"On Screen, Mr. Data" Google Video Chat = Space Aged Communications

So clearly, I grew up watching Star Trek: The Next Generation. While we don't have shuttlecrafts, tricorders, phasers, or transporters yet, we do have on-screen communications in the form of Google Video Chat.

Google Video Chat is just a component of Google Talk (gchat), which you get automatically with gmail. If you don't have gmail, get it. Trust me. If you already have gmail, you've probably noticed a couple of people on your chat list have little camera icons. It means they are video-chat ready. All you need besides a gmail address is a webcam & microphone (which a lot of laptops come with), and you're ready to video chat.

The video pops up right over your normal chat window. It's pretty small, but you can pop it out and resize it, or just hit full screen. It also gives you a little window to see what your camera is showing. It's basically like talking in person. Depending on connection speed/lighting/camera quality, the video can be a little choppy, but it's not too distracting. Also, I hear Skype can do this also, so Skype users take note.

But seriously, come on! Who hasn't wanted a video phone? Just try it, you'll like it.

The Internet Knows Everything

Let me share a personal story:

This Saturday, I went out to mow my lawn, and my lawn mower started blowing white smoke. I was very concerned, because I don't know anything about lawn mowers, and I have no idea what it means when a lawnmower is blowing white smoke. But I know it's bad. I also know that:

(a) my lawn mower runs on gasoline
(b) blowing smoke can be a symptom of overheating
(c) overheating + gasoline = explosion

As I did not want to be engulfed in a fiery lawnmower explosion, I shut down the mower. I was in a bind, though, since I had no idea how to fix the problem, and my lawn was only partially mowed. The risk of fiery death meant I wasn't willing to ignore the problem, so my options seemed to be either take it in for service (slow and expensive) or get a new lawnmower (wasteful and expensive). First, though, I thought I'd see what The Internet had to say.

I typed "lawn mower smoking" into Google, and within 3 hits, I got a message board post by another guy saying "my lawn mower is blowing white smoke. What do I do?" Underneath, someone had replied saying that he probably put too much oil in it, and to drain some oil. As I had put oil in my mower last week, and wasn't sure how much to put in (see comment above about knowing nothing about lawnmowers), this seemed to be very likely my problem. So I went out, drained a bunch of oil, and restarted the mower. No more smoke. Problem solved.

The point here is that we have access to almost limitless information with a few keystrokes. One of the reasons I started this blog was because there are amazing tools out there that anyone can use, and I want to help people realize the potential of these tools. An internet browser is probably the most useful tool that has been made in our lifetimes, and I encourage everyone to use it for all it's worth.

Podcasts are like TiVo for the radio, but free

Let's fact it, radio is so 1998. There is really no good reason to listen to it anymore. I assume everyone is aware of the ease of getting music electronically, either through your own music library or through internet radio. But what about non-music content? That's where podcasts come in.

A lot of radio shows offer free podcasts. Chances are, the show you like on the radio offers one (without commercials). But aside from that, there are a lot of podcasts that aren't available anywhere else, on any topic you could possible think of.

If you want to listen to podcasts, I'd suggest using iTunes. You can also get them by using your RSS reader, or a "podcatcher" program, but iTunes is the easiest way to download & mange them. Just click on "store" and scroll down to the "Top Podcasts" list. Check them out, there is a lot of good stuff there. I wholeheartedly recommend "This American Life" and "Savage Love Podcast" (Savage is not safe for work). Just click "subscribe" next to anything that you want to get. You can also search the store for anything in particular that you're looking for. You can type in the name of a show, or just a topic that interests you.

After you subscribe, iTunes will download the latest episode automatically as soon as it's released. Most podcasts update about once a week. Just click on your "podcasts" list on the lefthand navigation bar to see all of your podcasts and listen to them. By default, a podcast will delete after you listen to it (you can change this if you want). Podcasts will also sync with an iPod, and you can manually put them on any other music player (Google "itunes sync" if you want to sync a non-iPod music player).

So now you have your podcasts. Listen to them! Listen to them at work, in the car, on the train, while you cook dinner, whenever. You'll thank me later.

Nintendo DS for the Common Man!

Reader Heather, from Rhode Island, writes:

I don't like video games. I don't understand the appeal of shooting people or making little tiny people jump up and down. I also don't like things like car racing. Therefore, pressing a button to make a little animated car with cute figurine as driver - just does not do it for me. I am also quite sensitive to violence. I get uncomfortable when there is a significant amount of blood or fighting. I don't like sports such as golf or basketball. I also have coordination issues and have trouble doing things with both hands. In short, video games have never interested me.

