Sephy’s Platzish

A while ago, I discussed how to get your pictures on the web and some tips for optimizing the images, including mentioning the simplest thing that you can do to make your images more convenient for posting to the web, which is to resize them. A common misconception is that you need a way-too-powerful program such as Photoshop, or Paint Shop Pro, or even the GIMP, to resize pictures decently.However, the fact is that there are many options out there for programs that do nothing but resize images. The first is one that I have been using for a long time, but is only available to users of Windows XP who have a US-English version of the operating system. The other is compatible with all recent versions of Windows.

Image Resizer

If you use Windows XP (Home or Professional) and it’s a US-English version, you can take advantage of Microsoft’s free Image Resizer PowerToy, available from Microsoft’s website. After downloading and installing it, using the program is quite literally dead simple.

When you’re viewing a picture in Windows Explorer, simply right click on it, and select Resize Pictures on the menu that comes up -

- This will open a new window that gives you a set of options for resizing the photo, specifically five sizes.

If you click on the Advanced button, you are presented with a couple of extra options - one to set a custom size for the resize, setting a restriction to make sure that pictures aren’t made larger, and one that will replace the original photo with the resized one (this is not recommended to use).

To resize the photo, simply select the size you want; (I’ll go with the Large size), and click OK. A couple of seconds later, the resized photo appears in the same folder as the original photo, named “picture name (selected size).extension“. All of the data that was coded in the photo (time and date, camera type, etc.) stays with the resized image, and it does a decent job of resizing the image, with some loss in quality.

The other option that is out there is one that is available for more versions of Windows than the PowerToy option, and it is - at my first glance - slightly more powerful than Image Resize.

Fast Image Resizer

Fast Image Resizer is a piece of free software that, like the PowerToy, simply resizes photos. You can download it from adionSoft’s website.

You can use this software if you use these versions of Windows - 2000, XP and Vista. Also, if you have the right equipment, you can run this software from any computer and have it maintain your custom settings.

After you download the program and install it, you will need to have two windows open - the program window and a Windows Explorer window which is on the folder that has the photo you want to resize. Before we resize a photo, let’s take a look at the software. This is the screen that you will see when you start it up. As you can see, it is very straightforward, with a Resolution selection box, an Options button and an exit button.

If you are ready to resize the photos using the default settings (or having just changed the resolution you want to change the picture to), simply drag the files you want to resize into the box where it says to Drop files here. When it is finished, it will say that it is done.

With the default settings, your resized image will be saved in a folder under the one where the image was stored to begin with called “resize”. The files will be named like this - “original name_horizontal x vertical.extension“. It is unlikely, but you can change the settings for the program in the Options window. This is what that looks like -

All of the options are straightforward. You can choose how the resized file is named, whether you want to rotate the picture, if you want to keep the data that was saved with the photo (date & time, etc. - also known as EXIF data) on the resized image, if you want to have the picture cut to make it fit the exact size of the resize (if you leave that turned off, the program will find a resolution close to the one you selected, but not exactly what you had).

When you’re done with resizing the photos you need to resize for the moment, simply click the Exit button or click the X in the upper right corner to exit.

To be honest, I didn’t even hear about Fast Image Resizer until when I was asked to put something together, and I have to say that it is definitely a program that, even after resizing only one photo, I would definitely recommend you try out.

A while ago, I talked about a game called Within A Deep Forest. As it did happen to be, the author of that particular exploration game has authored a couple more games. They’re related to each other, but the goal of one is different to the goal of the other.

Knytt

Knytt is a simple game where you control a little character who can make a lot of varied moves, including climbing up and down walls. He can also have some special actions if you find the codes; they make the game more challenging, but somewhat easier as well.

The basic story of the game is that you have been abducted from your planet and taken to another planet in a broken spaceship. To get home, you have to find the pieces of the ship and get it back together. There are a lot of areas to explore, and if you just go around finding the pieces, you miss out on a lot of the experience. It’s a great game, and one definitely worth checking out - it’s also not the hardest game out there

Knytt Stories

This is an offshoot of the first game, Knytt Stories is focused on someone who may be related to Knytt called Juni. In this game, you have a variety of different stories to play around with. The goal to the game is to complete the story that is set out in the beginning of the game. However, Juni doesn’t have the skillset of Knytt; you have to search out the power-ups for her.

You can download a whole bunch of add on levels for the game, but even just the included level is both challenging and has excellent music in it. This is one of those games that is perfect for a break when you need to have one.

If you need help with the first story of Knytt Stories - The Machine - you can check out the series of videos that starts with this one, done by a fellow who calls himself Deceased Crab - he’s the same dude who did the walkthrough of Within A Deep Forest.

This is a quick guide to importing your exported RSS feeds into Mozilla Thunderbird.

