Thursday, April 9, 2009
The Halswell Cross
I am involved in a project called The Halswell Cross in Christchurch. This is an art installation in Halswell Quarry Park, a park created by the city council in a former quarry. The stark cliff backdrop is quite dramatic and a perfect setting for this sort of thing. The cross will be erected over Easter, from Good Friday morning to Monday afternoon. There is a recorded commentary on headphone, and visitors can nail prayers to the cross. Entrance is free, and you are most welcome to pop over.
Tame your folders
The default settings for folders in Windows are very frustrating. They often don't display the way you want, and Windows forgets all about the ones you have left open on your desktop (and want to stay there) when it reboots. It's time to crack the whip and make them behave. PC World blogger Rick Broida shows you how.
Beef up Quick Launch
A lot of people use the desktop to create shortcuts to programs they use a lot, to drop files on, and even create folders on. The major problem with this approach is that with normal use you soon get a very cluttered desktop.
A solution is to power up the Quick Launch feature of the Task Bar at the bottom of your screen. If the Quick Launch toolbar is not there, turn it on by right clicking in a clear space on the Taskbar and choosing Quick Launch from the menu. This should make the Quick Launch toolbar visible to the right of the Start button.
When you instal software, it frequently adds a shortcut icon to Quick Launch. If not, simply drag the program's icon down to the Task Bar, between one of the icons already showing. (This puts a copy of the shortcut onto the bar, so you can delete the other from the desktop.)
To the right of the program icons, you will see a double chevron >> and then a vertical row of dots. You can drag this row to shorten or lengthen the queue of items visible on the Task Bar.
Clicking on the chevron will expand the Quick Launch bar, and single clicking on an icon will launch that program. If you click and drag an icon, you can rearrange its position, which is useful to group like progams.
But if, like me, you have far too many items for comfort, you can create folders for different categories, and then when you select a folder, it will pop out a sub-menu. To do this, right click just after the furthest right item in Quick Launch, and select the "Open Folder" entry in the menu. (Try to click just before the >> symbol.)
Now, just create folders in the usual way, and drop icons into them. Note that the folders appear in the Quick Launch menu in order you created them. But don't worry, you can reorder the folders (sub menu entries) in the Quick Launch menu.
Wtih this approach, you can shorten the number of items showing on your Task Bar (I usually just have my most-used programs showing, such as Firefox, Thunderbird and Word).
A solution is to power up the Quick Launch feature of the Task Bar at the bottom of your screen. If the Quick Launch toolbar is not there, turn it on by right clicking in a clear space on the Taskbar and choosing Quick Launch from the menu. This should make the Quick Launch toolbar visible to the right of the Start button.
When you instal software, it frequently adds a shortcut icon to Quick Launch. If not, simply drag the program's icon down to the Task Bar, between one of the icons already showing. (This puts a copy of the shortcut onto the bar, so you can delete the other from the desktop.)
To the right of the program icons, you will see a double chevron >> and then a vertical row of dots. You can drag this row to shorten or lengthen the queue of items visible on the Task Bar.
Clicking on the chevron will expand the Quick Launch bar, and single clicking on an icon will launch that program. If you click and drag an icon, you can rearrange its position, which is useful to group like progams.
But if, like me, you have far too many items for comfort, you can create folders for different categories, and then when you select a folder, it will pop out a sub-menu. To do this, right click just after the furthest right item in Quick Launch, and select the "Open Folder" entry in the menu. (Try to click just before the >> symbol.)
Now, just create folders in the usual way, and drop icons into them. Note that the folders appear in the Quick Launch menu in order you created them. But don't worry, you can reorder the folders (sub menu entries) in the Quick Launch menu.
Wtih this approach, you can shorten the number of items showing on your Task Bar (I usually just have my most-used programs showing, such as Firefox, Thunderbird and Word).
Converting MIDI
Because one of my hobbies is composing music, I use MIDI files a lot. What's MIDI, you ask?
