Fancy Bullets!… Add-in for Live Writer

As I was working on setting up my newly reloaded I7 workstation at home I began decided to load up on some of the add-ins

The image below shows you the dialog box that comes up when you click on the Bullets!… menu option. You have three tabs across the top for bullets that are preinstalled, a section for adding new bullets and the last tab points to some links for added support for the program. I jumped to the link listed for more more bullets and the way you add new bullets is to right click on the bullet image you wish to add and choose “Copy Image Location”. This places the URL pointer to the image that you want to add to your bullet list. Next you click on the Add Bullets button shown in the dialog box below.

A new dialog box will pop up. Paste the URL you just captured into the first field. If you want to view what the bullet will look like, press the Preview Button, otherwise, press OK and you will have the new button in you list as above.

To use the add-in, click on the Bullets!… insert choose in you menu on the left hand side of you screen. Highlight the bullet you want to use, and choose the number of space between the bullet and your text, and the number of bullets you want to be displayed. I would suggest creating you list prior to using this add-in and then inserting the text into the appropriate locations. That way you know how many bullets you will need to create. It doesn’t create them on the fly.

Get this program by clicking on the Add a plug-in… menu choice.  or…

Update on Sunday, August 30, 2009 at 1:47PM by Bob Appleby

Thanks Lance. Let me know how it works for you.

How far has technology made inroads into your life?

I am laying here on our back porch, a little before 10:00 on a Friday evening, my feet up, cocktail at hand, in my hammock. All non-tech so far, but I have my earplugs in, listening to a computer generated playlist of songs, coming to me wirelessly over my home wireless network connection using my cell phone to access it, typing this column on a netbook, connected through the same network back to the internet. Now, is this just a little geeky or is it the place we are all heading.

I was thinking to myself, should  I go downstairs and work on a project, finish installing my I7, or watch some HULU, or catch up on some more podcasts. Or, I could jump in the pool and just take a late night swim and then do any of the above, later… Life can be so terrible, don’t you know.

I was thinking  about how I was able to interact during a meeting I was at this morning, passing along my responses to conversations that I was having with people, doing on the spot research to questions that came up and making sure the people that needed it had the exact information we were talking about. I was able to send them the information so that when they got back to their offices after the meeting, all the information that we spoke about was already there waiting for them to work with right away.

One of the negatives with all of this is that you always want to have that technology at your finger tips, no matter where you are and what you are  doing. You begin to feel lost when you don’t have a connection to the Internet. You begin to wonder what everyone else is doing, and how on earth they are doing it without your input. Just Kidding!

So, if I were to answer the question about how technology has become a big part of my life, well, I guess I have to be honest and say that yes, it is a big part. I love to interact with it. The ease of even, writing this, knowing that with a single mouse click it becomes available for anyone who wants to read it, to read it. The ease of correcting, changing and rearranging my thoughts. The wonderful backspace key that allows me to retract a thought, a misspelling or a completely air headed thought. 

The real fun though, is that I can let it sit until tomorrow morning and say, What were you thinking or I can just let it go and pay the consequences. Or, I can come back later and alter any portion of this as I please. Is technology a big part of life, please…. How about yours?

ETI Advisory Board Meeting

I spent my morning with members of the Education and Technology Institute (ETI) advisory board, for their annual meeting of the minds to discuss the past period’s new programs and internal milestone progress. I was very happy to see the progress in their support for their students and additional financial programs they are bringing to bear. They are working very hard getting the word out about their programs and daily/weekly updates through their blog and primary websites. They are discussing ways to bring some of the social networking sites into the mix as well. I hope that some of my suggestions will give them some more ideas to spur that forward. It is always great to see so many friendly and helpful community business people wanting to contribute to the betterment of our local workforce. Well done everyone!

You are in your car, driving along and then you hear: DING!

Resist… Don’t reach for your smart phone. Don’t take your life and those of you fellow travelers to risk.  DON”T TEXT WHILE DRIVING! Don’t read your email. Don’t become one of those accident statistics. Just say NO!

