Friday, March 30, 2007

Assignment #46

Language Translation

Goto Google-more-even more

Under Communicate, show & share find translate.

Paste I want to go to the store into the translation box.

Set English to Spanish and translate.

http://babelfish.altavista.com/

Gives you the same.

Now goto http://www.freetranslation.com/

Translate it again. Take your pick.

Play!!

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Assignment #45

Ok! So we’re not going to play today. If you’re a moderate computer user you’re probably blown away by all the files your computer has to load just to get going. And, you’ve probably got some things going that you’d just as soon not be there but you don’t know how to stop them. On top of that, you may even have a virus or two. Who knows? Anyway, here’s all the info you need in one place. Go through it. Take your time. You’ll learn a lot.

http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_content.php

Find old assignments at http://rameyerguam.blogspot.com

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Assignment #44

Computer Maintenance Lessons today and tomorrow.

So Your computer is running kinda slow? Let’s see if we can help.

Hit the Control-Alt-Delete buttons all together. What should come up is a window that says Windows Security.

Click the button that says Task Manager.

The Applications button is handy when you have a program that has stopped working correctly but today we’re going to be looking at the Processes part.

When you click there you see all the programs that are running in the background and using memory. I have over 40.

Some of those programs may not be necessary and some may even be harmful. Clicking on MEM USAGE ranks them by size. You can check each one here:

http://www.processlibrary.com/

End appropriate processes.

You should now be able to tell a lot about your computer. Tomorrow we’ll look at starting up your computer to maybe avoid having to do this every time.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Assignment #43

Wondering what the “latest” is? It’s something called TWITTER.

http://twitter.com/

Now, like most big things I’ve missed by not understanding their significance, I’m looking at this and saying “What the heck do you use that for?” Twitter is an app where you broadcast short little “tweets” to your friends or to whoever chooses to get them. A tweet can be anything, stupid or profound. Here’s a tutorial:

http://www.webware.com/8301-1_109-9697867-2.html

It’s kinda like stalking with the help of the stalkee.

Come to think about it, maybe the sum total of all our tweets would be significant. A list of all tweets about and during a presidential press conference could be interesting.

Play!!

Monday, March 26, 2007

Assignment #42

OK Are you ready to be a hacker? I’ve seen this running around the Web for awhile but I haven’t had time to try it until now and it’s pretty cool. Just take

-inurl:(htm|html|php) intitle:"index of" +"last modified" +"parent directory" +description +size +(wma|mp3) "Kleptones"

and put it into Google. Substitute Kleptones with the name of a group or the name of a song. You should find lots of downloadable music.

And there’s actually a program that will download all those files on a page for you but you have to be using the Firefox Browser.

Goto http://www.downthemall.net/

For more hacks like this goto

http://www.googletutor.com/2005/04/15/voyeur-heaven/

Play!!

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Assignment #41

iTunes for podcasts

If you haven’t got it already. goto http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/win.html

And download the free QuickTime/iTunes. Install.

Many people think that iTunes is just for the ipod and just has songs to buy. Au Contraire, iTunes is the biggest distributor of podcasts and you ain’t nothing if your podcast isn’t on iTunes.

So, once it’s installed, click on iTunes Store, put Guam into the Search in the upper right and hit enter (don’t be looking for the button like I did.) Lots of interesting things come up. Click on the name to preview.

Always, check iTunes for media. Just a few minutes ago a lady came in looking for Greek language lessons. We had very little so I lined her up with Rosetta Stone Online and a Greek language learning podcast on iTunes.

Play!!

Assignment #40

Probably about once a month I get somebody in the library who needs information for a paper “but it can’t be from the Internet” because their instructor wants the info from a book or magazine. I send them to http://findarticles.com/

Yes, it’s still the Internet but the articles, both free and pay, are all right from popular magazines and even professional journals and what that instructor doesn’t know ain’t gonna hurt him.

Play!!

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Assignment #39

My Space the Last

I haven’t had the time to explore MySpace as much as I would like to but I did find out a couple things.

1) Check out Goolge Videos and, of course Youtube for tutorials on just about anything myspace.

2) There are websites set up to do everything for you as far as pimping (I love that word) your Myspace page.

There’s http://www.myspaceaid.com/

And http://www.glitter-graphics.com/myspace/

And, of course, http://www.pimpmyspace.org/

Just put myspace (almost anything) into Google and the sites will come up. Lots of tutorials too.

