Tuesday Tech Tips

Reduce iPhoto Launch Times

2010-05-24T12:53:00.005-06:00

Sometimes it feels that it takes forever to launch iPhoto. Here's something you can try to shorten that wait time. When iPhoto launches, open Preferences (shortcut: Command+ comma), which is found in the IPhoto menu bar. Click Sharing and in that pane, find Look For Shared Photos or Share My Photos boxes. If they are checked, uncheck them if you don't use those services. This remedy may not cure all launching delays, but will cut down on a little bit of time. Try it and see the difference.

2010-05-18T11:06:00.001-06:00

The Very Secret Screen Capture Shortcut

2010-05-18T09:52:00.006-06:00

Taking pictures of your screen comes in real handy. So, you probably already know the Command-Shift-3 shortcut for taking a screen capture of your entire screen. You also may even know about Command-Shift-4, which gives you a crosshair cursor so you can choose which area of the screen you want to capture. Impress your friends and family with this capture shortcut: Control-Command-Shift-3 (or 4), which, instead of creating a file on your desktop, copies the capture into your Clipboard memory, so you can paste it wherever you want. Very cool and quite helpful also.

Drag and Drop. Everything. Really.

2010-05-11T10:59:00.003-06:00

Have you heard of Drag and Drop? It is easy and more important, adds to your productivity.Drag and drop is a term used to describe moving an object on the computer screen with your mouse. It is done by clicking and holding an object, such as a file, then moving the mouse (dragging), and releasing the mouse button once the mouse cursor has reached its destination.

There are many other uses for drag and drop, and almost every Mac OS X application supports it. Go ahead — drag anything, and drop it anywhere. Want to launch a picture file in iPhoto rather than Preview? Just drag the image file onto the application icon for iPhoto. Maybe you just read a great idea on some webpage that you want to revisit later — select that text, drag it to the desktop (or any folder) and have a text clipping to read later. If using Spaces, try dragging iTunes (for example) to a different desktop.

iPhoto Mosaic Screen Saver

2010-05-04T10:02:00.005-06:00

Screen savers were originally designed to protect computer monitors from phosphor burn-in. Advances in display technology and the advent of energy-saver monitors have virtually eliminated the need for screen savers. However, we still use them for entertainment, security, advertisements or information.

An entertainmening screen saver you can set up is a mosaic of your photos. Go inside your System Preferences - Desktop & Screen Saver - Screen Saver. Under your Pictures section, you will see folders with unique icons (Film Roll, Album, etc), these are the iPhoto screensaver. You can choose the one you want.

After selecting one of those iPhoto albums, just slightly below the screen saver preview pane, you can see three icons for selecting three different display styles. Choose the rightmost one which is the mosaic screen saver. Enjoy seeing your photos in a new fun way!

You are getting sleepy, very sleepy

2010-04-26T13:42:00.004-06:00

Just like all of us, there are times that your Mac wants to go asleep right away, no dialog boxes, no whirling fans, just blissful sleep. It is easy for you to comply-just press Command-Option and hold the Eject key for a couple of seconds. Your Mac will be enjoying bear hibernation sleep until you decide it's Spring.

It is in my clearly labeled folder

2010-04-20T13:24:00.003-06:00

Microsoft Outlook keeps copies of your sent mail in the "Sent Mail" folder. There may be times, however, where you want to file a message to a different folder, such as "Student Enrolment", "Team Tidbits ", or "My Principal's Favorite Things". To make this change:

1. While composing an e-mail message, click "Options".

2. When the "Options" dialog box appears, make sure "Save sent message to" is checked.

3. Click the "Browse" button next to the aforementioned check box, and choose the folder where you want the message saved.

4. Click "Close" to close the dialog box.

When you send your e-mail message, it will be filed away to the chosen folder and not "Sent Items".

2 Word Wonders

2010-04-12T21:28:00.007-06:00

Microsoft Word has lots of useful tricks to make the document look the way you want it to look. Take today's two tips...

Sometimes one underline is not enough. If you find yourself wanting to double underline and make your words become more forceful and stand out, here's how you do it:
1. Open a Word document.
2. Select the text you want to double-underline.
3. (Mac) Hold down the Command and Shift keys. Press the D (for duplicate) key. If you want to change it back, press the same keys again.
(Windows) Hold down the Control (Ctrl) and Shift keys and then the D key.

What if some words need to be in upper case and you entered them in lower case? Don't delete and start again when Word can fix this situation before you can say capital letters.
In a Word document:
1. Select (or highlight) the text you want to change to lower case or to all caps.
2. (Mac) Hold down the Command and Shift keys. Press the K key. You'll see the word(s) go from lower to upper case or upper to lower case. (Windows) Hold down the Ctrl (control) and Shift keys and then press the K key. This does not work when you choose a capital letter font such as STENCIL.

Need a dictionary?

2010-04-06T11:03:00.010-06:00

On your Mac, your dictionary is always available in programs such as Safari, Text Edit and Comic Life. When you are in these applications you can hover your mouse above or on top of a word and press Ctrl-Cmd-D on your keyboard. You will get the Dictionary description for that word. This will not work in Firefox.

Bonus: When you want to minimize a window, simply click on the yellow button in the top left corner. The window quickly goes down to the right end of your dock. However, if you hold down the shift key while clicking, the window will minimize in slow motion, approximately five times slower than the normal speed. A fun fact to impress your students or see if they are paying attention.

