The Gadgets Page

Type class was my first introduction to ASCII art. After hours of “Type X 15, O 2, X 15…” I would end up with a Christmas Tree on my sheet of paper. There was no backspace on my mom’s old typewriter. If I screwed up, I had to start all over and the teacher could tell at a glance if I had done everything correctly.

Now, all you have to do is upload your photo to Photo2Text and they’ll do all the work for you.

• Photo2Text.com – Convert an image to Ascii Art

This is really cool, but I have yet to upload a photo yet. Maybe I’m worried that some poor school girl in India will have to do the conversion on an old IBM Selectric.

Via: Photojojo » Turn Your Photos into Gibberish — How to Convert Photos into ASCII Art

If you are in need of contact management software, then it’s time to try JibberJobber. It is available right now for a good price. You can read more about it here:

• JibberJobber Blog » Blog Archive » Extra! Extra! Read All About It!

JibberJobber has a focus of career management. We should all be managing our careers at all times, not just during the times when we are looking for a new job. Don’t wait until you’re laid off to start looking for your next position. For all you know, the job of your dreams is right around the corner and all you need to do is take a peek.

If you have wanted to put your videos on the Internet, you probably thought that the only way to do it was with YouTube. YouTube does make it extremely easy to broadcast your videos, but what if you want something more personal? What if you don’t want Google to own your video? What if you already have a blog and you just want to add your latest video?

Freevlog has the answers to all those questions and more. They have just updated their videos, so you have the most current way to learn how to put your videos on the web.

• Freevlog

A little over a year ago, I was faced with these problems. I had filmed lots of little videos that I enjoyed and I wanted to share them on my personal weblog, but I didn’t know how to do anything. I had no idea how to put titles on the videos. I didn’t even know how to upload them. Mike Verdi and Ryanne Hodson were pivitol in getting past my fear and just putting my videos up on the Internet.

They have broken the process of starting a video-blog, or vlog, into these easy steps:

• Setup a Video Blog
• Update your PC or Mac
• Compress video for the web (so the video will look good AND load up quickly)
• Take a screenshot of your video
• Get a blog
• Upload and post your video
• Get an RSS Feed

There are step-by-step videos for each of these parts of the process on their Freevlog Tutorial page.

Almost every digital camera made today and a lot of the cell phones, have a movie mode. No matter where you are, you can record the wonderful bits of your life as they are happening and then share them with your friends and family all across the globe. That’s the beauty of starting your own vlog or adding video to your personal weblog. Now, you can do that and more.

I need a new computer. My video editing software runs like molasses on my current PC and I need a faster one. Unfortunately, Windows Vista is now offered on every new PC that I look at. I don’t want Windows Vista. I’ve watched it run. It runs like molasses on the fast machines.

All over CES, there were huge signs screaming “The Wow Starts Now,” but everyone on the shuttle buses and on the convention floor were talking about the iPhone. Any “wow” that was discussed was reserved for Apple, not Windows Vista.

The thing is, I don’t want an Apple computer. There are some things about Apple that just aren’t as good as on the PC. I know the Apple Cult cries foul everytime someone says that, but it’s true. Some much greater minds have discussed in detail here:

• Windows features OS X should ‘adopt’ at The Apple Blog

• Apple Matters | What OS X Could Learn From Windows

Sure Apple is better at some things, but they aren’t better at EVERYTHING and I have a hard time giving up the PC. But Windows Vista is totally different than Windows XP. I’m going to have to learn a new system if I upgrade to a faster PC and I’m going to have to learn a new system if I upgrade to a Mac.

In the end, I don’t think Microsoft was thinking of me when they created Windows Vista. I think they were thinking a little too much of how to compete with Apple. I don’t know if Apple was thinking of me either. I’ve never really felt part of the Apple Cult. It always seems like Steve Jobs is a little elitist and I don’t know if I’m “good enough” to be an Apple owner.

All I want is to be able to edit my video and burn it to a DVD in less than 12 freakin’ hours. Is that too much to ask?

If you’re short on cash and need to get software so you can do your homework, Software for Starving Students is your hero. They collect the best free software out there on one disc and make it available to you for download.

• SoftwareFor.org: Home of Software for Starving Students

Here is their description of themselves:

“Software for Starving Students is a free collection of programs organized for students (but available to anyone). We’ve gathered a list of best-in-class programs onto one CD (one disc for OS X, one for Windows), including a fully-featured office suite, a cutting-edge web browser, multi-media packages, academic tools, utilities and more.”