If you do not have an RSS feeds account set up, you will have to make a new account for RSS feeds. You can do this from the Account Settings screen, just click Add Account… and then go through the steps.

Now that you have a News & Blogs account; you can go about importing your subscriptions.

First, from the main screen of the folder (the one you get when you click on the News & Blogs name), click on Manage subscriptions -

Next, click on Import

Then, in the window that pops up, find the file that you exported from your reader. Then, click Open and all of your feeds will be imported.

Now, I did this after importing all 100+ feeds that I have in my OPML file. If you have folders in your reader, those will not be imported along with your feeds. You will have to remake your folders, and you will lose the ability to read a full folder at one time.

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment. If you’d like to have a how-to written up for something you’d like to know how to do (and you probably won’t be the only one who wants to know), feel free to drop me a line via the contact form.

One of the most popular instant messaging systems over the last couple of years has been Skype. In fact, it became so popular that eBay purchased them last year trying to get in on the ground floor of this product which was revolutionising internet communications.

I hadn’t heard of the program until 2005 when I got heavily involved in the scam baiting community and signed up for an account (it would be a couple of more months before I would get into the business of calling scammers, but that’s a subject for another day ). Part of what makes Skype so great is that it is really simple to use - provided you know a bit about the folks you want to reach out and contact.

What I’ll be showing you today is how to get yourself set up with an account, find a friend to chat with, and tweak the privacy settings so that you don’t get random people calling you and sending you chat messages at all hours of the night. I’ll also show you the basics of setting up a group chat and a conference call.

Screenshots used here are from version 3.0.something, which is not the latest version, so your screens may be quite different to mine.

But I don’t have Skype

Not a problem at all. If you’ve never used Skype before and don’t have their software, you can download it from Skype’s website. You can also take a mini screenshot tour of the program there.

When you download the program, it will save as just SkypeSetup.exe; I’m a pedant, however, and have all of my skype downloads labelled by version number. Please don’t ask why. I don’t know. I just think that calling your download a generic name with no version number on the end is a bit shortsighted, but who am I to whinge about it?

Anyway, when it’s finished downloading (which may take a while since it’s around 20MB for the program), you can install it. It has been a while since I’ve done an install that I’m not sure what all they install now with the program. Make sure that you check out the Options section, which is hidden away in the bottom left of the install dialog box, and uncheck things like Google Toolbar and Skype extras, unless you really want to use them.

The Extras functions are mostly useless because you have to buy almost everything on the screen there, except for maybe backgammon and Chinese checkers. Anyway, if you want to play games online with your friends, might I recommend Yahoo games, or some other place.

As always, be sure to read the End User License Agreement and Privacy Policy, and then click install to run through the process.

Where do I sign up?

You don’t sign up for Skype until the first time you start the program. When you start it up, you will be presented with this screen; to sign up for a new account, simply click on the Don’t have a Skype Name? link below the Skype Name line:

That will bring up the Create a new Skype Account dialog. You can enter anything in the Full Name field - if you choose to use that, your friends will see that instead of your username; if you put nothing there, they’ll just see your Skype Name, which is the next field, followed by the password twice and another chance to read the EULA, TOS and the Privacy Statement. Note: your Skype Name must start with a letter

Click Next to continue to the second part of signup - your email address. There is a bit of an interesting bug with this one that I have found. If you have a number in your email address, it will not accept it and keep the Sign In button blank. You can use any other punctuation, but numbers are, for some strange reason, not allowed. You can enter your location if you wish, and use the other pre-checked items if you would like as well. Then click Sign In to finish.

If someone has already signed up with the Skype Name you wanted, you will be presented a series of options to use in place of your original, or simply put in a different name.

That’s all you need to do to sign up for a Skype account. There’s a little tutorial about how to use the software - you can have a look through of that right away.

I want to Phone-A-Friend

Well, we could go straight into finding your friends and calling them, but first let’s make sure that our microphone settings are right.

What? You don’t have a microphone - do yourself and your friends you call a big favor - get a headset; I use the Plantronics .Audio 350 Ultimate Performance Headset - it’s a really good headset and one that goes over the ear. It’s also good for listening to music or a video, and generally is loud enough even when it’s at the minimum volume. I just found this out - if you buy it directly from Skype, it’s only $21.99 (plus $9 shipping)

I also really like models like the Logitech Internet Chat Headset which is a behind the ears version; I’d still be using it, but nobody could hear me when I did . However, I will, from time to time, still plug it in if I want to take advantage of the longer cord that it has.

Now that you have a headset (or are using a microphone with the intention of getting a headset), the next thing you will want to do is verify that your settings are correct. Skype make this really easy by giving you a friend to play with from the get go. In fact, the first time you sign into Skype, this is what the screen looks like -

To test out your audio settings, simply double click on Skype Test Call, and you’ll be connected to the Automated service, which will ask you to do a sample of talking and then play it back to you. If you hear it, you’re good, if not, change your settings and try again.

