Bayside NY and the Internet

Throgs Neck Bridge

This post could be adopted for almost any city, town, area etc. I live in Bayside,NY and most of my customers also live here. I have wanted to do a blog post about Bayside for a while. Let me first say that for any of the products, businesses, etc. that I mention, I have not received any compensation or assurances, hints, discounts, etc of compensation as of July 7, 2011 for mentioning the products, businesses, etc in question by anyone.  Bayside is bordered by Douglaston and Little Neck on the east, Flushing, Fresh Meadows and Whitestone on the west, Long Island Sound on the North and Jamaica on the south.  Bayside includes the neighborhoods of Bay Terrace, Bayside Hills, and Oakland Gardens. forest hills, great neck

When doing a Google search using "Bayside" the band Bayside from Queens is shown on the first page as well as a few Bayside, NY related pages and other terms having Bayside in it. Searching under the term "Bayside NY" yields more related to the area. (Hotels, Bay Terrace Shopping Center, Bayside Historical Society are a few). north shore towers, forest hills, forest hills computer, forest hills computer repair

The local park is Fort Totten which gets a good amount of visitors for the views offered and the historical buildings. Check their website often as tours, fitness walks, canoeing are just a few of the things offered this summer. There will be other offerings in the fall. http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/forttotten/

Fort Totten

Bayside, NY also has many restaurants especially along Bell Blvd which is the main street and where most of the businesses are located. Doing a Google search "Bayside Restaurants" brings up a whole bunch of them mainly from Bayside, NY and also other locales such as Bayside Restaurant in Newport Beach, Ca. Change your search to "Bayside NY Restaurants" for a more personalized listing. If you are interested in a particular ethnic cuisine just add that particular ethnic cuisine in your search terms. Note that adding a specific ethnic cuisine will possibly include restaurants outside of Bayside.

Bayside after the 2011 blizzard.

You can find out more about Bayside by using Facebook. Put "Bayside" in the search tab on top of the page and you get items for more than Bayside, NY including the band Bayside.  Putting "Bayside NY" gives you largely co-op and condo buildings at first, then a few local businesses. Bayside Queens goes a little further. You can request to join a group "Bayside Queens" for starters. You can also search based upon the "Bay Terrace" and "Bayside Hills" sections. Keep in mind that there are likely to be others by those same name. There is a Bay Terrace section of Staten Island and related items will also show up when searching "Bay Terrace".

Bayside has a prominent shopping center. The Bay Terrace Shopping Center is located in the Bay Terrace section and contains many well known stores and attracts shoppers from Bayside and the surrounding areas. It is a good place to meet for socializing as well as shopping. They also have a page on Facebook as well.

Another good search are the following Wikipedia sites:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayside,_Queens - Wikipedia article on Bayside.
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_Terrace,_Queens - Wikipedia article on Bay Terrace section of Bayside.
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Queens_neighborhoods - List of Queens neighborhoods by geographical location.

The Wikipedia entries noted above also provide selected external links that may be of interest. 

Bayside after the 2011 blizzard.

Last but not least by going onto Twitter (you do not need to log in) and putting the terms "Bayside NY" or "Bayside Queens" you may just find something of interest.

Throgs Neck Bridge

In all Bayside, NY is a nice area to live in or visit. See some of the pictures I have taken in the area and included. If you are new to or unfamiliar with the area, you can learn more about it by using the internet and social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. If you live in Bayside, NY enjoy what Bayside has to offer.  If you don't, you will be welcomed with open arms when visiting.

If you have additional questions about storing information on the internet, I can be reached at (917) 572-3468 or email me at mike@computerconciergeny.com 

My Facebook page provides information on the current goings on in the technology field. There are tips to better use your technology. For timely information, please visit and "Like" my page.

Computer Concierge NY LLC provides expert computer and technology services in the Queens, NY area. This includes Albertson, Bayside, Bayside Hills, Bay Terrace, Bellerose, College Point, Douglaston, Floral Park,  Flushing, Forest Hills, Great Neck, Jamaica Estates, Kew Gardens, Kings Point, Lake Success, Manhasset, Mineola, Munsey Park,  New Hyde Park, North Hills, North Shore Towers, Oakland Gardens, Plandome, Rego Park, Roslyn, The Bay Club, Thomaston, University Gardens, Williston Park, Whitestone and Other Areas in the Bayside, NY vicinity.  Our web services are provided worldwide.

