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Computer Tips

Quick and easy photo slide show using Picasa – Video Tip

Last week, I demonstrated how to make a fantastic photo slide show using an online application. If you missed it, shame on you, but you can see it by clicking here.

In this week’s tip, I’m going to show you a slightly hidden feature of Google’s Picasa that lets you also create a quick and dirty slide show of your digital photos. Follow these steps and then watch the video below to see the steps in action and view a sample slide show:

Start Picasa and select some photos you want to make into a slide show. The more photos you choose, the longer it will take Picasa to make the movie and the larger the movie file will be. Start out with a dozen or so pictures to get the feel for it.

  1. Click Create –> Movie from the menus
  2. Choose how many seconds you want each picture to display
  3. Choose the size of movie you want…probably the mid-size or largest size.
  4. Click OK
  5. Click OK again on the next screen
  6. Wait for Picasa to complete the creation of the movie.
  7. When Picasa finishes, it will open the folder where it saved the file. Double-click the file to view the slide show.
  8. Use Microsoft’s Movie Maker (or any other movie editor) to add music to the slide show then burn it to a CD/DVD, etc.

Watch the video below to see these steps in action and a sample movie that Picasa made from some of my pictures.

Google News Alerts

Google Alerts formWould you like to get targeted news/web searches delivered to your email? Google Alerts can do that for you. Google Alerts allow you to get automated, customized news and web searches delivered to your email daily, weekly, or as breaking news alerts based on the criteria you provide. The service can be used without a Google account, but if you start using the service more, and you will, having an account will allow you to manage and tweak your alerts easier.  If you already use Google for a customized home page, email, Picasa account, Blogger account, or any of the other Google services, you can use that same account information to use and manage Google Alerts.

In order to really grasp how beneficial Google Alerts can be, you need to try it out for yourself. There are no limits to how many alerts you can create.  Here’s how:

  1. Click here to visit the Google Alerts page
  2. Type a search term or terms in the first box. Remember to spell your terms correctly and describe your search completely so your alerts are more accurate
  3. In the Type box, click and choose whether you want to get alert items from news stories only, blogs, videos, web in general (non-news), discussion groups, or comprehensive (which covers it all).
  4. Choose how often you want the emails in the third box. Your choices are daily, weekly, or as the news happens.
  5. Lastly, fill in your email and click the Create Alert button

Within a few hours, you will start to receive your email alerts. The email will be from Google Alerts with the subject Google Alert – Your Search Terms. The email will contain a list of the matches it found with the link to the story and where it is from and the first two lines of the story itself. You can delete or edit an alert at any time by going back to the Google Alerts web page and clicking the Manage your alerts link.

Create photo slide shows online in minutes! – Video Tip

Some may say I drank the Web 2.0 cool-aid, but I say bring me another glass! This week I bring you yet another astounding piece of online technology that gives you the power to create a professional photo slide show complete with music and transitions in minutes!

I frequently get asked to make suggestions for creating a photo slide show, but I know that most programs require too much time and expertise to be useful. Enter Roxio’s Photoshow.com. This online application creates great looking photo slide shows in literally just a

Create a Permanent Email Address for Yourself

Are you tired of having to change your email address when your Internet provider goes out of business or gets gobbled up by another provider, or you move, or you just want to change Internet providers?

Informing everyone in your address book that you have changed email addresses doesn’t take a great deal of time, but it is annoying nonetheless. In today’s Shotgun article, I explain how you can create an address that is permanently yours regardless of who you use for an Internet provider.

What I learned in the first 4 days of my iPhone 3G

I picked up my new iPhone late on Thursday night, worked with it on Friday, then left with it for a quick trip to see my brother and my first and only nephew. Prior to this phone, I have used some sort of smartphone since 2000…all Palm software based. Prior to that I used Palm handheld computers since about 1997.

I decided to move to the iPhone because I felt that the Palm innovation had stagnated…about 5 years ago. Plus, with all the innovation and development happening around the iPhone, I knew it was a great opportunity to take my smartphone usage even further than the Palm based systems had. A real quick word about any smartphone; they aren’t met for every cell phone user. Smartphones are designed for people who want to check email, lookup information on the web, get maps, send text messages, add specialty programs like conversion programs, time trackers and much more to their phone.

Enough blabber, here are some of my thoughts about the iPhone after only four days of use:

  1. The screen is absolutely stunning…clear, bright, and responsive.

  2. I really miss being able to select text

More Firefox 3.0 Features – Video Tip

I’ve posted some tips already demonstrating some of the power of Firefox 3.0. In today’s tip, I demonstrate how Mozilla has improved Firefox’s tabbed browsing, improved the ability to find and manage 3rd party add-ons, customize your address and search bar box lengths and more.

Take a look at the video and learn why Firefox 3.0 remains at the top of the Internet browsing mountain.

Increase the speed of your computer

If your computer still performs all the functions you want it to do, there is no need to replace it. However, no matter if you’ve been using the same computer for a month or seven years, all computers need and crave RAM (Random Access Memory).

RAM provides the ‘umph’ for our computers and an abundance of it helps Windows’ performance tremendously.

Hard drive space (physical storage of your data) and RAM (temporary memory for running programs) utilize two distinctly different types of technologies. So, don’t equate free hard drive space with RAM. Instead, use these guidelines for figuring out your RAM needs.

Because of the dramatic drop in price over the past two years of RAM, here are my current recommendations for your computer system (the numbers are in megabytes):

Printer Troubleshooting 101

Lately, I’ve run across many printer problems so I’m going to share with you my formula for approaching a printer problem.

  1. Shut off computer
  2. Shut off printer
  3. Check cable from printer to computer and make sure it is securely plugged in on both sides
  4. Check cable from printer to power source and make they plugged in well.
  5. Turn the printer on and wait for it to go through all of its startup activities (wait until it is quiet)
    • If the printer happens to be a HP printer, I will sometimes unplug the power cable from the back of the printer, then

RocketDock for Windows XP and Vista – Video Tip

Windows Vista stripped out the ability to make an easy quick access toolbar to your most used files and programs. I posted a video last year on how you can make such a toolbar, but it certainly isn’t as straight forward as it was in XP.

In my quest to find an easier way, I ran across two program, RocketDock and ObjectDock. I tried them both out and ended up liking the RocketDock a little better. Both are free and work well, and for $20 you can get even more features for ObjectDock.

If you like easy, quick access to your most frequently used programs and files, give RocketDock a try.

Windows XP Service Pack 3

Microsoft released the 3rd service pack for Windows XP about three months ago. Microsoft packages many operating system updates and fixes into one large package and then releases it as a service pack. Because these are extremely large files that apply many updates and changes to our systems, they can sometimes have trouble.