What is focusing my attention with this tirade is the recent release of a Web Video showing four deaths caused by a young driver who was texting while driving. A debate is raging what the best method of curbing distractions while driving in the U.S.

Many states are considering or have passed laws that ban texting while driving, using your phone at all while driving or even touching your phone while driving. Some experts think that dramatic videos like the 4 minute video produced by local police in Gwent, Wales, in the UK can have an impact in educational settings, especially with young drivers.

17 States and District of Columbia have already banned texting while driving. There are some  initiatives in play  towards educating users on the dangers of the different types of distractions that could cause accidents. A good article in Computerworld today talks about general overview of the problems and what is being done to prevent this real problem. Take a quick look.

The parting statement from the Chief Inspector of the Gwent Police site is very compelling:

Chief Inspector John Pavett from Gwent Police Roads Policing Unit hopes the serious message in this film will hit home to viewers:

“Making and receiving calls and texting whilst driving is still happening on roads not just in Gwent but all over the country.  Seeing a scenario, like the one Cassie goes through, played out right before your eyes makes you realise how extremely dangerous it can be and what devastating consequences it can have.

“I hope that after watching this film motorists will think twice before picking up their mobile phone when behind the wheel and realise that a quick reply to a text message or answering a phone call is never worth putting theirs and other people’s lives at risk.”

Camtasia for the Mac has been released.

If you read this blog you know that I am not an Apple guy but this is good news for all of our Mac friends that want to create online training content for their organizations. I love Camtasia in the PC environment and I’m sure that you will just as thrilled with this program in the Mac environment as well.

It is being released at a special price of just $99 for a limited time offer.

Here is an the copy from TechSmith’s News Release.

News: Camtasia...with an Apple flavor

Camtasia for Mac is here, and it's already got people talking.
For one thing, they're noticing the many ways it differs from Camtasia Studio. It acts and feels like a native Mac application...because it is one!

Camtasia for Mac delivers the core set of features that emerged from countless conversations, surveys, research projects, and testing with Mac users over the past few years. We can't wait to hear your reactions and suggestions as you put it through its paces.
It's a whole new product with a lot to explore, so let's get right to the links...
A great place to start is with the See It in Action video (which was itself created with Camtasia for Mac).
Don't miss the special tips for Camtasia Studio veterans, which should help you transition smoothly to Camtasia for Mac.
And, of course, if your Mac is handy you can just download the free trial and start playing around with it on your own! Or buy it now at the introductory price of $99—that's 33% off list!

Explore Camtasia for Mac »

New AVG Solution Page Postings…

I have posted two new pages to our solutions products list today. AVG Anti-Virus Software has been a great product for us and our customers for quite awhile now. If you haven’t been using it now may be the time to take a look at this product. If you are interested in a solution for your Home PC’s Click Here, otherwise, Click Here to go to an overview of the Business Products Page.

Be sure to call one of our security specialists to help you decide on the right product and product licensing path for your business.

New Solution Posting – Malwarebytes

We haven’t been talking much about anti-malware applications but this is one that really works well. Our Tech Staff all swear by it and it is an essential part of their toolkit. You can download this product for use for free or unlock the rest of its features by purchasing for your home machine for $24.95. If you are purchasing it for your household it is a onetime fee but if your are a corporate end-user you will need to purchase an annual subscription fee. You can see more information on this product by clicking on the icon to the right.

Using Jing to capture video and then post to YouTube.

Some simple problems using this program to post Jing Screen/Video Captures. There seems to be a little synchronization issue with the video and sound when taking a picture using the built-in webcam. However, this shouldn’t be a problem when you are just doing screen capture to do a video. I don’t know if this is a function of the processing speed of the Atom processor or that the process itself is flawed. I will have to work on this and see which it is.

I am going to show in the series of videos the process to acquire a screen image and process it up to your site. First thing that you need to do is to configure Jing to point to your YouTube account for it to be able to post the video. You will need to know your account name and password to set this up. Take a look at the video below:

Once your button is setup, you are ready to rock’n roll. This next video shows you how to capture you video an publish it using the button that we have just programmed.

