So I actually need help from all of YOU out there! I have been in HD TiVo H-E-Double Hockey Sticks for a whole week because it turns out that Time Warner cable, (the monopoly that controls cable in my area), is not compatible with my brand new, shiny, HD TiVo.
It took me a week without TV (still counting) and talking to the TiVo people, Time Warner people and multiple cable visits to my house to find out that I actually need a TUNING ADAPTER in order for my TiVo to be compatible with the new cable cards that now replace your cable box. (Here's a picture of what they will supposedly look like, and also if you click on the picture it takes you to an article that tells you more about them:)
But here's the kicker: MY CABLE COMPANY DOESN'T HAVE THEM YET. I'm on a darned waitlist to get one once they do roll them out, and I'm just amazed that NO ONE at Time Warner had ANY idea what I was talking about. Has anyone else had this problem? If so, did you end up getting a tuning adapter? Anyone know where I can even get a trial or beta version of one so I at least have TV for the interim? I'm SOOOOO frustrated and decided that YOU guys out there probably know more than the 20-some-odd people I've spoken with this week about this issues.
HELP! I need your advice, information, personal experiences, etc...anything that will help me have TV during the NBA Playoffs!! email me your info (or post in the COMMENTS section below) at geek.girl@earthlink.net.
To follow me on Twitter, click here: http://twitter.com/GeekGirlKnows To check out my YouTube Channel, click HERE. To check out my MySpace and become my friend, click HERE. Cheers,
Hi Blog Buddies!So, I'm in production on some more exciting Geek Girl podcasts and have been busy answering your questions (thanks for sending them in! Remember that no question is too small or too big, and I'll always admit if I don't know the answer, but I'll help you find it!).Anywhoo, I was sitting at home after work the other night, and a friend/neighbor/co-worker of mine was going to come over for some 1-on-1 Geek Girl lessons on using his FlipCam with his brand new Mac (he JUST switched from PC--can we all say "Yay Bob!"?). The problem was that the FlipCam he had was made for use with PC's, and so was the software that came with it. Geek Girl to the rescue! I decided to do another impromptu Video Blog (notice the lack of my usual logo background and my Geek Girl glasses!) to share the process with all of you as well, just in case you're having the same issues! But don't worry if you're a PC user, understanding the basic principles in the process will be helpful for you no matter what platform you work on. So, here it is!
So make sure you email me at geek.girl@earthlink.net with your questions & comments!
To check out my YouTube Channel, click HERE. To check out my MySpace and become my friend, click HERE. And make sure to subscribe to my videos on iTunes...they are FREE and the quality on iTunes is way better than on YouTube. Plus, you can take me with you on your iPod. :) Cheers,
I was feeling lazy tonight and just HAD to tell you/ask you about this software I read about today, so I decided to do a quick video blog about it instead (I was sitting on my couch with my laptop in front of me, so forgive the background of my living room!) Check out the video here:
And then give me your feedback below in the COMMENTS section.Or, email me your feedback, or even video feedback, at geek.girl@earthlink.net.
To check out my YouTube Channel, click HERE. To check out my MySpace and become my friend, click HERE. And make sure to subscribe to my videos on iTunes...they are FREE and the quality on iTunes is way better than on YouTube. Plus, you can take me with you on your iPod. :)
Today's post deals with a HUGE pet-peeve of mine. HUGE. (In fact, I'm going to tag it under Pet-Peeves for future reference; I'm sure that a few more will pop up in the future ;).
The tip & pet-peeve is this: people who insist on emailing you photos and clogging up your email because they don't know how to reduce the size of the jpeg. Has this ever happened to you? I'm sure it has. Like when, say, you log into your email software and it spends about 5 minutes "thinking" about the "Send & Receive" function. And then when all of the emails finally come through, you realize that your sister-in-law has sent you ten 2 MB each pics of your nephew. (and they are all always unfailingly the same shot of the kid).
People, there is a way to share your pics with friends and family and not infuriate us. There are actually a few options.
The first option is one that I would recommend if you don't have any sort of image-editing software (such as Photoshop). Set up a free account with Shutterfly or Flickr or Yahoo!Photos and this will then allow you to create online albums of your images and send a simple, tiny LINK of those albums to your family & friends. These sites also let you organize the photos how you want, create fun little borders & captions, and people can view them as a slideshow on their screen.
The second option takes a bit more time and saavy, but is still really easy. It involves using Photoshop or other such image-editing software. There are two ways to reduce image size in Photoshop. First open the image and then click on the "Image" file menu. Click on the "Image Size" option, and the window that you see below will pop up: Make sure that you have the "Constrain Proportions" option checked, and you should also check "Resample Image." This will make sure that your image will not be distorted horizontally or vertically; it will only allow the software to change the density of the pixels within the image and it's overall proportions & size. Then change the resolution to 72 pixels/inch (this is all the resolution you need to view properly online and create the smallest file size). You can also change the actual dimensions to make them smaller, and at the same time lower the resolution if you want. Experiment with this and see what yields a reasonable final file size (TIP: check the file properties when the file is closed and saved to see what size it will show up as when you email it and/or upload it).
The other, and simpler, way to reduce file size is by using the "Save As" function. Go to the "File" menu, and click on "Save As." Name your file and choose a location to save it to, and click "Save." The following window will pop-up next: Here you can choose the quality of the final saved file using the slide at the top. Usually even a "low" quality image is just fine for email and the internet. The degree of the quality in this case refers to the file compression when the software saves the image.
If you are one of those people who like to send lots of pics and have perhaps performed the pet-peeve faux-pas I speak of in today's blog, consider yourself warned and hopefully remedied. :)
Cheers,
Geek Girl
PS-Do YOU have questions about technology-related stuff that YOU want answered? Email me at geek.girl@earthlink.net