MIDI is one of those things that is fairly easy to use, but very hard to describe. Putting it as simply as I can, it is a system that lets computers and other electronic devices pass musical information to each other. The MIDI file is not actually music itself, although if you double-click on it you will hear music in your music player. What it does is control "event messages" such as the pitch of musical notes to play, and parameters such as volume and tempo. It draws on your computer's sound card for the different instument sounds, so the quality you get will depend on the quality of the sound card. Among the benefits are that a MIDI file can be created or opened by a wide variety of programs, and can then be manipulated in a myriad number of ways; the files are incredible small (often, less than 5kb). The downside is that they can only be listened to on a device that has a soundcard or similar, so not on your CD player, for instance. However, they can be converted to a music format such as mp3 or wav so they can play on a CD player (with the downside of course that the files are very much larger, and nowhere as malleable).
Just about every song you can think of is available for free somewhere on the internet in MIDI format. Suppose I need to provide some backing tracks for a singer. I download a MIDI file, open it in my music program Noteworthy Composer, strip out the melody line and voila, an accompaniment.
But I then need to put it on a CD for others to listen to. My problem has been finding a cheap conversion program - you don't want to know how I was doing it before! However, I was delighted yesterday to stumble across a music player, Media Jukebox, which not only plays just about every music format you can throw at it, but also will convert MIDI to mp3 or wave. Now we're cooking!
Actually, I will tell you how I did it before, because you can use the same method to record just about anything audio on your computer. First, download and open Audacity. Click the record button, and start playing whatever you want to record (it might be an old-fashioned LP that you want to transfer to a CD). At the finish, click the Stop button, then trim any unwanted bits at the top and tail, and export in your preferred format.
MIDI is one of those things that is fairly easy to use, but very hard to describe. Putting it as simply as I can, it is a system that lets computers and other electronic devices pass musical information to each other. The MIDI file is not actually music itself, although if you double-click on it you will hear music in your music player. What it does is control "event messages" such as the pitch of musical notes to play, and parameters such as volume and tempo. It draws on your computer's sound card for the different instument sounds, so the quality you get will depend on the quality of the sound card. Among the benefits are that a MIDI file can be created or opened by a wide variety of programs, and can then be manipulated in a myriad number of ways; the files are incredible small (often, less than 5kb). The downside is that they can only be listened to on a device that has a soundcard or similar, so not on your CD player, for instance. However, they can be converted to a music format such as mp3 or wav so they can play on a CD player (with the downside of course that the files are very much larger, and nowhere as malleable).
Just about every song you can think of is available for free somewhere on the internet in MIDI format. Suppose I need to provide some backing tracks for a singer. I download a MIDI file, open it in my music program Noteworthy Composer, strip out the melody line and voila, an accompaniment.
But I then need to put it on a CD for others to listen to. My problem has been finding a cheap conversion program - you don't want to know how I was doing it before! However, I was delighted yesterday to stumble across a music player, Media Jukebox, which not only plays just about every music format you can throw at it, but also will convert MIDI to mp3 or wave. Now we're cooking!
Actually, I will tell you how I did it before, because you can use the same method to record just about anything audio on your computer. First, download and open Audacity. Click the record button, and start playing whatever you want to record (it might be an old-fashioned LP that you want to transfer to a CD). At the finish, click the Stop button, then trim any unwanted bits at the top and tail, and export in your preferred format.
Changing emails
I am in the process of changing jobs, which brings with it the laborious task of changing email subscriptions to the myriad newsletters and other communications which pass across my desk. I am astounded at how difficult this is. The great majority of newsletters (often from very large organisations) have no option for me to make a simple change of address. Usually, they have only an unsubscribe option, which means I then have to go through the process of finding out where to subscribe again. Please folks, if your organisation is guilty of this, start considering how the average person actually works, rather than the way you would like them to work.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Twitter twouble
Just about everyone's getting into Twitter, it appears. But it still seems to me like far too much useless information, and this explanatory video simply confirms it. How many "friends" can you keep up with?
