Do You DIGG it?

So it looks like DIGG is changin it up a bit!?! Hallelujah! I am a DIGGer but I have not really DUGG as much as I should. The idea behind this site is great:

"Digg is a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web. From the biggest online destinations to the most obscure blog, Digg surfaces the best stuff as voted on by our users. You won’t find editors at Digg — we’re here to provide a place where people can collectively determine the value of content and we’re changing the way people consume information online."

I find that the reality doesn't meet up with the concept, what I mean by that is that the site is a bit congested and convoluted. When I joined DIGG I thought it would cut down on my web scroungin. I search the net for interesting information, and enjoy it-can we say nerd! This site touts the discover and share component, ergo no need to spend hours searching the web right? Aaah no!

There so much stuff on this site that doesn't interest me it is hard to find the stuff that does. Also if I find something out there I like unless the site has a DIGG button I wont DIGG it, and though I have DIGG Bro's that shoot me shouts that doesn't lead me to those interesting tidbits I am looking for. DIGG, DUGG, shoot, shout if you need the primer for the DIGG Lingo let me know?

So what are they changing over there in the DIGG world? On June 30th the DIGG Blog announced the roll out of the Recommendation Engine

"Now that there are more than 16,000 stories submitted to the Upcoming section every day, it’s difficult to sort through everything to find the best content." The Recommendation Engine uses your past digging activity to identify what we call Diggers Like You to suggest stories you might like.

It's like they read my mind!!

But what exactly does it do and how does it work, will I meet more people-this is a social site right, and will I finally be able find the good stuff?

Well I think that Technology Review's article answered my questions the best: Technology Review: Digging a Smarter Crowd.

Every time a user digs a story, the system compares that action with the actions of everyone else in the system, and it finds which users have the most digs in common. To keep recommendations from being all over the map, the system calculates connections for each topic separately, so that two users who share an interest in video games won't necessarily be thought to have, say, like opinions on political stories. To keep recommendations diverse, the system shows only a certain number of stories from each compatible user and, each time the user requests recommendations, fills out its quota of suggestions employing stories selected by less compatible users. The recommendation engine also limits the effect that a single dig can have, so that someone who digs a very popular story won't suddenly become connected to thousands of other users. Because the system calculates correlations in real time, using separate servers devoted to performing the computations, Kast says that a new dig will affect the recommendation system within one or two minutes.

That was a mouthful, well in essence they are trying to cut down the clutter and get people connected....good concept. I will wait to see the reality of it though, in the meantime I guess I will get back on the DIGG train and see how this new feature plays out. How about you?

Technorati Tags: DIGG,Recommendation engine,Technology Review

It's a Small World

Today we are focusing on the big world of little technology. I'm considered a "little girl"-in stature that is.....and I love small tech that I can put into my purse, bag, or even pocket.

I picked out a few essentials gadgets that could prove useful for that person who wants to be able to work from just about anywhere!

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Aiptek PocketCinema V10 pocket-size projector

(This isn't out yet but man when it is this little gadget will complete me! I will be able to record, print, and now project all on the go from gadgets that will not break my back to carry!)

Photo: Company, June 5, 2008

Aiptek showcased its PocketCinema V10 mini projector at Computex 2008. Aiptek's PocketCinema V10, is a pocket size media player projector equipped with 3M's revolutionary miniature projection technology, which can project a 50-inch image.
The display content can come from a video capable device via the 3-in-1 AV jack. The device can also playback videos and photos from the 1GB internal memory or the SD/MMC/MS Pro card. The V10 supports JPEG, ASF, AVI and MPEG-4 formats and features a stereo speaker and built-in battery

AIPTEK USA

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IS-DV2.4 (Red)
Small, Compact Camcorder w/ 2.4" LCD Display

Photo: Company, June 30, 2008

Multi-function camera: The Aiptek IS-DV2.4 functions like five devices in one—a digital still camera, digital camcorder, MP3 player, voice recorder and data storage device.

8-megapixel photos: Equipped with a 5-megapixel CMOS sensor, the still image resolution of the IS-DV2.4 can be enhanced to 8-megapixels. Enjoy high-quality photos—perfect for prints up to 8” x 10”.

Records movies in MPEG-4 format: Easily record 720 x 480 video clips at 30 frames per second— share them over the Internet by e-mail, post on Web pages or view on your PC or television. State-of-the-art MPEG-4 format lets you capture more video in less disc space.

