My tips to get round computer hangups

Word for Mac 2011: sum table cells including blanks

2011-12-12T03:20:00.000-08:00

Whoo, another Cracked-it moment!

Word 2011 for Mac - just acclimatising. At last an improvement on the previous version, except Help seems non-existent, even online. Whatever happened to the manual?

In a table, how to sum a column (or row) of figures that contains blank cells? AutoSum only adds up the immediate filled cells.

Put the cursor in the table cell where you want the total.

Top menu bar, go to Insert, then Field.

Type your required range in, e.g. =SUM(C1:C10).

Press return, and voila!

How to stop annoying ads when you're browsing

2011-10-31T16:39:00.001-07:00

I found the same annoying ads popping up whichever website I browsed to, and in all browsers too. Specially annoying as one was from a company that had provided very poor service.

Guess what, Google thinks it knows what you're interested in and provides these annoyances specially for you! However, you can stop it. Go to:

http://www.google.com/ads/preferences/

and you can switch them off.

Twitter - how to optimise your profile image

2011-08-18T02:38:00.000-07:00

Our little Twitter profile identity image looked great on normal screens, but on the iPhone it was sadly blurry. There doesn't seem to be any Help guidance on optimal size/resolution so it was over to trial and error.

The largest Twitter profile image size is 250 px square.

We found that an image this size saved as 72 dpi (standard screen resolution) or even 150 dpi still looked blurry on the iPhone.

What worked was an image 400 px square, and 300 dpi resolution (the normal resolution for print). See for yourself! http://twitter.com/#!/EVAlondonConf

Preview - two ways to format annotations

2011-07-28T01:35:00.000-07:00

a) The "normal" way, using the Tools menu bar at the bottom. You get this menu bar when you select (at the top) Tools > Annotate (any option)

b) The obscure way with more options, using the Tools inspector under Tools in the top menu

Does all this seem complicated? I never said it was simple! That's why I had my moment of triumph ...

Mac - Preview annotations options

2011-07-26T10:01:00.000-07:00

Do you drive a Mac? If so you probably find Preview extremely useful. Here's how to do some extra smart things.

More options for the appearance of annotations - text, oval, rectangle, line:

Click Tools > Annotate > Add text
In the menu at the bottom of the screen, click on the little Text square
Click and drag on the screen and type the text.
Next, here is the magic bit, with the text box selected, go to Tools > Show inspector (or cmd-i)
At the top of the Inspector box, click the pencil icon top right
The pull-down list next to Text style then offers various options - Outline, Bordered, Speech bubble, Thought bubble
You can adjust the line thickness, line colour and fill colour if you select one of these.

You get similar choices if you click Show inspector for other annotation choices such as Rectangle or Oval, and indeed Line - at last, how to get rid of the arrows.

How to embed a Googledoc in your web page

2011-06-09T07:57:00.000-07:00

It's easy once you have found the vital menu item - as so often. See http://bit.ly/kTRx5i for instance.

Seems it's only spreadsheets you can actually embed in a page.

1. With your GoogleDoc spreadsheet open, click the little arrow beside Share in the top R. corner. Select Publish as a web page.

2. Select which sheets to publish. For neat results name the tab for your chosen page simply . . It shows as part of the title when embedded.

3. Click Start publishing.

4. Then, under Get link to published data, select HTML to embed in a page.

5. Select and copy the code in the window.

6. Go to your web page and paste the code into the html. (you might need to enclose it in "code" and "/code" - these are enclosed in pointy brackets in the usual way.

There! When you view your web page the contents of the sheet show in a frame.

Sony Vaio buttons - now working in Windows 7

2011-05-09T15:25:00.000-07:00

I'm blogging this from my Vaio VGN TX3XP - feeling quite triumphant that all its function buttons function.

Bought in 2006, it sports a label: Windows Vista capable. I missed out Vista but boldly installed the shiny new Windows 7 professional.

Immediately the laptop was quite a bit faster - but, function and other buttons no longer worked. New drivers needed! Help, Sony ...

But Sony would rather sell new laptops than keep its excellent existing ones going. It simply states that this model (and many others) are not supported for Windows 7. See lots of forum posts, eg Windows 7 Forums. However, it turns out there is a way.

Forum tips suggested that Windows Vista drivers would work with Windows 7. Sony does at least offer downloads for this laptop. Downloaded and installed all utilities and drivers etc one by one - and amazing, all the buttons work again! The battery life is still not quite as good but everything else - fine.

On the Sony website, http://support.sony-europe.com/ - search by model number - Downloads

You may be lucky and find Windows 7 drivers available but if not, try those for Windows Vista. It worked for me!

Why bother? Why is this an achievement? It's a great little laptop (Sony specs):

Small - 10.5" screen but brilliant colour and resolution
Light - 1.25 k
Built in CD/DVD drive
Battery life originally 7 hours (it actually was, too)

Its CPU, hard drive and memory are no worse than many a cheap netbook.

The PC world review on 22 Sep 2006 "... While Sony's new VGN TX3XP is "merely" an evolution of the TX2 series, it still has the power to wow all who set eyes on it ..." - still true.