It is totally amazing how a simple little electronic device can become such a central part or your life…

Three weeks ago we, meaning Computer Connections, finally bit the bullet and moved everyone over to AT&T (yeah I know) and finally got us into the smart phone race. Some of us got Samsung units running MS Mobile OS and a couple of us got the Apple iPhone 3GS’s. Being one of the lucky ones I began taking a look at what this Apple device could do for me.

First, I don’t know how I lived without the connectivity to all of my mail accounts. I guess I just ignored them and every so often visited to clean up the outdated things that were sitting there. Well they have never been so clean as they are now. One of the benefits (or if my wife is talking to you, one of the problems), of having access to so much is that you can keep up with and react sooner to the things that come across your table, so to speak. I have five fairly active accounts that I use for different purposes and now they are really doing what I set them up for. It sure makes managing the data a lot more easy than it ever was before.

The unexpected difference is that I now actually use the phone. The big joke in the company was how little I used the phone function of the my old Nextel. I used it more as a walky-talky then any of its phone functions. Now, I tend to use it more to even talk to customers because the phone list from my Outlook contacts is right there on the phone. It makes it so easy to call, email and text to whomever I need to.

It didn’t take long to get used to the keyboard, and even though my old arthritic thumbs can’t do the job, like my young counterparts do typing away, my one finger peck is getting pretty fast and furious. All I can say is thank goodness for spell check.

Another feature I just can’t do without is the iTunes podcast functions. Almost everyone is publishing to iTunes so it's easy to pick up on someone you are interested in. This feature became so important early on that I switched the radio in my car to a Sony that supports Bluetooth so I can broadcast both audio and my phone through the radio connection. While my Garmin’s microphone had better noise cancellation then the Sony mike does, it still does pretty good when the top is up on the convertible.

The last feature that I want to talk about is something I am using as I sit hear on the back porch hammering this article out. The Apps that are available for free and at small prices gives so much more value from your phone. I am listening to one of my Pandora channels right now and am totally enjoying this extra thing that the iPhone brings to the total experience.

If you have been reading my articles lately you may have seen some of the reviews of products that I have been testing and begun using in my daily life. I am amazed at how integral this little pocket size electronic wonder has become in my life. Having the world that I work always at my finger tips gives me a little more edge in the things that I try to keep on track with. Hopefully I won’t become like the much laughed crackberry users with this, but I’m sure that I will be working may way there all too quickly.

Canon gets smart: Lowers megapixels in the new PowerShot G11 | Digital Cameras & Camcorders | ZDNet.com

I have become an avid Canon fan boy and this new product offering could be another of their great products that I will recommend. Not coming out until October, this is a great all around choice for a camera in the mid-market  price range. I have had great luck with my 10 mp camera and getting the images that I want, Canon’s  decision to drop back to this range to get better light sensitivity  will give you a camera that could fit into more situations that you will find yourself taking pictures in. This will give you less noise in the picture and in the end give you that fabulous print quality that we are all after.  We will have to wait and see if holds up to expectations.

Canon gets smart: Lowers megapixels in the new PowerShot G11 | Digital Cameras & Camcorders | ZDNet.com

The nine new rules of media - SmartPlanet

An interesting article to ear mark and keep in the back of your mind. As a member of the horde of online bloggers that are out there it is important to keep in mind that the number one thing that will bring people back to your site is quality content that helps them in their world, whether that is a business world or just a personal one. That has always been one of my goals in producing the content that I do on this blog site. We all go through periods when our content is not as interesting as it could be, but if you write about what interests you or compels you to discuss on a topic then some of that excitement can’t help but show up on what your post.

Anyway, I post some items because I just want to come back to them as a reference point in the future as well. And if I want them, well, maybe they might be interesting enough to you as well.

The nine new rules of media - SmartPlanet

Where to host your videos online | Digital Cameras & Camcorders | ZDNet.com

I have looked at all of the selections in the past and I have one more suggestion as well. I like having all my imaging located in one place and I don’t mind too much that it costs me to do so. At $59 per year the pro version of SmugMug gives me the ability to store both static images and videos up to 512MB’s in size. That’s about a typical 10 minute video in standard TV resolution, and  in most cases this is great. If you are looking to put up just short clips this will do the job.

