MUSIC FILE FORMATS (modified from nch.com.au)
• wav - standard audio file format used mainly in Windows PCs. Commonly used for storing uncompressed (PCM), CD-quality sound files, which means that they can be large in size - around 10MB per minute of music. It is less well known that wave files can also be encoded with a variety of codecs to reduce the file size.
• mp3 - the MPEG Layer-3 format is the most popular format for downloading and storing music. By eliminating portions of the audio file that are essentially inaudible, mp3 files are compressed to roughly one-tenth the size of an equivalent PCM file while maintaining good audio quality. mp3 always works with most third party software programs such as Picasa, Power Point and Windows Movie Maker.
• wma - the popular Windows Media Audio format owned by Microsoft. Designed with Digital Rights Management (DRM) abilities for copy protection.
• aac - the Advanced Audio Coding format is based on the MPEG4 audio standard owned by Dolby. A copy-protected version of this format has been developed by Apple for use in music downloaded from their iTunes Music Store.
• ra - a Real Audio format designed for streaming audio over the Internet. The .ra format allows files to be stored in a self-contained fashion on a computer, with all of the audio data contained inside the file itself.
• ram - a text file that contains a link to the Internet address where the Real Audio file is stored. The .ram file contains no audio data itself.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Happy Patriots Day
Did you know these trivia facts about Patriot’s Day which we will be celebrating tomorrow - Monday, April 16th..
Patriots Day, a civic holiday, is observed in 3 states: Massachusetts, Maine & Wisconsin…
Since 1969, Patriots Days has been celebrated on the third Monday in April (before that it was always April 19th, the anniversary of the 1775 Battles of Lexington and Concord and the first battles of the American Revolutionary War including Paul Revere’s historic Ride. As a civic holiday, most schools including colleges and universities are closed for the day, as are some businesses…
In Massachusetts, it is also:
The day of our famous Boston Marathon, which is the oldest annual city marathon in the world, appearing for the first time in 1897.. Thousands of runners from all over the world participate in this 26.5 mile run from Hopkinton to Boston.
If you are running tomorrow, on behalf of all of us Good Luck....
Check out the Boston Athletic Club - Boston Marathon website....
And for New England Baseball fans, for many years now the Boston Red Sox plan their schedule so they always play at home in Fenway Park on Patriot’s Day. This year, on April 16th, 2012 they will be playing the 3rd game in their series against Tampa Bay at 11:05am.. Check out the red sox website:
Patriots Day, a civic holiday, is observed in 3 states: Massachusetts, Maine & Wisconsin…
Since 1969, Patriots Days has been celebrated on the third Monday in April (before that it was always April 19th, the anniversary of the 1775 Battles of Lexington and Concord and the first battles of the American Revolutionary War including Paul Revere’s historic Ride. As a civic holiday, most schools including colleges and universities are closed for the day, as are some businesses…
In Massachusetts, it is also:
The day of our famous Boston Marathon, which is the oldest annual city marathon in the world, appearing for the first time in 1897.. Thousands of runners from all over the world participate in this 26.5 mile run from Hopkinton to Boston.
If you are running tomorrow, on behalf of all of us Good Luck....
Check out the Boston Athletic Club - Boston Marathon website....
And for New England Baseball fans, for many years now the Boston Red Sox plan their schedule so they always play at home in Fenway Park on Patriot’s Day. This year, on April 16th, 2012 they will be playing the 3rd game in their series against Tampa Bay at 11:05am.. Check out the red sox website:
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Digital Camera Setting Suggestions – Part 2 of 2
Saturation Settings, which are found in the Main Menu, usually under “color mode” – be careful with this one because if you move it too much your pictures will have a hazy quality to them…
Sunset Mode Setting – More and more digital camera’s today have a sunset mode setting, which adds more warmth (or orange tones) to photos we take. It can brighten up a sunset, so try this setting
White Balance or WB Setting - give us the ability to adjust the color of the picture. Most digital cameras are preset to “automatic white balance” or “AWB”. But you might want to experiment a little and set the white balance to manual, so that you can adjust the balance for certain lighting – you can usually do this by pressing and holding the White Balance/WB button and rotating the dial to choose: tungsten light, fluorescent light; sun light, cloudy light, light bulb, flash light etc so that the camera will adjust the color to get the color of the picture exactly the way that you wanted
Remember, with websites like www.youtube.com and www.ehow.com and those for your specific cameras, you can find print and video tutorials that will help you master each and every aspect of your digital camera… In the meantime, here are some highlights of some of the standard settings for most digital cameras – remember experiment and play with your camera – it’s the best way to learn…
Sunset Mode Setting – More and more digital camera’s today have a sunset mode setting, which adds more warmth (or orange tones) to photos we take. It can brighten up a sunset, so try this setting
White Balance or WB Setting - give us the ability to adjust the color of the picture. Most digital cameras are preset to “automatic white balance” or “AWB”. But you might want to experiment a little and set the white balance to manual, so that you can adjust the balance for certain lighting – you can usually do this by pressing and holding the White Balance/WB button and rotating the dial to choose: tungsten light, fluorescent light; sun light, cloudy light, light bulb, flash light etc so that the camera will adjust the color to get the color of the picture exactly the way that you wanted
Remember, with websites like www.youtube.com and www.ehow.com and those for your specific cameras, you can find print and video tutorials that will help you master each and every aspect of your digital camera… In the meantime, here are some highlights of some of the standard settings for most digital cameras – remember experiment and play with your camera – it’s the best way to learn…
Monday, April 9, 2012
Digital Camera Setting Suggestions – Part 1 of 2
Great weather usually means more time spent outdoors, which often means taking more pictures… If you haven’t begun to play with all the different aspects of your digital camera – now’s a perfect time to begin.
