Have Photos, Will Share

I love to take pictures and share them. Whenever I go somewhere and see something funny or magnificent or eat some amazing food - I love to share the pictures with friends. I honestly don't remember what life was like before my BlackBerry because I am constantly taking pictures and sharing them via email, MMS or uploading them to Facebook. But what if you want to share more than a couple pictures at a time like, for instance, of your trip to Italy? Enter online photo sharing sites.

Online photo sharing sites are fabulous and one of the first technologies I started using years ago. Now that we live in a digital world and almost everyone you know has a digital camera, digital photo sites are not only easy to use, but extremely convenient. So here is a short video (2:51 mins) to watch to get a better idea of how great they really are.

I use Flickr and what I love about it is the fact that I can import my photos from Flickr into Snapfish for all kinds of printable projects. Besides 4x6 prints I have made photo collages, posters, photo books, calendars and a mouse pad all with pictures I have taken. It's great for gift giving...imagine getting a professional looking calendar with pictures of your family and special dates, such a birthdays and anniversaries, already on the calendar! Or how about a blanket, t-shirt or coffee mug. Ok, I'm getting distracted by my excitement, back to photo sharing sites.

When I upload new pictures I create a new album for them, just like you would go to the store and buy and album for printed pictures, except this one is electronic and safely kept in the cloud. I then can decide whether I want the pictures to be private or public and I can email a link to that album or a particular picture to my friends or family - whoever I want to share them with. The days of going over to your friends to watch a slide show or flip through photos is over (although you could still do that if you want).

Another cool feature with keeping your photos online is that you can add information, a date, names of people in the photo and more. Then you don't have to remember when the photo was taken or where you were - it's all saved right there. Also, if something bad were to happen to your home like a fire or flood you don't have to worry about all your memories being lost. For photos you might have that are not digital, you can scan them and then upload them to the photo sharing site. It's piece of mind, easy to share, organize and create print projects. Here are some sites you can use to get started:

• www.flickr.com
• www.picasa.com (owned by google)
• www.kodakgallery.com
• www.webshots.com
• www.photobucket.com

Now get to sharing those pictures online folks! I guarantee you'll wonder how you lived so long without it...

~S

Google Apps = Simplified & Organized Life

Did I get your attention with that title? Who doesn't want to simplify their life or be more organized? With the myriad of services and sites on the web these days it can be hard to keep track of everything. Using igoogle, you can have access to everything  in one place - I kid you not. So what kinds of things am I talking about? Watch this quick video (:51) to give you a quick idea of all the things you can add and arrange it.

I'm excited about this because I can have my gmail, calendar, Facebook, Twitter, google docs, all on one page, plus I can add all kinds of other apps like my little hamster friend running on his wheel, games, YouTube videos, weather, movies, recipes, a notepad, games, horoscope and more. My favorite is the To Do List. You can add different categories and have different lists for each category. For instance I have one category for all the things related to my wedding that I have to do, one category for my general life, one for business or school. You can select the priority level and check things off when you're done.

I highly recommend going to www.igoogle.com and getting started. Organize your life onto one page. You will need to log in with a google account if you already have one or create one if you are new to this. Customize, organize, add stuff and have fun!

~ S

It's so Delicious!

I know what you're thinking, "I thought this was a technology blog, not a food blog!". Rest assured it IS all about technology...and this one can really make your life easier. Del.icio.us is the name of a social bookmarking service, yes really. So first, let me explain how awesome this is before we get into the social part. Check out this quick video that can explain it cooler than me (3:19 mins).

For a long time I saw this Del.icio.us link on the bottom of webpages, heard people talk about it but never gave it a second thought. Recently though, I have been searching for a wedding dress and trying to share links with people has become a circus. This service has simplified my life and I'm really excited about it. I now can bookmark all the webpages with the dresses I am looking at and share those bookmarks with whomever I choose. With traditional bookmarking, they are saved on that computer. If you use a different computer, you do not have access to your bookmarks. With Del.icio.us I can be on any computer, anywhere and bookmark a page or look up a previously bookmarked page - I love it. Also, sorting is a breeze thanks to tags.

