Online tutorials for popular software

Would you like to get more out of your favorite computer programs? Would you like to learn how to design a website, install computer parts, or network your computers?

For just about everything you want to learn, you can find tutorials online. Tutorials walk you through the process, step by step. There are tutorials in text, in audio, in pictures, and in video - Choose the medium that works best for your learning style.

To find tutorials for a specific program or task, do a simple search engine search. Your search terms will look something like these:
microsoft excel tutorial
web design tutorial html video
powerpoint mac tutorial step by step

If you want to browse tutorials on a wide range of topics, here are a few "hubs":

InPictures - Simple pictorial examples of common tasks that you might do on Microsoft Office programs, OpenOffice.org, web layout, web graphics, and web programming

Intelligentedu.com - Mainly technical topics related to programming and web design

Microsoft.com - tutorials for Microsoft program. There are also tutorials especially for teachers and classrroms.

Newark Public Library - Basic beginner's guides to email, internet, Microsoft Word and other programs

Lynda.com - A subscription-based tutorial hub ($25/month.) Sign up for a free 1-day subscription to get access to over 28,000 video tutorials for $25/month. There are also free sample tutorials and podcasts.


Pauline
teachmeinternet.com

Lessons from geese

Check out this 2-minute video from the ad agency, Saatchi & Saatchi. Used to motivate teams in business and in athletics, it shows important lessons that we can all learn from geese.

Make sure your speakers are on, and sit back and enjoy.

How will you use this lesson from geese in your life today?





Pauline
teachmeinternet.com

Free samples online - Know the "cost"

On the Internet you can get all kinds of free samples - cosmetics, candy, food, household products, cold remedies, pet food, and more.

Of course, you know why manufacturers do this. They hope that after trying their products, you will continue to buy them.

But there is even more advantage to manufacturers offering free samples online.

Here's why: When you specifically request a sample, you are identifying yourself to the manufacturer as a member of their target market.

They may ask for your age, gender and other demographic information, which will help them focus their marketing efforts later on. And in order to ship the item to you, they get your physical mailing address. They usually ask for your email address as well.

Before giving up your personal information and email address, understand that you may be contacted later by the manufacturers and their "partners" (a euphemism for companies who buy their mailing lists.)


Here are some guidelines when signing up for complimentary samples:

1. Do not use your regular email address, because you may be bombarded with more "offers." Get a free email account at Hotmail or Gmail just for this purpose. Or use a disposable email address such as Mailinator or Pookmail.

2. In all fairness, cooperate with their request for demographic info - e.g., age, etc. In exchange for a free product, your info will help the manufacturer understand its market.

3. Beware of so-called free offers of expensive items, such as brand-name electronic products, pricey leather goods, vacations, etc. If you read the fine print, you may see that you are merely being entered in a drawing for the item. Or, you may have to sign up for several mailing lists in order to see the free offer.

4. On the page where you sign up for the sample, look for an option that says something like, "Please send me more offers." If that option is already checked off for you, uncheck it.


Now that you're an educated consumer, here are some places to get free samples:

dailyedeals.com

all-free-samples.com

freesampleforager.com

nojunkfree.com - includes free samples in Canada and U.K.

For more free samples, use a search engine to search for "free samples". You can also add your country. Thus, if you're looking for free samples in Italy, search for: "free samples" Italy.


Pauline
teachmeinternet.com

Time-saving shortcuts for common web tasks

If you've been using the Internet for a while, you have probably developed certain habits in how you do things.

Take a look at some of these shortcuts. They won't save enough time for you to read War and Peace, but a few seconds here and there does make you more efficient.


COPY, PASTE AND SAVE BITS OF TEXT FROM THE WEB

The old way: Drag your mouse to highlight text. Copy text and paste text to a new document in your word processor. Save document. Hope that you remember the filename you assigned it and where you saved it.

The new way: Drag your mouse to highlight text. Use one of the instant web clipboards to copy and save in one step.

Tools:
Google Notebook
Clipmarks


FILLING IN WEB FORMS

The old way: Type your name, address, email, etc. in the form whenever you order something or subscribe to something online. If your password is needed, you guess or look it up.

The new way: Use an automatic form filler that saves your data in a private file on your computer.

Tools:
Roboform
Firefox extensions (search for form filler)
Internet Explorer add ons (search for form filler)


READING NEWS AND BLOGS:

The old way: Visit one news or blog site after another. Check to see if there is any new content.

The new way: Use an RSS reader (RSS = "really simple syndication") to see all your favorite blog updates and news feeds in one single window. If there is new content, it is automatically displayed.

Tools
Google Reader
Bloglines


SEARCH ENGINE SEARCHING

The old way: Type google.com (or other search engine) into your URL box. Wait for the page to load. Type in your search terms and hit enter to get search results.

The new way: Use the search box built into your browser. Firefox, Safari, and the latest version of Internet Explorer have a search box in the upper right corner of the browser window. You can even add more search tools.

Or, download and install your favorite search engine's add-on toolbar, which sits at the top of your browser window at all times. In addition to giving you a box to enter your search terms, the toolbars can be customized to block popups, display security warnings, and have links to your favorite websites

Tools:
Google toolbar
Yahoo toolbar
Dogpile toolbar


ACCESS TO REFERENCE TOOLS, CALCULATOR, WEATHER REPORTS, FLIGHT INFO

The old way: Go to a search engine. Search for dictionaries, encyclopedias, weather, maps, etc. and click to visit the website. Enter your information and get the result.