In the meantime, here are some highlights of some of the standard settings for most digital cameras – remember experiment and play with your camera – it’s the best way to learn…
Action Mode Setting – Icon usually looks like a man running and can help with shots of action, children playing, sports, etc and you want to change to this setting prior to taking your pictures; if you don’t have this setting most cameras allow you to change them to Manual Setting, icon is usually a capital '"M." and then Set your camera to a fast shutter speed setting such as 1/250th, 1/500th or 1/1000th of a second – most cameras today do this automatically when set on "Shutter Priority, icon is usually a capital "S." Remember to turn off your flash and change the ISO setting to 400-800.. to get great action shots
Burst Mode or Continuous Shooting Mode Setting – Icon looks like several pieces of paper stacked up and this setting helps reduce shutter lag and lets you take several pictures by pressing the shutter button just once. This will help you make sure that you get at least one good shot of an action sequence. If it isn’t on the top dial, then go to the cameras menu setting to make this change on the LCD screen looking for the same icon. When you shoot in continuous mode, be sure to focus your camera on the subject you want to capture and hold down the shutter button without releasing it. The camera takes pictures until you stop pressing the shutter button or the buffer memory or memory card fills up.
Notes about continuous shoots:
Other settings you might want to try would be..
50-100: for photos taken in very bright light
200: for photos when it is overcast
400: for photos taken indoors or with action
800: for photos with continuous shot action
Post continued in Part 2 of 2 on Thursday, April 12th, 2012
With websites like www.youtube.com and www.ehow.com and those for your specific cameras, you can find both print and video tutorials that will help you master each and every aspect of your digital camera…
In the meantime, here are some highlights of some of the standard settings for most digital cameras – remember experiment and play with your camera – it’s the best way to learn…
Action Mode Setting – Icon usually looks like a man running and can help with shots of action, children playing, sports, etc and you want to change to this setting prior to taking your pictures; if you don’t have this setting most cameras allow you to change them to Manual Setting, icon is usually a capital '"M." and then Set your camera to a fast shutter speed setting such as 1/250th, 1/500th or 1/1000th of a second – most cameras today do this automatically when set on "Shutter Priority, icon is usually a capital "S." Remember to turn off your flash and change the ISO setting to 400-800.. to get great action shots
Burst Mode or Continuous Shooting Mode Setting – Icon looks like several pieces of paper stacked up and this setting helps reduce shutter lag and lets you take several pictures by pressing the shutter button just once. This will help you make sure that you get at least one good shot of an action sequence. If it isn’t on the top dial, then go to the cameras menu setting to make this change on the LCD screen looking for the same icon. When you shoot in continuous mode, be sure to focus your camera on the subject you want to capture and hold down the shutter button without releasing it. The camera takes pictures until you stop pressing the shutter button or the buffer memory or memory card fills up.