If you surf the web and do any kind of bookmarking or find yourself emailing people web links, try this instead. I guarantee once you give it a whirl you will be hooked. Plus if anything happens to your computer or you get a new one, you don't have to worry about loosing your bookmarks or transferring them to your new computer. Here's the webpage to get started: http://www.delicious.com/.  It truly is delicious!

~ S

Top Reasons Why Consumers Unsubscribe Via E-Mail, Facebook & Twitter

Top Reasons Why Consumers Unsubscribe Via E-Mail, Facebook & Twitter

This is a really interesting article...It caught my eye because recently my I have been flooded with mass advertising from businesses via text, email, Twitter and Facebook and I 'm trying to "clean house" if you know what I mean. You can only delete things for so long before you scream "Enough is enough!". To start with I deleted my Myspace account. I just don't use it enough to deal with the messages. Then I removed many of the people/businesses I was following on Twitter. I have been sending emails to junk mail/Spam folders and clicking on the 'remove from mailing list' links at the bottoms of emails. Cutting down on excessive communications has helped free up my mind a bit, so give this article a quick read and let me know what you think.

~S

What's All This Chatter?

So for those of you who watched the Super Bowl yesterday, you may have seen some commercials for Chatter.com. When I saw the commercials I said to myself, what the heck is Chatter.com? So today I set out to answer my own question and share with you what I learned.

Chatter.com is a free social network for businesses to collaborate with each other on projects, communicate or share work. It's like Facebook meets cloud computing for business. With Chatter.com you can reduce meetings, improve communications, brainstorm, give updates, reduce emails, manage projects, share large files and connect with employee remotely (yep, there's an app for that).

Again, this is only for businesses and only people who have the same domain name in their email can join your group. This keeps your information secure, private and ensures that no one outside your company can see what you're doing.Check it out for yourself at www.chatter.com - it sounds like a great way to bring businesses into the 21st century and I like that it's free, dependent on your domain name and has apps for your mobile devices. Yay for convenience!

Here are the Super Bowl commercials in case you missed them:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdqoQ0zL7GQ
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcjAD-_H_rk

And here are some videos to give you a better idea of what it is and how it works.

• Overview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puydh-ey_2k
• Demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wARWWw_UN_E
• Get Started: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZAAr1gvqKE

~ S

Twitter and Tweeting Basics

Twitter is a social networking and microblogging site that gives you free access to instant updates from friends, companies, groups - basically anyone or anything that interests you. Twitters slogan is "The best way to discover what's new in your world".

Users send and read tweets (which are messages). Tweets are limited to 140 characters, this includes spaces. Tweets are publicly visible unless you change your settings to only be viewed by your followers. Followers are people who have subscribed to read your tweets. You in turn may subscribe to other people or companies tweets making you a follower. It's much like texting or sending tiny blogs out there to pre-populated groups. If people are interested in you and your life, they read your tweets or postings. Businesses use it to share updates, sales, new products, specials, etc and have reported increases (as much as $2M) due to the use of Twitter.

Twitter has continued to gain popularity since it's entrance in 2006. Approximately 190 million people currently use it. Many people prefer Twitter over Facebook or Myspace because it doesn't have all the extra stuff (such as apps, games, poking and so on) that can sometimes get in the way of sharing short updates with your peeps. For instance, last night people were tweeting about the Super Bowl winners (i.e. "Haha...the Packers won the super bowl punks!"). Or maybe you bought a new car, won the lottery, found something interesting laying on the sidewalk or took a vacation to the Bahamas and you want to share that with others without having to deal with email and putting everyone's address in, etc. You don't have to worry about getting people's email addresses at all - just post your message on one central place and followers can read it. You can also share pictures, videos or weblinks but it's all done using a tiny url (a shortened web address) since your characters are limited.

Take a look at this short video and I think it will give you a better understanding. Twitter is free to join and use (www.twitter.com) and there are apps for most devices (iPod, Blackberry, etc) so you can use it on the go. Tweet, tweet!

~S

What the heck is a Wiki?

