I’m not the chick with 200 pairs of shoes. I’d much rather spend money on tech gadgets and gizmos for my business. My latest toy is this Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920. The video on this Web camera is far superior to my internal Webcam, and is even better than my iPhone. It also has a built-in microphone that sounds pretty good (I’ll use a separate mic though. Here’s my Samson C03U when I want the absolute best sound quality).
I was surprised at how small this Webcam is (about 4×1 inches). I can use the built-in mechanism to clamp it to my laptop, a monitor, or a tripod. I can capture videos or photos. One thing that surprised me was that the .MP4 format was audio only when I inserted it into Sony Vegas for editing. I ended up having to convert the video to H.264 format first. (I use software called Movavi Video Converter for that. There are other products on the market, but this turned out to be the best one for maintaining the level of quality I want).
The first part of this video was recorded with my iPhone with its built-in microphone. The second part was recorded with the Webcam. Be sure to click the Quality Wheel to see the video in HD.
I’m so totally obsessed with doing videos. See some more of my how-to videos on my YouTube channel. I’m also creating new videos for a membership Website for solopreneurs that features full tutorials to help you manage and market your business.
Painless blogging! One reason you might put off creating a blog or making updates is the technology behind it. Microsoft’s Windows Live Writer is a free, easy,WYSIWYG desktop application you’ll use to create and publish blog posts and pages whether you use WordPress, Blogger, LiveJournal, and TypePad. It syncs with your sites, and you can create posts and pages online or offline at the park.
I’ve learned the ins and outs of Windows Live Writer and have recorded everything, step by step and in plain English. I’ve uploaded the tutorial on my new membership Website, and hope you’ll check it out.
This training dives deep into this software and its timesaving features for people who would rather do it themselves but don’t know how.
Manage multiple blog accounts from one place and publish from your desktop.
Insert pictures or simply copy and paste them onto the page.
Set default properties once for objects you insert and forget it.
Insert videos from your computer or YouTube and other services.
Download its own set of plug-ins that make enhancing your posts easy.
Webmasters – You’ll be able to create your client’s blog or Website, direct them to this training, and move on to your next project.
Site Owners – You won’t have to wait or beg anyone to update your site because you’ll be able to easily do this yourself!
I just created a new membership Website that will host full length, comprehensive training videos (not ready to publicize yet, but you’ll see domain name in the video). As I was setting all this up, I recorded my computer screen.
How to Start a Blog with WordPress That’s Self-Hosted
This video shows you how to add WordPress to a Web hosting account at BlueHost, and change the nameservers over on GoDaddy so it knows where to point people to when they type my URL. The second step was needed because I registered the domain in one place, but am hosting the blog somewhere else. Nameservers are the Internet equivalent to phone books.
If you want to be notified when my etraining site is up and running, join my private email list. My focus will be on productivity and technology training. If there’s something you want to learn, feel free to leave me a comment, and I’ll definitely consider it if it’s a good fit. My first three tutorials are on Windows Live Writer for Painless Blogging, Get Organized At Work So You Can Think, and How to Build a YouTube Channel. All coming very soon. These are not just tips and tricks, but rather full training videos.
I’m creating a new Website that’s similar to one that I had years ago…a site that’s long ago deleted. I have the files from this site saved on an old laptop that barely boots up, and when it does, it lasts for no more than a minute or two.
Two Ways to Find Oldies
I went to the Internet’s archive, the WayBack Machine. I typed in my old URL, and my entire site came into view. I copied the text on each page, and pasted it in Notepad (to strip out any trashy code that may have been added by publishing the site in FrontPage), and pasted that text onto pages in the new blog. Worked great.
In a previous post, I’d written about how I’d deleted an article in my blog by mistake and how I was able to retrieve it in Google’s Cache (storage from the last time my site had been indexed). I’ve included instructions on how to do that in this video.
Good luck finding what you need. If you have some other ideas, please leave a comment below.