Hasta La Gadget!

This article was written on May 28, 2007 by CyberNet.

Microsoft Monday

I think most people tend to view a blog as something that is done entirely online. In other words, because you read the blog online, it’s written online.  This however, is not always true.

There are a handful of offline alternatives to writing your blog that make it easy to create a post and then upload it to your blog.  One option that not many people think to use is Microsoft Word 2007. They have a blog post feature built right in!Setting it up only takes a few minutes, and before you know it, you’ll be all set to go.

Set-up

The first thing that you’ll want to do is Open Microsoft Word 2007.  Then you’ll want to create a new document, and from there you’ll see two options. Either you can create a blank document, or a blog post. Select to create a new blog post.

The first time that you do this, you’ll be presented with the steps for registering your blog.  The first thing you’ll be asked is to select your provider.  They have a list of supported providers, but if yours isn’t listed, don’t worry, you can still do it.  It’ll just take a few extra steps.

First, the listed of supported blogs are:

• Windows Live Spaces
• Blogger
• TypePad
• SharePoint Blog
• Community Server
• WordPress

If your provider isn’t listed, select “other” from the list of providers, and then you’ll go through a separate process of selecting your API, and then entering the URL for your blog.  From there you’ll be asked your user name and password, and then you’ll be all set to go.

What tools are available?

Using Microsoft Word to publish to your blog gives you several great tools to work with that makes the process easier.You’re still presented with the navigational Ribbon up at the top except there are only two tabs – “blog post” and “insert.”

The “blog post” tab will have all of your essential tools for changing the font, color, and size of the text that you’re using. You’ll also have a listing of some of the “Quick Styles” you might want to use (like quoting, or using headers).

You’ll also have the inline spell-check that you’d typically have with a Microsoft Word document which is really helpful. 

Under the “insert tab” you’ll find the options for inserting a table, pictures, charts, and other elements.

Publishing your Post

After your post is written and formatted, you’ll want to be sure you save it. Saving a post is no different then how you would save a document with Word. Just click the save button.

When you’re ready to publish, just click the Publish button. You can either publish as a draft, or publish it immediately to the blog. Once it’s been published, it’ll display a message across the top of your post saying that it was published to your blog, along with the date and time.

Below is what my post looked like after creating it in Microsoft Word and publishing it to my test blog on Blogger.

Wrapping it up

Microsoft Word now creates clean HTML. Previously it didn’t. I was expecting the code for the table that I inserted to be horrendous, but surprisingly, it wasn’t. Nice.

Secondly, if you want to publish images to your blog post, you’ll have to use a picture provider or another storage location like your own server if your blog service provider doesn’t offer an option. If you already have a blog set-up, you know how you handle images.

I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to use Word to publish a post to my test blog. I was also happy to see that the HTML is clean because previously, Microsoft Word wasn’t known for it.

Should you need help, Microsoft has a help page setup that should be able to answer most of your questions. You can find it here.

Copyright © 2010 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox

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Your Week in Review with Sunday’s SummaryMyFive: Reasons to Love Microsoft Office 2007Microsoft Lets Users Test Drive Office 2007 OnlineWord 2007 Viewer Now Available from MicrosoftOpen And Save Office 2007 Files In Office 2000/XP/2003

When word first reached Microsoft that the open-source community would hack the Kinect, the company’s response was pretty heavy-handed: “Microsoft does not condone the modification of its products,” a rep told CNET, pledging to “work closely with law enforcement and product safety groups to keep Kinect tamper-resistant.” But now that Kinect mods blow our minds on a near-daily basis, Redmond has changed its tone. Microsoft’s Alex Kipman told NPR Science Daily listeners that as far as the company’s concerned, the Kinect hasn’t actually been hacked thus far, and that Microsoft actually left the camera’s USB connection unprotected “by design” to let the community take advantage. Though he and fellow Microsoftie Shannon Loftis wouldn’t commit to official PC software drivers for the device, he did say that the company would “partner sooner rather than later” with academic institutions to get the hardware doled out, and suggested that some universities started playing with Kinect even before its commercial launch. Read a transcript of the pertinent section of the podcast after the break, or listen for yourself at our source link starting at the 18:22 mark.

[Thanks, Fred T.]

Continue reading Microsoft: I’m a PC, and Kinect open-source drivers were my idea

Microsoft: I’m a PC, and Kinect open-source drivers were my idea originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 20 Nov 2010 12:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This article was written on February 26, 2007 by CyberNet.

Microsoft Monday

Before I dive into Power Toys, I wanted to point out that we have changed our CyberNotes Monday feature to “Microsoft Monday.” It was about time for a change from the previous “Million Dollar Monday.” A rather large majority of our readers (94%) use some form of Windows, and I’m sure many of those that don’t still use software from Microsoft. For those reasons alone (and the fact that we’ve been Windows users forever), we thought it was a fitting topic. We’ll cover a variety of different things raging from Windows to Xbox to Microsoft Office, and everything in between. And as always, if you come across something that would fit in well with our “Microsoft Monday” feature, let us know! Now on to Power Toys…

First things first, the Power Toys that I am mentioning today work only with Windows XP. Yes, I know that XP is out and Vista is in, but there are still more people that use XP than Vista. So with that, what are Power Toys? Essentially, they are extra add-ons that have been released by developers after XP launched. They’re supposed to add functionality to your Windows Experience, and with my experience they work well.