Play!!

Find old assignments at http://rameyerguam.blogspot.com

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Assignment #38

My Space Music

The easiest thing is to search My Space Music for a group. If you find the
group and they have the song you want click the “add”. The song will be on
your site.
Otherwise--
I’ve already mentioned Project Playlist to get music onto your My Space
page. It’s pretty straight forward.

However, their search isn’t near as good as what you can find at Dogpile-audio so
if you can’t find a song go on over to Dogpile and search there. You need
to come up with an MP3 file. After you already have a playlist. Go to “my account”.
Click on “delete / rearrange music on a playlist”
Click on your playlist.
Click on “Add URL/Link Direct to Playlist”
Paste the URL from Dogpile. It’ll be on you playlist.
Follow the instructions to put your playlist on your My Space site.

Lastly, to put your own songs on you’re My Space site, watch this tutorial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNDBLbrFXpE


Play!!

Monday, March 19, 2007

Assignment #37

My Space

(This is a continuation of last Friday’s email)

Goto your myspace page.

Yeh, I know, My Space has a bad reputation. Remember that wild bar back in college that you refused to go to until you were a junior? And then when you went you had a really good time? That’s My Space. Yeh, things can happen and it ain’t for kids but it is where things are happening.

OK

One thing you should know is you get a friend by being signed in and clicking the "add to friends" link at someone else’s page. You'll have to get an email verification and they have to accept you.

Probably one of the first things you should do is check out the GROUPS, Click on GROUPS on your myspace homepage. My Space has groups for everything. 172 groups came up when I put in Librarians. 2 Groups just on the movie Casablanca alone. Although it remains to be scene how active each group is.

That’s enough for today.

Play!!

Friday, March 16, 2007

Assignment #36

My Space http://myspace.com/ is one of the most popular sites on the web and with good reason. It’s an awesome site with over 163 million members. A couple weeks ago I used it to find local Guam music for a patron. It had the biggest collection. Next week I’m going to try to navigate through some of the harder to find options in My Space. So far I’ve registered, uploaded a picture and a video which were all pretty easy. I’ve also put a few favorite songs on by way of another site-Project Playlist: http://www.projectplaylist.com

So here’s my My Space site http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=164103927

And my Project Playlist site which is kind of a My Space wannabe but still in beta

http://www.projectplaylist.com/user/3770909/view

I’m going to rope my 11 year old and maybe even my daughter in Minnesota to help me with this and any of you who are part of those 163 million to send me your favorite My Space app. So if your not one of the millions yet- Register and

Play!!

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Assignment #35

Movie and Video Game Reviews

Goto http://www.rottentomatoes.com/

On the left under Tickets and Show times find the Movie Title “300”

It will automatically go to the next page.

Next-Put 96910 into the Location Input Click GO

They actually show times on Guam.

Click the REVIEWS tab just above.

Now go back up to the search. Put in DOOM.

Play!!

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Assignment #34

Librarian’s Favorite Song

Goto http://daveross.com/

Go down a little passed half way until you see MORE MP3 SONGS

Click on MP3: I Like Fat BOOKS! Sir Thinks-A-Lot and listen OR

Right Click on same and

Save Target AS

Download

Play!!

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Assignment #33

Goto http://worldatlas.com/

Click on it

On the right, click on Outline Maps and map tests

Under Map Tests, click on EUROPE

Print, do, check you answers.

Play!!

Find old assignments at http://rameyerguam.blogspot.com

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Assignment #32

Torrents

Torrents are thingees that help you download big files. They organize things so you can download (leech) from a number of people (seeds or other leechers)

First you need a torrent client:

Goto http://www.utorrent.com/download.php and download

µTorrent 1.6.1 Standalone (170 kB)-

(I think it’s pronounced moo-torrent but people just call it U-torrrent.)

After it downloads, fire it up.

Type GONE WITH THE WIND into the Search on µTorrent, hit enter.

It will use your browser to find GONE WITH THE WIND torrents.

Pick one and download it. It only takes a second. Use µTorrent to open the torrent. Start downloading just to see how it works. You’ll have to specifically delete it or it will keep downloading until it finishes.

