Are you getting the Internet speed you're paying for? When you surf, do you feel like you're watching grass grow? It could be that things are moving slower than your Internet service provider promised. It may not by your ISP's fault. There are a lot of connections on the Internet. For example, a slow router could be the reason.
Regardless, you should check your speed. And that's easy to do. Click on the following link to have your connection speed tested for FREE. http://www.speedtest.net/ After going to the speed test site, click on the yellow pyramid to start the test. Don't worry that your upload speed is much slower than your download speed. Most of the time you'll be downloading information. My Road Runner connection advertises "up to 5Mbps downstream" and as you can see by my results, (over 6 Mbps) it wasn't a problem at the time I tested it. The speed of the connection can change depending on demand and time of day. If your speed is consistently slow, you'll want to contact your ISP service. You'll also find some neat features like comparing your results with others and displaying previous speed tests you've done over time in a nice line graph by clicking the Results tab. You can see below that I started testing when I had issues with speed, and my results after several separate tests.
Creating an account with Adobe Photoshop Express Before using Photoshop's new Express you'll need to create an account. It only takes a few simple steps.
Click on the “Join Now” button and you'll get the screen shown above.
Fill in your name and REAL email address (Adobe will send an email to verify who you are)
Write down the email address you used and the password. This will be your login and pw for Photoshop Express.
The Personal Sharing URL is going to be your address you share with others with your photos. For example you might want to use your name: http://johnsmith.photoshop.com
Uncheck that you want communications from Adobe
Check the next box that you agree to their Terms of Use and click Continue.
Check your email address you gave Adobe and click the link to finish the registration process.
My video pick for the month - Getting straight answers from politicians?
Free GPS for your phone? If you haven’t plunked out the bucks for a GPS system yet, make sure you check out “Google Mobile”. I prefer a mobile GPS systems rather than something installed in a vehicle. First, a mobile GPS system is a lot cheaper. Second, it’s mobile! You can keep track of your favorite fishing spots, keep track of where you are when you go hiking, take it with you when flying somewhere, etc. We have one GPS unit that my husband takes with him. He can set it on the dash of his car when he needs it for driving, or take it with him when he travels. I don’t have the need for one that often so I use Google’s Mobile map information. You can download Google Maps to your phone or get driving directions from point A to B. Why spend the money on an extra GPS unit when you only occasional help and, you can do it with your cell phone? For more information: http://www.google.com/mobile/ Also, check out Google's "My Location" on how cell phone towers can be used as a GPS tool. http://www.commoncraft.com/mylocation
AT&T becomes AT&T It's confusing enough for me when Windows went from 95 to 98 and then started using letters like XP and the dreaded VISTA. Latest rumor I heard is that the next OS will be Windows 7. It's back to numbers again. I don't know about you but I have a hard time keeping up with what the latest version actually is. Speaking of which Adobe Photoshop did the same thing with Photoshop 5, Photoshop 6, Photoshop 7 and then Photoshop CS1 etc. and now I'm using CS3. However, when you look at the About Photoshop after launching the software they let you know it's Photoshop 10. I just wish they would all stick to the same naming conventions to make life just a little easier for us. I'd always know if I had the latest version of software installed. Guess what, here comes Adobe CS4. It's not just software versions that keeps my head spinning, take a look at the following video about AT&T.
Photoshop’s Vanishing Point What is a vanishing point? A vanishing point is where usually parallel lines meet in a photo. What does this have to do with Photoshop? Since CS2, Photoshop has added a filter allowing you to clone and edit in a perspective 3D grid The Vanishing Point tool is available under the Filter menu. This tool automatically adjusts for the perspective planes in an image as you work. In many images it is very difficult to edit a picture because the angled perspective doesn't work well with the clone tool or healing brush. This is where the Vanishing Point filter comes in. The Vanishing Point filter opens a new window with it’s own set of tools. You start by defining the perspective planes in the image. Photoshop will show your grid in blue or yellow if it's in correct perspective — if you see a red outline, you will know your perspective plane is not quite right and you can adjust the handles until the red is gone and Photoshop is happy. Drag the side handles to spread your grid over the image if needed. Don’t grab the corner handles as this will distort the perspective you’ve just created. Now when you use the clone stamp tool that is included, you’ll be removing or adding edits to your document in perspective planes. This process would be difficult to do with the stamp tool under these circumstances of perspective angles in the photo. See this video example from “Total Training” by clicking here.