The new way:

Download and customize a search engine toolbar (see above)
Or, use "widgets" or "gadgets" that you download to your desktop. These are mini-applications that connect you to online services, giving you direct access to calculators, news feeds, work time recorders, sticky notes, stock prices, games and more.

Tools:
Widgets are already installed in Mac operating systems, and in Windows Vista. There are hundreds more at the Apple and Microsoft websites.

You can also use Yahoo Widgets or Google Desktop Gadgets.


Pauline
teachmeinternet.com

Electronic Health Records - A good thing?

Last week Google announced that they were partnering with the Cleveland Clinic to store records of 100,000 patients online.

"The ultimate goal of this patient-centered and controlled model is to give patients the ability to interact with multiple physicians, healthcare service providers and pharmacies" says the press release.
Online Personal Health Records (PHRs) are not new. Microsoft launched HealthVault last October, and there are many other systems within private medical groups and from third-party companies.

There are two major advantages of having an online PHR:

1. Convenience: You have ready access to all your health records - at home, when traveling, in an emergency.
   
   
2. Control: You authorize who sees your records. You can ensure that your records from one doctor are immediately available to another doctor.

But there is a serious downside of online PHR: the risk of loss of privacy.

This is similar to the concern that people had about their financial records a few years ago. While online databases have been successfully hacked into, there has NOT been a rash of identity thefts from such hackings. More identity thefts take place OFFline than online.

Also, your medical records are probably already on some electronic data base within your physicians' offices and clinics. Even if they are not, there is no guarantee that your paper records are 100% protected from prying eyes.

But it's more complicated than that. Privacy watchdogs such as the World Privacy Forum point out that there are additional risks with PHRs that many people are unaware of -- for example, that storing your medical records on a third party website may not be protected under HIPAA.

Here are some of their recommendations:

• Don't assume that your medical records are protected no matter where they are stored.
  
  
• To see if a third-party PHR is covered under HIPAA, read their privacy statement, which should disclose whether they are covered or not, and also how they will use your information. "HIPAA compliant" is not enough. It should read "HIPAA covered."
  
  
• Take time to read the fine print, and pay attention to what you are authorizing and signing.

• More tips are in the document: "World Privacy Forum Consumer Advisory: The Potential Privacy Risks in Personal Health Records Every Consumer Needs to Know About"

If you want the convenience of electronic records but don't want them stored online, you can always keep your own records on your computer, on a CD or on a little thumb drive. But keep in mind that these are not 100% safe either, even when protected by a password.

Bottom line: Only you can decide if the risk of PHRs is worth the convenience.

WHAT DO YOU THINK? Please take a moment to write your comments on this issue.


Pauline
teachmeinternet.com

Exercise your brain with online puzzles and brain teasers

Puzzles are good for your brain.

What's this below? With all the lines filled in, it's something that you would instantly recognize. Look at it for a while, and if you're stumped, get the answer here.





If you like optical illusions and puzzles, here are some links for you:

BrainBashers: Run by a math teacher in the UK. Thousands of brain teasers and puzzles, with new ones added regularly

Smart-Kit: Interactive games and puzzles to "cross-train" your brain.

SharpBrains: This is actually a blog on brain science and brain function. Besides puzzles and challenges, there are articles, myth debunkers and a free ebook.

Braingle: a community site, with puzzles, forums, articles and tips on improving memory and other mental functions




Pauline
teachmeinternet.com

Use Google's "range search" for greater specificity

When you want to narrow your search to a specific range of dates or numbers, Google has special syntax to perform your search in 1 step.

For example, suppose you're looking for a new printer, costing $80 to $150. Here's what your search would look like:

printer $80..$150

Simply put 2 periods between the numbers, and Google will return hits with printers in that price range.

Want to search a range of prices within a specific website? Add site:nameofwebsite to your search. i.e.:

printer $80..$150 site:bestbuy.com

Range searching is also useful for specifying dates. Suppose you are looking for recent research on a topic, within the last two years. Your search would look something like this:

autism research 2006..2007

And if you want results only from government agencies, your search would be:

autism research 2006..2007 site:.gov

You can get all the same results by drilling down within individual websites, but this Google syntax will get you there faster.


Pauline
teachmeinternet.com

Add, remove, rearrange pages in PDF files

In a recent post I listed some free sources for converting files to PDF and other formats.

Here's a resource to rearrange pages and combine existing PDF files: PDF Hammer.




The service is still in "beta" (not ready for prime time.) They bill themselves as a PDF editor, but as far as I can tell, you can only manipulate the pages, not the text.

However, it's still handy for pulling apart pages from one PDF file and adding them to another PDF file.

Pauline
teachmeinternet.com

Free lectures from top-notch universities

Have you ever wished you could attend lectures at famous universities at no charge? Now you can, thanks to the Internet. More and more schools are posting lectures on Youtube, iTunesU and other multimedia distribution lines.

We're talking big schools here - MIT, Stanford, Berkely, Duke, Yale, Tufts and more. Most are in the USA, but there are some in the UK and Australia.

To find a lecture that suits your interests you can do a simple Google search. Include the words: free lecture video in your search.

Or, you can browse lists of universities and topics at

• Education Portal
  
• World Lecture Hall
• Fathom
  
• LectureFox (The main site was down when I wrote this, but here's the cached version, which shows links to the various schools.)
  

A recent article on Wired.com discusses the implications of this trend. For the intellectually curious, the selection is a goldmine. But the free lectures are also helpful to people in remote areas of the world that would not otherwise have access to quality education. Also, for high-school students exploring college options, it's a great way to sample the courses and the professors.

More educational video sources are listed in my blog post of June 24.

Pauline
teachmeinternet.com