Never fear though, if your settings don’t work or you don’t have the necessary equipment for calls, you can still use the chat function of Skype. There’ll be more on that later. However, now, you’ve probably figured out what I’m going to say to do next - add a friend to your Skype. To get started, simply click on either the Add Contact or Search for Skype Users buttons in the Contacts tab.

Both options do the same thing - find you Skype users, but one is more advanced than the other. The Add a Contact option will bring up this window, where you can search by Skype Name, Full name or email address only.

If you Search for Skype Users, you can search using the options from the Add Contact dialog, or you can search by location, age, sex, and/or language. You can also search for only people who are wanting to be contacted by anyone checking the Search for people who are in ‘Skype Me’ mode.

When you put a name into the field, you are presented with a number of results (if you’ve put in a common name, there is a limit of anywhere between 30 and 200 results; it doesn’t seem to have any consistency at all). Then you can scroll through until you find someone who might match the person you’re looking for (in this case, I’m just looking for my main Skype profile since I am using a fresh account for this tutorial).

You can view anyone’s public profile by clicking on the little blue i which appears after you select a row from the results. This is what my profile looks like; the numbers are in Barbados and no, I’m obviously not on Christmas Island.

If you want to add the person as a contact, then you just click on the Add Contact button on the bottom. Now, you will have an opportunity to send that person a message. Here’s a tip - don’t leave the default message in there. Put something in that will let the person have an idea of who you are, and possibly how you came upon their contact.

The recipient will receive something that looks like this. I’m using this example because it says the same thing that the message above does, just in German. I don’t know this person, so I’ll either send them a message asking who they are, or just decline their request out of hand.

In this shot, I’ve expanded the extra options - the bottom 4 bits about sharing contact details and adding the person to your contacts. Generally, if you know the person, you’ll simply add them to your contact list and share your details.

Now, you should be able to talk to this person both by voice and by text.

So, how do I do that?

If you are using the default settings for the software, then when you double click one of your contacts, it will call them. Generally, this is frowned upon since your friend might not be ready for a call, or they might not want to talk. One of the first things that I changes was the option for double-clicking. You can find that under Tools -> Options -> General. To change it to bring up a chat window whenever you double click, simply change the option there.

Otherwise, if you leave it on calling for the default, you can bring up a chat window by right clicking on the contact’s name and selecting Start Chat… You can also use the blue button when a contact is expanded.

When you start a chat, this is what the window looks like. I’ve sent a couple of messages across to show you what they look like in traditional mode. I’ll be honest - I don’t like all the big icons on the right side, so I just turn them off by going into Options -> View Participants -> Hidden. If I’m in a group chat, I’ll either use Compact or Hidden, depending on how many are in the chat.

One last little feature about Skype’s chats - there are a lot of emoticons, and I have to say that I love them; for a long time I had the animated icons off, but I now have them on. You definitely should experiment with them. Also, the ones in the list aren’t all of them; try this one once - (tmi), or if the person ticks you off royally, (finger)

I have an important project. Don’t bug me!

Ah yes, the old familiar problem. You’re trying to focus on that important article or job, and you’re getting requests left, right and centre to chat, and you can’t focus. You’d go offline, but you’re waiting for a collaborator to come online so you can work on the project. What are you to do?

Well, the most obvious thing would be to send an email to the collaborator and tell them you’re going off of Skype and to let you know when they’re around, then go offline on Skype. However, there is the Do Not Disturb mode on Skype.

When you’re in DND, all events are still sent to you, but you’ll only find out that there are new events waiting for you by seeing the little flag waving in the corner. Another option is to use the Invisible setting - you know, online, but telling people you’re offline.

These methods work great when it’s people who are on your contact list bugging you for stuff. However, when it’s total strangers contacting you, then you need to look at strengthening your privacy settings for Skype. You can find the Privacy Settings under Tools -> Options -> Privacy.

The default settings for privacy are to allow everyone call you and chat with you. I’m not sure why they do it that way, but this is another of those things that should be changed right away. You’ll also notice the line about chat history. If you would rather that your chats not be saved, or be cleared after a certain amount of time, you’re free to change that. You also have an option to allow your status to be seen on the web. This is handy for folks who want to display a Skype badge on their site with their current status on it.

Back to the privacy settings, here are my settings for privacy. I have a SkypeIn number, which is why that extra section shows up on my panel:

Let’s have a party!

So, you’ve got a few friends on Skype and you want to have a bit of a chat with them, but don’t want to resort to IRC or another chat program to do it. Luckily, you can do that in Skype. However, unlike IRC and similar programs, you only have control over who you add to the chat - anyone can add their friends to the group, and you can’t kick misbehaving people out of the room. However, trolling shouldn’t be a problem since people can’t join a group chat unless it is specifically started as a public chat.