Where to host your videos online | Digital Cameras & Camcorders | ZDNet.com

Facebook disables rogue data-stealing, spamming apps | Tech News on ZDNet

A note from the “Your Never Safe Department”. 

Security firm Trend Micro warned on Wednesday that a handful of rogue Facebook apps are stealing login credentials and spamming victims' friends.

It is so irritating that nothing is indefinitely safe and secure. But be aware and be careful. Here is a good reason to stay away from those silly application tests to pigeon hole you into some category. Remember, we are all individuals and we the category has to be pretty broad unless you have such a narrow focus of interest. Be careful and be safe. 

Facebook disables rogue data-stealing, spamming apps | Tech News on ZDNet

FCC to take a Broad Look at the wireless industry next week!

I promise that this is my last mention today about the cell phone industry. But I thought this was a good finish to what I have pointed to in the last two blog entries. The general consensus of WHAT TOOK SO LONG is a great question. The FCC is in place to help regulate utilities… so why haven’t they been looking at the cell phone industry up to now? Hmmm. I would have thought this would have been an ongoing activity, not one that they would need to start up a special review process on. Come on guys, let’s get to work! It will be interesting what they come up with. If they are just starting now then we probably won’t know anything during this President’s term.

10 Things We Hate About Wireless Carriers - PC World

A very interesting perspective on the state of the Cell Phone Industry and the way that they take advantage of us with their pricing and other restrictions. A must read to fully understand just how powerful the phone service companies are, what they are doing and a call to action for us as well.

10 Things We Hate About Wireless Carriers - PC World

Now You See It, Now You Don’t… We Didn’t Make It disappear!

Both Apple and AT&T are denying that they took down Google’s Google Voice Application to the FCC. A recent article in PCWorld discusses the hearing and the results, none that the FCC commented on. Read more:

Apple Denies Rejecting Google Voice for iPhone - PC World

It amazes me how so many companies can get away with some of the things that they do and in Apple’s case not get the smear of it. However, I think that we are beginning to see some of this “Apple never does anything wrong” attitude wearing thin.

I have been reading and listening to many different comments from people who are of the same opinion that Apple has become more Monopolistic than Microsoft ever was/is. They have been able to duck under scrutiny because their market share has been so minor but in some of their products now, iPod/iPhone, they are the clear winner and have the majority of market share. If they are controlling what can be put on their products by consumers who own those products isn’t that a  little over handed?

Back to the article. AT&T denies that it has any role in Apple’s App Store products, but does concur that their “contractual agreement forbids Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) applications from reaching the App Store unless AT&T agrees.” "From time to time, AT&T has expressed concerns regarding network efficiency and potential network congestion associated with certain applications, and Apple takes such concerns into consideration," Apple said.

The bigger issue I believe is the program’s SMS capabilities that bypass AT&T’s billing mechanism which is  a huge money maker for them. PCMag repots:

AT&T seemed most concerned about revenue and network traffic issues in its reply to the FCC today. "Both parties required assurances that the revenues from the AT&T voice plans available to iPhone customers would not be reduced by enabling VoIP calling functionality on the iPhone," admitted the carrier. "AT&T's wireless service agreement prohibits subscribers from engaging in uses that cause extreme network capacity issues or interference with the network."

All of this makes more sense to me. From a business stand point I see their concerns. From a consumer, I would like my choice. We are paying for services on our phone connection, voice and data, shouldn’t I be allowed to use the data side the way that I want, as long as I am using it for legal purposes? It shouldn’t matter what the data content is, as long as it is not of illegal nature. We pay for a certain amount of bandwidth not function. And while we are on this subject, how about tethering? This is just another form of data/bandwidth usage. We shouldn’t be band from this either, should we? Sorry AT&T if you haven’t built up your infrastructure to allow function, but if you can’t provide the service then maybe you shouldn’t be selling it as a service.

I love TechCrunch’s comment:

Whatever the reasons, it sucks, and as Jason Kincaid says, what's really troubling about this rejection is that it appears that "Apple is now actively stifling innovation." And the whole black box app approval process doesn't exactly alleviate that sinking feeling either. After all, if Google doesn't stand a chance, how does anybody else?