Click and Type

2010-03-23T09:02:00.004-06:00

In the past, word processing programs would begin with the cursor located in the upper-left portion of the screen. Then, using the Tab key or the Space bar, we would try to type a title in the middle through the process of trial and error. If you are one of the location-challenged typists, MS Word has thought of you. Click and Type might be just what you need. It allows you to reach the desired insertion point just by double clicking.
1. Switch to Web Layout view or Print Layout view. It only works in these 2 views.
2. Move the cursor around on the blank page, letting it hover for a second at the point where you'd like to place some text. When you hover in the middle of the page, the insertion point changes to centered text. If your cursor is near the top or bottom of the page, the cursor changes again to show you are about to edit the header or footer of the document.
3. Double-click. The insertion point turns into a blinking bar and you are ready to enter your text. If the insertion point did not land where you wanted it, just double-click again.

Online Stickies

2010-03-15T13:19:00.006-06:00

Do you work at more than one computer? Many of us use at least two machines daily. I am a big believer in using Stickies, but the Stickies I use at work do not help me when I am at home. How about using an online site that you can access from any computer? Lino allows you to create a wall, and pop sticky notes on it, in the form of words, video, links to files, or a calendar option. You can leave them public or make them private. It is a great service to use to share with friends, colleagues and families. You can also use it for class assignments as students post and respond to various subject matter. Lino is available in both a free and a Premium version. The premium version gives you added features such as increased file size and storage, photo storage and gets rid of the ads.

Certificate Street

2010-03-09T12:45:00.007-07:00

Certificate Street provides a bounty of free templates for creating various kinds of certificates. Not only just for school, other categories include Sports, Special Occasion, Business, Blank, and Relationships. Certificate Street also has a new gallery of newsletter templates. The newsletter templates open up in Microsoft Word. When you download the certificate to your computer, it is an editable .pdf file where you can just enter your information and then print out your certificate. Did I mention it was free?

Email Tips

2010-03-02T11:26:00.003-07:00

There are 3 types of business email messages.
1. Providing information: There are treats available in the lounge now.
2. Requesting information: Does anyone have Green Eggs and Ham?
3. Requesting action: Please pick up testing booklets before 9:00 a.m.

You can make it easier for people to reply by creating a great Subject line. Try to avoid the popular "Hi" or "FYI". Instead, summarize the message's high points. For example:
Subject: Help: Food Spoiling in the Refrigerator
Subject: Reminder: Monday is Be Kind to Your Principal Day
Subject: Request: Breakfast Items Needed for Work Day

In fact, if you’re relating just a single fact or asking one question in your email, consider using just the subject line to relate your message. Consider adding EOM—for end of message—at the end of the Subject line. This lets everyone see that the whole message is right there in the subject without clicking to the view the (non-existent) body.

How the Internet Can Help You Lose Weight

2010-02-23T12:35:00.007-07:00

Imagine going to your doctor's office and she/he already has your latest weight and BMI numbers from your weigh-in this morning. Imagine no more because this is reality now. This is about a scale. The WiFi Body Scale automatically records the user's body weight, lean & fat mass, and calculated body mass index (BMI) to his/her secure webpage and/or free Withings iPhone application, WiScale. Also, if enabled by the user, the scale can automatically "Tweet" information in order to get motivation or humiliation from the user's followers. Yes, it will send a "Tweet: and let the world know how fat you are. For an example, check out Leo's scale on Twitter. The scale has over 2,400 followers who follow Leo's daily weight. This scale is is available through Amazon and the Withings website.

Social Networking Beyond Facebook

2010-02-22T20:18:00.001-07:00

When people talk about social networking, the conversation usually begins with Facebook. With over 400 million users, this makes sense, but besides Facebook, there are smaller particular communities that may fit you also. Here are just as few:

1. BakeSpace- (from the website) Gathering in the kitchen is a uniquely social tradition that connects people from all walks of life. That's because the kitchen is where we go when we're hungry... not just for food, but for friends, family and great conversation.
BakeSpace is all about preserving and reinventing this tradition in cyberspace. We're a grassroots online community where people from around the world gather to share recipes, build new friendships, learn from one another and express their passion for all things food-related.

2.Kiva-Want to join your friends and family and make a huge difference in someone’s life? The idea is to use the power of community and social networking to help someone out of poverty by lending poor people all over the world enough money to start a business or improve their standard of living.
The minimum loan is $25, which gets added to the donations from other lenders to help fund someone’s dream in the poorest areas. The reason it’s called a loan and not a donation is because they are partnered with organizations around the world to try to ensure that you get your money back. You create your lender’s page, pick who you want to lend to, invite your friends, share messages and sponsor people together.

3. Patients Like Me-this site allows people who are going through treatment or have just found out they have a life changing condition to find information, post their profile, discuss doctor visits and find emotional support. It also is for family and friends of people who have been diagnosed.

4. Flixster-Watch movies-tell friends is the slogan for this site. There are quizzes, place for friends and streaming for TV, movies and videos.

5.Birdpost-(from the website)Birding + Satellite Maps = Birdpost. Birdpost provides tools to keep track of the birds you’ve spotted — and where. It makes the most of social networking by letting you tap into a growing community of birders, as well as satellite maps and bird alerts, in order to find where others are seeing various bird species.

