Holiday Photos and Art - The Gift of Sharing Ideas

Some of the best gifts for the holidays are those made from the heart using creativity, a little bit of time and a little bit of technology. While we won't go into detail on " how to's ", we'd like to just share web sites where you can get started with some ideas.

Picture Frame - Do it yourself tools -

Gimp - This tool is for photos and is a free alternative to adobe photoshop. Using this tool you can take a copy of your image and add a creative holiday flare to them for the perfect gift.

Inkscape - This tool allows you to create vector images and is a free alternative to adobe illustrator. Vectors are a format that is resizable to billboard size or baseball card size without distortion. Very crisp.

Themed Photo Book Gift Ideas -

Shutterfly - Great site for creating one-of-a-kind photo books from your collection. While the photo book is not free the wow factor and life time memories out weigh the cost.

MyPublisher - Great site for creating one-of-a-kind photo books from your collection.

3 Tips to Blogging and Reading Blogs - Part 2

In part 1 we learned what a blog is, how readers can subscribe to a blog and the advantages that these tools give us in centralizing information and saving time in business. Let's dive into three foundational tips around starting a blog.

First decide the purpose of your blog and what you want it to do. Without a focus area your blog may wander and make it hard for users to follow. In this blog we focus on technology tips and tricks that we'd like to share with customers. Many of the tips compliment a service offering that we provide to customers.

Second develop simple yet catchy titles and use keywords related to the central topic not only in the title but throughout the body of your post. Embedding these keywords will help search engines pick up your site. Also it will attract and retain the attention of readers.

Third have fun and relax. Writing serves multiple purposes including but not limited to: establishes you as a authority figure on a topic, assists in educating customers and building customer confidence, keeps your writing skills fresh, builds an image, and creates a demand for your products / services.

Lastly we'd like to share a few of our favorite blogs -

Tip'd - A community for financial news, ideas and tips

Harvard Business Review - Business Related Conversation Starters

Marshall Goldsmith Blog - Helping Successful Leaders Get Even Better

Joel on Software - Joel Spolsky is a software developer and owner of Fog Creek

Google News - News available for Blog Readers (ONLY subscribe to topics important to you)

Looking for additional blogs that may interest you? Visit Google Blog Search today!

Tips to Blogging and Reading Blogs - Part 1

Are you blogging? Do you read blogs?

Blogs are playing an important role in business today. A blog is a way for a business to express themselves, share an idea, or educate customers via an online diary. Your blog or diary can be read by viewers on the World Wide Web by directly going to the blog url or using a reader. Our favorite reader is a free online application called Google Reader.

A blog reader allows a viewer to subscribe to many different blogs. Rather than surfing the internet and going to all your favorite sites, the reader centralizes all the information in one location. A blog reader is like being able to have a multiple newspapers from around the country filtered only on content you want to subscribe to. So in essence you don't need to look at content not important to you. Very effective!

At WEBGIO we use blogging and blog reading to stay current on over 100 blogs a day on topics like technology, design, business and world news which allow us to deliver the best service to our customers by being on the pulse of information.

3 Steps to Free Shipping for Online Purchases

We recently found this great web site that allows you to search for free shipping codes for over 800 stores. At check out most web sites have the option to enter a shipping code to save. Here is our 3 step recommendation -

Step 1 - Navigate to www.freeshipping.org

Step 2 - Search for the store you are shopping at

Step 3 - Copy and Paste the shipping code to save.

Increase Productivity by using a Timer

Here at WEBGIO we've always been a fan of using timers. Currently we use Kitchen Aid timers for count downs on work activities and timed work sessions. This is a great way to help keep you focused and drive towards results effectively. Time is one of the most precious things we have and can never get back. By managing time we can ensure that the minutes we do spend are effective. If you are interested in time management, a free digital timer we recommend is Multi Timer. Multi Timer is a great tool with 10 built in timers and alarms. Check it out!

Step by Step - How to Add Protection to Specific Sections only when using Form Locking in MS Word XP

This tip allows you to create a MS Word Form and lock a section housing form components and unlock a section where you require a user to type freely.

Step 1 - Create Form

Step 2 - Add Section Breaks

Step 3 - Click Insert > Break

Step 4 - Select Continuous > Click OK (Page Break is Visible)

Step 5 - Click Tools > Protect Document

Step 6 - Select “Allow only this type of editing in the document: Filling in Forms”

Step 7 - Click “Select Sections” > Unselect “Section 2” > Click OK

Step 8 - Click Yes, Start Enforcing Protection

Step 9 - You can add a password or not depending on the level of security you need. (The Protect Form Lock will appear)

Step 10 - Test both sections for success.

