CyberCoyote - February 19, 2009

NEWS and NOTES
New website...

We learned about a new website that David Whittle, our AZacc presenter for today, is setting up. It's a social-networking-style website that will have community-driven ratings on tech products — what's the best, the worst and the most wanted? There are some heavy hitters in the tech world involved, but they want input on tech stuff from real users too. If you're curious, I recommend you pre-register as a member now. There will be benefits. ;-)

From their blog:

Here's a personal tip you'll be glad you followed: be one of the insiders and sign up now to be a site tester at www.coolhotnot.com. Insiders will be graced with extra credibility and bonuses when the site goes live. That's all the beans I'd better spill for now...

As you probably guessed, I've signed up already. The beta site isn't live yet, but look for an email announcement in a few weeks. Go back to the CyberCoyote announcement for the sign-up link.

TECH TOPICS
Convert file types

Zamzar is an online service that converts files from one format to another. For example, I just converted a Microsoft Works email attachment to a text file, because I don't have Works installed. I didn't want to take the time to tell the sender how to send it as a text file, and then wait for it to arrive either.

Zamzar can convert documents, images, music, video, and many other formats from something you can't open to another format that you can use. It can even convert files that are located online. For that you need the file URL. Then use Zamzar's "Download Videos" tab, which also works for most non-video file types, to convert the file.

The Download Videos feature can also be used to capture streaming video from YouTube and other sites. You can also cascade conversions to get what you want. For example, you can't convert Microsoft Works documents (*.wps) directly to Rich Text Format (*.rtf), but you could convert *.wps to *.pdf, and then convert *.pdf to *.rtf.

Back up email

Whether you download your email or use Web mail, there are some messages you wouldn't want to lose. There are many ways to back up messages manually, but it is more convenient to back them all up automatically. Mailstore provides an easy way to do that.

Mailstore lets you restore messages, but you can also easily find and read them right from the Mailstore program. You can back up email from any of the programs and services shown, from any email service that has an IMAP of POP3 mailbox, and from any email messages that you may have saved before.

ODDS and ENDS
Takin' names

And kickin' butt.

Live art

Here's a story and the portrait created by using an agricultural approach that Marcia and I saw in 1980.

That's all, folks.