New Tech Tool!

It seems that a new tech tool has become an indispensable part of my gear. With all the shiny surfaces, screens and touch screens I find myself constantly cleaning the smudges that occur. Oh for the days of the textured surfaces that didn’t show every single fingerprint and smudge that occurs.

Technology Podcasts that I Love…

We here the question a great deal about how on earth we keep up on all the new products, techniques and other gadget related things that we do on a daily basis. Most of us hear at Computer Connections fill our free time by listening to podcasts that are free to download to your computer or media player, like and iPod, iPhone or Zune. I like the Zune to listen collect and listen to podcasts because of the ease of setting up subscriptions for downloading to the device and the menuing system on it as well. However, I do like the iPhone interface as well.

AppJudgement – A Revision3 property, I just found this podcast this week and I am thoroughly enjoying the comparisons of the different applications available for our smart phones. If you have just acquired a smart phone or you are a long time owner, I think that you will find these shows very informative and help you decide the best applications for your phone for the way that you use it.

Buzz Out Loud – I have been listening to this podcast for years and find it a great way to keep up on daily news. They are part of CNet and CBS News and provide a very good discussion of current technology news topics that are informative and easy to listen to. They have gone to a new format now that has several of their personalities sharing reporting responsibilities on different days of the week.

Diggnation – These guys are real goofs but they can be a lot of fun. If strong language turns you off then don’t watch, it is not kind on your ears. But if you can get past that, then they do present some interesting technical and non-technical news each week.

The Real Deal – This is another CNet property and is a great source for tech products, gadgets and how to’s on fixing and using your machines.

Security Now – Leo Laporte is considered one of the godfathers of podcasting and he hosts quite a few shows that you might be interested in. This one he hosts with Steve Gibson and discusses security issues that could affect your equipment. A good technology  filled show not real good for beginners.

Tech Stuff – This is a great show that discusses how things work in the technology world. Titles like How MP3 files work, How Cloud Computer Works are examples of the type of topics that are presented.

Tekzilla – Another Revision3 product another technology show that runs the gamut of How To and What is new in the technology world. They have a long list of subjects that they discuss that I am sure you will find something that will interest you. Hosted by Patrick Norton and Veronica Belmont.

This Week in Google (TWIG) – Leo Laporte, Gina Trapani and Jeff Jarvis. Brand new and only on its third episode as I am writing this, this podcast is again hosted by Leo and has two other hosts on that discuss the things going on in the “Internet Cloud”. Likes and dislikes, news and some hints on how to do things on the internet and with internet applications. If you are into computers you are starting to see the trend towards internet hosted applications and this show tries to makes some sense of it all.

This Week In Tech (TWIT) – Another Leo Laporte/TWITTV broadcast that has Leo hosting with different sub hosts each week. The people that he has on the show with him are all of the different reporters and developers from the technology world. Great info and very enjoyable to listen to.

Windows Weekly – Leo Laporte and Paul Thurrott get together weekly to talk about Microsoft related products. Whether it software (operating systems, office applications and programming), web based applications and services (Live, MSDN) or hardware (Zune, Xbox) there is a lot going on here that you can find useful if Microsoft touches your world.

These are just a few of the Programs that I use to keep myself informed. Of course there are so many other media sources that we use as well that are too numerous to talk about here. But if ever gave a thought about wanting to find a source for leaning more about your computers and other things, here is a great place to start.

ACER ASPIRE 4810T-8702 NOTEBOOK

Acer has come out recently with several smaller notebooks that all fall under their 8 hour battery, Go All Day, model line. These nifty new notebooks come in several screen sizes but the model that I am talking about today has a 14” display, 250gb hard drive, 802.11a/b/g/Draft-N WiFi, 3GB DDR3 Memory, Intel GMA 4500MHD Video, and an Intel Core 2 Solo SU3500 Processor (1.4GHz, 800MHz FSB).