Good Freeware Review Site

As you probably know there is software that is available at no charge.  There are a few good sites to go to for recommendations notably  http://www.pcworld.com/ and http://www.cnet.com/.  Another not so well known one but very good one is http://www.techsupportalert.com/

Techsupportalert.com reviews and lists free software by category. Their primary function is dedicated to helping you determine the best freeware product for your needs. If you are looking for a free antivirus program there is a category where they rate the best antivirus software.  There are many other categories as well.  The home page is set up in a user friendly format and is easy to navigate.   They have an "Editor's Choice List" for their best picks in every category.  Further they have a category of "Best Free Online Applications and Services." These represent the best online available by category in the cloud.  For those not familiar with the cloud, think of having a personal storage site away from your home.  The cloud is storage on the internet. An example of this would be free online backup services.  This does not take up any space on your hard drive as the backup is in the cloud. There is also a forum where you can post questions or answer other's who have questions.

So the next time you are looking for a freeware program or free online service or application, give Techsupportalert.com a try.  I don't think you will be disappointed.

GCF Learn Free

For those wanting to learn a new subject or brush up on a new one, GCFLearnFree.org is a good site to start.  With courses on subjects like computer software (particularly Microsoft Office), everyday life, money, and career this is a good place to go to for free courses. You can study at your own pace and there are accompanying videos that aid in your grasping the subject and greatly support the content taught. You also can register for courses given online that are graded by instructors. These instructors also will also provide help and feedback as well. You can finish these courses in a few days or up to 4 weeks. Upon completion for these you are awarded a certificate of completion.  You are not awarded a certificate for completing the self paced courses. There are also some good GCF videos on YouTube as well.  See link:  http://www.youtube.com/user/gcflearnfree

Some of these courses are very basic like "Cash Back".  Others like the ones for the various editions of Microsoft Office Excel and Microsoft Office Access are more involved.  By creating an account you are able to see what courses you have taken or are in the process of taking.  Courses that are more involved have various sections and a challenge at the end of each section. What I like about the Microsoft Office courses are that they are not only offered for the current version but for several previous versions. It is not necessary to be using the current version to get instruction that is meaningful for you. For those who are beginners with regards to computers, their Computer Basics course is useful and informative.  Most of their courses are computer related. Their Facebook page notes that  they provide "innovative online learning opportunities to anyone who wants to improve their technology, literacy, and math skills."

You may wonder how are they able to do this for free. GCFLearnFree.org is supported by the Goodwill Community Foundation. GCFLearnFree.org serves to support the educational mission of the Goodwill Community Foundation which is "to create and provide education, employment, and life enrichment opportunities for people who desire to improve the quality of their lives" as per the GCFLearnFree.org site. It certainly is a good site to go to for your lifelong education.


Computer Concierge NY LLC, provides expert computer services in the Bayside, NY area, Including Queens, Albertson, Bayside Hills, Bay Terrace, Bellrose, College Point, Douglaston, Floral Park,  Flushing, Forest Hills, Great Neck, Jamaica Estates, Kew Gardens, Kings Point, Lake Success, Manhasset, Mineola, Munsey Park,  New Hyde Park, North Hills, North Shore Towers, Oakland Gardens, Plandome, Rego Park, Roslyn, The Bay Club, Thomaston, University Gardens, Williston Park, Whitestone and Other Areas in the Bayside vicinity.  

Xmarks for Saving and Syncing Bookmarks

Due to the recent acquisition of by LastPass, Xmarks will continue on.  It is a great tool for backing up your favorites/bookmarks as well as for syncing them across browsers and other computers. You can sync your bookmarks currently among Firefox, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, and Safari browsers.  


You need to decide which computer and browser is where you will make initial changes to your bookmarks. Usually this will be the browser that you use most often on your main computer.  From here, you can sync across your other browsers and any other computers you have.  Xmarks allows you to merge bookmarks on Xmarks server with your browser, keep bookmarks on your browser discarding those on the server (main bookmark), keep the bookmarks on the server while discarding those on your browser.  You also can integrate passwords (not recommended), and open tabs as well as enabling automatic synchronization. This is a great timesaver that eliminates the need to do this manually. A feature of Xmarks is also that you can be away from your computers but can retrieve that necessary site that you wish to access but cannot remember the name by accessing the website and logging into it. I found the instructions easy to follow and the program is user friendly.


A paid version of Xmarks ($12 annually) allows you to sync between your smartphone and track and backup all changes to your bookmarks. My personal opinion is that this is not needed.  


While there are ways to save your bookmarks on your computer and sync using your saved bookmarks on your computer, Xmarks is a free way to do this saving time and aggravation.


I also want to extend my best wishes to those celebrating a very Merry Christmas and to all a very Happy and prosperous 2011.

A Good Product Review Site for Tech Products and More

Want to know if you should purchase that camera you have in mind?  Need a good place for downloads? Or just want a good place for Tech News.  Then CNET is a good site for you to go to and explore.

The top of their webpage offers 4 selections in addition to a search bar and a "Home" icon.  They are "Reviews" "News" "Downloads" and "Videos".

For "Reviews", all sorts of tech products from computers, cameras to mp3 players are reviewed here.  You can see how the product you are interested in compares to similar products. Many have a video review by one of CNET's experts.  It is the largest part of the site generating per Wikipedia over 4,300 product and software reviews annually.  Most of the traffic generated to the site is for its reviews.