Guess the Wordle

2010-02-16T12:49:00.000-07:00

Every day a new Wordle is posted. Each Wordle will have a topic for students to use their deciphering skills to figure out. You can quickly send in your class's topic guess, or just use as a discussion sparker.
Monday, Wednesday, Friday Wordles
Monday's Wordle will be easy. All the words will have ONE thing in common. Wednesday's Wordle will be a bit more complex. All the words will have TWO things in common.Friday's Wordle will be the most difficult. All the words will have THREE things in common.
Tuesday, Thursday Wordles
Tuesday's Wordle will be the date of a famous event in world history.Thursday's Wordle will be the title of a book, poem, song, fable, etc.

**Wordle** is a VERY cool website - type in or copy & paste text. The more often a word appears, the larger it will become. To keep 2 or more words together, add a ~ between them e.g. hot~fudge~sundae. Click Create, and Wordle will display the words in a word-cloud. To get a different arrangement, click Randomize. The main page shows what other people have created. Careful-Not always in 'good taste'. If you use with students, go directly to the "Create" page.

iPhoto Slideshows

2010-02-02T11:04:00.000-07:00

To create a slideshow project:
If you want to fine-tune your slideshow by reordering the photos, changing transitions, or adding the Ken Burns effect, you can create a slideshow project, which appears in your Source list.
Select an Event, Faces or Places group, an album, or a group of photos that you want in your slideshow.
Click the Add (+) button in the bottom-left corner of the iPhoto window, and then click Slideshow in the dialog that appears.

Type a name for your slideshow.
If you want, deselect the “Use selected items in new slideshow” checkbox.
Click Create.
Drag photos into the order you want in the photo browser at the top of the viewing area.
After you create a slideshow project, you can add photos to it by dragging them directly from anywhere in your iPhoto library, a CD or DVD, or another location on your hard disk. When you add a photo to a slideshow from another location on your hard disk, iPhoto automatically imports it into your photo library.
You can choose music, specify the display duration for each slide, choose transition effects, display slideshow controls, and set other options.

Social Bookmarking

2010-01-25T14:56:00.000-07:00

Social bookmarking is a method for Internet users to share, organize, search, and manage bookmarks of web resources. Unlike file sharing, the resources themselves aren't shared, merely bookmarks that reference them. A popular site is del.icio.us (pronounced delicious), the site I use for Black Rock Student Bookmarks.
At one level del.icio.us is a site for saving your favorites/bookmarks online, but it is more than that. It is your personal web site where you can store and categorize your bookmarks. On a personal level, you can use it for recipes, gift lists, travel sites and more. You can also learn what web sites others find interesting. Del.icio.us allows you to save a link to anything you view on the web. You can also use it to share what you read on the web with other teachers or with your students. It has many educational possibilities:
1. Web sites for student research or projects
2. Books recommendations
3. Professional research
4. List of books you would like to read
5. Placing web links on your school web page
6. Students can find resources at home and access them at school and vice versa
7. Share what you are reading or view what your peers are reading on the web
8. Web site collections tagged by school topic

Ten Reasons You Should Use Del.icio.us
1. Save site found using multiple computers (home and school) to one resource.
2. Access your bookmarks anywhere you have web access.
3. Continue to access your bookmarks even when your computer crashes or you get a new
computer.
4. Share web sites with your students or peers.
5. Search your bookmarks by keywords and tags.
6. Use related tags to narrow or extend your searches.
7. Display your saved web site links by category.
8. Learn about new sites from your other del.icio.us users.
9. Subscribe to other users’ del.icio.us bookmarks.
10. Check out recently posted and popular sites.

Let me know if I can help you get started with your del.icio.us account.

Tips for Maximizing Your Laptop Battery

2010-01-19T10:25:00.000-07:00

Here are some quick tips to prolong the battery charge:

1. Set your screen brightness to the lowest level that is comfortable for you.
Press the F1 (dimmer) and F2 (brighter) keys to dim the screen until the brightness is as low as possible and the screen is still comfortable to look at.
2.Turn off unused features and technologies.
Just as you would turn off the lights in an unoccupied room, turning off unused features and technologies can help maximize your battery life, too.
Eject CDs and DVDs you're no longer using. Every so often, the optical drive spins up to read CDs or DVDs. This consumes a small amount of power.
Disconnect peripherals when you're not using them. Connected peripherals, such as printers and digital cameras, can draw power from your battery even when you're not using them.
If you're not in a location where you need to use AirPort or Bluetooth, you can turn them off to save power.
To turn off AirPort:
From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences.
From the View menu, choose Network.
From the Show selection, choose Network Port Configuration.
Uncheck Airport from the list.
Click Apply Now.
To turn off Bluetooth:
From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences.
From the View menu, choose Bluetooth.
Click the Settings tab.
Click Turn Bluetooth Off.

Starting the New Year Off Right

2010-01-12T13:13:00.000-07:00

Did you make any resolutions this year? Would you like some help with goals that you would like to accomplish? Here are some ideas where technology can help:

1. HabitForge Sign up for an account at HabitForge and you can create habit reminders. :It takes 21 days to form a new habit and this site will email you a daily message asking if you were successful that you email back to them. Warning: if you skip a day, it takes you to Day 1.

2.Evernote:Keeping track of your weight? Take a picture of the scale's readout. Keeping track of your exercise?Take a picture of the clock when you enter and leave. Tracking your budget? Take pictures of your receipts. You can also save your ideas, things you see and things you like.