Up to 8 Mega Pixel Digital Camera
● Record 720 x 480 MPEG-4 Video
● Digital Video Stabilization

● Stereo MP3 Player
● 4x Digital Zoom
● 2.4" Swivel-Reversible LCD

● Flash Strobe
● LED Lights
● 4GB SD Card Slot Expansion

● TV/VCR Output

AIPTEK USA

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Canon Pixma IP90

The Canon Pixma iP90 is a sleek, lightweight, go-anywhere portable inkjet printer that creates full-size documents and color graphics, as well as 4x6-inch color photographs. Thanks to built-in PictBridge and infrared (IrDA) ports, you can print directly from your digital camera, PDA, or cell phone without a computer. You can also add Bluetooth functionality, a battery, or a power adapter for your car.

Turned off, the iP90 snaps shut into a tight, seamless capsule. When open, the front cover becomes an input tray for plain paper or glossy photo media, from legal to credit card size. You can fill the paper tray with either 30 plain pages, five envelopes, or 10 sheets of 4x6-inch photo paper. If you're printing 8x10-inch glossy photos, you'll have to feed them into the machine one at a time.

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Brother MPrint

This has got to be the smallest portable printer out there. The MPrint family of ultra-portable, mobile printers measure just 6.3" x 3.9" x 0.7", and weigh less than 11 ounces! They produce crisp, quiet, 300 dpi printing on five different media cassettes, including notepaper, self-adhesive labels, and 2-ply carbon copy sheets.

Brother MPrint mobile printers interface with Windows^® notebooks and tablet PCs, Pocket PC, Palm, and BlackBerry devices, and Windows Mobile-based Smartphones. Current MPrint models include: the MW-100, with USB and IrDA interfaces; the MW-120, with USB, Serial, and IrDA interfaces; and the MW-140BT, with USB and Bluetooth interfaces.

Included with each printer is a 50-sheet paper cassette and a built-in, rechargeable lithium ion battery capable of printing up to 100 pages on a single charge. Their compact size, internal paper cassette and variety of output media make them a perfect addition to many mobile applications. Software development kits are available for the major OS platforms to integrate mobile printing into new and existing vertical applications.

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Solar Style Solar Charger

Now that you are completely mobile you need to be able to charge those gadgets and let me tell you finding an outlet is not always easy so here is a tool that will help you get the energy you need anywhere.

Recommended for:

·Standard Mobile phones
·Smart phones
·PDAs
·MP3 players
·And other electronic devices with similar or lesser energy consumption/battery needs.
Charger
Output Voltage- 3.6/5.5V
Output Current- >300mA
Dimensions- 107.5x72x22.5mm Weight- 131g
Full Charge- AC/Car= 4-5 Hours Sun= 6-8 Hours
Battery-On-Board (Li-ion)
Capacity- 750mAh
Voltage- 3.7V
mAh- 750
Solar Panels
Output Voltage- 7.0V
Output Current- 180mA(x2)

You do not need direct sunshine to charge, any light will work, and you can continue to charge at night since the energy is stored in the device. It is not waterproof, only works with one device at a time, and though they are working on it the charger can not charge laptops. You can get more information on the Solar Style website.

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Sierra Solar Laptop Charger

Because we can't forget about the laptops. Power your laptop when you’re away from the power lines. Two or three- 10 watt PV modules provide enough power to run and/or charge most laptop computers including nearly all Macintosh as well as PC portables. Anywhere you go, just unfold the solar array, put it in the sunshine, plug in a 12 volt DC lighter adapter and you’re set. A 10 foot cord allows you to be in the shade (like under a tree at the beach) while the solar module is out in the sun working. The Notepower solar charger can charge other 12 Volt DC powered devices with rechargeable batteries too. Cell phones and other devices with DC chargers can be plugged into the Notepower solar charger and recharged as well.

Sierra Solar has three laptop chargers checkout the Sierra website for more info.

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Cardscan Products

I get so many business cards and most of them end up at the bottom of my bag, to be found weeks or months later. I love this little guy, it plugs into my laptop, I scan the card in immediately (front & back) add in notes on where, when, why and then sync it with my Outlook. Bam!