Notes about continuous shoots:
- Be sure you have a fully charged battery when you plan to do “continuous shooting”
- Continuous shot images are typically first stored in the internal memory buffer on your camera, because writing data to the buffer is faster than writing data to the memory card. By initially storing the image in the buffer, the camera is able to take another picture much more quickly than if the image is written directly to the card. Writing the data to the memory buffer also allows in-camera image processing to occur before the final image is saved to the card usually stored on the Cameras Internal Memory Buffer before putting them on the Memory Card. i.e. the buffer may fill up after 10-14 pictures in Fine/Large/JPEG mode, or after three pictures in RAW mode. The LCD display shows "Busy" when the buffer is full, and shows "Full CF" when the memory card is full . Once the information has been converted to a digital form, it is stored in the camera's internal-memory buffer. Image data is initially stored in the memory buffer because writing data to the buffer is faster than writing data to the memory card. By initially storing the image in the buffer, the camera is able to take another picture much more quickly than if the image is written directly to the card. Writing the data to the memory buffer also allows in-camera image processing to occur before the final image is saved to the card
Other settings you might want to try would be..
50-100: for photos taken in very bright light
200: for photos when it is overcast
400: for photos taken indoors or with action
800: for photos with continuous shot action
Post continued in Part 2 of 2 on Thursday, April 12th, 2012
Friday, April 6, 2012
Wishes for a wonderful Passover and Easter Holiday
On behalf of our entire staff we want to wish each of you a wonderful holiday – whether you are celebrating the Festival of Passover or the culmination of the Lenten season with the celebration of Good Friday and Easter - we wish you and your families a safe, happy and blessed holiday…
Passover will begin tonight at Sunset, Friday, April 6th and continue for 8 days until next Friday at sunset, April 13th. The eight-day festival of Passover is celebrated in the early spring, of the Hebrew month of Nissan, to commemorate the emancipation of the Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt.
Easter… For Christians throughout the world, the Easter Holiday is a culmination of the 40 day Lenten period which begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Easter Sunday.. Today, April 6th, Friday before Easter, is the commemoration of the Crucifixion of Our Lord, and Easter Sunday celebrates the Lords resurrection. This year Lent Began on Wednesday February 22nd and Holy week will culminate this last week of Lent on Sunday April 8th with the celebration of Easter.
In the Greek Orthodox Church, Easter will be celebrated next Sunday, April 15th
Passover will begin tonight at Sunset, Friday, April 6th and continue for 8 days until next Friday at sunset, April 13th. The eight-day festival of Passover is celebrated in the early spring, of the Hebrew month of Nissan, to commemorate the emancipation of the Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt.
Easter… For Christians throughout the world, the Easter Holiday is a culmination of the 40 day Lenten period which begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Easter Sunday.. Today, April 6th, Friday before Easter, is the commemoration of the Crucifixion of Our Lord, and Easter Sunday celebrates the Lords resurrection. This year Lent Began on Wednesday February 22nd and Holy week will culminate this last week of Lent on Sunday April 8th with the celebration of Easter.
In the Greek Orthodox Church, Easter will be celebrated next Sunday, April 15th
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
How can I freeze both my top row & first column in Excel at the same time?
Q: I want to freeze the top row & first column in my Excel Spread Sheet at the same time?
A: Love this tip – this this will freeze all rows above the selected cell and all columns to the left of the selected cell –
Example: if you highlight cell B2 – then your top row and first column would be the only 2 things frozen!!!
In 97-2003 Excel
• Left click on a single cell of your worksheet
• Then go to Window; then choose Freeze Pane
In 2007-2010 Excel
• Left Click on the View Tab, go to the “Window Section”
• Open drop down list for "Freeze panes"
• Choose Freeze panes
Note-If you have Office Starter (Word Starter, Excel Starter, Power Point Starter) which is a Microsoft Application program that has replaced the former Microsoft Works - you cannot FREEZE or UNFREEZE cells. Although the starter programs allow you to perform many tasks, it is not a full featured program such as the Microsoft Office for Student & Home Versions and above...
A: Love this tip – this this will freeze all rows above the selected cell and all columns to the left of the selected cell –
Example: if you highlight cell B2 – then your top row and first column would be the only 2 things frozen!!!
In 97-2003 Excel
• Left click on a single cell of your worksheet
• Then go to Window; then choose Freeze Pane
In 2007-2010 Excel
• Left Click on the View Tab, go to the “Window Section”
• Open drop down list for "Freeze panes"
• Choose Freeze panes
Note-If you have Office Starter (Word Starter, Excel Starter, Power Point Starter) which is a Microsoft Application program that has replaced the former Microsoft Works - you cannot FREEZE or UNFREEZE cells. Although the starter programs allow you to perform many tasks, it is not a full featured program such as the Microsoft Office for Student & Home Versions and above...
