I made this video for people who want to record a video chat in Skype, FaceTime, Google+ Hangout, iChat / Messages, or any other videoconferencing app— but can’t record within the app. Not to worry. As long as you have the latest Mac OS and QuickTime, you can record anything on your screen!
Tag: tutorials
How-to’s, demonstrations, guides, step-by-step, walk you through and show you how to do.
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Yes, I am the kind of person who spends 15 minutes searching for the multiplication sign. 8-}
Yes, I’m the guy who just spent 15 minutes searching for the Mac keyboard shortcut for the mathematical “times” or “multiply” sign [×]. There is no shortcut; however, I did learn that the official name for this glyph is “multiplication sign” (who knew?), the Unicode identifier is 00D7, the HTML name code is “times”, the HTML number code is 215 (but I can’t show the HTML code without WordPress converting it, apparently), the Unicode identifier is 00D7, and the Windows keyboard entry method is Alt+0215. For my Mac, I opened Edit, Special Characters, typed in “multiplication sign”, and saved the glyph to my Favorites.
If you’re interested, some of my other favorites are the “beamed eighth notes” to symbolize music [♫], the “black heart suit” sign [♥] to symbolize love, the French quotation marks, or «guillemets», a.k.a. “left-pointing double angle quotation mark” [«] and “right-pointing double angle quotation mark” [»], the proper characters to denote the feet and inches in my height, 5′ 11″, called the “prime” [′] and “double prime” [″], and the “trade mark sign” [™] which I like to use sarcastically to represent that something that should be bottled and sold, such as doing typography The Right Way™.
Thanks to Arnold Winkelried aka Noodles for his webpage, Keyboard Shortcuts for special characters, which answered my question about the multiplication sign that I had read at least a dozen other pages in search of.
And now, with the (at least) 15 minutes I spent on writing this blog post, I have spent a half an hour more than the average (and maybe saner) person who would type 2 x 2 and be done with it. But I console myself with the knowledge that there are hundreds of nerds like me out there who will be glad that I shared this seemingly trivial information with them. So there! 🙂
P.S. I just spent another 20 minutes trying to write the HTML name and number codes without having them converted to the × character itself. Fighting with technology before 8 AM on a Sunday morning, oy!
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Missing messages on Android phone in silent mode? Here’s how to make them buzz.
In my line of work*, time is money, and seconds count. While working, I have been keeping my phone in my pocket in silent mode when I’m working. After missing several assignment offers equaling hundreds of dollars of work, I decided something must be done. I had already set up my device preferences to vibrate with notifications, but that obviously wasn’t enough. I decided to look into my Gmail, Email, and Messages apps to see if I could set notifications on a per app basis, and found out I could. Here’s how.
In Gmail, tap Menu, then More, then Settings. Scroll all the way down to Vibrate. The default is Never. Tap the down arrow to change this. Select Only in Silent Mode or, to be safe, For all Gmail notifications.
In Email, tap Menu, then Account settings, and scroll down to Vibrate. Here’s where it can trip you up, because it is different from Gmail. In Gmail, what you see is what you get; i.e., if you see For all Gmail notifications, that’s when it will vibrate. In Email, it will say “Also vibrate when email arrives,” but that’s not what you get unless you select it. As with Gmail, the default is Never. To change this, tap the down arrow and select either Always or Only in Silent Mode. I select Always to be safe. Note that you will have to repeat this process for every one of your Email accounts.
In Messaging, (more…)
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IPTC Scene Codes to make your photos more searchable
Lately, I’ve been spending a lot of time organizing the photos in my Aperture Library to make my photos more searchable to potential buyers. I spent some time looking into stock photography references such as the Getty Images Keyword Guide and the International Press Telecommunications Council (IPTC) website to learn how to make it easier for people to find and Request to license my Flickr photos through Getty Images or me. In the process of SEO-ing (Search Engine Optimizing) my photos, I’ve found that many of the keywords recommended for stock photography are also IPTC Scene codes.
If you have an image editing / photo organizing application, you may input these scene codes in the IPTC Scene field under the Image section of the IPTC Core metadata. These codes (or keywords, if you will) help describe what a photo is “of.” You may also wish to add them as keywords or “tags” since sites like Flickr make it possible for people to search for photos by “tag.”
I’m sharing these IPTC NewsCodes™ under the IPTC licensing agreement. I hope these metadata help your photos and mine to be found and purchased in a prosperous new year!
IPTC Scene Codes
Copyright 2010, IPTC, http://www.iptc.org, All Rights Reserved.
- headshot
- A head only view of a person (or animal/s) or persons as in a montage
- half-length
- A torso and head view of a person or persons
- full-length
- A view from head to toe of a person or persons
- profile
- A view of a person from the side
- rear view
- A view of a person or persons from the rear
- single
- A view of only one person, object or animal
- couple
- A view of two people who are in a personal relationship, for example engaged, married or in a romantic partnership
- two
- A view of two people
- group
- A view of more than two people
- general view
- An overall view of the subject and its surrounds
- panoramic view
- A panoramic or wide angle view of a subject and its surrounds
- aerial view
- A view taken from above
- under-water
- A photo taken under water
- night scene
- A photo taken during darkness
- satellite
- A photo taken from a satellite in orbit
- exterior view
- A photo that shows the exterior of a building or other object
- interior view
- A scene or view of the interior of a building or other object
- close-up
- A view of, or part of a person/object taken at close range in order to emphasize detail or accentuate mood. Macro photography.
- action
- Subject in motion such as children jumping, horse running
- performing
- Subject or subjects on a stage performing to an audience
- posing
- Subject or subjects posing such as a “victory” pose or other stance that symbolizes leadership
- symbolic
- A posed picture symbolizing an event – two rings for marriage
- off-beat
- An attractive, perhaps fun picture of everyday events – dog with sunglasses, people cooling off in the fountain
- movie scene
- Photos taken during the shooting of a movie or TV production
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How not to break your Nexus One Car Dock
… and what to do if you do.
My HTC Nexus One Car Dock broke only a few months after I got it. I searched the Internet about this, and found that I was not alone. One man suggested a way to handle it with care and I am now following his advice with my replacement dock. I am providing this video to give you a visual tutorial about how to baby your fragile car dock. Hope it works for you!
In case your car dock breaks, I recommend that you do what I did: call HTC Repair and tell them that your Nexus One Car Dock broke and you want them to send you a replacement under the one-year warranty. If they give you any trouble, tell them that you know of other people whose car docks broke and who received replacements. They should email you an RMA label. You will have to box up your broken car dock and drop it off at a FedEx with the provided shipping label. HTC Repair should receive it within a couple of days, process the replacement in a couple of days, and ship it back to you via FedEx in a couple of days; i.e., you “should” have a new one in your hands within a week.
What happened in my case is they dropped the ball on processing the replacement, and I didn’t call and bug them about it until three weeks after my tracking number said they received it. I recommend that you call them as soon as you see from your tracking number that they have received it and ask them to confirm receipt of your old one and provide a tracking number for delivery of your new one. Be the squeaky wheel, and good luck!
Daniel Greene 