Power iTunes Tips

2009-12-15T10:41:00.000-07:00

Use Genius to find new music--or rediscover music in your library.

With more music than ever available in the iTunes Store, it can be time-consuming to find new artists and albums you might like. The Genius feature in iTunes sends information about your musical tastes to the iTunes Store and recommends new music based on similar artists and other people’s listening habits (if you haven’t already, you need to turn Genius on by choosing Store > Turn on Genius). If you select a track from your library and click the Genius button in the lower-right corner, iTunes will create a list of recommended albums and tracks that you can buy from the iTunes Store to complement your chosen track. Then you can preview and buy these songs directly from the sidebar. Since it knows what music is already in your library, Genius won’t recommend anything you already have.

Automatically rip and import music CDs.

Go to Preferences > General and select “When you Insert a CD, Import CD and Eject.” As long as this setting is active, whenever you insert an audio CD, it will capture track names, encode tracks based on your import settings, and your Mac will then eject the disc. Next click the Import Settings button and choose the quality setting you want iTunes to use to convert the CD tracks as it imports them (192kbps AAC or MP3 files will offer good sound quality at reasonable file sizes). When you insert an audio CD, iTunes will now retrieve all track names and artwork from the Internet and import the tracks using the quality settings you chose.

Try Picturing the News

2009-12-15T10:22:00.000-07:00

No time to read the newspaper or current events magazine? Here are some sites that let images tell the story. They are also good for developing visual literacy in students.

1. BBC has a section dedicated to what they call: "The Day in Pictures" where they collect powerful images from around the world. You can check out their site here.

2. Google News has an "Image Version" where you can view only pictures from the top news stories without all the supporting text. Try checking out this feature today.

3. Yahoo.com offers a photos page as does Ask.com. It is divided up into multiple categories and includes some multimedia slide shows. Also, you can check out their Photos and Slide Shows here.

4.Having a little text withdrawl? This is a website that takes the top news stories from Google News and turns them into a color coded mosaic.

Holiday Photographer Survival Guide

2009-12-14T14:57:00.001-07:00

1. Shoot candids. It’s okay to take a few posed shots, but don’t overdo it. Everyone is together to celebrate. It’s more important to have a good time than it is to create a one-dimensional record of the event. It’s digital - you can delete the crummy ones.

2. Don’t stalk your family members. Seriously. Get shots of everyone, but don’t keep waving your camera in their faces. What if someone really resists having their picture taken? Let them be.

3. Keep your equipment simple. The less they notice the camera, the better your pictures.

4 Have someone else take the camera for a bit to get a few shots of YOU. Otherwise, you become the ghost at your family celebrations.

6. Look for small moments among the big ones.

7. Buy disposable cameras for the kids. It will protect your equipment from sticky hands and kids often get interesting shots that adults wouldn't or couldn't get. Your mother may threaten you if you dare to take a picture of her, but she'll have a harder time resisting her grandchild's request.

8. If you must have video, don’t shoot the whole event unless you plan to go into the editing studio. Instead capture a single story within the event that has a lot of action.

9. If the party is at someone’s home, arrange to arrive early and get some shots of the holiday and party decorations before the other guests arrive. The host has done a lot of work to prepare for the party and will appreciate the gesture.

10. Use caution when posting photos to public websites like Flickr, especially if other people’s children are in the shots. Typically I post all family photos to Family only and then selectively make a few favorites public.

Email it Forward

2009-12-09T13:08:00.000-07:00

Ever get an email that has to do with something that isn’t going to happen for a few days. Like a message about a meeting next week or when a fire drill is taking place. You know its important but you forget to put it in your plan book or add it to your calendar. As a result the email just sits there in your Inbox and it’s forgotten. Wouldn’t it be great if that email would just automatically jump back to the top of your Inbox list on the day it was actually relevant? Well here’s how to get it to do just that.

1) Click Forward or Reply from the original message.

2) Type your email address in the “TO:” line

3) Click on Options in the tool bar.

4) Set the time when you want the email to be delivered to you.

5) Click Send.

Mac 101 Spotlight Tips

2009-12-08T10:29:00.000-07:00

Spotlight can save you time, energy and allow you to stop asking the recurrent question, " Where can I find my _______?" Here are some essential tips you need in order to get started with Apple's Spotlight. (keyboard shortcut: Command + Spacebar)

1.If you are used to searching your Mac you might be focused on just file names. You might be thinking "What was the name of that file?" or "What was the name of the folder I put it in?" Remember that Spotlight knows how to find using a lot more than file names. Try typing the name of the person who sent you the file, or something you know about its text, or what kind of file it is or when you last opened it, what you were writing about or anything else you know about the file. File names and folder names are still a great way to search but they are no longer the only way to find things.

2. The Spotlight Preferences list 14 categories of information. If you can't remember anything about an item except that it's a PowerPoint presentation you can still find it easily with Spotlight. Try .ppt for PowerPoint, .doc for a Word document or .jpeg for an image.

3. With Spotlight you can find a lot of things you don't think of as "files". For example you can find Contacts in Address book, Messages in Mail, To Do items in iCal and more, as well as documents and images. The trick is to type anything you know about anything you're looking for. A good place to start is:

a. Press Command + Option then tap the Spacebar to open the Spotlight Window.
b. Type anything you know about whatever it is you are looking for and take a good look at the results.