The "News" section has headlines and more details of Tech related news.  The information can be very useful for your own technology.  It includes articles about tech related business, wireless, green tech, blogs among other subjects.

"Downloads" consists of about 500,000 software titles for download  with both freeware and non freeware titles.  You can download based upon operating system, type of software and price.  There is probably some good software for your computer here and it certainly is worthwhile checking out.

The "Video" section includes product videos and how to instructional videos.  As a visual person, I have gotten some good tips here.

One of the other features of this site is the ability to compare prices for a product you may be thinking of buying.

All in all this is a good site for tech information particularly the reviews and downloads.  There are discussion forums for asking questions and exchanging information as well. Like most forum sections you need to set up an account. Why not check it out and if it meets your needs include it as one of  your bookmarks/favorites.

Take College Courses Online for Free

On the web there are many good sites for learning to put it mildly. 

But did you know you can take college courses online for free? For some of these you can listen online to prerecorded lectures/discussions. http://www.ocwconsortium.org/ has a listing of courses online.  MIT has courses there as well on  http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm . Another good site is http://www.apple.com/education/itunes-u/whats-on.html. The latter has mainly courses on audio. Among other colleges having open courseware are Tufts, Notre Dame and Yale a pretty good selection to say the least.  Just do a google search for "opencourseware".  Best of all they are free! A lot also have downloadable handouts as well. You also can search on youtube.com for lectures and courses.  Type the name of the college or university followed by lectures or courses and see the selection available. 

A good way to continue your lifelong learning with no admissions application, tuition, fees or other costs.

Capturing What You See on Your Screen

Ever want to grab part or all of what you see on your screen? Want to email some or all of what you see on your screen? The Snipping Tool is for you.  This tool is included in the Windows7 and Vista operating systems. To access it go to the "Start" tab and in the search bar type in "snipping tool". You will then see the icon to click for the Snipping tool at the top left of the start menu .

Note that you are limited to what you are able to see on the screen view.  You can select all of what you see or some of it. You have the choice of a rectangular snip, free form snip, window snip or full screen snip. You select this by selecting the down arrow in the drop down menu next to "New".  With the rectangular snip, you are able to snip in a rectangular form  what you see on your screen.  The free form snip is just that.  You can snip whatever shape of your screen view to capture whether it be a triangle, circle, etc.  With the window snip you select a window that you have opened that you wish to capture.   The full screen snip is just that.  What you see on your screen is what is captured.

Once you have captured your screenshot, you can make your own notes and/or highlight selected areas on what you just captured in the captured file.  You also have the ability to email your finished product.  You also have the ability to save your capture.

The Snipping Tool is a handy tool and can make your computer life a bit easier.  Give it a try sometime.

Password Protection Revisited

A few months back I did a post on password protection.  http://bit.ly/d4nvD5.   As a follow up there are additional items to consider regarding password protection.  My previous post mentioned that a secure password should have a minimum of 8 characters.  The thinking regarding this minimum number is changing to where a minimum of 12 and up to 14 characters should be used for a secure password.  Microsoft has a website where you can check your password strength as shown.  http://bit.ly/1F3MKA  They recommend a minimum of 14 characters.


An important thing to consider is when you set up a user name and password on a site, you may have to answer at least 1 security question.  This is in the event you forget your password, the site will ask you a question that you need to answer correctly in order to regain access to your account.  Perhaps the most common is asking for your mother's maiden name.  As I am noting in the next paragraph, be careful of how you answer these questions.  You do not have to give a correct answer but remember the answer you give.


A while back I wrote on how your future employer gets to know you before they meet you.  http://bit.ly/9AGqbR  In it I mentioned why you need to be careful about what you post online.  Here is another reason.  What you post can directly and indirectly be used to obtain information that can answer those security questions and not necessarily posted by you.  For example the question of your mother's maiden name.  If your mother is a Facebook friend of yours and uses her maiden name as part of her name, there is the answer to the question of your mother's maiden name.  For the question of your mother's maiden name, you may want to use something else like a neighbor's last name, a friend's maiden name, etc.   Discover Card asks the question "What city were you married in?"  If you have been married more than once, you can use the city of your first marriage.  I think you get what I am saying here.  During the 2008 presidential election, Sarah Palin's personal email account was hacked because a lot of her personal information was out there and the hacker knew the information needed to answer her security question.


In closing, be careful again of what you post online.  This information can be used to access online accounts that you would not want others to access.

The Library on the Web

Libraries are not only good for books, DVDs and reading magazines.  These days they also have a web presence.  While you can get local information by going to your local library's web site, the web sites mentioned offer a vast amount of information and you do not need to leave your home.