Which is why the following video really appeals to me. Time to go and get a real life.
Which is why the following video really appeals to me. Time to go and get a real life.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Single-click or double-click?
Without naming my wonderful wife, I know people who are often confused about when to double-click. Particularly, they double-click stuff that only has to be single-clicked (like web links). But in today's web-powered world, is double-clicking an anachronism, a vestige of old-school computing? Why don't we ditch it altogether? After all, desktop folders and program icons are really the only items that need two clicks. As it happens, Windows offers a single-click solution. This tip turns both XP and Vista into a single-click OS:
1. using any open folder, go to the "Folder Options" menu item at the top.
2. In the General tab, find the 'Click items as follows' section, then enable 'Single-click to open an item (point to select)'.
3. Decide which of the two "underline" options you want. The first keeps all clickable items underlined at all times, much like links in your Web browser. The second keeps the underline hidden until you mouse over an item. (I prefer the latter.)
4. Click OK and you're done.
This method also makes file selection a little trickier, especially if you're accustomed to the practice of Ctrl-clicking multiple files. Now, instead of clicking each file in turn, you just hold down the Ctrl key and mouse over each file you want to select, pausing for about a second on each one until it becomes highlighted.
1. using any open folder, go to the "Folder Options" menu item at the top.
2. In the General tab, find the 'Click items as follows' section, then enable 'Single-click to open an item (point to select)'.
3. Decide which of the two "underline" options you want. The first keeps all clickable items underlined at all times, much like links in your Web browser. The second keeps the underline hidden until you mouse over an item. (I prefer the latter.)
4. Click OK and you're done.
This method also makes file selection a little trickier, especially if you're accustomed to the practice of Ctrl-clicking multiple files. Now, instead of clicking each file in turn, you just hold down the Ctrl key and mouse over each file you want to select, pausing for about a second on each one until it becomes highlighted.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Linux installation Pt II
The installation of Linux (see post below) has been a resounding success, and incredibly easy - I have never installed any operating system (Windows or Mac) with such ease. All the dire predictions by others - for instance, that only geeks could install Linux - simply were not true.
Before I started, I backed up all the files on the computer that I wanted to keep (they fitted on a floppy, as I had pretty much given up using the machine).
I restarted the computer, to check that it could boot from the CD player. (If you need to do this, press the F2 key as the computer is starting, and it should show that option as the default. If not, you just use the arrow keys to move that option to the top.)
I inserted the Freespire disk in the CD drive, and restarted the computer.
From then on, Freespire did the lot. It detected all my hardware, installed the operating system and new drivers for the sound card, video card and USB ports, and chugged away happily while I did a Sudoku puzzle. It asked me a couple of questions, like which language did I want, and which world time zone? There was absolutely nothing in the basic installation I did not understand - it was all plain English and totally user-friendly.
The process took about 25 minutes, and at the end not only did I have an attractive desktop, sufficiently similar to Windows that I could easily find my way around, but the extension speakers and the USB ports all worked (which they had ceased to do under Windows 98), and the desktop resolution was far superior.
A good range of essential software was automatically installed, such as OpenOffice.org (the Linux equivalent of Microsoft Office), Firefox browser and Thunderbird email program. And there are thousands of other free programs available for anything else required.
The only thing I have left to do is network to my main computer. And that only awaits me working out where to plug the network cable on said main computer.
Linux, I love you!
Before I started, I backed up all the files on the computer that I wanted to keep (they fitted on a floppy, as I had pretty much given up using the machine).
I restarted the computer, to check that it could boot from the CD player. (If you need to do this, press the F2 key as the computer is starting, and it should show that option as the default. If not, you just use the arrow keys to move that option to the top.)
I inserted the Freespire disk in the CD drive, and restarted the computer.