Step 11 – Done

Make My PC Green

Last year on Earth Day we posted tips and tricks for around the office to be "green". We recently came across some excellent free software called Edison that helps your PC be green. The software allows you to customize several settings in a centralized window with the output being savings in money and energy. That's right, anything you configure in the software gives you an instant report out on money and energy savings prior to configuring.

Download at Edison

Want a Mac look on your PC? Look no further than Rocket Dock (FREE)

While reading blogs this morning we came across this little gem of software called RocketDock. The application is a free menu on your PC that performs just like the Mac menu. According to the developers, they consider this a peace offering to the PC world from the Mac world. No matter what kind of offering this little application is SWEEEET!

Visit RocketDock for download. Have fun!

Reminders and Tasks Made Easy

We recently came across a cool online "to-do" list called "RememberTheMilk". The site has a friendly user interface that allows a user to enter tasks and due dates. The web site communicates with you using various combination of options that you select - such as instant messenger, e-mail, text message, and even synchronizes with outlook using iCalendar. Pretty cool.

Never miss a birthday, event, meeting or task again with this flexible reminder system.

Technology Top Picks

At WEBGIO headquarters we've been playing with a various types of technologies over the years. We'd like to share some of our favorites that have stood the test of time -

Mouse - Microsoft IntelliMouse Optical (USB) - $29.95 - Very easy to use laser mouse. Simple design and most importantly its USB. I don't like the wireless due to the battery usage and the lack of response from wireless mice.

Keyboard - Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 (USB) - $59.95 - Soft to the touch. Ergonomic design and most importantly its USB. I don't like the wireless due to the battery usage and the lack of response from wireless keyboards.

Headset - Plantronics M214C Headset for Cordless Phones - $34.95 - Great fitting headset for phones. Microphone bends very easy which is a nice feature. Headset can be worn right or left side and the ear piece is super soft. You can by this same model at Staples for $21.00.

Headset USB Adapter - Gigaware Stereo to Headphone to USB Adapter - $9.95 - This is an adapter that allows me to take my M214C headset and plug into my PC for VOIP. Just happened to go to Radio Shack and found this little gem.

1 Phone Number for Life - Grand Central

Do you have multiple offices?  Do you have multiple phones?  Do you have multiple phone numbers?  Do you have to check multiple voice mails from various sources?

For any home user, small or medium sized business this is a must have.

Our friends at Google have recently acquired a great company called Grand Central.  This service is free and delivers a new way for us to use our phones.  The goal is to connect a single phone number to a person for life.  We shouldn't have to change numbers every time we change phones or get a new type of phone.  The site offers a free new phone number, one voice mailbox and an interface via the web to control all of our phones via a centralized interface so that when someone calls us at the new number we can have all our phones ring.  Very cool.

There are other great features as well such as specialized rings, screen calling, listen in, call records, block callers, notifications via email, ring different phones, greetings, web calling for your website, call switch, and mobile access.  Bottom line is that it gives us total control.

All around just an A+ product if you are on the go and have multiple phones.  Check it out at - Grand Central.

Is Searching for Files Painful? Look No Further

We have been dabbling with a few cool tools lately for desktop search capabilities.  One from our friends at Google and the other from our friends at Microsoft.  Both FREE.  Noticing a trend here ...

 

Microsoft Desktop Search - Hands down this Desktop Search is my favorite.  It is one of the core features built into the Vista operating system that microsoft released in quarter 1 this year.   Though the Microsoft web site doesn't do this application justice on its features it is an A+ in my book.  The ability to search and filter based on document types based on icons we are used to seeing saves hours of fiddling.

 

Google Desktop Search - Very easy to use but doesn't filter as nicely as Microsoft Desktop Search.

 

Bottom line is that in todays fast paced world we need information at our finger tips and these 2 applications deliver.  Look for more things to come from the Microsoft vs. Google competition.

Strong Password Tips

I wanted to share some tips on passwords and have you take a look at a new way of creating "pass phrases" to help keep you and your data safer. The real variable that prevents any password from being hacked is timing.

Using a passphrase buys you that time and safety. My short and sweet recommendation is to think of a sentence "the red dog",capitalize the first letter, remove the spaces, add in a number or significant date, even add a symbol and presto you are set "Theredd*g2007". It's that easy to bring your passwords up to a passphrase.

For more information on this topic from our friends a Microsoft - Click Here.