A little snippet from there site:

• Scan up to 30 cards a minute
• Easy-to-use software is a complete contact management solution, contact information from almost anywhere (business cards, email signatures, web pages and more)
• CardScan puts your contact information where you want it and keeps you in sync (Outlook, ACT!, Notes, GoldMine, Palm or Windows Mobile, Blackberry and more)
• CardScan keeps your contact data safe, securely backing up your data to our CardScan at Your service online service at no charge

Get more info on the Cardscan website

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So there you have it....small tech solutions that will keep you organized and Green!!

You've Got Mail

I don't know about you but I have tons of email accounts, six business and three personal. Now I know that I probably have more accounts than most of you out there but even if you have two or three accounts keeping up on them can be pretty hard.

So what can you do to cut down the time, effort, and frustration of trying to keep up with all of these accounts?

First you should get the accounts to come into your desktop email program. I have Outlook 2007 and Vista as my operating system (wooh is me...Vista is the bane my existence) so you are going to see a lot about Outlook in here but most of these links will address multiple programs and methods of accomplishing this same goal.

I am including links to other websites and blogs, and I know that this may look a bit complicated...perhaps even scary, but it's really not. There are too many Outlook versions and operating systems for me to do it any other way, trust me you will be fine, the links will link you directly into the method that best suits your individual computer setup.

I am not outlining business email accounts as those are easy to pull into Outlook, if you do not know how to do it talk to your company tech support or web administrator they can walk you through POP, IMAP, or Microsoft exchange servers. If your work email comes in as an IMAP or from a Microsoft exchange server it will automatically separate the files out, but POP accounts need to be manually separated so scroll down to the last link.

Now onto the freebie email accounts.....

Gmail is easy to get into Outlook:

1. Tools

2. Account Settings

3. Add Email

4. Name, email address, password, remember password

Vwala...it's that easy!

Hotmail/MSN email accounts couldn't be done previously on the free accounts, now there are a couple of ways to do it. My favorite and the easiest is downloading Outlook Connector 2007 (which is free) and it will do the work for you. You can also use Windows Live this is the program we talked about in last week's post A Blogger's BFF. Finally if you are still old school and have older versions of Outlook the Other Methods section is for you.

Getting Hotmail and MSN free accounts into Outlook:

Outlook Connector:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=7aad7e6a-931e-438a-950c-5e9ea66322d4&displaylang=en

Other Methods:

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/11/02/set-up-and-add-hotmail-account-in-microsoft-outlook-2007/

Now Yahoo, to get Yahoo into Outlook there are a couple of ways to do it. If you have Vista expect problems-well if you have vista you already know that, and I cannot promise that if and when you do get it to work that it will continue to work. Outlook 2007 needs a special download which is the Ypop link below and it too is in testing/beta phase so check out their discussion group for updates and fixes.

Getting Yahoo free accounts into Outlook:

http://email.about.com/od/yahoomailtips/Yahoo_Mail_Tips_Tricks_and_Secrets.htm

Ypop download for Outlook 2007:

http://ypopsemail.com/download

For those Firefox users you can actually get to your email accounts through your web browser, check out this link below for more information.

http://mashable.com/2007/08/27/firefox-email/

Segregation is a Good Thing!!

Now that you have all of the email accounts coming into good old Outlook, you should separate them so they do not come in as a mass jumble to your in-box. The Outlook Connector will automatically create a separate file for hotmail, but for the remainder you will have to do it yourself. The link below will walk you through each version of Outlook and how you can accomplish email segregation. It took me some finagling with the first one, as a new task often does, but from there it is like clockwork!

Separating all those email accounts:

Separate mail coming from multiple POP3 accounts HowTo-Outlook

I highly recommend taking the time to do this, systematizing and organizing doesn't sound exciting, but it will save you time and money in the end. Who couldn't use more time and less headaches!!

Planning a Vacation?? - Journeypod.com

Summer is almost upon us and for some of you luckies out there that can mean Vacation Time!! I love travel, the more exotic, adventurous, and out of the way the better. In my “younger” days cheap was in that list also, not that I don’t look for a good deal now (I will always be a deal girl) but cheap can also means not the nicest and I’m not afraid to say it but I want some pamper in my vacation.