I used to wonder about the day video games would not be all about sports and killing. One day a gaming system that would stimulate the mind. That one day has come.

Let me introduce you to the Nintendo DS.

http://www.nintendo.com/ds/what


It is small, fits into a purse and has cheaper games than most systems. I have only played a few but my favorites are Zenses: Ocean. A fun brain twister with several mini games that looks really pretty. Is it also quite addicting and comes with a music download soundtrack. My new love is for Mah Jong Quest : Expeditions. Mahjong is a matching tiles game. It is similar to solitaire but a bit more difficult and even more fun. I have been playing this game for about two weeks now and it has not gotten old yet. There are even little fortunes once you finish a board!

Thank you Nintendo.

I also have a Nintendo DS, and I second Heather's comments. They're really great, no matter what kind of games you like to play.

Now Taking Reader Submissions!

Do you have a practical computer/technology tip that a not-so-tech-savvy crowd could use? Send it to me at wfenza[at]gmail.com. The top suggestions will get their own blog post (with full credit to the author, of course). Include your name & location if you'd like them published. Email addresses will never be given away.

Rate Your Music in iTunes

Ok, this is for all you iTunes users out there. If you listen to a lot of music, you should really consider rating it. It takes a substantial amount of time up-front, but if you use your computer as your primary music player, it's worth it. I promise.

iTunes allows you to rate your music on a scale of 1-5 stars. You can highlight groups of songs and rate them all at once. I rate them this way:

5 - Songs that are the best of the best
4 - Songs that I want to listen to regularly
3 - Songs that I want to listen to once in a while, but not when I'm playing music on random
2 - Songs that are not good, but for some reason I don't want to delete them.
1 - Absolutely terrible. Why do I even own this song? (you know you've got a few of these)
0 - I haven't listened enough to make up my mind. Mostly newly acquired music.

Rating your music is important because of another great iTunes feature: Smart Playlists.

Out of the box, iTunes comes pre-loaded with a "My Top Rated" playlist, which is all of your 4 and 5-star songs. Just having this list makes rating your songs worth it. You can set iTunes DJ (formerly Party Shuffle) to draw only from that list, and you've got a nice random selection of only your good music.

But there's plenty more you can do with it. You can set a smart playlist to satisfy any criteria you want. Here are my lists:

• My Top Rated
• Unrated
• Maybe Good (combination of Top Rated & Unrated. This is my standard go-to list.)
• Recent Favorites (the 50 most recently added songs that are 4-or-more stars)
• Recently Played (anything I've listened to in the last 2 weeks)
• Music & Indiefeed (This takes my entire music library, and adds Indiefeed, a music podcast. I set all of my playlists to pull from this list instead of my normal music library.)
  

Those work for me, but be creative! Think about the music that you always want to hear, and set up a list to put it all in one place. Do you always want to listen to the same stuff? Set up a list made of the songs you listen to most often. Do you want to make sure you get variety? Set up a list of songs you listen to least often. Add a requirement for them to be 4 or 5 stars, if you want. Really, you can use almost any parameter.

I believe this works the same way in Windows Media Player, but if you're using that, switch to iTunes. This works the same way in Songbird, also, but if you're using that, you probably don't have much use for my advice (although I encourage anyone who enjoys Firefox extensions to give it a try).

Picasa makes all of your photos better

So, I'm a big fan of Google software. They seem to strike the perfect balance between ease of use and flexibility. But even people who don't care about flexibility should download Picasa. Picasa was originally promoted as "what should have come with your digital camera." It's true.

Have you ever used Photoshop? I have. And if you're reading this blog, you don't want to. Photoshop is definitely for advanced users only. And while sometimes I want that, for my everyday photo editing needs, I always use Picasa.

For one, the user interface is really intuitive. You tell it what folders to scan (or have it scan your whole computer), and your pictures show up in nicely-sized thumbnails. It can also download from your camera or any other device. Double-click on a picture to edit it. You can crop your pictures really easily, and adjust the lighting, tint, and color, add effects, or have Picasa automatically edit your photo by clicking "I'm feeling lucky." It usually does a great job. For most pictures, I just crop them, then let Picasa handle the rest.

Also, as with most Google products, it has a great way to share the experience. You can click one button to upload any of your albums onto Google's servers. You can add captions, give locations, and make the pictures public, or choose who to share them with. The online site will also scan your pictures for faces, and if you do it enough, it will start recognizing people. It's kind of creepy/awesome. Go here to see my public album. And go download Picasa!