4. Spotlight is also a calculator for simple operations. With multiplication, use an * and for division use a /. Example: 15 / 3.

5. Spotlight will also open the Dictionary application. Type a word and the part of speech and definition will appear.

Advanced tips:
Forget About Searching and Start Thinking About Organizing
You can:
-make a Smart Folder that shows you all your recently accessed items (you choose what recent means).
-show all the files on your Mac with a particular Color Label and you can add and remove from the group just by assigning a Color Label in the Finder.
-tag files with Spotlight comments and them make and save a Smart Folder that shows (i.e organizes) just them.
-add keywords in iPhoto then use those keywords anywhere you find Spotlight.
-use the Show Properties command in the File menu of Textedit, Word, PowerPoint and other apps to set Author, Company, Copyright, Title, Subject, Keywords or Comments. Organize with the properties anywhere you have Spotlight.
-You know you can put keywords on photos in iPhoto. Did you know that thanks to Spotlight you can use those keywords everywhere on your Mac not just in iPhoto?
Try it:
-type one of your iPhoto keywords in the Spotlight Window or Menu.
-open Preview, go to the File -> Open dialog and type one of your keywords in the Spotlight search field there.
-select one of your iPhoto keywords right in an email you are typing, hold down the Control key, click, then choose Search in Spotlight from the Shortcut Menu.
-it's kind of surprising to find out you can use your iPhoto keywords anywhere and anytime you want. Now start thinking: the Finder connected to iPhoto to iTunes or Word to GarageBand to TextEdit to System Preferences to Address Book to Mail to iCal to your web pages to the Terminal.

This is why you get so relaxed when you discover Spotlight—everything is always available and you stop worrying about where everything is—you just use Spotlight to show whatever you want, wherever and whenever you want.

The Grab Application in the Mac

2009-12-01T13:02:00.000-07:00

There are many different ways to take screen shots or screen captures. Popular ways include Control + Shift + 3 for the entire window and Control + Shift + 4 where you can choose which part of the screen you want to capture. You can use the Grab application to take a picture of all or part of your computer screen.

Open Grab (located in /Applications/Utilities) and choose a command from the Capture menu.

Selection takes a picture of a part of the screen that you select.

Window takes a picture of a window you select.

Screen takes a picture of the entire screen.

Timed Screen lets you start a timer and activate part of the screen (such as a menu), and then takes a picture of the screen.

Follow the instructions in the dialog for the command you chose.
To see information about a screen shot you've taken, such as the size and depth, choose Edit > Inspector.

To save a screen shot, choose File > Save. Grab saves screen shots as files in TIFF format. You can use the Preview application to view these files and export them to other formats, such as JPEG.

Shape Collage

2009-11-20T10:13:00.000-07:00

Shape Collage is an automatic photo collage maker that creates collages in different shapes in just seconds. There is a free download version and also an online version which can be used with web photos. Watch the video to learn more: http://www.youtube.com/user/shapecollage
Works with both Windows and Mac. Have fun with this!

Line Up for Microsoft Word

2009-11-16T12:51:00.000-07:00

Adding Automatic Lines

• To draw a straight line type three --- and then press return

• To draw a double line, type three === and then press return

• To draw a triple line, type three ### and then press return

• To draw a dotted line, type three *** and then press return

• To draw a wavy line, type three ~~~ and then press return

• To draw a bold line, hold shift key and type three –- and press return

Take Better Pictures

2009-11-10T12:31:00.000-07:00

Tip #1: Buy a bigger memory card for your camera. Forget about that 8MB card that came with your camera and buy yourself some real memory. Choose at least: 32MB for 1.3-megapixel cameras, 64MB for 2-megapixel models, 128MB for 3-megapixel digis, and 256MB for 4-megapixel shooters--anything less will force you to shoot at low resolution, tempt you to pass on creative pictures, or send you constantly running to your hotel room to upload images because your memory card is full again. Stick the 8MB card in your pocket for emergencies and go with the larger ones in your camera.

Tip #2: Shoot at your camera's highest resolution. You'll need a decent-size memory card to do this, but it's worth the investment many times over. You may think that you only want simple vacation photos, but what if you want an 8 x 10 print too? Remember, you can always scale high-resolution images down for other uses, but you can't go the other way without loss of quality.

To get the most out of your camera, look for settings such as "SHQ" (super-high quality) and avoid anything marked as "Standard" resolution--which is really camera company lingo for "substandard."

Tip #3: Get closer. Casual photographers tend to stand too far away from their subjects. Sure you can crop the image later in iPhoto, but that's like turning your pricey 10-megapixel camera into a run-of-the-mill, 5-megapixel model. Get close to your subject, frame it in your viewfinder, then get even closer. Your shots will require less cropping and have more personality.

Tip #4: Find the fill flash setting and use it. Fill flash means that the camera's flash fires every time, even in broad daylight. You see, just because it's light outside doesn't mean that the light is good on your subject's face. By turning on the fill flash and getting within ten feet of your model, you illuminate the face's features and add a nice twinkle to the eyes. Look for the flash icon that's usually a plain lightening bolt. Remember that your flash will most likely return to the default "auto" setting when you turn off the camera, which means your camera will decide when to use the flash, not you.

