by EagleTec called the USB Nano. Comes in a 4GB version that’ll run you about $22 and an 8GB version that costs about $33.

Write anywhere. Really – I mean it.

With Inka pens, you can pretty much write anywhere.

The technology of an Inka pen comes in most handy when you’re actually away from the web-world–when computers, networks, and wires are out of sight. In fact, Inka pens were specifically designed for use in extreme environments.

With features like pressurized ink cartridges, stainless steel barrels, integrated PDA styluses and watertight exteriors, Inka pens will write wet or dry, at any angle, at any temperature, at any altitude. Sounds like the pens were developed with the people of Summit County in mind.

Learn more at www.writeanywhere.com.

If your livelihood doesn’t depend on Photoshop but you’d still love to have the high-level capability of manipulating and editing your photos, then I’m here to tell you there’s no reason to drop the $700 on the latest version of Photoshop. You have free alternatives.

One of these alternatives is called Splashup. Splashup is a powerful little photo editing tool that’s easy to use and, unlike many of its also-free competitors, allows you to work on many photos at once. The program works directly in your web browser, provides you with pixel-level control, offers layer functionality (just like that which is native to Photoshop), and comes loaded with tons of effects, filters and brushes built right in. Splashup even integrates with Picasa, flickr, and Facebook.

Download Splashup for free at www.splashup.com. Or, if you find too many bells and whistles a bit intimidating, I recommend you download Splashup Light (from the same URL).

1. http://tinyurl.com/c3hqfc - A fascinating glimpse into a relationship that illustrates just how much technology has completely revolutionized our social world. In fact, this Geek Love Story would have been little more than science fiction back in the 80s and early 90s.
2. http://tinyurl.com/qarp6z - A sleek, ultra-slim, beautiful slider case with a high gloss, hard protective coating for your iPhone. As with most Apple and Apple-related products, the beauty of this slide case by Incase comes from its simplicity.
3. http://tinyurl.com/pcwvnl - When you embark upon this year’s Spring Cleaning adventure, keep in mind that oven cleaner solutions are some of the most toxic household products you can buy. Thankfully, this blog post and video show us a ridiculously easy, cheap, and non-toxic alternative.
4. http://tinyurl.com/obz4z5 - If you’ve ever engaged in online research for a good hosting company, you absolutely, positively must watch this (silent) video on YouTube. Spend three and a half minutes educating yourself so that you don’t get caught by the prevalent scams and tricks surrounding the world of website host advertising.
5. http://www.dna11.com - Customized genetic artwork created in a state-of-the-art printing facility. Make sure you check out the site’s product gallery section.

Your business’s website patiently sits around 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year – existing solely to provide your customers and potential customers with useful information. Hopefully your website is well-designed and easy to use so that there are no obvious, large barriers keeping your site’s visitors from being able to find the information they’re looking for (or coming across the information you want them to see!)

If you’re not an expert on websites, though, how can you tell if your site is as effective as it could be? How can you tell if an unhealthy website is potentially hurting your business? It can sometimes be tough to receive objective, unbiased information from your own webmaster, as he/she will often assure you that your site is just about the best thing since sliced bread. It can also be challenging to accurately decipher your site’s analytics and statistics – if you’re even able to get a hold of them, that is!

For these reasons timeforcake has set up a free online service that allows you to learn more about your business website’s health and effectiveness. Simply visit www.WebsiteHealthCheckup.com and find out if your website has issues that are keeping it from being the effective marketing tool it has the potential to be.

Click a button, take a few short seconds to install “Green Any Site” (yes, that would be GAS for short), and you’re suddenly set up to have a portion of your online purchases donated to green organizations and causes. (GAS chooses a different green organization to support each month.) Hopefully you understand how huge this is: you can actually help the environment by clicking a few buttons.

You pay zero extra money on your purchases – it’s the online retailers that pay. In fact, your online shopping experience doesn’t change at all other than you’ll now click the “Green This!” button that sits in your browser’s toolbar. And of course you can still receive any normal discounts the online store is offering.

It really is that basic, easy, and simple. Visit GAS’s homepage at www.GreenAnySite.com, take a look at their “How Do I Use It?” page at www.greenanysite.com/using_gas, or review their “How Does It Work?” page right here: www.greenanysite.com/how_it_works.

1. www.LessAccounting.com – Ever felt frustrated or overwhelmed by Quickbooks? Ever thought that Quickbooks was a bit overkill for your specific situation, and that it’d be fantastic to have a simpler, more intuitive option? Check out this truly amazing alternative Quickbooks that promises to help you save time and frustration by keeping things simple, clean, and intuitive.
2. www.playingforchange.com – A “multimedia movement created to inspire, connect, and bring peace to the world through music.” A fantastic 7 minute summary/introduction to Playing For Change was given on NPR, which you can read or listen to here: http://tinyurl.com/dfl34n.
3. www.timesnapper.com – TimeSnapper “makes timesheets a snap”. Simple as that. The program runs in the background of your computer and takes screenshots of your desktop every few seconds … all week long – making it an automatic Screenshot Journal of sorts. At the end of the week, you can play back your time spent at your computer just like a movie. It also comes with note recording, a productivity calendar, and additional tools to help you better keep track of your time. All for free.
4. www.artmystyle.com – Like many other art websites out there, artmystyle.com lets you buy art online.  What makes this site different is its focus on allowing you to custom-size that artwork to fit perfectly into that spot you’re looking to decorate – no matter if it’s tall and skinny, short and wide, or anywhere in between.
5. http://tinyurl.com/2vqk49 - Perhaps you’ve seen the Powerpoint version of this presentation that’s been quietly circulating about the Internet and for a few years? If not, you might find yourself quite interested in this punchy-and-to-the-point-with-nice-visuals slideshow on globalization and America’s future.

I was recently asked by a friend if I might know why the Print Screen (PrtScn) button on her keyboard wasn’t working correctly. When I questioned her as to what she thought it should be doing, she replied that she thought it should (obviously) send whatever was on her screen over to her printer to be printed.

Nope.

The Print Screen button on your keyboard, when pressed, actually takes a screenshot of whatever is on your monitor and places that image onto your computer’s clipboard. You can then paste (Ctrl + V) this screenshot into whatever program you’re working in (Word, Photoshop, etc.).