The Nerd Sqwad

The New Adobe 8 Reader

2007-05-30T13:50:00.000-07:00

New Interface, New Tools, More Options

Reader 8 has a completely redesigned interface with new tools, and many new options for viewing information. The new Adobe Reader is integrated with Adobe Connect™ . This enables you to communicate and increase the productivity and speed at which approvals are sent and received. Use digital signatures and enforce access rights at the document level to add an additional level of security.

To view most forms used for many different applications, your browser might need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader 3.0 or higher on your computer. A free copy of the Adobe Acrobat Reader can be downloaded from the Adobe website.

Apple iWork Capabilities Discovered

2007-05-17T13:53:00.000-07:00

Discover what iWork can really do. Watch this quick iWork 06' Tour to get a quick view of what applications like Pages and Keynote are capable of. You'll be surprised with how much is packed in the software that comes with each Mac.

Sell on Google Base for Free!!!

2007-05-15T19:49:00.000-07:00

If you have a business or even if you just have stuff to sell, sell it online. If you use amazon.com or eBay to sell your things, don't. Google has developed their own application for selling products and services online; Google Base. Google Base is the newest, most innovative online selling point on the internet.

Google Base utilizes Google Checkout for secure transactions. Many businesses use Google Checkout to secure online transactions and protect against fraud. Of course other options of payment are available with Google Base such as the use of Visa, Master card, American Express, Cash, Wire Transfer, etc. However, Google Checkout is incredibly secure with the Google team analyzing potential fraudulent transactions. Couple Base with Checkout and incredibly user friendly, FREE applications come to life. Yes-- I said Free. Google Base is free until 2008 as reported by Google. Google has realized what a great product they have (Google Base) and decided to capitalize from it.

How much does it cost?
Beginning early 2008, Google will reportedly start charging, in some fashion, for the innovative shopping platform. So sell sell sell while you can. Transaction processing is free until the end of 2007. Starting January 1, 2008, sellers who accept payments through Google Checkout will be charged 2.0% of the total sale, including taxes and shipping. If you incur a chargeback, you'll be charged $10. No additional setup or monthly fees are in the plan.

One of the best features of Google Base: you can use your own website to promote your products for sale and create another advertising platform for your products or services. Google Base allows you to create individualized web pages customized to your content. By utilizing the Google website development system built into Google Base, your products become more visible in the Google index and are crawled almost instantly. This means your information get out in the market, quicker, safer, and more efficiently.

Ads for Feeds (Goolges AdSense for Feeds)

2007-05-15T19:25:00.000-07:00

Do you use Google AdSense, Text link Ads, or some other ad service to provide useful content to your readers above and beyond what your site provides; a one stop shop for great information? Well if your utilizing a blogging platform for your website content transmission have you thought about utilizing an ad system specifically targeted to your blogs site feeds? If you haven't yet, jump on the wagon. By providing ads in a sites RSS feeds, a more comprehensive reader experience can be fulfilled.

There are few RSS feed ad placement services available because it is a fairly new concept. Google has started beta testing for AdSense for feeds. Don't click on yet. Google has closed this trial test for the RSS feed and atom feed ads, but I suspect within a few months, Google should open up the AdSense for feeds to all AdSense users. Until then, another great service is Pheedo Ads.

Pheedo Ads is a bit different then Google's contextually targeted ads in that Pheedos aren't targeted at all. Pheedo Ads puts the power of selecting the ad application to what ever the user would like. This gets rid of the burden of unwanted ads, however places the new burden of setup in the hands of the publisher. Overall Pheedo offers great services to users and, in the mean time, works well.

Track the progress of your site

2007-05-15T19:07:00.000-07:00

If you're using Adsense, Pheedo Ads or another ad placement system you may want to know your sites progress in terms of site impressions or visits. You may even be interested in your sites progress to gauge your successes. There are so many site trackers available, but which service is right for you? Which service won't drive traffic away or will bring traffic in?

Deciding on a traffic monitoring service can be a guess and check process, or it can be as simple as reading a bit about what the service provides and matching those services to the qualities you seek in a monitoring service. It is a very good idea to use more than one service; don't worry, the best of the best services have options for free services. Free is always a great price. Site Meter and Google Analytics are a great pair.

The free version of Site Meter will provide a great overview of your sites progress over the course of any defined time frame. Site impressions and page views can be viewed as a pictorial graph or in a table format. Google Analytics offers a more comprehensive solution; a solution that will provide a great end of month report of progress. Both of these solutions are real time. The simple reason for utilizing both services is to compare collected data for accuracy and a different view. Site Meter provides a quick look at the sites performance whereas Google Analytics provides a more comprehensive view.

Create Amazing Pictures with Xcode Tools

2007-05-15T18:44:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wondered how much your Mac can really do? Ever wonder what else is packed inside that tiny Mac? Well chances are that you haven't yet discovered Apple Xcode Tools. Within Xcode Tools is a graphical workbench (programs like Core Image Fun House) which enables the making and alteration of unbelievably beautiful graphics. This graphics workbench integrates a syntax-highlighting text editor, a robust build control system, a debugger, and the powerful GCC compiler capable of targeting both Intel and PowerPC regardless of host platform.