Our own Library of Congress (America's library) has a website that is also a good source of learning. On their site is a vast amount of information.  You can easily spend a day going through it and still have a lot to see all that is on it. You also can download and play podcasts and webcasts as well as viewing and downloading photographs from various collections. Informative transcripts and collections can be viewed. There are dedicated sections for kids, librarians publishers and teachers. Certain old newspapers are also available for viewing. There is a lot here related to American History. You also can order at a charge certain videos of historical significance.  Simply put there is more than I can ever say in a post of what is here.  By going to Thomas.gov which is a part of the Library of Congress you can find legislative information.  Status of bills, current activity of the House and Senate, searching the Congressional Record are just some of the things available here.

LibrarySpot.com is largely a reference site. It also is a good gateway through links to other informative sites.  It is worth checking out.  Again, so much information is at your fingertips.  Links to dictionaries, almanacs, calculators, etc, are on this site.

My local library  Queens Library has a web site that for starters allows me to reserve books, movies and see the availability of these items at the various branches.  My library card allows me to research various databases online including encyclopedias. For example one can get information on companies that they are researching for a job interview or other reason by going to the Business and Company Resource Center available through NOVEL NY which my library is part of. Community information is also available on the Queens Library website.


So if it is 3AM and you cannot get back to sleep and want to do some research head out to the library.  The online library.

Why I Am Not Following You On Twitter

Twitter is a very prominent social networking and microblogging service. Those using Twitter have people they follow and people who follow them.

There are those people who I will follow when I see that they are following me. There are those I will tend not to follow. The reasons I do not follow someone are entirely not personal.  The person could be a very good person. These reasons are not absolute as I have made exceptions. Some reasons for not following someone are:

1. They have less then 10 tweets. I like to get a feel for what the person is like before following. With few or none tweets of their own, I am unable to grasp what they are about. Do their tweets align with their profile? 
2. Someone not having a profile or the profile does not tell me about them. Who are you? What are you about? I would like to know about you if I am to follow you.
3. A person seems to be tweeting on an almost ongoing basis. There are those who it seems are constantly on Twitter tweeting what appears 200 times daily or so. Twitter is about conversation and in a conversation there is an exchange of ideas.
4. Tweets consistently showing the same link. The person is spamming on Twitter. 
5. Their interests do not match what I am interested in. Let's say a person constantly tweets about Newton's 3 Laws of Motion. This is a subject that would make me not inclined to follow. That said, I did once make an exception for a follower who I had no intent of following. They did however list me and mentioned me on a Tweet.  I must admit they charmed me into following them and I am glad to follow as whoever tweets for this Twitter handle is a really nice person.
6. Their tweets are all about them and trying to plug their product and/or themselves. Similar to #4.  
7. "Tips on making money" is in their bio. Again it is about them. We all want to make money but at least be subtle about it. 
8. Someone who follows many people and hardly anyone follows them. A lot of times this ties in to having few or no tweets.  
9. They do not have a link to their website or blog in their profile or just as bad the website link in their profile does not work.  
10. They seem to argue rather than discuss. Twitter is about an exchange of ideas and not I am right and you are wrong. Further 2 people can have different approaches to an issue and both be right.  

While there are other reasons, these are the main ones.  For those not having many tweets and/or no profile, I want to know more about you before I follow.  

Maps Online Part II - Google Maps

In a previous blog, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps and Mapquest were discussed.  Google Maps is probably the most used online mapping service and understandably so because of the features and speed.

One of the great feature of Google Maps is when you type the name of a location, Google predicts the results of your search as you are typing in a manner similar to doing a Google search.  Type your search in the search bar and you will see what Google thinks you are searching for.  This can speed up your search since if your result shows you can just click on it and the map will show the location you are seeking. The ease of zooming in and out using your mouse's scroll wheel is just another reason this a good map.

Google Maps allows you to get directions by car, mass transit, walking or bicycling. Of the 4 maps that have been discussed it is the only one where you can get directions by all of the choices mentioned.  Bing Maps allows directions for all but bicycling.  Whether getting directions for a trip or navigating to an address, you can get both live traffic and the expected traffic based upon date and time of your expected travel.  The expected traffic is based upon past traffic patterns.  You will sometimes get more than 1 route when searching for directions.  On a long trip, the difference can be a matter of a few minutes but the longer route could be more scenic.  The choice is yours.

Google Street view is much improved but the picture quality still trails Bing Maps. That said, it is quite a bit easier to go to/from Google Street than going to/from Bing Maps Streetside view. What I personally like is the ease of navigation.  I was showing a friend of mine great vantage points NW of San Francisco to get great views of the Golden Gate Bridge.  Using the street view enabled me to give him a preview of what he would see in person on his trip.

As you zoom in an area, you can see the location of points of interest.  Further to the right of the search bar is an option, "What's Around Here"? You will see letter codes that correspond to the listing on the left side of the map.

