Byte of the Week

Thanks to Peter in St Paul for sending me the following web tool:

Readability http://lab.arc90.com/experiments/readability/

It is a funny tool that pulls the main content of a web site away from any clutter to make it easier to read. I’ve used it on a few sites. I find it kind of helpful – but I think if you had any difficulty reading a computer screen – maybe due to visual impairments –it could be a big helper. You can decide how you want to view the site, which font, how large, white on dark text or dark on white and how much margin. Again for most of us this might be more interesting than helpful but if you do know someone with issues reading online this might be gold.

Now my favor – I am on the board of the Twin Cities Daily Planet & TC Media Alliance. You may have read the TCDP: http://www.tcdailyplanet.net or perhaps you have attended a TCMA event or class. One of our big goals is to promote citizens journalism and give voice to everyone. I wonder if you would take a look and consider becoming a member http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/user/register (it’s free, you just sign up). Members can post comments and blogs. If you have a tale to tell you might even consider contributing a story. If you want to become a contributing member (ie give money) that’s even better – but that’s not what I’m asking, I’m just asking you to consider the free membership and see how it goes.) If you do become a member, please let me know. I’m on a mission to spread the good word.

Thanks! Ann

SeeClickFix: http://seeclickfix.com/citizens

I love this site. Login and you can report issues and problems in your community. See a broken street lamp? Report it. Street need plowing? Report it. Emergency? Call 911 – this isn’t for emergencies.

The good news is that local governments and community organizations are watching SeeClickFix. OK that doesn’t mean they’re waiting for directions from us – but we can hope! Also sometimes just having a place to whine can be cathartic. You can get a glimpse of local Minnesota suggestions at the Twin Cities Daily Planet http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/  

Hope that helps you get something fixed!

First I know many of you will appreciate the humor in the fact that schools in Dublin have been closed today and tomorrow due to snow. Less than 2 inches of snow!

Second since in Dublin I’ve been trying a new online phone service called Magic Jack: http://www.magicjack.com

Magic Jack is a piece of equipment and service that will give you very cheap phone service. You just plug the equipment into a USB port on your computer, then plug a phone into the other side; set up service and away you go. I set it up at home and got a US number. I think I paid $20 for a year of service. Now I can call anyone in the US and they can call me on this number. If I’m not connected they get my voicemail, which is part of the $20 service.

Like Skype the quality is not consistent. I’ve had 30 minute phone calls that were clear as a bell, usually made at night or on the weekend. I’ve had other times (working hours) where the quality has been shaky and where I am cut off every 3 minutes.

What I do like about Magic Jack is that I can make the calls on a phone, not headphones. So even when the quality is not great it seems better than international Skype calls. Voicemail messages are emailed to me. That’s a huge plus. The price is right. Skype is great for video. I think the Skype to Skype calls might have the best consistent quality – but for every day use – especially for friends and family (where it’s OK to call back every 3 minutes) I’m leaning towards the Magic Jack.

Two fun web sites today. First, thanks to Rick in Minneapolis for the Solid Waste What to do Site (http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/solid-waste/what-to-do-A.asp). OK fun might not be the operative word – but it’s super useful for finding out what you can recycle, what is potentially hazard and other stuff.

The second is Groupon (http://www.groupon.com) – it’s a super fun one-coupon-a-day service. I have been jealous of this service in Chicago and they are looking at expanding. My hope is that if we all sign up they’ll get going in Minneapolis a little faster.

Today’s Byte is only kind of tech related. It’s a fun site that will help you come up with recipes based on what you have in your kitchen.

Super Cook: http://www.supercook.com

You enter your ingredients and it will give you a list of recipes that requires only those ingredients.

It will remember your ingredients – you can modify the list easily. You could also ask for ideas for recipes that only require a few more ingredients. It will even kick out a shopping list for you.

I thought it would be a good tool for the first week of school

I found a new way to share vacation pictures – Animoto (www.animoto.com). You can sign up for free – the directions on the site are specific and easy to follow. You simply upload your photos, choose background music and add details.

For free you can upload 8-15 images. I uploaded the images without resizing from my camera – just to see if it would work and it did. You could upload your own music (if you have the copyright!). The slideshow ends up being about 30 second.

Once created it’s easy to post a link to your video on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. Also it’s easy to grab the code for the video to embed it into your site.

If you want something longer, you can upgrade to a paid account.

If you didn’t have vacation pictures you could use this for a tour of a house for sale, a resort, a campus, your products…

I had vacation pics for my test: http://tinyurl.com/m4mmjz

I know I’ve talked about Skype www.skype.com before. I’m not the biggest user at home – but I love it when I’m in Ireland. My new favorite thing is that I can forward my Skype phone number to a landline (or cell phone). So my Twin Cities number now rings through to the house where I’m staying in Dublin. I love it because the quality of the call is more like a regular call – less like a Skype call.

I think I paid about $50 a year. When I look at my account it seems as if the number has elapsed, but it still works. For $50 a year I think I’m going to have this number forward to my mother-in-law when we go – then it’s super cheap calls for the rest of the year.

I know I’ve been weak lately with the Bytes. I could send you my synopsis of the FCC rural broadband plan if you’re wondering what I’m doing.

I wanted to at least send something this week – and I ran into a web site that helped me choose my lunch destination today: Yelp http://www.yelp.com – people post reviews of restaurants and other place (shopping, automotive, healthcare, other). You can search by category or specific name.

If it works out for lunch, I may try it for dinner. If I owned a restaurant or shop or automotive or other BtoC place, I’d be looking myself up and finding loyal customers to write about me.

Have a great weekend!

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.

We-Care

Thanks to Bill in New York for sending me information on a fun tool that might help get your holiday shopping done and give a little bit back to your favorite charities.

We-Care (http://www.we-care.com/) is a collection of 700+ merchants. When you buy products from them through this site a portion of your purchase will go to the charity of your choice. You can do a search for your charity; if they aren’t listed, you can list them. There is even a page of coupons to get good deals.

If you are a nonprofit you can go and list yourself easily too – for no charge. You will get listed on the site and you’ll get a full, co-branded mall of your own with your colors, message, logo, and a unique URL. You even get some help with marketing tools.

Thanks to Jan in Wisconsin for sending me info on GoodSearch.com. It is a search engine that donates half its advertising revenue, about a penny per search, to the charities it designates

So there it is; it’s pretty simple. With any luck it will save you a little time and help your favorite nonprofits.