Who do you turn to when you need help? Mom says to call the police.
More on Photoshop Express Don't throw out your copy of Photoshop or even Photoshop Elements yet. But I have decided that Photoshop Express deserves a little more press time on my blog. This online image editor and photo sharing site will likely be the first of many competing online photo editing sites. What makes this site so exciting?
Simple interface and ease of use
Awesome slideshow displays
Tools that can adjust color, exposure, touch up and much more
Send an album link without forcing the user to sign up for an account
Decide what albums are available for public viewing
It runs on a Flash-based interface so you'll need the latest version of Flash installed on your computer.
I took the time to create an account which gave me my own URL to share with others. I learned that I can decide which albums that I've created display at this URL and how to share "hidden" albums via email to those that I chose to see the personal albums. Photoshop Express is just cool enough that I'm going to share my experience with it and how to use it in the following demo. http://leonabarratt.tripod.com/photoshopexpress_demo/photoshopexpress_demo.htm
FREE comprehensive PC analysis When you get a new computer you can pretty much name all the applications you have installed, know what operating system and version that is running and your hardware configurations. However, if you’re like me, your computer starts to look like your grandfathers refrigerator. It’s loaded with things I’ve never seen and a lot of it should go! That’s where Belarc Advisor comes in. Belarc is a FREE software program that will analyze whether of not your antivirus software is up to date, Windows patches are current and a complete computer profile summary!
This summary includes items like: • Operating system • Processor • List of drives • Memory installed (and which RAM slots are being used) • Monitor and printer information • Software installed (and what version it is!) • And a lot more techie information that someone would appreciate more than I understand How cool is this? I was quickly able to see that only 1 of 4 memory slots was being used, saw some old programs that needed to go like outdated potato salad, and knew what versions of everything else I had installed. I was happy to see two large green check marks showing me that my virus protection and Microsoft security updates were up-to-date. Click here for sample results.
Google Maps Google Maps has been a wonderful tool for years. I used it all the time before I bought my Garmin to get me around. Google maps Street View allows you to view 360 degree images of many cities. You can navigate down streets taking a virtual drive seeing buildings, cars etc. It's just like being there! The 360 degree camera rides on a car and takes photos as it travels down the street. So, of course, this is going to take Google some time to include all cities. Right now, Kansas city is the closest city to Lincoln that has street view. Click here to see the U.S. map with cities offering this service. Some people are nervous about their homes, license plates on their cars and other personal items being available for the world to see. To see a funny slant on that issue, take a look at the following movie about this new Google Street View. :-)
Free Photoshop?
What’s the world coming to? Why would Photoshop give you their wonderful software for FREE?
Well, it’s a very light version with only the basics but still. Also, you don’t install it on your computer. You do it all online with Photoshop Express. It’s completely web based and can be used with any computer or browser. You'll be able to manage your photos from anywhere.
There are a lot of online photo sharing sites (see earlier blog) and now Adobe is offering one of the best.
Why do I think it’s the best? Because not only do they give you 2 GB of free storage but you get some of the neat photo editing tools that you’ve come to love with Photoshop too.
I was amazed to find some of my favorite tools including red eye removal, color and contrast editing, special effects and even the clone healing tool.
It’s in the BETA version now so you’ll find it painfully slow. I still prefer to use my full version of CS3 and even my Photoshop Elements over this online version. However, what a neat new tool from Adobe to play with and to share photos easily with others!
You’ll need to create an account as with almost all the other photo sharing sites. Check Adobe’s latest sensation at https://www.photoshop.com/express/
Take a quick peak below.
Free virtual drop box How about some Internet space that is FREE that you can use to store and share pictures, video, audio or documents? There is no registration required and you’ll be able to access these files from any computer with Internet access with the URL you create. You can then share this site with whomever you choose who can then download your stored files.