The others have their features (the quality of pictures when using Bing Streetside, the turn by turn directions using Mapquest).  The features of Google Maps such as its speed and ease of use  are why it is the preferred mapping site to use.

Cloud Computing AKA the Internet

These days a lot is mentioned about Cloud Computing. In a nutshell cloud computing is another term for the internet.  When services like Mozy.com mention online backup what they also mean is that your data is backed up in the cloud. When you are on vacation and check your email, that email is stored in the cloud. If you are using a spreadsheet program in Google Docs and calculations are made to that file, the calculation is done in the cloud.  These are just a few applications that are done in the cloud.  Google has been designing a new operating system Google Chrome OS that will work exclusively with web applications. It is expected to be released later this year.

The beauty of the cloud is that you are able to access your files anywhere there is an internet connection.  If you are halfway around the world and need to know where that Tuesday meeting after you get back is and with who, you can go to an online product like Google Calendar to find out. Items in the cloud do not take up space on your hard drive.

Needless to say it isn't perfect and there are issues and concerns the biggest being privacy and security.  Since you are trusting your data to a third party you want your information to be secure and not easily accessible to those you wish to keep it away from. You also want to be assured that the provider will not lose your data.  As we know Facebook has had security and privacy issues.  I believe that as we move more into the cloud, these issues will resolve themselves. Security and privacy will be much improved because of competition and technological advances. Another issue is the accessibility of the data.  What if the internet goes down or either you or your provider lose internet access?  The quick and short answer to this is unless you have backed up your data locally you have to wait until access is restored. That said, web services are continually improving as to access and security.  Like any service providers there are good and bad.  Keep in mind if your hard drive crashes or you cannot get on your computer for some other reason, having backups is important. Cloud applications do guarantee the safety of your data.  Any reputable company storing your data online will have backups of their own.  I will say this in closing for those of you who do online banking and/or get credit card statements online. The bank statements you see in your account where you do your online banking that saves you space(you do not need a hard copy of them) is in the cloud as are the credit card statements you see in your online account.  Businesses are starting to move their data into the cloud accessing and storing it there.

Google Docs - 1 thing I Forgot to Mention

In my previous post of Google Docs I forgot to mention another key feature. You have the ability to revert back to a previous saved version of a file. This can be useful if a major error is noticed or for whatever reason you desire to revert to a previous saved version. Under the top menu select "File" and under "File" select "See Revision History". The revision history will appear in the right hand side. Select the date and time of the saved version you wish to revert to. Then select "Restore this Version"

Another good feature of Google Docs.

Computer Concierge NY LLC,computer,computer services,Bayside,Bay Terrace,Whitestone,Flushing,North Shore,Queens,Great Neck,North Shore Towers,Bay Club,The Bay Club,Towers at Water's Edge,LeHavre,Cryder House,Clearview Gardens,11360,11361,11021,11357, computerconciergeny.com

Use the Internet to Save Your Trip

What would happen on a trip if you were to lose your passport, credit cards, driver's license, etc?  I find it to be a good idea to scan all except the credit cards and then save it as a word file using Microsoft Word (MS Word).  As for the credit cards, I make a list of that using MS Excel. I have the name of the card in one column and the card number in another column. You can also do a list in MS Word.  Using MS Excel is a personal preference.

In saving these files I make sure to password protect them. Since the method to password protect a file differs by program used and version of that program you need to go to the help section to determine how to password protect the file. I then email the file to myself. What I am doing here is adding an extra layer of security to information that if it fell into the wrong hands would make me more susceptible to identity theft. One would need to know both my email password as well as the password I am using to protect the respective files that contain this sensitive data. I would suggest making the passwords for your email and files different.

One does not have to limit to just credit cards, passport and drivers license. Scanning current drug prescriptions you are using and saving them to a word type file is another good idea where you have a copy of the prescription. This way if you were to lose the prescription drugs you had packed, you should have an easier time refilling it. You can also put the numbers of your travelers checks in a file as well. I also keep my phonebook in my Google contacts list so should I need a number I can get it wherever I have an internet connection which would include my smartphone.

Doing all of these is not a magic bullet should you have a loss. It will however make it easier to travel and in the case of a passport get a replacement more easily in the event of losing any important documents. I would also suggest that you avoid using an unsecured public wireless network to obtain any of this. If you have a smartphone, you can likely access this information using it. That said another way to store your files is if you are using a syncing program like Dropbox or Sugarsync. You can log onto the one you are using to access the information in question. I will suggest here that you do not save this information on the hard drive of any computers you may be travelling with. Better that it is in the cloud where the data and you are not in the same place. Also should your computer get lost or stolen, you can still access it from another computer. If anyone is interested in opening a Dropbox account let me know before setting up your account. I will send you an invite to join Dropbox and both of us will get an extra 250mb of free storage. A win/win for both of us. Note: as I mentioned in my blog last week, you cannot upload or save a password protected file in Google Docs.

