Do you have a box of 35mm slides you’d like to convert to digital photos? You have two ways you could proceed. You could either buy a scanner that is capable of scanning film (both positives or negatives) or you could farm out the work. GT Recording, HomeDVD and iMemories are 3 such companies which offer slide scanning services. iMemories offers photo, negative and slide scanning. Read More from “How To Convert 35mm Slides To Digital Images”
Create Unique Business Cards using Moo
Create a great first impression with unique business cards made by Moo. Moo lets you design your own business card on their web site. That’s not so unusual. What is unusual is that you can place a unique image, photo, quote, math question or coupon code on each card. This flexibility is a great way for a photographer to highlight their portfolio, or a great way for a math tutor to highlight what she can teach you or a great way for a company to promote a product at a trade show. You have to watch Moo’s video about their Printfinity service to fully understand. Read More from “Create Unique Business Cards using Moo”
How To Convert VHS Tapes To DVD
In a previous Tech Tip I listed three companies that offer video tape to DVD services. In each case, it cost about $25 per tape. Do you have a box full of tapes that you want to convert? If so, it might be more economical for you to do the conversion yourself. A colleague, Tim Lusk, wrote the following about his experience using a Sony DVDirect to convert VHS tapes to DVD: Read More from “How To Convert VHS Tapes To DVD”
Shorten Web Page Links Using TinyURL
Do you send links to web pages in emails? Are you surprised at the length of some web page addresses? If so, you can use TinyURL to create shorter web page addresses. The technical term for a web page address is URL (Uniform Resource Locator). I’ll use this term throughout the remainder of this article. TinyURL is a free service that lets you enter a long URL and get a shorter URL that you can use in its place. Read More from “Shorten Web Page Links Using TinyURL”
How To Automatically Dial An Extension On An iPhone
Would you like to be able to have your iPhone automatically dial an extension? The iPhone originally wasn’t able to do this, but Apple added the feature a few years ago. Here are some helpful instructions on how to use it. Read More from “How To Automatically Dial An Extension On An iPhone”
How To Set Up An Auto-Reply Or Out-Of-Office Email Reply Using cPanel
When you’re on vacation or out of the office for a day-long meeting, would you like to send an auto-reply to email messages that you receive? If your email provider uses cPanel then follow these instructions. Read More from “How To Set Up An Auto-Reply Or Out-Of-Office Email Reply Using cPanel”
What Is iCloud?
iCloud is a collection of services offered by Apple since October 2011. In a recent Tech Tip we got a brief overview of cloud computing. Now let’s look specifically at Apple’s iCloud. There are a lot of answers that one can give to the question, What is iCloud? Read More from “What Is iCloud?”
What is Cloud Computing?
Do you use GMail, Google Docs, Dropbox, Facebook, CrashPlan or iCloud? If so, then you use cloud computing. It’s not essential that you have an in-depth understanding of cloud computing, but here’s a brief overview. Read More from “What is Cloud Computing?”
Easily Create a Network Using Your Home’s Electrical Wiring
Do you want to create a network in your home or office without having to pull wires through the walls? Do you want to improve the coverage of your wireless network easily? Then you should know about Netgear’s Powerline Network Adapters. Read More from “Easily Create a Network Using Your Home’s Electrical Wiring”
Scanning and Shredding Services from US Archive
Do you have boxes of papers that you’d like to scan so you can empty your closet or storage area then easily access them on your Mac laptop when you travel?
Do you have some large blueprints or drawings that don’t fit on your office scanner? Do you want to convert microfilm to be read on your Mac? Read More from “Scanning and Shredding Services from US Archive”
What’s the difference between computer memory (RAM) and hard drive storage?
One of the greatest sources of confusion for computer users is the difference between a computer’s memory and its storage space. The confusion is not entirely the users’ fault. Overlapping terminology contributes, as does poor word choice. I’ll try to reduce confusion by differentiating the terms as well as talking about their overlap. Read More from “What’s the difference between computer memory (RAM) and hard drive storage?”
How to Share Files and Folders Inside your Dropbox Folder
Here are instructions on how to share a file or folder inside your Dropbox folder with another person. In previous Tech Tips, I gave an overview of Dropbox and give instructions on how to share files that are too large to send as an email attachment, even with people who don’t have Dropbox accounts, using the Public folder in your Dropbox folder. This week, I cover two more features of Dropbox: Read More from “How to Share Files and Folders Inside your Dropbox Folder”
Quickly Jump to the Top of your iPhone Contact List
After owning an iPhone for several years, I was pleasantly surprised when I recently learned a new iPhone shortcut that I now use everyday. You can jump to the top of your Contacts list by simply touching the “top bar” which is where the time and battery level indicator are. See the picture on the right to understand this more easily. Simply touch where I put the red mark in the photo. Read More from “Quickly Jump to the Top of your iPhone Contact List”
How to Recycle Batteries in Seattle
Our computers, peripherals and gadgets use a range of batteries including alkaline batteries, rechargeable batteries, button batteries and UPS batteries. In previous Tech Tips I mentioned that UPS batteries can be recycled at Staples and Interconnection will take laptop batteries. Read More from “How to Recycle Batteries in Seattle”
What is TV Overscan and How Can I Turn It Off?
If you connect your Mac to your TV, you might need to deal with TV Overscan. Explaining what it is and why TVs do it is complicated, but recognizing it is easy. If your TV screen cuts off the outer edges of your Mac’s image then you’re suffering from TV overscan. For example, you might not be able to see all of the menus at the top of your Mac’s screen or the lower half of the Dock icons might be cut off. If this is the case then you should figure out how to turn off the overscan feature on your TV. Read More from “What is TV Overscan and How Can I Turn It Off?”
How Secure Is Your Password?
The purpose of this article is to help you assess the strength and security of your password and to encourage you to start using more secure passwords. As a consequence of the fact that we all need to keep track of many passwords, many people use just one or two passwords over and over again. If this is true for you then please make sure that those few passwords are very difficult to guess. Read More from “How Secure Is Your Password?”
How To Connect Your Mac To Your TV
Would you like to stream a movie from Netflix to your computer and watch it on your TV? Would you like to show iPhoto pictures on your TV? If so, you’ll want to read about how to connect your Mac to your flat panel TV to send both audio and video to it.
[Nov 2014 Update: This article talks about how to connect your Mac to your TV using cables. A few years ago, Apple added a feature named AirPlay which lets you wirelessly send (stream) audio, video or pictures from a Mac, iPhone or iPad to an AppleTV and ultimately to your TV, via the AppleTV (which is connected to your TV set using an HDMI cable.) Look for a forthcoming article about Airplay. Use this Apple article to see if your Mac supports Airplay.]
Donate Your Old Computer to Interconnection
In previous Tech Tips, I’ve recommended that you donate your old computer and computer peripherals to Interconnection. I like this group so much that I’d like to tell you more about them. Read More from “Donate Your Old Computer to Interconnection”
How to Identify Which Macintosh Model You Own
There are a number of instances when it could be really useful to know exactly which model of Macintosh computer you own. Here are instructions to identify which model you have. Read More from “How to Identify Which Macintosh Model You Own”
Use Delivery Status to Track Shipping Orders on Your Mac
Do you receive a lot of packages in the mail and want to have one place where you can easily monitor their status? Then you need Delivery Status by JuneCloud. Read More from “Use Delivery Status to Track Shipping Orders on Your Mac”