It is part of their Ultra-thin (<1 inch) 8 Hour Green Battery Life Systems. It is very light just a little over 4lbs. Great sound and decent video specifications. Priced at around $849 it comes with XP-Pro and is ready to be part of your Business Network Life!

Some of the key features that caught my eye:

1. Thermal efficient cooling – you won’t have fans kicking on. Because of the system  components are all energy efficient you don’t have as much heat built up inside the unit that needs cooled down.
2. High Definition Screen and HDMI output port. Hook this up to your big screen TV though one of its HDMI ports and see the great graphic display.
3. 3 USB Ports, Sound in and out, Video Camera and External Microphone
4. Ultra Thin and Light – For a 14 inch notebook this unit is very, very thin and light and still has the optical drive built-in. Take a look at the picture on the right showing the frontal view. The phone on top of the unit is a new iPhone 3GS which is sleek and thin in its own right.
5. Work all day on an 8 hour battery charge. I love the freedom this feature gives you.

This system is a perfect work companion for the mobile office worker who needs a machine that will do the work and provide all the extras in a small reasonably priced machine. Thumbs up on this sexy new Acer Notebook!

Apple’s Mobile Me and Me…

I will need to take a long look at this program and try to see if it has any worth.

I think as a Windows Server/Exchange user, the connection we have with Exchange and our phones is good enough. I think that the problem comes up with some users who don’t have an integrated solution and needs something to pull it all together.

If you are on a MAC this may be just the ticket but for most of us there are so many other ways to integrate and share information that is a lot less expensive then the $90+ that Apple wants for this service. I don’t see anything in the iTunes program to tie anything into this either which probably would make sense if they did to help with the overall syncing.

One of the interesting functions that I saw under Settings was the FIND MY IPHONE menu choice. When you choose this option your phone will be pinpointed on a map and you will have several options available to you. First is to display a message and have a tone sound on the phone. this would help you find you phone if you left it laying around the house and couldn’t find it. Second you have the ability to remotely wipe the phone clean so that if you have sensitive data on the phone you can wipe it out very easily so it’s out of the hands of the thief that has it…

Email: MobileMe sets you up with an email address associated with this account. The address youloginname@me.com is your email and you have the basic email functions and fields, To:, CC:, Subject, large message area (no formatting that I see) and attaching up to a 20MB file to the message. There is spell check and you can hit  the contact button to easily insert contacts from your message list. You can setup multiple folders for storing your messages, but I can’t find a way to have this grab mail from multiple accounts. This will still have to be done on your iPhone and those accounts will not roll into the on screen version. you have the typical reply, reply to all recipients, and forwarding a message. Again, nothing spectacular.

Contact: I didn’t want to add my contact list to the service (2200+ entries in mine), so I pulled up the function on the screen. It harps on me as I do this because I didn’t sync my contacts on the phone. It has all the basic fields you would expect and allows you add more fields to the standard format to fill in more info as you need for someone. If you look close to the left you can an idea of the choices that you can add to the list.

Calendar: The application on the iPhone didn’t give me the ability to synch with my Exchange settings even though for no apparent rhyme or reason some of my calendar events were brought over. Don’t have an answer for that one. I would want better control if I were going to use this feature.

Photo Gallery: This would setup a gallery that you could move between you different computer and phone devices. But I don’t see how this is really helpful because you can do the same basic thing with iTunes with your phone. Could be helpful if you didn’t have any other method of moving and sharing photos, I just don’t want to waste my phone memory on too many pictures though.

iDisk: This is a feature to place files on you iPhone for later viewing or being able to reference them. This program allows you to store often used documents that you might want to share with customers. One of the features is being able to email them directly out of the iDisk interface on your phone. If you are carrying around info that is you need to disseminate to customers, like brochures, then if for no other reason this might be an easy way to manage it. the images are coming from you online storage, not your phone so you won’t be taking up much space in you phone. You can setup file sharing with other people as well in a public folder area. Again an interesting way to collaborate with co-workers and customers.

Conclusion: While this program may not benefit me especially, there are those of you out there that may want to try it. Remember that you can try it out for 60 days before the subscription kicks in. So… it doesn’t cost anything but your time to try it out.