Hopefully you will never need to access these files in an emergency.  However, having them in an emergency can make your life easier when it occurs.

Google Docs

There are some very good uses of Google Docs. It is a word processor, spreadsheet, or presentation program and can be an alternative to Microsoft Office. Some use it is a way to backup selected files online. It also is a way to share selected files among users where these users have the ability to make changes to the files or view only. You can backup files (up to 1GB free) here and share any files. Google Docs is a cloud application. All files are stored on Google's servers. You access them on the internet therefore in the cloud. You can set up folders on your Google Docs site and treat it as another drive but this one is in the clouds.  For $59 you can purchase an app that makes Google Docs your "G:" drive on your computer. On Google's page regarding this I see nothing about being able to sync files on your hard drive with Google Docs and vice versa.

Let's start with the backup feature. You do have the ability to backup selected files on your Google Docs account. You can drag the files you select to the indicated box or clicking on the "Select Files to Upload" link.  Note that at this time you have to upload individual files. You cannot upload by folder. You need to select all the individual files in that folder. Personally I find this to be a disadvantage and why I would not use this to backup files per se. Further if you are password protecting a file, Google Docs will not allow you to upload it to its site. Currently Google allows up to 1GB to be stored free of charge. However files saved in a Google Docs format are not subject to the 1GB limitation. There is no automatic backup. You need to upload the updated file(s) manually. Note that you can purchase additional storage. 20GB is $5 per year and 80GB is $20 per year. You also can purchase additional amounts.

Like Libreoffice, Microsoft Office, Google Docs also is an office software suite. Google's suite includes a word processor, spreadsheet editor and presentation program. Like most office software suites, it supports the basic Microsoft (MS) Office programs (Word, Excel, PowerPoint). A big advantage of the Google Docs software suite is it can be shared, edited and opened by multiple users at the same time. This is a good feature when you are working on a team project for work, school or otherwise that involves a file(s) that all need to access and edit. When my wife and I are preparing for a trip, we will put a "To See" list on Google Docs for that trip that both of us can add to and edit . This sharing capability is a factor in why usage of Google Docs has increased. There are templates available for your use as well.

I personally like the sharing option the best. I talked a little about this in the previous paragraph. There are 3 sharing options. One is only where you and only people with permission can sign in to access the file. The second is where anyone with a link to the file can access it without signing in. The third sharing option is where the file is public on the web. Anyone on the internet can find and access it. You also have the ability to decide whether or not those with access to the file can also make changes. This is for any of the 3 sharing options. With a smartphone, files can be edited on your phone by you and others you allow to edit. For those who do presentations, this is a great way to email attendees notes from your presentation. You give those views view access and email the link.

Google Docs is a good application of Google especially when sharing files between users.  Try it for your next team project.

Maps Online - Part I

Some may remember the days of going to the neighborhood gas station and getting a free map to plan your trip or if it was a trip farther away, writing and getting directions from the oil companies such as Sinclair, Esso, etc.  Well those days are long gone.  They have been replaced by online maps, GPSes and even smartphones.

For online mapping there are 4 primary websites: Bing Maps, Google Maps, MapQuest and Yahoo Maps.  Bing Maps, MapQuest and Yahoo Maps will be covered in this blog.  Google Maps will be covered in a future blog.

Bing Maps is the new map on the block comparatively speaking.  The map allows you to get directions for driving, walking or public transportation.  It also is easy to send the directions to your email or cell phone.  You can get directions based upon current real time traffic conditions though this is generally limited to the major thoroughfares. Directions do note at the end of the route if you have reached a certain location that you have gone too far which is a nice touch.  The "What's Nearby" feature is also useful.  I found it easy to zoom in and out using the road view and arial view.  Where it has already been photographed, the Streetside view has clear pictures an certainly clearer than the heralded Google Maps. However when moving along the street in Streetside view there is not an indication of about where you are.  I do like the 3D views with which you can rotate/pan and zoom functions. That said, it is relatively slow to open and also to go from view to view as well as going to the location you choose.  There is certainly room for improvement here.  Also if you wish to reverse your route after you have gotten directions, you need to go back to the search page. This is not a good thing.

MapQuest has a lot of the features that the others have with 1 notable exception. You cannot use your scroll wheel to zoom in and out on the map. You can only get directions by car.  No walking, public transit, etc. directions can be obtained using MapQuest.  It has a street view known as 360 view but the areas available are relatively few and slower than expected.  I did not find 360 view to be user friendly. Like the others, there is a way to search for businesses in the area.  MapQuest has a drop down menu of choices or you type your own in the search bar under "Find a Business".  A real good feature of MapQuest when searching for directions is you can get turn by turn directions if you wish.  This and Google Maps are the only ones of the 4 maps where you can do this.  Bing Maps allow you to go to the text indicating the turns and click to go to the location on the map but MapQuest's turn by turn directions is preferred.

