TTT10-- Google News Alerts

Ever since I stumbled upon Google News Alerts, I've been having fun checking up on Scott Merrick, the 19 year-old New Hampshire congressman and Scott Merrick, Inc., the Australian employment firm, not to mention the occasional random news item that actually has something to do with me, Scott Merrick (earliest existing picture of same exhibited at right).

That's because I visited www.google.com/newsalerts and signed up to be alerted by email whenever there's a Web news article containing the search terms "Scott" and "Merrick." I did so by enclosing both terms in quotation marks, or else I'd get an email whenever the word "Scott" appeared or the word "Merrick." I also keep an eye on a particularly long-running local murder case, on "educational podcasting," and on "videoconferencing." When the emails announcing news (or News and Web) appearances of these terms appear in my inbox, I either ignore them or click on them and read--my choice, not the local or national news media's. As Martha Stewart might say, "It's a good thing."

Listen to TTT number 10, download the printable .pdf file, and set yourself up to keep up (at your own pace and at your own discretion) with items, professional and/or personal, of your interest.

Music for today's podcast has been provided by the Podsafe Music Network. I've butchered up a really kickin' song called "And the Good News Is" for my own nefarious porpoises. Especially if you're interested in country music, you really owe it to yourself to click on the link for "Nashville Star survivor" Sean Patrick McGraw and discover more about him. Thanks for listening, and please take a minute to share the site with a friend! Just copy the link from your address bar and send it to 'em. The more the merrier!!!

TTT9--Burn Baby Burn!

Hey, ya'll.

I'm jumpin' around here amongst the original "Wired Wednesday" cards that have inspired this podcast. Why? Because I can! We're back into the "General" category, and this episode of TTT is all about burning desire, or at least about the desire to burn.

CDs, compact disks-- can the youngstest amongst us imagine a world without them? I doubt it. Heck, I clearly recall cruisin' around in my '72 Buick station wagon's 8-track stereo and feeling like a tech wizard because I had figured out that in order to play a cassette tape (remember those?) I needed an adapter device I could jam into the deep 8-track chamber to fool it into thinking the cassette it was playing was actually a tape it was meant to process.

Anyway, as I move through my professional and personal worlds in the disguise of someone who actually knows something about technology, I've seen a lot of confusion about how to record information on these things. It would seem that one ought to be able to just drag and drop files into the thing, but it's actually a bit more complicated. Good news, though: Like a lot in your life, the more you do it the easier it gets to do. Thanks be.

Listen up to TTT9 here. May the Source be with you (whatever that means!).

Music for TTT9 is from Bob Hughes's "Back Burner," courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network. Thanks, Bob!

Don't forget to download the printable .pdf file from the list in the sidebar, and while you're at it, share TTT with your friends! And check out the list of other fun Podcasts in the sidebar, too.
Contrary to appearances, it's not all about tech, folks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TTT8 -- Cookies!

Yum yum yum yum yum--cookies! Everybody likes them. I particularly like chocolate chip ones, especially if the chips are semi-sweet or dark. Yummy. Particularly good on Valentine's day, like, for instance, today!

Okay, we're not talking about that kind of cookie this week. We're talkin' about the kind that your Web browser stores in a special folder on your computer's hard drive, a little text file that contains information about you and that can convey information the next time you log into a website. Like so many other features of our lives, this can be good, bad, or somewhere in between. Check out this expedient.com site resource for very detailed definitions and directions for dealing with cookies on a pletora of browsers besides Internet Explorer. Meanwhile, prepare to ride that player pause button whilst listening to this week's TechTipTuesday, downloadable here.

You might wonder why this TTT is spoken in an uncustomarily soothing and quite tone of voice. It's because I recorded it in the lobby of the school hotel at Interlochen Center for the Arts early in the a.m. this past Saturday morning. I am here (was there) to accompany my talented daughter for an audition to attend the Academy next year. She did just fabulously, and we have both enjoyed the winter snow and the intensely focused arts atmosphere. I'll be back in Nashville for next week's show, but if you reallyreally liked the tone of today's TTT, why not leave a comment to let me know? I'm always up for input, so I an improve output and facilitate throughput.

Music today is again from the Podsafe Music Network and was created by Jaime Beauchamp, a song called "Memorial Day." I just love hearing new music, ya'll. Hope you do, too!

Cheerio!

TTT7 -- Cache

It's all about the cache, ya'll. Not the "cash," though that'd be nice to have. It's about the way your browser works to save you time and bandwidth by displaying recently accessed webpages from your computer, not going back out again and downloading them again. This TTT will help you tweak your settings (or at least show you where to tweak them) and make your websurfing experience just that little bit better.

BTW, I did once have a cache torn down by a brown bear in Alaska, pulled out of a tree 15 feet high and ripped open. It looked like the big cans of bulk dried veggies had been used for target practice--but I knew that was only its teeth that made the holes.

I moved my camp the next morning.

Download TTT7 here. Don't forget to download the printable .pdf file from the sidebar at the right, and don't forget to smile!!!

Music today from the Podsafe Music Network. Image from the PennyPostcards website.

Cheerio,
Scott