You’ll be able to password protect your files if you choose, allow your guest to drop their files, and decide how long you want your files to exist in this storage area.
Could life get any better?? Create your own drop spot at the following url: http://drop.io
Managing your browser bookmarks After a while, your bookmarks can start to stack up and get messy. How about a FREE program to check your entire list and make sure all the bookmarks are still valid links? AM-DeadLink is not only free, but checks for redundant bookmarks and bookmarks that are no longer active. It works with Internet Explorer, Firefox, Mozilla and Opera! To download this free software click here.
Save time with Photoshop Actions ACTIONS Whenever you perform repetitive tasks in Photoshop, you can save yourself time and effort using a feature called Actions. For example, if you are always opening a file, resizing it and saving it as a .jpg file for the web, you can create an Action in Photoshop to automatically do this all in one step.
An Action is similar to a macro in a word processing application. It's a series of recorded steps that can be applied to any file. After recording the Action simply open a photograph and click the "Play" button to run the script.
To see an example movie of how to create your own Action click here.
BATCH After you've created an Action, Photoshop has a Batch function that allows you to run an Action on an entire folder full of photographs! To run a batch:
Go to File - Automate - Batch
Select the Action Set (Folder) and the Action within that Set
Choose your source and destination folders
Click OK to run the Action on all of the photographs
Another handy feature of Actions is, after creating an Action, you can share it with others who use Photoshop. You can find numerous FREE actions online to download and use in Photoshop.
For a .pdf handout about recording, importing and saving Actions click here.
For a bunch of free Actions and more tutorials about Actions, click here.
Too many passwords? Yeah, me too. I either have so many passwords to remember I can’t remember the name of the dog. Or, I keep reusing the same password over and over again which I know is too risky. What’s worse are the passwords that expire and have to be changed on a regular basis. I’ve tried post-it-notes on my monitor but a strong wind came along and my life almost came to an end. Managing multiple passwords is a pain. The more we use computers, the more passwords we have to remember. And, I have a feeling it’s not going to get any better. So, I’m going to share one of my favorite FREE password manager programs with you. There are several free programs that allow you to use one master password to access a list of all your usernames and passwords. I use AnyPassword. With this software I’m able to use one password to get in to store all my information in one file. I create a “key” for each password I need to keep track of. Each key allows me to store the username, password, URL (if applicible) and notes if I want. They are also easy to edit if a password or URL changes. I make copies of my key file in several places including my portable flash drive. I can always download the free AnyPassword software on any machine and know that I have my passwords file handy if needed. I hope you find using password management software as helpful as I do. To go to the AnyPassword site click here.
Is there money waiting for you?? What could be more fun than finding out there's money somewhere waiting for you just to claim it? It could be a deposit to a utility service that you've forgotten about, a dividend from an old bank account or from something else. The following site allows you to search the Nebraska State Treasury with a simple last name search for yourself, relatives, or friends. I found some money for a nephew of mine in Grand Island! http://www.treasurer.state.ne.us/up/upsearchprop.asp Happy hunting!
Could photo retouching get any easier? Would your pictures be perfect if you could just remove one or two blemishes? Photoshop comes with 4 wonderful tools to do anything from removing Aunt Sara’s wrinkles to eliminating acne from your nephews photograph. In older versions of Photoshop, I had relied on my old favorite “Clone/Rubber stamp” tool. Of course this was in the good old days when we walked to school in waist high snow and it was up hill both ways. Now, we have newer and much better options! These new tools are easier to use and much more intelligent saving us time and grief! Our new tools for photo retouching include the following:
Spot healing brush: Fixes an error on a surface automatically.
Healing brush tool: Allows you to sample from a flawless area in a photo and paint over a bad area.
Patch tool: make a selection of an area needing to be fixed, and drag it to the area that looks correct.
Red eye tool: Simply click on the red eye for a quick fix.
Just when you thought life couldn’t get any better, Photoshop gave us favorite new toys……tools. For a handout with more information on these tools click here.
