When I switched teams to a tech writer position, my company provided me with a second monitor. At first, I didn’t like it. The cursor was driving me nuts and I was constantly moving windows.

Now I can’t stand working on a computer or laptop with one monitor and wouldn’t mind a three panel monitor. Currently, I have two flat monitors side-by-side.

It makes working so much easier. As I grade student participation in the forums, I’ve got the class spreadsheet open on one monitor and the forums on the other. No going back and forth. I can also have a student’s assignment open along with the grade sheet and the answer sheet. Here’s where three monitors would be nice.
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Resources available in captioned media talks about the Caption Media Program (CMP), a great program that ofers free loans of open captioned programs. The program now offers Internet streaming videos and currently has over 1000 videos. I love this part because finding online captioned media is like the needle in haystack thing.

I just finished reading Winning Results with Google AdWords (reading it to do an abstract, not to advertise) and learned something interesting. Google Video relies on caption transcripts to make its videos searchable. Well, why can’t the captions be in the streaming videos, too? [ Read more... ]

The Geekend Wiktionary from TechRepublic is an “unvarnished glossary of terms for those trying to navigate the corridors of geekdom. No entry is complete until you’ve screwed with…er, improved it!”

Just had to post that for a little weekend laugh. Ha! Paul can relate to HelpDesk.

I’ve gotten so much mail from EFTPS (Electronic Federal Tax Payment System — it must be an unwritten rule that everything government-named must be abbreviated — I worked in the federal government once upon a time), the IRS‘ (Internal Revenue Service) online payment service. Part of it is my fault and part of it is a usability problem.

Just now, I was trying to confirm the URL of the Web site and had the letters next to the keyboard. Either my vision has drastically changed in the few weeks since my last vision check up or the IRS has forgotten to add that bit of info to its letters.

The thick envelope also came with brochures and I’m guess Web address is there, but I already had copies and threw them away. Shouldn’t it be on the letterhead somewhere? The phone number shows up plenty.

When I first signed up for EFTPS, I used a different bank account than the one I need to use now. Following instructions on the Web site, I attempted to change the bank account number. The action prompted the system to send me a packet of information. I checked the site again later to see if it took the new bank account (as it said it would), no change.
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Wristwatches Get the Back of the Hand says that more people are skipping the wristwatches and relying on handheld devices for the time. Why am I posting this in Bionic Ear Blog? I stopped wearing a watch because of my cochlear implant.

??????

I understand the confusion. Because of the implant, I got a medical bracelet that says my name, that I have a cochlear implant, not to do an MRI, and I read lips. I wear it on my watch-wearing wrist. When I tried it on my left wrist, it was making too much noise and bothered me when I wrote. I be a southpaw, indeedy. [ Read more... ]

The recently released movie, Firewall, is about an executive who designed antitheft computer systems. This is a fictional movie, but the problems with firewalls are real. Some people innocently believe that having a firewall is enough. But it’s not. The current feature of February’s Shavlik Remediatory Security Digest shatters the firewall myths and explains what is needed.

Most of us have dealt with difficult managers and colleagues, and it isn’t always easy to work through the problems. The reader who asked last month’s question has been struggling, and we received reasonable and professional advice from readers. We hope this helps those who find themselves in this difficult situation.

Do you deal with computers that operate more like a tortoises than hares? This month’s question asks how to improve a computer’s performance. Users who are comfortable with computers might “over clean” their systems only to make things worse than before they started messing with them. We’re betting many of you are pros in fixing and speeding up computers, and we hope you share your secrets. Get all of this in the current Remediator Security Digest.

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Suddenly, Taking My Own Picture is hot. Hmm… I remember a couple of little sites called The Mirror Project and Picture Yourself. But I agree with the article that today’s kids are less self-conscious about getting their pictures taken. All my friends (me included) in their 30s and 40s, often say, “Oh, no! Don’t take my picture!”

Part of it is that I don’t want to look bad in the picture and part of it is that in-built thing that a person shouldn’t show-off. However, I think having a nice photo on a Web site, especially a business one, is important because it connects you with your visitors and clients — puts a face behind the company.

On the other hand, I remember looking for mother / daughter pictures and struggling to find any. No matter what I think of myself… it’s important to have a visual history of ourselves with the important people in our lives.

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I think this Easton Courier article covers an important issue for all of us to be aware of. My daughter is an active online chatter and she found her way to MySpace, a trendy site for her friends and kids in her age group. Unfortunately, it’s a gold mine for the pedophiles.

Since I knew she chatted online a lot, I asked her what sites she uses on a regular basis. I looked at them and her profiles. I talked to her about grown ups who pose as kids and even use kids’ photos for “proof.” I also sent statistics from a police officer who talks about the topic. Here are the stats (source unknown):

The average teen is online an average of 5.5 hours a day.

65% of teens and children receive indecent solicitations in Chat rooms, another 24% in Instant Messenger.

The FBI reports there is a 100% chance of a child meeting a predator in a chat room.

75% of teens report sharing personal information about themselves and family to strangers in chat rooms or on blogging sites, such as Xanga and My Space.

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Brand Autopsy: Forget RSS, We Got Bigger Issues posted this last November and I’ve been sitting on it since because I didn’t want the valuable data to get lost during the holidays. Some people are working hard to promote feeds and RSS when we really need to step back and promote blogs first.

Of course, we want news and other information rich sites to add RSS feeds so we can read them along with all of our favorite feeds. Evidence suggests most of these sites are aware of feeds as I rarely find such sites without one.

While feeds work with any kind of Web site and not just blogs, businesses need to learn about the value of blogs and that’s why blogs need to reach a bigger audience. Blogs can affect a company’s business and provide incredible insight into an industry. Learning to listen to those conversations can help a company succeed. After all, look at what happened to Kryptonite.

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I was a little behind on my “blog” terminology this year when I was overloaded for the first half of the year and couldn’t surf other blogs during that time. Thanks to Debbie, I quickly got caught up. One word I picked up was BlogCarnival, a blog showcasing the best entries for a specific topic.

MobHappy: presents a Carnival of the Mobilists, the best of the year. [Link: Lockergnome ]