First let me tell you what spurred this post, I was watching Top Chef – yes this Smart Gal likes a realty show, I don’t like that many and I am not an Idol watcher sorry, but there are a couple out there that I DVR – anyway the winner of the challenge received a luxury trip by Journeypod. “What’s this” I asked myself. The word pod got me thinking Ipod aka tech, and we know how much I like that, and then the luxury piece -well any girl likes luxury. So I just had to check out this website. It is an interesting website with vacation destinations that span the globe, from Iceland to San Francisco and points in between, this site touts themselves as the insider on the life of luxury for the jetsetter.

A little snippet from their website:

Whether its luxury vacation ideas, luxury travel destinations, luxury hotel information, luxury holiday travel, journeyPod means luxury. We have the insider’s information about international nightlife, boutique hotels, luxury resorts, and luxury travel Europe. Scope out our nightlife reviews, celebrity travel gossip, and restaurant reviews. JourneyPod has the lowdown on what to eat, what to buy, where to be seen, and who you'll see when you get there. Whether its San Francisco bars, London nightclubs, or Miami restaurants, the latest celebrity gossip, or where to find your favorite celebrity chefs, journeyPod is the one destination guide that has the most up-to-date info on exotic travel, luxury holidays, luxury vacation, trendiest restaurants and luxury travel.

Let’s review what your GetSmartGal thought:

Not So Smart:

1. Events – They listed 8 events total in their main events page (not many) and they were wine/food and Hollywood events. I was hoping for more events, varying themes, with some exotic locales. Note: the podcast piece makes up for this page.
   
2. Hotel “deals” these aren’t deals they should just stick to the informational piece and leave the “deals” to the more established online players like Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity, Priceline, etc..
   
3. Site is a little labor intensive and disconjointed, the podcasts take you to another web address making it difficult to get back. There is no directory or search box on the main site and the one on the podcast site is useless. The longer they do this, they started in 2006, and the more they put on this site the worse this will get.
   

Smart:

1. The podcast supplements; this for me makes this site, the topics vary from destination overviews to “insider” information, and then they sprinkle in the glitzy factor with the behind the scene interviews at events.


2. Dig deep in this site and you will find a lot more, they have specific city pages, a blog page, the podcast area, and some must be at events scattered throughout.
   

Overall this website it pretty interesting and has some great tidbits that will get the travel bug itchin! For me this would be a startin off point, then I would need to go somewhere else to set up the travel package, and then I would probably pick up a more in-depth travel guide for the trip. Not bad though I will definitely keep it in my Google reader and check back occasionally to see what’s up.

I give this site 3 out of 5 Smart Gals.

Qik.com - Live Streaming Video from your Phone

Qik.com, Qik enables you to stream live video directly from your cell phone

Another cool toy I can't use because I am a Verizon Girl!! It is becoming an AT&T/iPhone world...I am not a big conspiracy theorist but if I were I would definitely smell something here...

Now, I am not a 100% sure which carriers have which phone models-you will have to check that out on your own, so if it turns out that Verizon has one of these phones, hooray! I have a Crack I mean Blackberry without the camera because Verizon can't get in the game doesn't have that model. In any case Blackberry and iPhone don't look to be compatible at this time. Some of these Nokia models are cheap though, I would spend the dough just to have the cool factor...live streaming video from anywhere that is too much! (for those of you who aren't sure what this is-no stupid questions here-it means that what you record on your phone can now be seen live on the Internet)

Here are the specs for this service from their website:

Just point your cell phone and stream video live to your your friends on Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, etc. OR use your cell phone like a camcorder and stream hours and hours of video without worrying about storage on your cell phone.

Since Qik is new to this they say that they are constantly adding support for new phones - which would be nice since none of the phones are Blackberry or iPhone! Currently, they support video streaming on Nokia S60 phones: N71, N73, N75, N76, N77, N80, N82, N91, N92, N93i, N95, E50, E51, E61i, E65, E70m E90 Communicator, 3250, 5500, 5700 Xpress Music, 6110 Navigator, 6120 Classic, 6121 Classic, and 6290. You also need a Data Plan and it is advisable to have an Unlimited Data Plan from your service provider as video streaming can consume considerable amount of bandwidth.

This company is in their alpha release so registration is only through invitations. If you are interested, you can go to Qik.com and enter your phone number. They send you an SMS with a link to verify your request. Once you click the link from the SMS and confirm your request they will evaluate your request and get back to you.

Now there are no more excuses for you UFO people not to have better proof, instead of those messed up blurry pictures, now you can stream your encounter live on the Internet. This is going to change everything!