Microsoft doesn’t offer technical support for them, and they’re unable to answer your questions because they’re not actually part of Windows.  Over time, I’ve downloaded and used a few of them without problems, so chances are, you won’t have problems either. Here are some of the more useful tools that I’ve used that might be helpful for you too.

—Image Resize—

There are are plethora of options for resizing images, but this one is by far the simplest one I’ve come across.  It does exactly what it says it does and nothing more. By right clicking on an image, or a group of images you’re given a few options for resizing. They include:

• Small (fits a 640×480 screen)
• Medium (fits a 800×480 screen)
• Large (fits a 1024×768 screen)
• Handheld PC (fits a 240 x 320 screen)

You’re also able to select a custom size, and resize the original picture.  By default, it will create a second copy of the image. This will be especially useful when you’re wanting to email pictures, or when there are image size restrictions (i.e. MySpace).

Download Image Re-sizer

—Power Calculator—

If you’re using the calculator on your computer, you probably aren’t needing any advanced functions. However, just in case you need more than the simple add, subtract, multiply, and divide, this Power Calculator gives you the ability to graph, evaluate functions, and perform conversions.

Entering Input is very similar to what you’d do with a standard graphing calculator, and the image below shows what the Power Calculator looks like:

Download Power Calculator

—HTML Slide Show Wizard—

This Power Toy will make it simple to create an HTML slide show because it does most of the work for you! After installing it, you can select to add single images, or an entire folder, and then drag them into the order you prefer for the slide show. Once you have your images in order, you’re give a few options like selecting a name for your show, what size you’d like it to be, and whether you want the simple, or advanced slide show type.

From there, your slide show is created and you’re ready to share it with friends or publish it to the web. It’s a really simple process that anyone can do.

Download HTML Slide Show Wizard

Each of these add-ons are really small downloads (around 550KB) and take no time to get set-up. I tend to use the Image Resizer most often just because I tend to email pictures frequently, and I know people don’t like to receive huge images.

You can find the entire list of Power Toys here, and remember, they’re only for Windows XP.

Copyright © 2010 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox

Related Posts:

CyberNotes: Your Week in Review with Sunday’s SummaryYour Week in Review with Sunday’s SummaryFlickr Fun With Flickr ToysImage Resizer “Power Toy” for Windows 7CyberNotes: How to Customize the Windows XP/Vista Send To Menu

In the photo above you see Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer performing a ribbon cutting at the company’s new store in Bellevue, Washington. Shortly after finishing with the ribbon, Ballmer proceeded to rampage the store and patrons, leaving 17 dead, 6 wounded, and a stunned Miley Cyrus wondering if she had made the wisest career decisions. Ballmer was finally subdued by Dave Matthews, who knocked the CEO unconscious with an 8-foot bong.

Josh: “I’m a PC, and I’m going to mess up your insides so bad, you’ll pray for death.”
Ben Bowers: “Anyone else want to claim Windows 7 was their idea?”
Chris: “To the cloud! With Windows 7 and Windows Live, Microsoft can mix and match its CEO’s best faces until it’s able to piece together a photo it’s proud to share.”
Ross: “Using the power of Control-X while mobile is just one of the many superpowers Ballmer has and Windows Phone 7 users don’t.”
Darren: “Moments before this tremendous occasion, Ballmer begrudgingly confirmed a prompt questioning his true intentions to dismantle a red ribbon.”
Nilay: “Touch my junk and I’ll have you arrested.”
Don: “There can only be one!”
Vlad: “I love this company! I love it so much I’m gonna cut it up into little pieces and eat it!”
Joe: “Clearly event organizers hadn’t planned for every possible emergency.”
Thomas: “Baby Ballmer cuts his own cord thankyouverymuch.”
Myriam: “Developers! It’s time to get cut and paste into Windows Phone 7…”

Caption Contest: Steve Ballmer goes on kill-crazy rampage at Microsoft Store originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Nov 2010 13:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hey Xbox 360 Kinect owners, want to spice up those family shadow puppet shows? Then check out the installation prototype created by Emily Gobeille and Theo Watson using an Xbox Kinect connected to a laptop using the libfreenect Kinect drivers and ofxKinect. The openFrameworks system tracks the elbow, wrist, thumb, and tips of the fingers to map a skeleton onto the movement and posture of an animated puppet. And get this: it was made in a day. So just imagine the Kinect homebrew we’ll have around this time next year. See it in action after the break.

[Thanks, Pradeep]

Continue reading Kinect hack creates world’s greatest shadow puppet (video)

Kinect hack creates world’s greatest shadow puppet (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Nov 2010 03:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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