From then on, Freespire did the lot. It detected all my hardware, installed the operating system and new drivers for the sound card, video card and USB ports, and chugged away happily while I did a Sudoku puzzle. It asked me a couple of questions, like which language did I want, and which world time zone? There was absolutely nothing in the basic installation I did not understand - it was all plain English and totally user-friendly.
The process took about 25 minutes, and at the end not only did I have an attractive desktop, sufficiently similar to Windows that I could easily find my way around, but the extension speakers and the USB ports all worked (which they had ceased to do under Windows 98), and the desktop resolution was far superior.
A good range of essential software was automatically installed, such as OpenOffice.org (the Linux equivalent of Microsoft Office), Firefox browser and Thunderbird email program. And there are thousands of other free programs available for anything else required.
The only thing I have left to do is network to my main computer. And that only awaits me working out where to plug the network cable on said main computer.
Linux, I love you!
Friday, April 3, 2009
Installing Linux
It’s to put my money where my mouth is. After several years of toying with the idea of installing Linux, I am about to launch out and do it. I have an oldish Windows 98 Compaq computer at home, given to me by a friend migrating to Macintosh. It has an 18gb hard drive and 256mb of memory. It’s not worth upgrading the hardware, and probably won’t take Windows XP. So it’s a perfect candidate for the experiment.
I have bought a disk containing a version of Linux called Freespire, which it cost me NZ$7 to purchase over the internet, including airmail delivery from the USA (it took only three days from order to arrival). So in the next couple of days I will grit my teeth, and do the install. I will blog on the process and the end result.
I have bought a disk containing a version of Linux called Freespire, which it cost me NZ$7 to purchase over the internet, including airmail delivery from the USA (it took only three days from order to arrival). So in the next couple of days I will grit my teeth, and do the install. I will blog on the process and the end result.
Turning PowerPoint into movies
I have been searching for many months for a way to convert PowerPoint presentations to some movie format. Why, you might ask? Firstly, PowerPoint files don’t play the same way on different computers, particularly if you are timing slide transitions to an audio track. And secondly, PowerPoint can do some nice visual effects, for instance with text, which are quite difficult in the average low-end to mid-range video programme.
There are some commercial programs which turn PPTs into a movie. For instance, Leawo boasts that it can convert PPT to almost any popular movie format – and there sure are plenty of them: AVI, WMV, MPG, FLV, VOB, MOV and on it goes.
That seems to be the cleanest and simplest method, but being stubborn I looked round for free software to do the job. It would appear there is no one-step program. But it can be done in several steps.
iSpring is a free extension which installs itself into PowerPoint. From within the PowerPoint, you can convert the presentation to a Shockwave Flash (SWF) file. As most web browsers can play flash movies, to play the file, drag its icon onto the icon of your favourite browser. You can also play the file without a browser using SWF Opener.
The next stage is to convert SWF to FLV format, and here there is a gap in the chain. None of the free programs I tried worked successfully on my computer. I finally went to Moyea and downloaded a trial version, which worked perfectly (but the full version costs US$30).
For the last step, I found that Leawo has a free FLV to AVI converter, which also works very well. An alternative is Pazera free FLV to AVI converter.
Considering all the hoops I had to jump through to get from PPT to AVI, the heavier weight Leawo looks like a good buy!
Talking of converting videos, what if you want to download and convert a YouTube video to watch on your iPod, cell phone, or maybe convert to another video type. You might want to try the freebie YouTube Downloader. It runs as a small applet and is exceedingly simple to use. You can convert to many different formats, including for the iPod, iPhone, cell phones, PlayStation Portable, as well as common PC formats including MPEG and Windows Media (.wmv).
There are some commercial programs which turn PPTs into a movie. For instance, Leawo boasts that it can convert PPT to almost any popular movie format – and there sure are plenty of them: AVI, WMV, MPG, FLV, VOB, MOV and on it goes.