Voice Cloud-Turns Voicemails into Text

I seem to be saying this a lot these days….but I was out there checking out the blogs and I found this cool new service called Voice Cloud. I saw this post on an activerain real estate blog by Roberta Murphy which she contributes to Pat Kitano and I have no idea where he found it so hopefully that is the end of that list. In any case I was intrigued by Roberta’s blog title which was “Cool New Tech:Voice Cloud.” The blog post was short and to the point (which I love but do not do myself) and stated here is a new FREE service that will transcribe your voicemails into text emails.

How cool is that? Now when someone leaves you a message you get an email with the mp3 file, an email of the text transcription of the message, and you can also get a text message of the transcription. Wow…that was a mouthful!! You can choose one, a combination of, or all of the distribution methods listed above. This service is still in beta testing (probably won’t stay free for long) can be used on mobile or land-line services, works with most major carriers, and is done in real-time. For myself the mp3 of the message came right away, the email transcription comes about 4 to 6 minutes later as does the text transcription.

This new company on the block started in 2007 is headquartered right down the road in the same county as me and did I say it’s FREE!! The website says currently there is unlimited voice/transcription storage and retrieval (we’ll see about that), 24/7 customer service and support. They also have “a specifically designed interface for the iPhone.” (I am so tired of the iPhone getting all of the super cool interfaces) What happen to the Crack Blackberry being the cool toy to have? I may need to switch to AT&T especially if they are the only ones to get the new Blackberry this summer-it’s a conspiracy I tell you!!

So check it out and tell me what you think of this service….so far I think I’s pretty nifty.

Daily Motion Video Widget

I was checking out a site the other day and they had this great video widget, always looking for the next best widget I clicked on it. The “videowall” that is what they call it was from Daily Motion, France’s provider of online video content from both user-generated and media partnership sources. Basically this site is a much much smaller version of Youtube, like Youtubes 2nd cousin, but the cool thing about it is no company stamp and the video wall.

Videowalls let you display a group of videos on your site with a slick interface. You can display up to 81 videos in a Videowall. You can create Videowalls from a user or group profile page by clicking the "Create a Videowall" button, located in the profile pane just beneath the user or group description.

The videowall has so many applications for blogs, social sites, websites, etc. you can use the wall to display marketing and advertising videos, company profiles, or just fun stuff. The wall is small like most widgets (but it can get rather large, up to 81 videos- wow) which means it can be displayed in a prominent location on your site, so people do not have search around to find your video content.

A couple of logistical points:

· MAXIMUM ALLOWED VIDEO DURATION: 20 minutes
· MAXIMUM ALLOWED FILE SIZE: 150MB
· ADVISED VIDEO SETTINGS:
o MP4 (H264), MOV, WMV, AVI formats (many are supported)
o 320x240, 640x480 or 1280x720 resolution
o 25 frames per second (framerate or fps)
If you want to upload videos longer than 20 minutes or in High Definition, become a motionmaker

What is a motionmaker you ask?

A MotionMaker is a creative user who does not have any limits to the length or file size of videos they can upload. The MotionMaker’s videos may be featured on the homepage, within channels, or elsewhere on the Dailymotion site.

In order to join the program, first register under the appropriate creative user category (filmmaker, reporter, musician, entertainer, or extreme) and accept the special terms and conditions. Once you have registered, label one of your videos as “creative content” on the video edit page. Your video will be transmitted to the Dailymotion team, which will review it for compliance with MotionMaker standards in order to validate your status.

So get out there and make some of those cool video walls and let me know how it goes. I am still building mine it should be up soon, check back.

Today’s Techie Dictator Post

There are two tools I want to talk about today for you dictators. That is “dictators” that like to dictate rather than write….I do not have tools for you tyrannical leaders out there, sorry!

The first cool tool is Jott a voice to text service that allows you to call an 800 number and turn your spoken wisdom into emails, text reminders, a to-do list, or Twitter, post a blog, text a group, the list goes on and on. This technological marvel is the brainchild of two guys with long complicated names headquartered in Seattle, WA. The team is made up of all guys…figures! I am not saying anything derogatory by that it just suits guys…they are a little on the do less get more side of life. Since its introduction in late 2006, Jott has made world class voice transcription accessible to anyone with a cell phone. This is a free service.