Tip #5: Avoid "red eye" when possible. Red eye is caused by the flash reflecting off the subject's retinas. This usually happened in dimly lit rooms when a subject's eyes are dilated. You can help avoid red eye by having the subject look at a lamp or an open window (that is if it's light outside!) right before the shot. Other tricks include turning up the room lights or shooting from a slight angle so that the subject isn't looking directly into the camera. If all else fails, iPhoto does include a red-eye removal tool that can help with this problem, but it's best to avoid post production work as much as possible.

Work Smarter With Safari

2009-11-03T09:20:00.000-07:00

We spend a lot of time with Safari and there are ways to make navigation more efficient. Try these and you'll wonder how you ever lived without them:

Add the zoom button
The new zoom feature increases the size of images and other media too. You can access this from the View menu or with the Command-+ and Command-- shortcuts. Alternatively, choose Customize Toolbar from the View menu to add the zoom button to the toolbar.

Split off a tab
If you find you have too many tabs, a quick way to split them off into new windows is to drag the tab off the tab bar. When you do this a small, transparent, thumbnail will appear. When you release the mouse a new window will open with you desired website.

Merge windows
If you have too many windows open and they are difficult to navigate you can always merge them into one. This I find is quite useful as windows can pile up and become unmanageable. Simply go to Windows > Merge All Windows.

Quick history hidden in back button
By now, you are more than likely familiar with the left arrow in the upper left most corner of Safari. As you move around on the web, and want to go back, this button is what takes you to the previous page.The back button builds a collection of all the pages you have visited, remembers them, and allows you to chronologically step backwards through previously visited pages. The problem with the back button is at times, it can be inefficient. There will be times you want to go back more than one page at a time. This can be slow, as every click on the back button brings with it some overhead while you wait for the previous page to render. If you click and hold the back button for a few seconds, a “quick history” will appear.

Creating a forced tab in the background
For example, type something in the “Google” search field in the upper right corner of Safari. Rather than press return, press command and then return. Safari has loaded that search result into a new tab. You can apply this to the URL bar as well. No matter what website you are viewing, simply press command-L to select the URL bar, type in a new address, and press command-return. The new site will be loaded in the background, in a new tab.

This works on login forms, search boxes, as mentioned, the URL bar, everywhere you can enter text, the resulting page can be forced into a non-obtrusive tab behind your current page. Even your bookmarks listing can have this applied as well. Simply find a bookmark you want to go to, and just before you release your mouse button, hold the command key, and then release the mouse. Your resulting bookmark will open in a new tab.

Hierarchical site navigation from the title bar
If you look at the very top center of Safari, you should see a page title. Not all web sites will have a page title, but most compliant web sites will set a page title. If you have gone to a website that uses a hierarchical structure to navigate, this trick can be useful. A hierarchical structure is one such as:
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/apple/ If you look at that web address (URL), you can see there are three parts to it after the main domain name. Part one is “downloads”, part two is “macosx” and part three is “apple”. You can manipulate the URL into three new URLs, each loading a page higher up in Apple’s structure. If you hold down the command key and click on the title in Safari, each of those three URLs will be listed for you, as quick shortcuts.

Create Smart iTunes Playlists

2009-10-27T11:54:00.000-06:00

A playlist is a collection of tracks that you've grouped together for a particular reason. You can listen to playlists within iTunes or on your iPod, and you can use playlists to determine which songs are copied to your iPod, iPhone or burned to CD. A Smart Playlist automatically creates a playlist based on criteria you select. For example, you might want to create a playlist of your favorite pop artists, or music released in a given year, or even dance tracks at a specific tempo. All you have to do is define the rules, and iTunes will find the matching tracks and use them to create a new playlist.

To create a Smart Playlist, select File > New Smart Playlist. When the Smart Playlist dialog box appears, define a new rule that follows the form field > matches > keyword. Pull down the first list box to define the field (Album, Artist, Genre, and so on); pull down the second list box to define the match (contains, does not contain, starts with, ends with, and so forth); then enter one or more keywords into the final text box. For example, to include all songs by Bruce Springsteen, select Artist > contains > Bruce Springsteen.

To define another rule for this playlist, click the + button next to the first rule. This displays another set of selection controls. Repeat the steps just above to add the new rule, and then repeat the entire procedure to add even more rules for this playlist.

When you're done defining the criteria for your Smart Playlist, select whether you want songs to match Any or All of the rules you just created. To limit the size of the playlist, check the Limit To option and enter the number of items desired. Also to keep this playlist updated when you add new items to your music library, check the Live Updating option. Click OK when done.

iTunes will now search your music library for items that match the rules you've defined and then create the new playlist. (The playlist is initially labeled "untitled playlist," so you'll need to select it in the Source pane and give it a proper name.)

< Back Page 3 of 10 Next >

The Most Essential of the Essential Shortcuts

2009-10-20T11:06:00.000-06:00

Pressing Return is the same as clicking OK, Yes, Continue, or whatever the default action is for a button in a prompt.

• Pressing Esc is the same as clicking Cancel.

• Command-A selects everything in the currently used directory or document.

• Command-C copies the selected (or highlighted) text or image to the Clipboard.

• Command-X copies the selected (or highlighted) text or image and stores it on the Clipboard and then deletes it from its current location.

• Command-V pastes the current contents of the Clipboard into the current document, window, or other location.

• Command-Z undoes the previous action, whatever it is.