That seems to be the cleanest and simplest method, but being stubborn I looked round for free software to do the job. It would appear there is no one-step program. But it can be done in several steps.
iSpring is a free extension which installs itself into PowerPoint. From within the PowerPoint, you can convert the presentation to a Shockwave Flash (SWF) file. As most web browsers can play flash movies, to play the file, drag its icon onto the icon of your favourite browser. You can also play the file without a browser using SWF Opener.
The next stage is to convert SWF to FLV format, and here there is a gap in the chain. None of the free programs I tried worked successfully on my computer. I finally went to Moyea and downloaded a trial version, which worked perfectly (but the full version costs US$30).
For the last step, I found that Leawo has a free FLV to AVI converter, which also works very well. An alternative is Pazera free FLV to AVI converter.
Considering all the hoops I had to jump through to get from PPT to AVI, the heavier weight Leawo looks like a good buy!
Talking of converting videos, what if you want to download and convert a YouTube video to watch on your iPod, cell phone, or maybe convert to another video type. You might want to try the freebie YouTube Downloader. It runs as a small applet and is exceedingly simple to use. You can convert to many different formats, including for the iPod, iPhone, cell phones, PlayStation Portable, as well as common PC formats including MPEG and Windows Media (.wmv).
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Microsoft to buy Apple - really??!!
In a move shocking the tech world, the NZ Herald proclaims, Microsoft has just announced the acquisition of Apple Inc. Um, yeah, right. The date of the article should give the clue.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Lost internet connections
I had a continual run of problems with my internet connection for about a month at the beginning of this year. The Local Area Connection icon said the computer was connected, but not a thing was happening. I ran numerous virus checkers to make sure I hadn't been unwittingly invaded, and tried unplugging and replugging the router and the wireless modem (which resets them), but none of this helped. After consulting with Those Who Know More Than Me in the IT firm next door, I concluded the problem was at the service provider's end. Possibilities include overloading of the circuits in our area, etc. Suddenly the problems vanished, and things have been fine for the past three weeks, which almost certainly indicates the problem was not on our computers.
From talking around, it seems the problem is fairly common. For another take on what can be going on, see this response at PC World to a query by one Margie Miller, who keeps losing her internet connection and asks, is it the router, the modem, her PC, or something else?
From talking around, it seems the problem is fairly common. For another take on what can be going on, see this response at PC World to a query by one Margie Miller, who keeps losing her internet connection and asks, is it the router, the modem, her PC, or something else?
These drums are so cool!
I don't who is the genius behind this, but this desktop drum kit, which you can play on your PC keyboard, is so cool! Turn up the volume on your speakers and freak out your office colleagues. The ideal way to relieve stress for a couple of minutes.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Tutorials
I've been itching for ages to have a play with Garageband, one of the stars in the Macintosh universe. (It is a program that helps you compose music tracks, by playing around with bits of music called "loops". Sadly, there is no real equivalent in the PC world.) I was able to get access to a Mac at the weekend, but oh dear, the program was not as intuitive as devotees make out, and the online manual was not written for people like me in mind. (Have you ever noticed that manuals never do help when you have a question? That's because they're written by computer geeks rather than real users.) What to do? Answer: Turn to YouTube. Search on "tutorial" and "garageband" and straight up pops a man who understands perfectly my dilemma and proceeds to lead me through the steps.
There are tutorials at YouTube on just about everything you care to think of (and a few you should not). In fact, if you are are struggling with any computer problem, or just about anything else in life, the internet is a mine of helpful tutorials. Here are a few websites to get you going:
Webmonkey has a high reputation and is one of the most popular on the internet. eHow claims to be the world's most popular place to find step-by-step instructions on how to do just about everything. Then there's the Intute virtual training suite and Tutorialfind.
There are tutorials at YouTube on just about everything you care to think of (and a few you should not). In fact, if you are are struggling with any computer problem, or just about anything else in life, the internet is a mine of helpful tutorials. Here are a few websites to get you going:
Webmonkey has a high reputation and is one of the most popular on the internet. eHow claims to be the world's most popular place to find step-by-step instructions on how to do just about everything. Then there's the Intute virtual training suite and Tutorialfind.