Just in case you are looking for this same capability but do not want to call in to a number there is Dragon Naturally Speaking by Nuance, it starts at $99. Here is a little snippet from their website:

With Dragon NaturallySpeaking Standard you can talk to your computer and watch words quickly appear in documents, e-mails, instant messages and even surf the web simply by speaking! It's amazingly accurate - up to 99% - and really easy to use. There's no script reading or "voice training" required, so you can get started dictating right away. Perfect for the whole family - busy parents, kids just learning to type, and even grandparents!

Sounds super fun….huh? Actually it isn’t half bad, setting up is a bit of a pain but once you get the hang of it the program it works rather well. I am sure this was developed by guys too, but I have no proof of that.

Finally, this is not a dictation tool but once you have your voice turned into text you can go to this site below and translate it into another language. Cool!
http://free-translation.imtranslator.net/

Hopefully these toys tools will help you take some of the clutter out of your day. And for all of you guys out there I was only kidding about the truth wise cracks. Let me know what you think of these sources, would love to hear the feedback.

Spy Pig....The Name Says It All

I am a sucker for new and cool gadgets! I also like to know how my marketing, communication efforts, and time allocation is paying off. Now I do not want to be too big brother, because like everyone else out there I have avoidance and procrastination issues, but knowing when someone has read my email could be useful. In marketing I moved away from mailers because I couldn’t tell when people received the mailer and I didn’t get enough feedback telling me what people thought of the “item of value.” I switched instead to email campaigns and most especially video email campaigns so I could see when my clients/business partners watched the video. The change was astounding, I got more business, and incredible feedback so much so that I have never looked back.

Now after reading a blog post at Creativebits.org I have a new toy that may come in handy. It is called SpyPig, the name alone makes me want to use it. Does anyone ever tell you that they didn’t get your email? Usually it is the email they didn’t want to get. Now you can find out when your email has been read by the recipient! No more guessing: "Has he or she read my email yet?" I know you can send out a read receipt with your email but who really clicks a response when that pops up…I know I don’t. SpyPig is a simple email tracking system that sends you a notification email as soon as the recipient opens and reads your message. It works with virtually all modern email programs: Outlook, Eudora, Yahoo Email, Gmail, Hotmail, AOL Email and many others.

I am still playing with this new and cool gadget but so far I would say that it is a something you may want to use here and there and not on your bulk emails. The website says you can use it on bulk emails you just won’t know who read the email, but you will get notified when it is read.

Best of all, SpyPig is FREE! No spam, no virus, no adware, no spyware. You can use it as often as you like, and there's no catch.

SpyPig Requirements

Both you and the recipient must use an HTML-formatted email, not a plain-text or rich-text formatted email. SpyPig works by using a tracking image (SpyPig image) whose reference to its location on our server is embedded in your HTML email message. When the recipient opens your email, the tracking image will be automatically downloaded from our server, triggering the "email opened" alert on our system.

If you are using Outlook as your email software, you need to change the way it sends a downloadable image in your email, or SpyPig will not work!

1. Under "Tools" in the main menu, go to "Options"




2. On the tab, click "Mail Format"




3. On the entry "Compose in this message format", select "HTML" from the pulldown menu




4. Click the "Internet Format..." button and a new pop-pop window will appear




5. Under "HTML options", uncheck the checkbox that says "When an HTML message contains pictures located on the Internet, send a copy of the pictures instead of the reference to their location"




6. Under "Outlook Rich Text options", select "Convert to HTML format" from the pulldown menu




7. Click "OK" on the pop-up window




8. Click "OK" again on the main "Options" window

This will make sure your Outlook will send the reference (the address or link) of the tracking image instead of a copy file of the image itself in your email. The recipient's email software will then use the address to locate and download the tracking image from our server.

SpyPig General Limitations

SpyPig relies on the image download as the tracking device. Therefore, there are some limitations:

• Insensitive Pig
  
  There are times when SpyPig does not know if the email has been read. That's mainly due to the failure of the tracking image from being downloaded by the recipient. Contributing factors may include the following:








• You or the recipient uses a plain-text email or rich-text email instead of HTML-formatted email




• You use an HTML email, but somehow your software turns the SpyPig tracking image into an inline attachment instead of a downloadable remote image coming from our server (See "Tested Software" below)




• The recipient disables or blocks the automatic image download on their email software




• The recipient's firewall, anti-spyware, anti-virus, anti-spam or anti-whatever software may mistakenly block or alter your email that contains a downloadable image (See "Tips" below)