Among many of the new silly sounding tech words, wikis can be very useful not only in education, but in real life. See the video for a demonstration on how convenient they can make your life (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dnL00TdmLY).

At first I had no idea what the heck a wiki was or even that I had been using them without even knowing. Quite simply, a wiki is a website you can use to create collaborative works. So instead of sending emails to everyone, compiling all the responses, sending more emails, etc...you can put information on a website, people can edit it, respond, add things, etc in real time and everyone can see the changes immediately without any hassle. Probably the most know wiki is Wikipedia (hence the name wiki-pedia). Information is displayed on the website, but people can edit the information.

You can set up your own wiki and try it out at any of these websites:

• www.pbwiki.com
• www.wetpaint.com
• www.wikispaces.com

Have fun, be fearless and wiki away!!

~ S

e-Reader vs. Tablet - which is right for me?

So today I spent a great deal of time researching tablet pcs and readers. I initially was just going to get the latest and greatest kindle for reading books, but then I thought to myself, it would be nice to do more with the device than just read...So that made me start investigating tablets a little more. Since most tablets (all that I checked) have reader capabilities built in, it seemed like a win-win situation. I have used the Apple iPad and it was fun but just ok. I like that it had the kindle app so I could download the books I have already purchased through Amazon. Plus I could store my music, videos, and pictures on it, check my mail and have access to a plethera of apps (like a giant iPod Touch). But the size for me is a bit akward and it doesn't have any cameras or any ability to expand the memory, no external port for importing data and it was a bit heavy to hold for extended periods of time reading not to mention difficult to type on.

I also considered a little netbook, but that is even heavier than an iPad and I really want something very lightweight and small enough to put in my handbag, but big enough to comfortably read and surf the web on. This led me to several tablet pcs, but the one that stood out the most to me was the Samsung Galaxy. This little tablet runs the Google Android operating system and all are 3G capable at a much lower price than the iPad. The 32GB WiFi + 3G iPad is $729.99 and 32 GB WiFi + 3G Galaxy is $499.99. If you sign up for new service through one of the 3G service providers you can score the Galaxy at a deep discount ($200 off on Sprint, $250 off on T-Mobile, etc). Even though it comes with 3G, you don't have to activate it if you just plan on using the WiFi or don't want to pay monthly fee- plans range from $14.99/mo to $59.99/mo depending on amount of use and carrier. Not too bad too have internet, email, video conferencing and GPS capabilites at your finger tips anywhere.

The Samsung Galaxy has an expandable SDHC card slot up to 32GB. Since it uses the android network, you have access to over 70,000 apps, google apps, email, internet and the best part - video conferencing. That's right, it comes with 2 cameras: one on the outside for taking pictures or video and one on the inside for video conferecing. This device, unlike iPods and iPads, is Flash compatible making video viewing no problem.
After reading all the reviews and seeing the much lower sticker price than the iPad + having a camera, I think I have found the perfect, portable device for me! Here are some links to check it out for yourself. Based on your needs, you may like another device, but for me this was the winner hands down.

• http://galaxytab.samsungmobile.com/
• http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/108920/20110204/apple-ipad-tablets-honeycomb-os-samsung-galaxy-tab-motorola-xoom.htm
• http://www.ismashphone.com/2010/09/why-samsungs-galaxy-tablet-isnt-an-ipad-killer.html
• http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/galaxy-tab
• http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Samsung+-+Galaxy+Tab+3G+%28Sprint%29/1411072.p?skuId=1411072&contract_desc=REPLACE&productCategoryId=pcmcat209000050008&id=1218267328825 (reviews on Best Buy - 90% Galazy owners recommended  it compared to 87% for the iPad)

What is a Blog?

I thought I would start off the new blog with basic information on what a blog is and why people use them. Basically a Blog is like a public journal. You write about whatever you want and post it. Others can follow you and read what you wrote and respond to it. You can watch a short video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN2I1pWXjXI. If you are interested in creating your own blog, you can use one of these sites for free: www.blogger.com or www.wordpress.com among others, just do a search for 'free blogging sites'.