There are a couple of ways to start a group chat. The first one is to select the people you want to chat with by control-clicking on each name, right clicking and selecting Start Chat… The method that I prefer to use is a simpler one - start a chat with one person, then drag other contacts from the main window into the chat window. The last option is to use the “Add” button in the chat window, which will bring up a dialog box with your contact list on the left and the chat participants on the right.

You can have up to 99 people in a group chat. However, it does tend to get quite hectic after around the first two dozen or so

To start a conference call, you can either select multiple participants and click the green button in the screen (it changes from a receiver to a group icon), or use the Conference Call button, which will appear when you have multiple contacts in your list. This is what it looks like; all the participants in this conference are toll-free numbers -

Simply select the contacts you wish to have in the conference call, and click the Add >> button at the bottom. Depending on the system you’re using, you can have up to 10 participants in the conference, including yourself. When you start the conference call (by clicking Start), the call window will come up and it will look like this, with the list of participants in your window. When someone speaks, their icon will start to glow in blue.

While in a conference call, people can be added to the call, but only by the host of the call. All you have to do is right click on a contact and select Add to Conference Call, and they will be connected to the call. If it’s a Skype contact, then the call is free (like all calls to other Skype contacts), if it is a SkypeOut number, then their standard rates (including a connection charge of 3.9¢) will apply.

Some Odds and Ends

One of the features that Skype has are called Notifications. These are little windows that pop up on your screen - generally in the lower right hand corner, but I have seen them on the lower left in the past - telling you that a person has sent you a chat message, or that someone is calling. I only have the notifications turned on for chat messages, and this is what a couple of notifications look like (the other one is for a call)

Also, yesterday, I spotted an interesting number in my Skype window, they always list the number of users online, which right now is 10,057,350. Yesterday, the number was this -

Further Reading

I’ve discussed Skype a couple of times before on here. The first was when they introduced the connection charge. They claimed that it would be “disruptive”. It was a complete step backward, if you ask me. In March, they ran a promotion called Skype Casino. I won something called a CrazyTalk Avatar. I’m still not sure how to use it…

These are the Official Skype Blogs. There are quite a few of them, including one where they list all the release notes, which used to be listed right on the download page.

Skype Journal - An unofficial source for pretty much all things Skype.

In the companion post to this, Snoskred shows you how to save money with Skype in All About Skype - Tech Tuesday

Over to you..

Do you use Skype? What’s your favorite feature of it? Would you consider using Skype if something was different?

If you like what you’ve read, be sure to give it a stumble, or use the icons at the end of the post to add it to your favorite Social networking site.

As always, if you have something that you’d like Snoskred and I to cover on a future Tech Tuesday Think Tank, you can send them to me via the contact form

Previously in the Tuesday Think Tank
21st August: RSS
14 Reasons Readers Unsubscribe From Your Blog
Tuesday Think Tank: All About RSS

28th August: Blog Templates
Blog Design - Open Your Eyes.
Demystifying Blogger Template Editing

4th September: Nofollow
Spam, Spiders And Do Follow, Oh My!
Say No! to Nofollow

11th September: Site Meters
Do NOT Rely On Your Site Meter.
Track Your Visitors with Google Analytics

18th September: Technorati
Technorati - Sending Out An SOS
The Ups (and Downs) of Technorati

25th September: Google Reader
Google Reader Can Make Your Life Easier - Here’s How.
Improving your Google Reader Experience

2nd October: HTML
Basic HTML for Bloggers.
Some HTML Tips & Tricks

9th October: Time Management
Time Management - Tuesday Think Tank
Use Google Calendar to organize your life

16th October: One last Blogger Thing…
Move your Blogspot blog to your own Domain with ease

An important note for members of the US Blogs community on Bumpzee.

I’ve mentioned that it’s going to happen soon, well the time is now. If you do not update the location of the image soon, it may not work anymore for you. If you have picked up the code for the image before this Monday, then you have the old code.

Below is the new code to use for the US Blogs badge to put on your blogs:

80×15 (antipixel):

<a href=”http://www.bumpzee.com/us-blogs/”><img src=”http://fraudstars.info/~sephy/img/blog/usblogs80×15.png” title=”US Blogs”></a>

160×30 (double size):

<a href=”http://www.bumpzee.com/us-blogs/”><img src=”http://fraudstars.info/~sephy/img/blog/usblogs160×30.png” title=”US Blogs”></a>

I encourage you to host the file on your own server, if you have access to it. The images are very small - only about 300 bytes each, probably the smallest file size you’ve seen for a legit image in a long time.

Also, a note about the US blogs Blogroll - an update will be coming soon with the blogs added recently; keep an eye out on the community page for an announcement of the update.

Thanks for all of you who are members - we now have well in excess of 100 members and blogs part of the community! Well done to everyone!