Friday, March 27, 2009
New AVG release
One of the best free anti-virus programmes is AVG, which has just released a new upgrade. If you don't have it, I would strongly recommend doing so. Use this link to get the free version, as AVG is rather sneaky, and make it quite hard to find the free one from their front page. They try their best to trap you into accidentally downloading a paid version, when the freebie is quite adequate. No security program, however, catches everything, so it should be only one of a number of guns in your holster. Others which I use are Threatfire, Ad-Aware, Spybot, CCleaner and WinPatrol - all free.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
System restore
Sometimes your computer crashes for no easily determined reason. You may have been invaded by a nasty virus, or it may be an incompatibly between two bits of software, it may be that there was bad conjunction between Jupiter and Mars. One resort is to employ the System Restore capabilities of XP or Vista. (To access it, on XP at least, go to the Start menu, and choose Help and Support. You'll find System Restore under the Pick a Task options.) It's pretty self-explanatory to use, and in theory it will restore your system to a date and time you choose (eg, before you installed that last bit of suspect software), without changing any of your data, as in your working documents. This article at PC World tells you more. Be aware, though, that System Restore is not perfect, and I have even heard of instances where it so corrupted the Registry that a complete reinstall of the operating system was necessary. In its defence, I have to say that it has saved my bacon on several occasions, and so far I have had no problems with it. To be safe, it is recommended you back up all important files before you do a restore.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Recovering lost photos
Whoops! I accidentally deleted some pics from my digital camera this morning. I realised as soon as I hit the delete button I had done the wrong thing. I have a utility to restore files I have deleted from my computer, but what about the camera? An online search yielded a big array of utilities, so I downloaded and tried one called Zero Assumption Digital Image Recovery. It took around half an hour to scan my camera, during which time I could do nothing else, and then said it could find no images to recover. What a dud! Next I tried Recuva. What a joy! Simple to use, fast (it took only a few minutes to scan the camera), and gave me a thumbnail of every image it could bring back, including many I would have thought were long gone. The one I wanted was there, and took only seconds to restore to my computer. Once again I'm a happy chappie.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Customise your PC
Some people make technology a bit more bearable by decorating the walls of their room or cubicle. Others by super-customising their computer. But a computer in a pumpkin? Meanwhile, this chappie is big on art deco. You can customised just about anything, so the keyboard is a likely candidate. Not satisfied with the standard QWERTY layout? Try one of these. What's good for the keyboard is good for the mouse, especially if you have a few thousand dollars to spare.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Pan and zoom photographs
A US moviemaker by the name of Ken Burns pioneered a TV documentary technique, whereby he panned and zoomed around still photographs to create the effect of live action footage. The technique is still called the Ken Burns Effect. While video editing programs can usually do something similar, the less expensive ones are often somewhat limited in their range of movement across the photo. Windows MovieMaker for the XP operating system lacks the ability completely (although you can purchase add-ons to achieve it). MovieMaker for Vista has added some ability, but can pan only in a straight line. Enter one of the least-known Microsoft products, called PhotoStory. This wonderful free program can wander anywhere you want around a photograph, and output the result either as a stand-alone movie, or a file which you can incorporate into another movie. It has a bundle of other tricks, too, such as adding soundtracks or narration. Microsoft barely ever mentions this little freebie, which I only stumbled across by accident. It deserves to be better known.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Internet Explorer 8
The long-awaited final release of Microsoft's browser, Internet Explorer 8, has finally hit the road. (You can download a copy here.) Microsoft obviously hopes this will seriously dent the growing popularity of Firefox, while users will hope this fixes some of the serious deficiencies of IE. I haven't downloaded a copy yet, but will do Very Soon Now. PC World has a very good article outlining the new features of IE8. If it's half as good as they suggest, I could start using it a bit more. On my work computer, when it comes to IE, I am locked into version 6. The irony is that the PC World article would not display properly in it, while it showed perfectly in Firefox.
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