• The recipient's or your email provider or network does not allow a downloadable image in the email and delete or alter it




• and so on

• Overreacting Pig
  
  SpyPig sends you a notification email everytime your email is opened (unless the image download fails). That means the following situations may also result in getting a notification:








• You open your own email perhaps from the Sent folder




• The recipient opens your email multiple times




• The recipient responds to your email with your original message enclosed and the SpyPig image still intact, and then you open that email




• The recipient forwards your email to others and they open your email (but you won't be able to tell if your email has been forwarded)




• and so on

If getting too many notification emails becomes a problem for our users, we may limit in the future the number of notifications you will get for each email you send.

UPDATE: We now limit the number of notification emails to 5 for each email you send with SpyPig.

Group Emails

If you send out a group email with multiple recipients with a SpyPig in it, you will still be notified everytime a recipient opens your email (up to 5 notifications), but you will not know which recipient. To get an individual notification from each recipient, send a seperate email with a different SpyPig for each recipient.


Tips

It's often better to use SpyPig with the recipients you have been emailing before than with those you never have. That's because these known recipients' firewall, anti-spyware or anti-spam software may have "learned" about your emails, put your email address into their whitelist, and therefore let your emails with SpyPig through without any problem.

In addition, try to avoid sending a very short message and/or gibberish in your email along with SpyPig as this may be mistakenly thought as a spam by the recipient's anti-spam software.


No Notification? Check Your Spam Folder

If you didn't get your notification email, check your junk email or spam folder as it may have gone there. You may also need to adjust your junk email filter to allow emails from the spypig.com domain.

Tech Tools for the rest of us:

These techie tools have been a godsend for me, they are fast and most importantly easy to use. In anything I do I like to prioritize and systematize my efforts, usually the first time you do something it takes forever to figure it out, but any future efforts should then be quick and automatic. The sources listed below make my website, social sites, and blog site a snap to keep up on.


- Smart PDF Converter – Smart PDF Converter is both easy to use and powerful. If you only want to convert documents, and don't want to fuss with complex settings, you can select the file you want to convert and click the Convert button. And you're finished. Smart PDF Converter is that fast and easy. If you are an advanced user who wants more flexibility, you can set various conversion modes. You can select settings that determine whether the output document is easier to edit or strictly represents the original layout. You can also choose to extract the images from the PDF file, publish the file on the Internet, and more. The Pro version converts your edited documents back to the PDF file format. The software supports any printable document format. http://www.pdftodocconverterpro.com/

- You Convert It – Free! Convert any media file format (Documents, Images, Audio, Video & Archives) without buying or installing anything on your PC. YouConvertIt.com, conversion source, file storage, units conversion website allowing Internet users to convert audio video images and documents into an array of formats also sending or delivering file(s). YouConvertIt.com’s service is free, instant, and does not require any tedious download and software installations. http://www.youconvertit.com/

- Html Converter – Discovery Vip has tons of useful online tools for your websites, social sites, or blog pages, one great tool is their online html converter. The tool they offer allows you to take your word or text documents and turn them into HTML text to post on your website, MySpace page, or blog page. The tool is quick, easy, and free. Use it as often as you need to. http://www.htmlcode.discoveryvip.com/

- Photobucket – Photobucket is great for creating picture collages and photo albums to put on your social sites and websites but it is also great for converting marketing flyer's into html for Craigslist, Ebay, and other sites that you may want to showcase items on with a little more flash. http://www.photobucket.com/

How To Create & Send A Helloworld Video

Videos and live streaming on the Internet are getting more and more popular, are you moving gracefully into this digital age? For myself I love the newest and best technological trends but I also do not want to have to back to school to figure out how to utilize these new gadgets. I was a fan of the Jetson's when I was a kid, I remember thinking that if the dog can use the technology then its got to be good. There are so many ways to get to and use video on the web for free, but you need to hunt, learn, and adapt to each providers services. I want cool and easy to use technology, I chose www.helloworld.com/seeclearly and www.firststream.com/seeclearly because they have everything I want in one place and they do all of the hard work for me. This first video shows you the basics, it should get you started, and the great thing about this company is the customer help area. Everything you need to know to make and distribute videos is in their video tutorials area. I can't stand sites that are all video but I have to read through a book to figure out how to use it, where is the sense in that?