Converting Kindle books for different readers

2011-04-27T11:01:00.000-07:00

Can you read Kindle e-books on your Sony 650? yes you can. You need the Calibre free software (absolutely brilliant, do donate if you use it). It converts lots of e-book formats to whatever e-reader you have.

I didn't buy many e-books from Amazon for my briefly owned Kindle. However, Amazon has by far the widest range and you can still buy Kindle books via the Kindle app to read via PCs, Macs etc.

Read first Apprentice Alf's blog, especially Ebook formats, DRM and you

Then the plugin tools (including instructions) for Calibre are linked from here: https://apprenticealf.wordpress.com/2010/02/11/hello-world/

It works!

Sony e-reader - I like

2011-04-27T10:54:00.000-07:00

Yes! for me, the Sony 650 is a lot better.

Plus:

Even lighter than the Kindle, I think better contrast screen
Looks much better
Touch screen (not nearly as cool as an iPad or iPhone, but better than the Kindle's pimples)
Deals with pdf's much better, no conversion needed
Not confined to Amazon's Kindle format books

Minus:

Doesn't have the Kindle's nice big pageturn buttons (but then, you can swipe the touchscreen)
No WiFi so have to do everything via the PC / Mac (but I don't find that a problem)
Sony's Reader software is appalling, in that on my Mac it won't work at all!
Sony is a rubbish company when it comes to support, as I know from the past

But all in all it's much more what I wanted. I'm happy! Now to get some stuff into it to read ...

Returned the Kindle

2011-04-19T14:31:00.000-07:00

I just couldn't get to love the Kindle so it's gone back to Amazon under their excellent returns policy. On the way is a shiny red Sony PRS 650 e-reader. It's got a touch screen and it definitely looks a lot nicer. Judging by one I saw, the screen is even better, higher contrast. It does read the e-pub format which is what most public library e-books come in. Yes you can borrow e-books from a lot of local libraries these days!

At twice the price, admittedly ...

Kindle discoveries

2011-04-10T12:47:00.000-07:00

I'm not at all sure about my new Kindle. The screen is very readable and I've tested it in bright sunlight thanks to the lovely weather lately. Also quite nice for reading in bed. The page turn buttons are very good, you hardly have to think.

but -

- It doesn't look very glamorous, tiny little pimply black keys very utilitarian

- The 'keys' are stiff too, not good for typing

- It's a bit tedious to reorientate the screen, but useful that one can

However, I am overcoming some initial problems -

- I thought I could upload all those pdfs of academic articles that I mean to read. Simply transferring pdfs is hopeless, type is too small. However, Amazon offer a free conversion service that seems to make them readable, scaleable typeface etc. (Check the small print, you can avoid charges. You need to email the file to yourusername@free.kindle.com, and they will arrive in your Kindle in no time). So no escape from them now.

- I discovered the shareware software Calibre, you can convert almost any e-book format (or even other file formats) into something your e-reader can deal with. Brilliant.

iPhone synching challenges

2011-04-10T04:42:00.000-07:00

iPhone 3GS -
Is iTunes on your PC, or hopefully Mac, telling you that synching will remove half your hard won apps? You probably need to go to:
file > Transfer purchases from iPhone
first to get them backed up onto the computer.

They really know how to conceal these things, don't they.

Griffin's iMic - recording from vinyl - problem solved

2011-04-02T09:09:00.000-07:00

Computer: MacBook Pro 7.1

Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard)
Product: iMic

The iMic is a device that plugs into a USB slot to "enable high-quality recording and playback for your Mac or PC".

Problem

Trying to record from a turntable via a hi-fi headphone jack port.

I previously used the iMic perfectly fine to digitally record music from vinyl records via Audacity, onto a 2009 MacBook, which had separate audio input and output ports. Now with a new MacBook Pro 7.1, with a single combined input/output audio port (not a helpful feature), I got no sound input.

The iMic is plugged into a USB slot.
The line from the record player headphoneport is plugged into the iMic In port
The iMic input switch is set to Line (not Mic)
On the MacBook, the Sound input is set to iMic (it knows it's there)
Audacity allows playthrough during recording, so sound output is set to Inbuilt.

Audacity doesn't seem to know that the iMic is there as there is no option to use it as input (on the old MacBook it did)
I can record and playthrough using a line simply connecting the record player headphone port to the MacBook audio port and not using the iMic.

Solution

The connection setup above is correct, but you need to set three sets of preferences etc.

1 Run the Mac system prefs > Sound: Input via iMic, Output via Built in

2 Then, you need to run Audio MIDI Setup (Applications > Utilities) as well.

Select the iMic from the left hand side panel.

Then set both the input and the output to 16bit 2 channel 44100Hz.
3 Next, in the Audacity Preferences:

- select the Audio I/O tab.

- Set the Playback device as 'Built In Audio',

- set the Recording device as 'iMic USB Audio System' and -

- channels as '2 (Stereo)'.

Then, down at the bottom,

- select Hardware and Software Playthrough.

Click OK to make those settings.

One more thing - check System preferences > Sound > Output tab. There's a pull-down selection: Use audio port for: Sound input / Sound output. It should be Sound input for this purpose. (If you subsequently can't get output to headphones, the TV etc check this). I think this is a real pain, can we just have an input port and an output port please Apple.

It worked for me! - although I subsequently had to set the Audacity preferences again.