Byte of the Week

Remember when I used to be so good about the Byte of the *Week*? Well, to make up for the days I’ve been late, I thought I’d send one early:

Wolfram Alpha: http://www.wolframalpha.com

It’s a new search engine that focuses on computation power. So I typed in “to be or not to be” and the answer is OK. But I type in [$100 in euros] and I get the exchange rate, a history of the exchange rate, comparison to other currencies.

You can learn a ton more about it here: http://www.wolframalpha.com/screencast/introducingwolframalpha.html

 Thanks to Aileen in Minneapolis for sending it to me.

A friend asked me yesterday about résumé templates online. After 10 minutes of searching I remembered by old friend Microsoft templates: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/default.aspx

They have templates for just about anything – graduation invitations, expense reports, résumé and more.

Just do a search on the template you need. Click on the name of the template in the search listing to see a sample of the template. Click on download to download the template. Generally then you can just delete the content in the template (by section) and add your content.

One note – just keep an eye on the file format and make sure you have the software to open the file. For example the first résumé template I found was in Microsoft Publisher, which I don’t have. So I skipped over that.

I hope that helps. Also happy mother’s day for moms on the list – and a subtle reminder for kids on the list.

Just a super quick byte this week.

http://premium.pdfonline.com/BCLOnline/PrintOut.aspx  - this is my new favorite site for converting Microsoft items into PDF. So far I’ve only tested Word Docs. You upload and they convert, you download and save.

Have a great weekend!

I wrote a blog recently on how to build a cheap web site – really based on using a blog as your web site.
I’ve looked further into this option and into using the domain name for your blog. You can do this one of two ways:

First, you could register the domain name with a registrar, such as Go Daddy. You can set up your email with Go Daddy. Also they will forward you domain to your blog. So when someone types in www.yourdomain.com it will go to your blog, which might have an address like yourname.wordpress.com. But once you visit that site, the address in the address bar will look like the WordPress address, not the domain name.

One small way to change this would be to have Go Daddy mask the domain. Then when someone visits the blog, they will see your domain name – but as they browse your site that address won’t change. So that the address on the About page (for example) would still look like: www.yourdomain.com not www.yourdomain.com/about.html. It makes it hard for a visitor to point to a specific blog post.

The second option is to map the domain name through WordPress. You can do this by going to your blog dashboard and selecting Upgrade in the menu. Then you’ll see an option for domains. You need to buy credits (I think it’s $15) but once you do you can point your domain name to the blog and the site will reflect your domain name on each page.

Now you can also set up email through Google Apps. Here’s an article that outlines that process: http://faq.wordpress.com/2007/05/23/gmail-mx/

If I had a business and wanted a cheap and easy web site – this is what I’d do…

1. I’d buy a domain name through Go Daddy (www.godaddy.com). A domain name is about $9/year and Go Daddy offers lots of features.
2. I’d start a blog on WordPress (www.wordpress.com). You don’t need to know html. You can customize the pages quite a bit, adding your logo and choosing from many features.
3. I’d point the domain name to the blog. You can do this on WordPress. It will cost $10.

Here’s a web site that’s built through a blog: http://mnruralpartners.wordpress.com  (We haven’t added the custom domain name yet.) As you can see, it looks like a web site – because really a blog is a kind of web site.

Here’s what I like about a blog as a web site

1. Blogs are cheap
2. Blogs do well with search engines
3. Blogs are easy to maintain without knowing html or having special software
4. Blogs let you add other Web 2.0 tools easily such as video or PPT slides uploaded to SlideShare
5. You can easily set up a feature where visitors can sign up to get alters when you update your site – through an RSS feed or email.

What’s not to like? I wrote a Byte on how to start a blog last winter: http://byteoftheweek.wordpress.com/2007/12/12/starting-a-new-blog/. Sometimes I set up blogs for clients; it’s cheaper than having me set up a web site. Then they update the site themselves. Sometimes I set up blogs and I update them too – but that’s a different story. Today I’m talk about a cheap DIY solution.

A couple of years ago I talked about Google Alerts. (http://byteoftheweek.wordpress.com/2005/06/15/another-look-at-google/) In short, you tell Google to track certain terms and they send you an email when they add web sites that contain those terms to their database. I love it for tracking rural broadband issues. (I track that kind of thing: http://www.blandinonbroadband.com/.)

I wished that there was a resource where I could track terms only on Minnesota pages or Minnesota news sources. Magic presto – I got an email from Mark in West Virginia on a new service that does just that.

State Newslines (https://www.statenewslines.com) tracks news sources by state. They have free and premium services. I know it’s not like me but I use their premium services so I’ll start by talking about them.