Saturday, March 31, 2012
A Kindle or a Nook or an iPad or a Tablet?? Oh My!!! Part 2 of 2
Continued from Wednesday, March 28th, 2012…
Then of course there’s the question – is an e-reader enough or should I spend the extra money and invest in a tablet and if so should I get an iPad or a tablet??? Tough choices for sure…
Differences between an iPad or one of the many Android Tablets…
1. The iPad is a single product, Android tablets are a common name for a variety of products
2. The iPad runs on the MAC iOS; Android tablet run on Android based system
3. The iPad lacks flash while Android tablets have it
4. The iPad doesn’t have true multi-tasking; Android tablets do
5. The iPad has more apps than Android tablets – but both are increasing their numbers daily
According to an independent survey done by cnet.com, their recommendations are as follows in these major categories… so happy shopping… and remember as always with technology – do your homework first and set your budget next…
Best basic e-book reader: Amazon Kindle ($79, no touch screen), Amazon Kindle Touch ($99 to $189, with touch-screen), Barnes & Noble Nook Simple Touch ($99, touch-screen),
Best reading tablet for under $200: Amazon Kindle Fire, Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet
Best all-around full-featured reading tablets: Apple iPad (third-gen), Apple iPad 2, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 or the new Samsung Galaxy 8.9
Then of course there’s the question – is an e-reader enough or should I spend the extra money and invest in a tablet and if so should I get an iPad or a tablet??? Tough choices for sure…
Differences between an iPad or one of the many Android Tablets…
1. The iPad is a single product, Android tablets are a common name for a variety of products
2. The iPad runs on the MAC iOS; Android tablet run on Android based system
3. The iPad lacks flash while Android tablets have it
4. The iPad doesn’t have true multi-tasking; Android tablets do
5. The iPad has more apps than Android tablets – but both are increasing their numbers daily
According to an independent survey done by cnet.com, their recommendations are as follows in these major categories… so happy shopping… and remember as always with technology – do your homework first and set your budget next…
Best basic e-book reader: Amazon Kindle ($79, no touch screen), Amazon Kindle Touch ($99 to $189, with touch-screen), Barnes & Noble Nook Simple Touch ($99, touch-screen),
Best reading tablet for under $200: Amazon Kindle Fire, Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet
Best all-around full-featured reading tablets: Apple iPad (third-gen), Apple iPad 2, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 or the new Samsung Galaxy 8.9
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
A Kindle or a Nook or an iPad or a Tablet?? Oh My!!! Part 1 of 2
Every where we go, someone is using an e-book reader, iPad or Tablet. Yes, whether you are on a train, plane, bus or automobile; or walking down the street or sitting in a lobby – to many, the days of fumbling with newspapers and sneakily removing recipes & coupons from the doctors office are long gone… Today with many of these devices you can do all of this and surf the web and much more…
But how do you decide which is best for your needs..
Yes, it’s true – Amazon’s Kindle was the first, but it didn’t take long for Barnes & Noble to introduce their Nook, and of course we are all familiar with Apples iPads, and then of course other manufacturer’s are introducing their own, including Sony’s Reader Wi-Fi, Kobo Reader and many Android manufacturers which are a step up from the SmartPhones and just below (according to some) a tablet, such as the popular Samsung Galaxy Tablet… Sure can get confusion…
As with all technology, it’s all about the options – what do you plan to use the device for – just reading books and magazines, or do you want to be able to store and listen to music, what about taking and storing photo’s, streaming videos like youtube, hulu or netflix, and surfing the web… so many choices – so many options.. And for most, just as importantly, should be that you establish & stick to a budget before you head to the mall..
Yes, prices are coming down daily and surprisingly as the prices drop, the list of features grow with each new model – the result obviously of competition….
But how do you decide which is best for your needs..
Yes, it’s true – Amazon’s Kindle was the first, but it didn’t take long for Barnes & Noble to introduce their Nook, and of course we are all familiar with Apples iPads, and then of course other manufacturer’s are introducing their own, including Sony’s Reader Wi-Fi, Kobo Reader and many Android manufacturers which are a step up from the SmartPhones and just below (according to some) a tablet, such as the popular Samsung Galaxy Tablet… Sure can get confusion…
As with all technology, it’s all about the options – what do you plan to use the device for – just reading books and magazines, or do you want to be able to store and listen to music, what about taking and storing photo’s, streaming videos like youtube, hulu or netflix, and surfing the web… so many choices – so many options.. And for most, just as importantly, should be that you establish & stick to a budget before you head to the mall..
Yes, prices are coming down daily and surprisingly as the prices drop, the list of features grow with each new model – the result obviously of competition….