Yahoo Maps offers live traffic and a points of interest finder.  It also computes a route rather quickly.  Yahoo Maps is better used to computing a route by car. There is not a way to determine a route by other means.  Yahoo Maps is also the only map that I am reviewing that does not have any drop down menu for locating businesses. Google Maps does have a very limited one which is stretching it a bit and will be covered in a future blog as noted earlier. You also can use it to find a business along the map that is showing on the screen.  This is done by typing the category in the search bar under "Find a Business on a Map".  It is more of a no frills map to mainly be used for directions by auto and finding a business.  There is no street view like in Bing Maps or Google Maps.  Further you cannot get a map for turn by turn directions or click on the text directions to go to that part on the map.

One final note here.  All 4 maps allow you to click to change a route by dragging any part of the route.

Also for those subscribing by email to my blogs, please check your spam settings if you are not receiving them.  Some have noted that the email of this blog has gone to their spam folder.  It should be marked as "not Spam".

How Far Is That?

Before I blog about the subject at hand, I wanted to mention that you can subscribe to this blog by email or RSS feed.  On the right side towards the upper part is a "Subscribe Via Email" link.  On the bottom of the page is a "Subscribe to Blog" tag.  By clicking on Posts, you can select the RSS service you wish to link this blog to.

Recently I went running out of town and could not get my GPS to work for me to know how far I ran. By using Google Maps, I later was able to map out the route and determine how far I actually ran instead of guessing the distance. The days of driving your car  to determine that distance of the route is in the past.  Further it does not work well where there are one way streets involved.   Note a few weeks ago I did a post about Google Maps.  I did not include this feature as it deserves its own space.

First you need to set up a Google account if you already do not have one.  Once that is done, go to Google Maps.  In the top right there is in red "New!".  Select this option. Find the option "Distance Measurement Tool" and select "Enable".  On the lower left of the map itself is an icon that looks like a small ruler. Once you have zoomed in on the map to your desired starting point click on this small ruler with your mouse. Then go to your starting point and click here with your mouse.  Click at the first turn and all subsequent turns.  If you make an error select the option on the left side to "Delete last point". While you are mapping your route the total distance to this point shows on the left side.  When you are done, the distance I just mentioned is now the total distance of that run, walk, or bicycling that you have done.

I used this to measure the distance of a run I already did.  You can of course it to plan a path for running, bicycling, walking, etc.  It is a tool that can come in handy. However the next time you tell someone that it is a short walk to wherever you want to walk with them to, they can check if it really is a short walk later on.

Windows Live Hotmail

To paraphrase, this is the web based email service formerly known as Hotmail and Windows Hotmail. With approximately 360 million subscribers, it is one of the larger email services and is owned by Microsoft.  While I was not able to locate the maximum amount of storage using Windows Live Hotmail (Hotmail) they advertise as "ever increasing storage." Last year the liveside.net website showed a maximum storage amount of 500gb which these days might be considered unlimited. You can attach up to 25mg to an email message which is currently the standard for most email providers.

One of the advantages of Hotmail is the ability to change the interface and look of the webmail page very easily.  You can set up your reading pane to preview messages before opening it. A lot of people like this ability as you can see the message and delete it without opening it.  The preview pane can be on the right side or bottom. Another feature is the "Sweep" function.  This can be a great function for cleaning up a cluttered mailbox and is a very useful tool. With this function you can select a message or message group to clean up.  You can delete all or move to a folder.  There are more options and the choice is yours. Further if doing a sweep by email address, you can easily set up a filter for all future emails from that address.

Like Gmail, you can also view messages by conversation which keeps all messages on the same subject together in an email stream. 

There are concerns mainly with the contacts list which is used with many an email message.  Using the contact list is not the most user friendly.  When importing to Hotmail, I found that I needed to go to each email address and edit the address so it appears like it did prior to importing.  You also cannot delete all of your contacts at 1 time.  At most, you can delete 25 contacts at a time.  While your Gmail contacts cannot be deleted all at once, you can delete up to 100 contacts at a time.  I did not find the import feature too friendly when importing your contacts file.  I needed to search for the way to do this.  Same goes for importing Yahoo contacts.  You may be better exporting your Yahoo contacts as a .csv file then importing that file into your Hotmail contacts.

In addition to what has been noted, having a Hotmail account gives you access to other features of Windows Live. It may work for you. 

Facebook Privacy Settings

As you likely are aware, Facebook has had privacy issues that seem to pop up from time to time. You always need to keep on top of privacy issues that come out through the media or otherwise. Below are some security settings you may or may not be aware of.  By using these you will further be able to have your Facebook profile and activity seen only by those you want to.