For a fee, I can have State Newslines keep track of words and phrases as they appear on Minnesota news publications. I think monitor about 50 sources. I have them track [broadband and internet]. Each morning I get an email with any articles that contain one of those terms. It’s like a super focused Google Alert and it saves me time and gives me a heads up on articles I wouldn’t have otherwise seen. Also I can search Minnesota-only publications at any time.

For free, I can check out the headlines from MN papers on one page and I can do a keyword search of Minnesota-only publications.

I had an email this week from someone who was considering an online shop. They wondered if they could do it themselves. So I wrote up two routes to take. I thought some of the Byte readers might be interested too.

Open a Yahoo Store

You don’t have to know html. You set up your shop by completing their online forms, which might include selecting background colors and layout, uploading photos, and choosing your shipping options.

The starter package starts at $40/month with a $50 start up. There is also a 1.5% transaction fee. There are a couple of services similar to Yahoo but I think they are basically the same. Here’s more info on the Yahoo options: http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/ecommerce/plans.php  

The online shops can look quite nice. The monthly rates can seem high if you don’t make any sales. If you want to save money or want to do it yourself I think this is a good option.

Use PayPal

Again there are a range of similar services, but I’ll use this specific as a blanket description. You do need to know some html. The assumption is that you would have a web site. Maybe you created it, maybe someone else created it.

PayPal will only handle the e-commerce transactions. On PayPal you answer a series of questions such as price, options, tax and shipping costs. They will give you the code to paste into your site that will show up as a “buy now” type button. (So you need to know enough html code to paste that code into your page.) Once someone clicks on that they will get to a PayPal site, which you can customize to some degree, and the transaction will take place there. Once the transaction is complete, they will be sent to a confirmation page back on your site. Learn more: https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_wp-standard-overview-outside  

There is no setup or monthly fees. The transaction fee starts at about 2.6%. People are comfortable with the PayPal name, but the transaction isn’t exactly seamless. Users will recognize that they are using a PayPal process.

Squidoo (http://www.squidoo.com) is a web site that lets you build one-page web sites quickly and easily. The idea is that everyone is an expert on something – and Squidoo is the place to showcase that expertise. Squidoo will put ads on your page – but they will give you commission on the clicks on your ads or you can donate your commission to a charity.

You can set up a Squidoo in 7 steps – not experience building web sites is required. Most of the steps include one or two quick questions. The hardest part, especially if you’re just writing an article to test the tool, is to write the article. Here’s my test Squidoo: http://www.squidoo.com/mnresorts

I hope everyone has a safe and prosperous New Year!!

Last week someone asked me for a free tool to turn Word documents into PDFs. Here are the tools I suggested to her:

• pdf995: http://www.pdf995.com/
  I used to use this all of the time. Each time you use it you get an ad, but I figured that was fair enough. You download this software and then activate it by printing your document and choosing pdf995 as your printer.
• CutePDF http://www.cutepdf.com/Products/CutePDF/Writer.asp
  This is another free PDF tool. I haven’t used it but I’ve heard good things about it.

This week I learned about FlashPaper (http://www.adobe.com/products/flashpaper/). It is a (not free) tool that converts any printable file into a Flash document (or PDF). A Flash document is similar to a PDF except that it downloads more quickly using FlashPlayer. Flash Paper documents can be embedded into a web page so the experience of downloading a Flash Paper document is more seamless to a visitor. I haven’t checked it out myself but I thought it was interesting to learn about regardless.

A final quick note on a related topic: The latest Adobe Reader (http://www.adobe.com/products/reader) has some great new features. (Adobe Reader allows you to read PDF files and is free.) You can copy text and images from PDFs with the latest version. I have been using this for a while. There are some other great features that I don’t use – but being able to copy and use text and graphics has been a real boon.

To prepare you for Valentine’s Day next week, here a web site that will tell you how to say I love you in dozens of languages: http://theholidayspot.com/valentine/wish101languages.htm

Last summer I looked high and low for an affordable tool to easily and attractively post PowerPoint slides online. Well, this week I finally found a tool I liked PointCast (www.poinecast.com). (Cost was $100.)

I used it recently to upload a presentation on email newsletters:
http://www.treacyinfo.com/EmailMarketing/start.html

It was very easy to use. Once I downloaded the software, an additional button was added to PowerPoint to “publish” the presentation the same way I would save it. And once that was done I was able to upload the files to my web server.

You can set the slideshow to advance automatically. I set mine to advance as someone clicks through the slides. Apparently you can add audio with PointCast too. I haven’t had time to test it yet – but I’m hoping to get the chance soon.

On a completely different note – David in St Paul sent me a fun shopping site last week that I wanted to share: www.AliShops.com. It features reviews of Twin City shops.