What’s new in Photoshop CS3? Want to easily see the latest updates to Photoshop? Here is a quick way to do just that. Open Photoshop and go to the Window menu. In the fly out menu select “What’s New is CS3”.
The next time you pull down a menu item. All the new or changed features will display with a blue highlight.
In this example I can see that changes have been made in the Filter menu. There is now a feature called "Convert for Smart Filters" and something called "Vanishing Point" that's now included in Photoshop CS3.
To remove these highlights, just return to the Windows menu, click on Workspace and select “Default Workspace” from the fly out window. Resetting your default workspace will place all of your palette settings back to their original location when you first opened Photoshop.
Clean up and speed up your computer! Have you noticed that your computer seems to be getting slower? Here is a free program that I use that not only cleans up bad registry entries, it also speeds up your system. I use CCleaner to do this and you can be assured that it's spyware free.
Save money printing photos If you'd rather not print your own photos you can save a lot of money if you know who to go to. Printrates is a website that compares prices of various photo printing sites. Just enter the size(s) of prints you're wanting and you could save a bundle. http://www.printrates.com Always check the reviews of a company before doing business
Photoshop Brushes Every artist needs a good set of brushes. Photoshop comes with a vast array to select from. The good news is, there are hundreds of thousands of FREE brush sets available on the Internet. A simple search for “free Photoshop brushes” will give you hundreds of websites with brush sets to download. A brush set could include a theme and around 5 to 9 brushes. These themes could be things like, textures, rocks, plants, stars, abstracts, musical, clouds and just about anything you can think of.
After downloading a brush set you may need to unzip the file. You’ll get a file with the extension .abr. There are a couple of ways to include this brush set in Photoshop. One way is: Under the brush option menu select Load brushes.
Your new brushes will appear when you scroll to the bottom of the displayed brushes. For complete instructions on customizing brushes, adding brushes, and creating your own brush in Photoshop, click on the following handout.
FREE recording software Do you want to do some recording or share a sound file? Audacity is a FREE Cross-Platform sound editor that I really enjoy. It can record your voice or edit audio you already have. Just when you thought life couldn’t get any better, it’s available for both Mac OS X, Windows and Linux.
Some of the features include:
Recording from microphone or line input
Import numerous sound formats like WAV, AIFF, AU, MPEG, MP3 and more
Edit with Cut, Copy and Paste ease
Special effects like volume fades, filters to remove static, echo and more
Quality option control (16-bit, 32-bit, up to 96 Khz)
Protect your computer! Some people have nothing better to do than to cause problems and create programs referred to Spyware and Adware. These programs get installed unknowingly on your computer and can be at the least annoying and sometimes downright dangerous.
Adware: Installed by stealth on computers, Adware is software that causes disruptive and unwanted advertising to appear in various programs. Spyware: Spyware is software that is installed by stealth on computers and used to track the user's downloads, web surfing habits and individual keystrokes. This information is then secretly relayed via a backdoor to an external third-party.
SpyBot and Ad-Aware to the rescue! SpyBot is a FREE product that can locate and destroy many of these spyware and adware programs hidden on your computer Unlike anti-virus programs, you can and should have more than one software to protect you from spyware. That’s why I also installed Ad-Aware on my personal computer. If one program doesn’t find these naughty files, the other one does! I run both of these programs weekly on my computer to search for spyware and adware. However, beware of sound alike software! There are numerous programs out there claming to be programs that fight spyware that actually ARE spyware programs! So, I’m including links to 2 of my favorite programs you can trust to fight these problems. The best part, is they are FREE!
Hidden inside of Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop Elements is the perfect tool you need to create flawless panoramas. Making panoramas has been possible in earlier version of Photoshop but it didn’t do a tremendous job of blending images, had problems with different exposure and leaving visible seams. Photoshop’s Photomerge comes to the rescue. Our first step is taking the photos.