Their download includes the following software:

• Windows XP Software: 7-Zip, Ant Renamer, Audacity, Blender, BZFlag, Celestia, ClamWin, DeepBurner Free, Dia, Enigma, Eraser, Exact Audio Copy, FileZilla, Firefox, Freeciv, Gaim, GIMPShop, GLtron, GNU Chess, Icebreaker, Inkscape, Juice Receiver, KeePass, MozBackup, NVU, OpenOffice.org, Paint.NET, PDFCreator, Portable Apps, POV-Ray, PuTTY, SolarWolf, Spybot S&D, Stellarium, SuperTux, The GIMP Toolkit, Thunderbird, Tortoise SVN, Tux Paint, Tux Racer, Tux Typing 2, VLC, WinDirStat, Wink, winLAME, WinSCP, XAMPP, and µTorrent.

• Apple OS X Software: Acqlite, Adium, Audacity, Bleezer, Blender, BZFlag, Camino, Carbon Copy Cloner, Cashbox, Celestia, ClamXav, Crack Attack!, Enigma, FreeDMG, Freemind, Fugu, Genius, GLtron, HandBrake, ImageBurner, Monolingual, MozoDojo, NeoOffice, NVU, Pac the Man X, Platypus, POV-Ray, Seashore, Schoolhouse, Smultron, Thunderbird, Transmission, TypeTrainer4Mac, VideoLAN Client

The most useful of these software elements is OpenOffice. I have used it regularly for a few months now and have thoroughly enjoyed it. It even works better than MS Office when dealing with inserting pictures into my documents. Best of all, it can save in MS Office formats so I don’t have to convert anything.

This software suite was created for students, so it has a lot of software that will be good for kids going to school, but you don’t have to be a student to download it. Anyone can download it now. They have just completed their newest release and they are ready for you to hit their site. If you are sick of shelling out the big bucks for Microsoft Office, then try Software for Starving Students!

Flickr was a big fad last year. Everyone I knew discovered it last year and eagerly started posting their photos to the website. I was reluctant to try it, mostly because I have a bunch of my own weblogs and servers where I can post my own photos. I wanted to keep control of my photographs and I REALLY didn’t want to depend on a company that might go out of business next week.

Then Yahoo bought Flickr, so there was no risk of it going out of business. In fact, Yahoo was allowing Flickr to flourish. Even that news wasn’t enough for me to try them. I just let all my friends use those cool plug-ins that automatically uploaded pictures that they had taken to their weblogs while I did it the hard way.

Then one day, I decided to test it for The Gadgets Page.

Seriously, I thought that I should just try it out to see if it’s something that “normal” people could easily use. If my mom asked me whether she should upload her pictures to this Flickr-thing, what would I tell her? I found that it was extremely easy to use and was ready to give it a positive review when I found something that changed everything.

I love Flickr!

Does it bother me that my pictures aren’t on my own server and my webpages are at the mercy of Flickr and Yahoo? No, not really. Does it bother me that people can see my pictures anywhere, even if they aren’t reading my blogs? Nope again. If they find me on Flickr and go to my weblogs from there, that’s actually GOOD for me. Does it bother me that people could steal my pictures from there and use them on their own? They always could do that. In fact, I have a little more protection with Flickr because I have proof of the date I posted them from an independent source.

None of those reasons are why I love Flickr. I love them because I can upload a picture, write a blog entry and post it to my weblog all with my cell phone. Flickr makes it easy. See the instructions here:

• Flickr: Help: Blogging

Logically, I look at this and think, “This shouldn’t change things for me.” I’ve ALWAYS been able to blog using my phone, but I was never able to add a picture to my entries until Flickr came along. When I think of trying to text a blog entry using the tiny buttons on my Treo, it doesn’t really seem worth it. If I include a picture, however, it suddenly becomes worth it to me. Here is an example of a personal entry that I wrote while riding in the car:

• Pick Me! » Mike Is Driving

It was easy to do and only took a couple of minutes. Trying to do that before I signed up for Flickr would have been so involved that I wouldn’t have even thought about it. Now, I can write anywhere. I may have come to Flickr late, but better late than never!

I have been playing with OpenOffice for a couple of weeks now and I thought I would give you all the details. OpenOffice is a free, open source office suite for Windows, Linux and Solaris operating systems.

• OpenOffice.org: Home

I downloaded the Windows version. The first thing I noticed is that it didn’t take forever to boot up and it didn’t suck down my resources. When I Beta tested the new MS Office, I took it off my computer within a few hours of installing it because it made my computer so slow. I have a pretty nice computer that performs well with video editing software, but the new MS Office made it crawl like a turtle when I used it, so I removed it. That wasn’t the case for OpenOffice. It runs smoothly.

It also opens MS Office documents and can save in that format. My Excel documents loaded in Calc (including all the sheets) and looked exactly like they did in Excel. That wasn’t the case when I uploaded Excel spreadsheets into the Google online spreadsheet. The charts where messed up and the pages looked completely different. Calc really beats Google spreadsheet in that case.