If you wish that a particular person not be able to access your profile or even see that you have a Facebook account, there is a "Block Lists" in the privacy section (note that all unless otherwise noted require going into the privacy section). Just enter the name of the person you wish to block. Note that for this that the person can log on under another ID that would enable him or her to access your profile according to your privacy settings.

Under "Customize Settings" in the privacy section there is a section "Things Others Share". This is what others can share about you. Make sure to edit these to your choosing.  In particular "Friends Can Check Me Into Places".  This is one that you will likely want to disable.  For "Photos and Videos I'm Tagged In" you will likely want "Friends Only" or "Only Me" which is under "Customize". For "Suggest Photos of me to Friends" I would suggest you disable this. Friends can tag you without suggestions.

Be very careful about sharing contact information. I would not share phone numbers and addresses with anyone within Facebook. Those settings should be set to "Only Me". Personally I did not enter any information for them. For email addresses if I was to share I would only share with friends. Unless there is a business reason I would not share beyond. If you have a website, you can share that with everyone. Anyone can see the address of this blog as well as my Twitter account. For Twitter the privacy setting is under "IM Screen Names".

You also want to be careful about what Apps and websites share about you. In the "Apps and Websites" section under "Info accessible through your friends" I would suggest under "Edit Settings" you keep all unchecked. For Public Search, you need to determine whether you want your profile to be found when a search engine is used. Select as you see fit.

Facebook is a great site for social connections and for reconnecting with old friends. With the privacy issues that Facebook has had and will likely continue to have, you need to keep on top of your privacy settings.  As always, be careful of what you put out there. You never know who will see it. For starters divorce attorneys have been known to go through Facebook profiles to aid in their cases. I heard a story of a divorce attorney friending their clients estranged spouse in an attempt to get incriminating information. Now of course the estrange spouse should never have friended the attorney but that is another story.

What the Internet Has Made Free

Since the internet, there are things that are now free that you used to pay for.  Some of these include items where a savings has made it free. An example is writing a letter that costs $0.44 to mail but sending an email is free as you have no postage.  So here are just a few things that used to cost but are now free online:

1. Skype - you can videochat with anyone who also has a Skype account anytime, anywhere for free.  No more tracking message units, long distance phone calls, etc.  Yes there are other videochat sites.  I am using Skype since it is so well known.
2. Newspapers-  yes more and more newspapers are moving to a paid service online.  That said, there are still many that you can access for free.  
3. Directory assistance - at one time this was entirely free then for local calls a charge was added.  You can access sites like anywho.com and whitepages.com to get phone numbers for free.
4. Paying bills - most banks allow to to pay checks online for free.  No postage costs or paying for checks.  Plus you can set up automatic payments that save you time.  The checks are automatically written at a time interval you specify.
5. News, weather, sports - no more calling a 900 number or other number for which you were charged.  This up to date information can be obtained on the internet.
6. Dictionary and Thesaurus - this also saves on space.  You can access definitions and synonyns at sites like Dictionary.com or Thesaurus.com
7. Your personal phonebook - can be put on sites like Gmail, Yahoo, etc.  No need to buy a phone book.  Further, you do not need to worry about losing your phonebook and losing all contacts.  You can access it anywhere you have internet access.
8. Trip planning - Get routes on google maps.  Purchase and print tickets and boarding passes. Flight status is online. You used to need to be a member of AAA to get their triptik online.  Now you can go to their site and download a triptik at no charge which you can print even if you are not a member of AAA. Further you can get quite a bit of travel information online that you used to have to pay for.
9. Photo sharing - no longer need to pay for extra pictures for friends and relatives.  You can send pictures via email or photo sharing sites like snapfish.com or yorkphoto.com.  
10. Historic weather data from the Farmers Almanac. 
11. Encyclopedia - wikipedia.com and http://www.encyclopedia.com/ have made that encyclopedia collection your parents had just about obsolete and a lot less expensive.  Plus they free up space around the house for other things.
12. About.com is a great source of reference for which a lot you previously had to pay for. 
13. Sales tax - although this is changing, depending on where you live you may save sales tax by ordering something online.
14. Shipping & handling - see sales tax above.  Due to online price comparisons, companies may waive shipping charges on certain items or if an order is greater than a certain amount.
15. Movie showtimes - the cost was either a newspaper or a phone call.  Now free online along with reviews.
16. Accounting software - GnuCash is a free accounting software program for small business usage. QuickBooks has a basic program that is also free.
17. Money management - mint.com 
18. Ecards - rather than buying and mailing birthday cards, anniversary cards, etc you can now send someone an ecard.  There are still those that are free plus you also save postage.  I would not send a sympathy card as an ecard but this post is about things that are now free not how to do a card on the cheap.  

I am sure there are other things that the internet has made free that you at one time paid for.  Any additions to this list are welcomed and if I get enough will publish them in a future blog giving you credit.