Taking the photos
If you have a tripod, use it. A tripod will give you the best results. It’s difficult to hold the camera at the exact same level each time you take a photo. However, don’t worry if you don’t have a tripod. Photoshop will still give you good results if you just hand hold your camera while taking the photos. Just try to keep the camera level. It’s critical that you have an overlap from one photo to the next. Photoshop looks for matching shapes and blends the images together. Start on the left side of the scene when taking the first photo. The next shot you take should include some of the subject matter that was in the first photo. I like to have about 1/3 of the following photo overlap the area of the first photo. In the example below, I have almost ½ of an image overlap. Don't zoom in or out during this process, keep the camera as level as possible, and stay in the same spot. Continue photographing to the right overlapping each photo until you reach the end of the scene. You can have 2, 3 4 or more photos for your panorama. When you've got your series of images, it's time to fire up Photoshop CS3 (or Photoshop Elements) and make your panorama.
Making the Panorama
Why Adobe decided to put the panorama tool in different locations for Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop Elements beats me. So, here is where you find the panorama tool.
Photoshop CS3 – File – Automate - Photomerge Photoshop Elements - File – New – Photomerge Panorama. I don’t know why Adobe needed to put this in a different spot for Elements, especially when there is an Automation Tools link under the File menu. Strangely, this link is grayed out. I guess I should be happy to have found it in Elements. After you find and click on Photomerge, the process is the same for both. Click on the Browse button to open your photographs You’ll have several options for Layout. I use Auto because it takes care of everything. Feel free to try the others. I’ve needed to use the Interactive Layout to manually move images when Photoshopdidn’t place images properly. Make sure Blend images together is checked.
Click OK and Photoshop will create your panorama. Photoshop creates seamless blending by placing each photo on a separate layer and using a layer mask to hide the seams. What an improvement from the last version of Photoshop!
You’ll probably notice some spaces at the top or bottom of the photograph if you hand held the camera. This can be remedied by using the crop tool .
Keep in mind that your panoramas are not limited to horizontal images. I took this photo of Independence Hall with the same methods mentioned above. I just needed to rotate the image 90 degrees counter clockwise after it finished stitching. (Edit - Transform - Rotate) I also needed to crop the image to remove some empty places like before.
Zoomify
Have you ever wanted to put a high-resolution photo on the web so that users could see the little details? Browsers now resize images to fit in the browser window. This eliminates the scrolling we used to do, but trying to zoom in and navigate around to see what you want can be a challenge. Also, very large images may take some time to display.
Photoshop CS3 to the rescue!
Photoshop comes with a new feature called Zoomify allowing you to use high-quality photos with the ability to zoom and pan interactively in a flash based environment. This technology is also useful if you don’t want people to download a high quality version of your photograph.
How does Zoomify work?
Zoomify slices up your image into small sections or tiles and places them in a folder named TileGroup. What’s neat about this is that you won’t have to wait for the entire image to download. These tiles download separately.
Zoomify also creates a HTML file that contains all the code needed, XML file, Flash file, and a folder containing your tiled images.You need to keep these files together as they were placed in the folder that was created. The folder created for me used the file name of my image to create a folder named map_img. My map.html file is located just outside this folder
Click here to see my example I created.When I exported my image I selected to use the optional navigation box, which displays in the upper left corner.
To zoom you just click on the image or use the navigation tools provided at the bottom of the image. Your picture could display a moment at a low resolution then redraw at the final high quality resolution showing all of the details of the image.
What a great way to share high resolution photographs on the web!
If you have a digital camera, it’s very likely that you took a lot of photos during the holidays. How can you easily share your favorite photos? How about a free online photo storage and sharing site? If it’s free, what’s the catch? Usually it’s nothing more than limits on file size, having to put up with advertisements, or having your account removed if it isn’t used within a certain amount of time. There are several sites that offer online photo sharing. All you need to do is to create an account for yourself. Here’s a list of “free sites” along with the their “catch”.
I'm out of gift tags!! With all chaos during this holiday season, did you forget the gift tags? Not a problem. Just go to the following site to create custom gift tags! You’ll find themes for any occasion and be able to print them right on your printer and from the comfort of your home. Merry Christmas! http://www.dltk-cards.com/tags/tag2.asp
You need to keep these files together as they were placed in the folder that was created. The folder created for me used the file name of my image to create a folder named map_img. My map.html file is located just outside this folder