- Basic Black & White e-reader: Prices range from $80 to $150
- Color e-reader with a 7” color screen from $400-$300
- Full Size, multi-feature, color tablet (like the iPad2 or “new iPad or Samsung Galaxy Tablet ) where screen choices used to be 7” or 10”, but that’s changing and prices are $200 to $800+
Saturday, March 24, 2012
COPY FILES FROM COMPUTER TO YOUR FLASH DRIVE
Whether you are travelling and want to take the folders on your computer with you, or simply want to "back up" what you've saved on your computer, it's easy to copy any or all of the folders of documents, music, photos, etc onto a portable drive or flash drive) and here is how to do that quickly and easily...
• Open Windows Explorer/My Computer to see which drives are shown – easiest way to do this is hold down the Windows Flag Key + E .
• Insert flash drive in the USB port, it will appear as “removable drive” or indicate the company name (Removable Disk (G)
• In Windows XP - Open MY DOCUMENTS & Select the files or folders you want to copy to flash drive by left-clicking on them. To copy multiple, hold the CTRL key while you click & select all the files to save.
• In Windows Vista & Windows 7 - Open LIBRARIES; then Open Each of the Cabinets you want to copy –My Pictures, My Music, My Movies, My Pictures; Select the files or folders you want to copy to your flash drive by left-clicking on them. To copy multiple, hold the CTRL key while you click folders or files at random; Or hold the SHIFT key to copy GROUPS of folders OR hold the CTRL + A to copy all folders in the parent folder…
• Once highlighted…. RIGHT-CLICK on the folders you want to copy (or go to Menu Bar & Edit) and choose COPY.
• Go to “My Computer”; choose the correct Drive you want to copy your work/files/folders to; highlight that drive (i.e. "Removable Disk (G:),
• RIGHT-CLICK on the Drive (or go to Menu Bar & Edit); choose PASTE
• When the copying is finished, DO NOT IMMEDIATELY REMOVE THE FLASH DRIVE OR PORTABLE HARD DRIVE FROM THE USB PORT :
Always left-click on the REMOVE HARDWARE icon located in the System Tray to be sure it says: SAFELY REMOVE STORAGE DEVICE.
• Open Windows Explorer/My Computer to see which drives are shown – easiest way to do this is hold down the Windows Flag Key + E .
• Insert flash drive in the USB port, it will appear as “removable drive” or indicate the company name (Removable Disk (G)
• In Windows XP - Open MY DOCUMENTS & Select the files or folders you want to copy to flash drive by left-clicking on them. To copy multiple, hold the CTRL key while you click & select all the files to save.
• In Windows Vista & Windows 7 - Open LIBRARIES; then Open Each of the Cabinets you want to copy –My Pictures, My Music, My Movies, My Pictures; Select the files or folders you want to copy to your flash drive by left-clicking on them. To copy multiple, hold the CTRL key while you click folders or files at random; Or hold the SHIFT key to copy GROUPS of folders OR hold the CTRL + A to copy all folders in the parent folder…
• Once highlighted…. RIGHT-CLICK on the folders you want to copy (or go to Menu Bar & Edit) and choose COPY.
• Go to “My Computer”; choose the correct Drive you want to copy your work/files/folders to; highlight that drive (i.e. "Removable Disk (G:),
• RIGHT-CLICK on the Drive (or go to Menu Bar & Edit); choose PASTE
• When the copying is finished, DO NOT IMMEDIATELY REMOVE THE FLASH DRIVE OR PORTABLE HARD DRIVE FROM THE USB PORT :
Always left-click on the REMOVE HARDWARE icon located in the System Tray to be sure it says: SAFELY REMOVE STORAGE DEVICE.
Monday, March 19, 2012
How to design & print calendars
A question I’m asked quite often is where can I get FREE calendars that I can modify and or print??
One way, if you have WORD on your computer, is to use one of the Microsoft office templates – simply go to your File Menu or Button, and choose “New” depending on the version of Word that you will have you will see a variety of templates – check them out, download them and once downloaded save them in a folder with a name you give them…
OR
There are numerous websites that offer free printable calendars, a personal favorite of mine is
www.eprintablecalendars.com
One way, if you have WORD on your computer, is to use one of the Microsoft office templates – simply go to your File Menu or Button, and choose “New” depending on the version of Word that you will have you will see a variety of templates – check them out, download them and once downloaded save them in a folder with a name you give them…
OR
There are numerous websites that offer free printable calendars, a personal favorite of mine is
www.eprintablecalendars.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)