There were a few small things that I noticed that might affect your decision.

• The software is different from Word and Excel: If you have trouble learning new things, there would be an adjustment period. I was able to easily find the things that I usually use, but not everyone can learn software quickly. If that is problem for you, it might be worth it to pay the $400 for Microsoft Office. Of course, for $400, I’m willing to put up with a little confusion.

• It isn’t perfect: There are small things that might make you wish for your old MS Office, like passwords. You can password protect documents, but only in the OpenOffice format, not the MS Office formats. When I cut and pasted some cells in Calc (their spreadsheet program) the formulas that were based on those cells didn’t automatically correct like they do with MS Excel. That is a minor thing that is different than Excel and might even be a preference that I can change, but it’s an example of their programs not being “perfect”.

• It might not be around forever: If you are scared that OpenOffice won’t be around in the future, you might want to stick with MS Office. OpenOffice is an open source product of Sun Microsystems, so that gives it some stability in the unstable world of computers, but there is an old saying, “No one ever got fired for buying Microsoft.” Of course, that saying used to be, “No one ever got fired for buying IBM,” and they aren’t quite the market leader that they used to be. There are really no guarantees no matter which software you use.

Most importantly, you can’t beat the price. OpenOffice is free and available for download here:

• OpenOffice.org 2.0 Downloads

For that price, give the software a test run and see how you like it. Maybe you will be able to take that old bootleg copy of MS Office off your computer and free up a little memory while you’re at it.

First, Google was testing an online spreadsheet, now they also have an online word processor. If you have a computer, but no Microsoft Office, this might be an option for you:

• Welcome to Writely!

Of course, if you don’t own MS Office, there are other options for you that don’t require an Internet connection in order to run them, like Open Office:

• OpenOffice.org: Home

Open Office is a free open-source office suite that allows you to write documents, work with spreadsheets and even draw pictures. That is another option for you.

Via: Boing Boing: Google launches free, kick-ass word-processor

Microsoft has updated their Office Suite for 2007. You can download the Beta version here:

• 2007 Microsoft Office System Beta 2: Get the Beta

I downloaded MS Office Beta 2. Their video talks a lot about their new user interface. They say they have removed menus and toolbars in favor of “ribbons.” This video shows you the new user interface from its “ribbons” to its “shy little toolbars.”

Click here to watch the video.

As far as I can tell MS Office’s “ribbons” are just a fancy word for toolbar. They pop-up when you click on a picture or text box. So far, I haven’t had any trouble with things popping up when I don’t need them or not popping up when I do.

As far as the “preview” feature, it works VERY slowly on my computer. I have to wait at least 10 to 20 seconds for the preview to show up. It’s a great idea, but I have worked on dinosaurs in the business world that wouldn’t be able to handle the delay. I know Microsoft warned me about this with their system requirements, but this software is a little bloated.

I’m disappointed to find out that I still have to hold down the shift key when resizing a picture in order for the picture to keep its original ratios. Since almost EVERY drawing program keeps the ratios if you resize at the corners instead of the middle handles, I found it irritating to have to do that extra step of holding down the shift key.

Additionally, I STILL can’t attach a picture to a certain paragraph. I can tell Word that I want the picture in a specific spot on the page, but I can’t tell Word to keep a picture with a certain paragraph. It’s like the people at Microsoft have never conceived of the notion that I want the picture of myself in the vampire costume to match to the paragraph where I talk about how my lips felt after being bitten by the teeth all night. Do they not even use the software?

There are a lot of pre-made “galleries” for you to use with your charts, pictures and text boxes. I suspect that these will become as ubiquitous as the pre-made form letters that MS Office included in its templates a decade ago. Whenever I saw those familiar letterheads, I KNEW I was dealing with a company that didn’t really know what it was doing. I imagine that five years from now, choosing a text box or picture style from Microsoft’s “gallery” will be like a huge advertisement saying, “I’m lazy! I’m not a power user! I let Microsoft design my letterhead (text boxes or picture styles) for me!”

The most surprising thing to me is that downloading MS Office 2007 Beta made me realize how little I actually use Word or Excel anymore. I used to use them all the time for my writing, but now I do so much of my writing online that I haven’t fired up Word for months. My online editor with WordPress is so simplistic that it makes the new MS Word feel really bloated.

I suspect that the business world doesn’t need MS Office 2007. What they need is something simple that will run on their ancient computers. It may be that Google and their Beta spreadsheet are actually going to give Microsoft a run for their money.

Via: Anil Dash: Office 2007 is the Bravest Upgrade Ever