Most people know that the Command -Z trick works in applications to undo the last action, but it also functions in the Finder. You can use this shortcut to undelete a deleted (but not trashed) file or to unmove something. Pretty much whatever you just did can be undone with Command-Z, with some exceptions.

• Command-E ejects the selected disk or disc. (This disc could be an external FireWire hard drive, a Zip or floppy disk, a CD-ROM or DVD, or a mounted disk image.)

Shortcuts du jour

2009-10-13T17:33:00.000-06:00

Shortcuts are in nature meant to help save your time.

1. Zero Brightness
Shortcut : Control-Shift-Eject
Note: Instantly turn your display off without logging out from the system.

2.Open Address in New Tab
Shortcut : Command-Enter
Note: While highlighting address bar, pressing this shortcut will bring up new tab of that selected address.

3.Google Search Box (in Safari)
Shortcut : Command-Option-F
Note. Quickly jumps your cursor to Google Search Box. Saving your mouse click as well as your precious ticks of seconds.

4. Zoom
Shortcut : Command-Option-[+] (Zoom In) or Command-Option-[-] (Zoom Out)
Note:. Zoom in/out your display; making tiny objects looks huge.

5. Spotlight (search your Mac)
Shortcut: Command-Spacebar
Note: This will find applications, music, documents, images, PDFs,spreadsheets and presentations.

Force Eject a CD or DVD that is stuck in your Mac

2009-10-06T13:45:00.000-06:00

Every once in a while you may find that you have a CD or DVD stuck in your Mac that just refuses to eject. If it happens - it’s frustrating. There are a few things that you can do to force you Mac to eject the disk.

1) First, try iTunes. Sometimes the iTunes eject button will work, even if your Finder eject button, or keyboard eject button won’t.
2) Open Terminal.app and type “drutil tray eject” - this will eject the disk tray most of the time.
3) If you’re still having no luck, you can restart your Mac and hold down the mouse button(or trackpad). Keep your finger pressed down until the disk ejects, or the login screen appears.
If you’ve tried all three of these, and you’re still having trouble - you may want to call for support.

Quick Mac Tips

2009-09-29T17:45:00.000-06:00

Did you know that you could:

Slowly Increase/Decrease Volume: Pressing modifier keys Option-Shift while increasing/decreasing (F4/F5 for MacBook) will slowly increase/decrease the volume bar by a quarter.
Searching by Lyrics: Spotlight in Leopard now supports searching music by its lyric.
Working without Mouse or Trackpad: Using only keyboard shortcuts with modifier key Control and keys F1 to F3, you can do Turn on Full Keyboard Access, Jump to Menubar and Go to Dock respectively.
Movie Slow Motion: While in Quicktime, you can use your trackpad finger-scrolling or mouse scrolling to move forward/backward frame by frame or even stopping the movie.
Cropping Image in Preview: Draw the region you want to crop followed by pressing keystrokes Command-K will do the job.
"Hello" from Mac: Open your Terminal(in your Utilities folder) and use command line:
say Hello
Your Mac will say "Hello" to you. Hello can be replaced with other words, eg. say you look stunning today.
Hide All Others Windows: Keystrokes Command-Option-H will help you hide all others windows except the current working window.
Quick Empty Trash: If you don't want to see any confirmation dialog box when you need to empty your trash, you can use keystrokes Command-Option-Shift-Delete.

iPhoto Tips

2009-09-22T11:38:00.000-06:00

Faces:The more you tag, the smarter iPhoto gets - Find a group of images with a certain person. As you tag the images, iPhoto will learn their face and will eventually ask if if they are the person you're looking for. You can tag multiple people in a photo. Click on Faces and iPhoto will attempt to find all the faces. You can tag faces already found, then click on "add missing face" to create new face boxes. Adjust the size of the box, click done and add the name.

Change a person's Faces Key Photo - Open a person's images in Faces. Right click on the image you want to be the key photo and choose "Make Key Photo" An easier method, drag your mouse over the key photo in the corkboard view and while the photos are changing, tap the space bar on the photo you would like to be the key photo, violá!

Zoom in and out - Double left clicking zooms in to the map in iPhoto. Double right clicking zooms out. You can also use the slider in the lower right-hand corner.

Empty the trash - The trash is usually filled with photos you don't want, empty it for more space. Right click and delete those unwanted photos.

Make Your Stickies Work For You

2009-09-14T11:33:00.000-06:00

The Stickies application lets you put little Stickie notes all over your screen, just
like you’d stick them around the edge of your monitor.

Bulleted List: To make such a list, click.Option-Tab on the note, then Control-click the note to open a contextual
menu and choose “List…” from the menu. You can choose from a variety
of bullets and numbers, plus you can add a prefix and suffix to the bullet.
Thus you could create a numbered list that uses (1) or Act 1: or •A• or any
other combination. The list options even include Greek characters and Asian
characters. Remember, hit Option-Tab before you type the first item in the list.
To continue the list, just hit a Return after each item. You can hit Option-
Tab-Tab to indent an extra level. To end the list, hit Return twice.
You can change the bullet formatting at any time—just use the List options
from the contextual menu as explained above.
You can change fonts, size, color, etc., just as in any other Mac application,
using the Font dialog box (press Command + T).

Double-click in the title bar of any Stickie note to “roll it up” so just the title
bar shows, as you can see on the opposite page. The first line of type appears
in the title bar. Double-click the title bar again to unroll the note.

