It’s a new year and you need to make some changes.
You’ve started back at the gym, started eating like a rabbit and quit ________________ (fill in the blank as you see fit), but you haven’t made any changes to your computer habits. The folks at Defence Intelligence have put together a simple set of resolutions that you can begin using today.
There isn’t really much need for explanation here – just read, rinse and repeat!
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One month from today hoards of shoppers will storm the Black Friday sales of local department stores and malls. These warriors of the holiday season will be armed with only their shopping cart and a list of items to pick up for their family members and friends. If you are on one of those lists, you have to ask yourself what exactly will someone be buying for you OR you could prepare everyone you know by supplying them with a wish list of items that you REALLY want.
If someone slid a piece of paper in front of you right now and said “give me a list of items you would want to unwrap this holiday season,” would you be able to do it? Better yet, would you be able to provide a range of items and an idea of what they cost? Honestly, Grandma is probably not going to buy you that new iPad, so you better have some other options for her to choose from. Putting together a list like this takes more than a few minutes, and that is where an online holiday wish list comes into play.
Do you have a favorite band that you just love to follow? You know, the kind of rock stars that have you waiting in line for tickets, buying actual albums in person and joining fan clubs. For you “non-music” people, maybe you have a favorite actor, author, athlete, etc. You just can’t wait for their next appearance or release. In my world (the world of computers and gadgets) Dropbox is that rock star!!
I have written about Dropbox repeatedly and used their product religiously since a good friend introduced me to the service. If you haven’t already been introduced, let me the one to tell you all about it (see Introduction below). For those of you who are already fans, this week’s news was like getting a new double-album and a FREE concert. You veterans can jump on down to the WOW! section to see the latest from our rock stars.
For those unfamiliar with the process, capturing a screenshot of something on the ol’ PC and sending it to a friend, colleague or support person can be a bit of a challenge. There is the Print Screen button (which really does no printing at all), the question of how to get the image into a program for editing and then the dreaded “how do I send this to someone else?” Thinking back to my first experience with screenshots, I remember thinking “Wow, I am going to use this a lot.” Luckily, a new FREE program titled ScreenCatch has come along to shorten the gap between confusion and Wow!
Our friends at Lifehacker posted a great article about ScreenCatch this morning that introduced me to the product and I couldn’t pass up on the opportunity to share it with my readers. The author Jason Fitzpatrick wrapped up the concept of ScreenCatch perfectly: “If you’re looking for a lightweight – 193k! – and portable screen capture tool without tons of features you’ll never use, ScreenCatch is a good match.”
Social Networking is the heart of the internet right now. Scratch that, social networking is much, much bigger. Terms like Facebook, Twitter, share, social, follow, fan, etc. are hurled at us, at the speed of light, both online and offline. Every individual and company (including JumpstartMyPC.com) is trying to figure out the “best” way to share information with fans, friends and family. And now, Google has stepped up to the plate with their offering… Google Buzz.
I realize that many of you have already been exposed to Google Buzz, or at least heard the name, and that this article might seem a little untimely. After all, Google Buzz was released about a month ago (February 9, 2010). The reason I waited to comment on Google Buzz was two-fold: 1) The initial reaction to Google Buzz was panic! (early issues with privacy) and 2) I wasn’t sure if I would even use Buzz for personal and/or business updates. Why would I review or recommend a product for the JumpstartMyPC.com audience if it (Buzz) wasn’t a useful tool that would help you get more out of your PC? Well, I finally spent some time with this new application and I think I’ve wrapped my mind around it.
“Sharing” has to be one of the biggest buzz words of the internet over the last few years. With the introduction of services like email, instant messaging, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and now Google Buzz, people have been provided with the tools for staying in contact with friends and family continuously. These services are used mostly for staying in touch, catching up on recent personal events and chatting but they have also introduced one of the most used functions of our day, sharing. People share photos, videos, links to web sites, links to music, favorite articles… the list goes on forever. “Sharing is the center of the social web.”1
In the beginning, digital sharing was done via email. Attachments were sent and frustrations elevated when emails were not received or “kicked back” because the attachments were too large. Sharing methods have evolved and changed over time and we are now inundated with hundreds of ways to share information with one another. Facebook and Twitter are by far the most popular, but many others have great feature sets and large followings. Only one service pulls them all together seamlessly, ShareThis. That little green button (the trademark of ShareThis) has made it’s way onto 130,000+ sites and reaches over 400 million users per month.
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