Here’s a tutorial:

http://wiki.theppn.org/index.php/BitTorrent_Tutorial

Now this last week I managed to download a 4GB file that included a bunch of media files. I think it took a week because of the routers and/or firewalls we have here. However, it all came in (in normal format, not zip files) and they all seemed to work fine. It wasn’t fast but it worked quietly in the background and… it worked.

Play!!

Friday, March 9, 2007

Assignment #31

The Internet Archive

Goto http://www.archive.org/

Type www.36thservices.com into the WayBack machine.

Click on Nov 28, 2003

Pretty Cool uh!!

Now go back to the main page by clicking BACK twice.

Go right to texts and click on (by keyword)

Put GUAM in the Search.

This is Guam’s most famous old book, valued in its original form at $300. Even though it’s over 100 years old, it is still used extensively today which is why we were so happy to find a digital downloadable copy.

Play!!

Thursday, March 8, 2007

Assignment #30

Old Time Radio

Goto http://otr.net/

Go down to –Y- YOU ARE THERE

Click on Signing of Magna Carta

Play!!

One of my favorite personal collections that I use here at the Andersen AFB Library is what I call the Museum of Old Time Radio. 35,000 old radio shows on 40 DVD’s (MP3’s) that I got from http://www.bookzap.com

for + $100. Unfortunately, they don’t seem to have a smaller general collection anymore and you have to buy a huge collection in order to get a little bit of everything they have to offer. Fortunately, there are alternatives:

Bring an empty CD over to me and browse our catalog.

Or, there are lots of OTR sites on the web. Among them are

http://otr.net/ 12,000 shows freely streamed

http://www.otrftpserver.com/ lets you download a gig (150

shows) for $7.50

http://www.oldtimeradiofans.com/ some free downloads

http://www.archive.org/ a huge collection for downloads

and streams.

Google OLD TIME RADIO

What are OTR programs good for? Nostalgia, letting kids listen instead of watch, MP3 players, bedtime stories, history (YOU ARE THERE works great in a classroom). Use your imagination. Don’t have one? Nothing develops an imagination faster than listening to OTR.

Wednesday, March 7, 2007

Assignment #29

Goto The National Institutes of Health http://medlineplus.gov/

Go down the right side to the Surgery Videos.

Go down to Knee Injuries and Disorders

Watch Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction Surgery

Play!!

Tuesday, March 6, 2007

Assignment #28

Youtube Uploads

OK, so I uploaded a few videos to Youtube. It’s easy. Don’t worry if you get a page telling you the preferred format. Just post it, let them fix it. It may not be indexed (so you can search for it) for a couple days.

Goto http://youtube.com/watch?v=kv2K62fTXIs

After watching the short video, post a comment.

Click on rameyerguam to see other videos I put up.

The one with the Moody Blues was up before and I downloaded it but it was later erased. I’ll probably get in trouble for putting it back up but I really like it.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Co8l0IoDyDU

Here’re are a couple other videos with a Casablanca theme

http://youtube.com/watch?v=AY62QByUYJQ

http://youtube.com/watch?v=2X4S2hVBCu4

Play!!

Monday, March 5, 2007

Assignment #27

Find the price of a used car.

Goto Kelly Blue Book http://www.kbb.com/

Click the tab that says USED CARS.

Under GET BLUE BOOK VALUES put in year, make, and model.

Put in your zip code.

Select which value you’d like to see.

Select the trim.

Select equipment and put in mileage.

Select condition.

Presto!

Play!!

Thursday, March 1, 2007

No Assignment Today Just

Free Stuff

We all like free stuff and here’re my favorites. Send me your free stuff favorites and I’ll include them in a coming assignment.

Here is a bunch of great utilities and other things free:

http://www.techsupportalert.com/best_46_free_utilities.htm

Here is his extended list of additional freebies:

http://www.techsupportalert.com/more/extended.htm

Here’s a good place to get free software and other stuff but you have to pay $6 each for s/h.

http://www.planetcdrom.com/

Finally, http://www.rhapsody.com has a deal where you register with them and receive 25 free streams/month from their million song catalog. This works real well with your Audacity recorder. (See Assignment # 8)

Play!!

Assignment #26

Warning!!! If you have anything else to do today, quit reading this.

That being said goto

http://uncyclopedia.org/

This is the official wikipedia parody of wikipedia.

Type in GUAM or whatever

Play!!