Hover your mouse over any note to display a tool tip of information about
when the note was created and modified, as shown on the opposite page.

Drag a graphic image from anywhere on your Mac and drop it into the
Stickie note.

A note can hold many pages of text and graphics. You won’t see scroll bars,
but you can drag the mouse through the text and it will scroll, or use the
arrow keys or the PageUp or PageDown keys. If your mouse has a scroll
wheel, use it to scroll through long notes. Resize a Stickie note just as
you would any other window—drag the bottom-right corner.

Do you notice red dots under a name? This is a visual clue that the
spell checker is on and working. Control-click the note, choose “Spelling and
Grammar,” then choose one of the spell-checking options.

If you prefer working with a certain font and a certain size and a certain color
note, you can set a default so all your notes look like that without having to
select your favorite specifications for every note. Just set up one note the way
you like it, then go to the Note menu and choose “Use as Default.”

If you want your Stickie notes to automatically open and appear every time
you turn on your computer, click and hold on Stickies icon in the dock (when open) and select Open at Login.

To print a note, from the File menu, choose “Print….” Set your print options
as you would with any other document. If you want to print multiple notes at
once, you can copy and paste them into a single note, then print.

Shuffle Your Email

2009-09-08T12:30:00.000-06:00

Did you know that you could sort your email inbox in any number of ways? This technology tip is all about sorting that huge list of emails in your inbox. Here's how to sort the messages in your Inbox:

Open up Outlook and look at the bar across the top of your Inbox. You should see heading titles there like From, Subject, Received, and Size.

Click on one of these headings and your email should be automatically be sorted by that grouping. For example, if you click Size all your emails will be sorted from smallest to largest (this is handy if you're looking for a big email to delete). If you click Subject all your emails will be sorted alphabetically by the words in the Subject line. If you click From you can see all your emails organized alphabetically by the name of the sender.

These different column headings are called "fields" and if you are looking for a heading and it's not there you can easily add it. Here's how to do that:

Right click (Control +click on a Mac) on one of the headings and choose "Field Chooser" from the menu that appears. This will give you a list of all the possible column headings (or fields) you could possibly use. If you see one you'd like to add drag and drop it onto the header bar.

When you're done you'll probably want to sort your email by "Received" so the more recent emails appear at the top of the list again.

Mac: Look Inside Multiple Folders

2009-09-01T11:46:00.000-06:00

Need to see what’s inside more than one folder while in List view? Do it the fast way—Command-click on all the folders you want to expand, then press Command-Right Arrow. All the folders will expand at once.

If the file you’re looking for isn’t there, just press Command-Left Arrow (you can do that, because your folders are still highlighted) to quickly collapse them all again.

Using Voting Buttons in Outlook

2009-08-28T10:25:00.000-06:00

When needing replys from a group of people, try using voting buttons in your email. This would have worked great with Field Day responses. Here are the directions:

1.In the message, click Options.
2. Select the Use voting buttons check box, and then click the voting button names you want to use in the box. To create your own voting button names, delete the default button names, and then type any text you want. Separate the button names with semicolons.
3.Under Delivery options, select Have replies sent to: box. Results can be sent to more than one person. Also, select the Save sent message to: box. To select a folder other than the Sent Items folder, click Browse.
4. Click Close, and then click Send.

Google Squared

2009-08-25T11:31:00.000-06:00

One of the most interesting ideas to come out of Google Labs is Google Squared. Here is the information from Google: Google Squared is a search tool that helps you quickly build a collection of facts from the Web for any topic you specify.

Facts about your topic are organized as a table of items and attributes (we call them "Squares" for fun). Customize these Squares to see just the items and attributes you're interested in. See the websites that served as sources for the information in your Square. Save and share Squares with others.The size of the squares can be changed as well as the search can be saved. You can also add your own criteria to the squares.

Where Can I Find Images?

2009-08-18T14:28:00.000-06:00

Today's technology tip offers you some help with finding images online and also some advice on how to find the largest possible images so your next computer project isn't full of grainy looking pictures.

First, image search engines. Searching for the right image can be frustrating at times. There are many good search engines that you could use. For starters most of your major search engines have an image search engine too such as Google Images, Bing, and Yahoo Images. I'd also like to show you how to find only large images every time you search.

1) For this example you can use PicSearch

2) Click on "Advanced Search"

Choose from several options.

Other interesting search engines:

-The Lavva Search Engine will show thumbnail images next to each text description in your search results. You can then enlarge the image without leaving the search page.
-Search-cube will show you results in a cube that you can turn using your keyboard and mouse.Works in the Safari browser better than Internet Explorer. With Explorer, move your mouse arrow around to have pics show up on the screen.

I will keep updating image searches since a picture is worth 1,000 clicks.

What are Tuesday Tech Tips?

2009-08-18T14:18:00.000-06:00

Every Tuesday, I sent out an email with mini-training tips on computer use, websites or other digital content to help everyone work smarter, not harder. Several people, okay five people, said they sent the tips to others or they saved them to use later. This year, I am going to use this blog so the collection is always available. Also, I will be doing them the entire school year, so the principal will not have to bribe anyone to say they missed them. But I digress...

Please let me know if there are some special topics you would like me to cover. I do enjoy feedback, so if these are working for you, please let me know. I will send an email on Tuesdays just to let you know of the new postings.

Enjoy..