Xcode is bundled with Interface Builder, AppleScript Studio, Java development support, and WebObjects development tools. Amazing features right under your finger tips; you may have never known.

Create, edit, change, do whatever your mind can think of to pictures to make them original and amazing.

Change the format of files

2007-05-10T15:30:00.000-07:00

Mac users. Have you ever wondered how to change the format of image or data files from one format to another to another to another...? Well, it's incredibly easy with the use of Preview. Preview is one of the great applications that comes standard on every Mac. Many alterations to files are possible in Preview (cropping, format changing, annotations, rotations, etc.), so it really is a jack of all trades in terms of software.

To change a files format from JPEG to JPEG2000, GIFF, TIFF, BMP or whatever your heart desires, simply follow the directions below.

>Open the file in preview. If it is a word file or a Pages file, export the file by opening first in its current format. Then export in PDF format by choosing export under file.
>After the file is opened in Preview, choose save as.
>When the pop up destination window opens, adjust the format to one of your choosing.
>That's it!

This is a very simple, yet sometimes very illusive task to figure out. Changing a files format type can be helpful when working with some applications or services such as Blogger. For example, Blogger will not enable a image file to be uploaded in a PDF format, so a format adjustment to a PNG or JPEG format is needed.

Banned from Google tool

2007-05-03T07:34:00.000-07:00

You've worked hard to get your pride and joy up and running on the net and now it has disappeared from Googles index. Well don't worry because it's not completely the end of the world as we all know it. If you really believe that Google has banned your site from the index, check your site to see if it has been banned using the Google Banned Tool.

There are a few common reasons to be banned from Google. The most common is duplicating content to improve your index ranking.

Duplicate Content
To get banned from Google by duplicating content, you really have to copy a lot of content. Google will look for this because this is a way of duplicating across domains in an attempt to manipulate search engine rankings or acquire more traffic. However, you shouldn't worry about occasional snippets or quotes being flagged as duplicate content. They will simply pass over these.

What you need to know is that most often you are not banned from an index when your site falls off or simply falls in ranking. It simply means either Google crawlers have missed your site or pages. An important tip to read is starting a Google webmasters account which is free and adding a sitemap to your site which can be explained in get your blog or website on Google faster.
Adding a sitemap to your site will allow Google crawlers a clear path and defined outcome of what to index. This will result in a more complete indexing of your site. Webmaster tools allows you to see when and how Google crawls and indexes your site.

Get your RSS feeds right on your Mac screen saver

2007-04-30T20:54:00.000-07:00

One great morning... Cup of coffee and an automated high light of the days facts from your favorite news sites or blogs right on your Mac. How? Your Mac has an RSS visualizer built into the screen saver. Try it out.

While in safari, add to your RSS subscriptions; Or while you're visiting one of your favorite blogs while in safari and an RSS subscription is available, add the subspription. Your Mac comes standard with many RSS feeds already added in safari to start you off.

Set your screen saver to view RSS feeds
System Preferences -> Desktop & Screen Saver
>Click on the Screen Saver tab
>Click on RSS Visualizer

If you want to use another RSS reader other than Safari
Open Safari > click on Safari Preferences >
>Click the Rss Tab in the pop up menu
>Then change the default RSS Reader setting to the browser you would like to use: such as Firefox. Avoid using Internet Explorer for many reasons.

Now read to your hearts content!

If you're up on Wallstreet topics, visit The Mad MoneAnalyst and add an RSS subscription. The MoneyAnalyst reviews many topics ranging from investment strategies to cost saving strategies.

Get your blog or website on google faster!

2007-04-27T16:58:00.001-07:00

You've battled with with your website trying to get it up to standards and looking pretty. Now you want to show off your hard work. You can simply wait for Google to find your site on the radar by just waiting, or you can be proactive and get your work out there ASAP. Just follow these simple steps (some steps give the best resource, such as tutorials, for a step by step process).

Domain Names
You may want to purchase a domain name, depending on your situation. These are fairly easy to come by. For the most part it is all about finding the best deal out there. I chose to go through a very reputable, and somewhat competitively priced company, Yahoo Domains.

Adjust settings
If you are using a blogging site like Blogger, Wordpress, etc. to host your site, make sure that the site isn't set to private. The private setting in most applications will simply ask the index crawlers to pass your site. Also make sure that you follow the recommendations of the particular application stipulating Google index inclusion procedures. For example Blogger asks that you set the settings as follows: Under the basic settings tab; Yes - for add your blog to our listings. Under the publishing settings tab; Yes - for send pings. Under the archiving settings tab; Yes for enable post pages. Again follow the instructions given by your blogger or website application. Do make sure your site is not set to private if you want your site indexed.

Add URL to the Google index crawl list
The most important part is to add your site URL to the list of sites to crawl. This essentially tells Google that you want your site added to the index and makes it a bit easier for Google's crawlers to recognize your new site. There is a page to submit URLs for blogs and another for websites. Follow each like for your type of site. If you are submitting a blog URL, you will want to fill out both URL submit pages for a website and a blog.

Add a sitemap
For Blogger type applications
If you are using a blogger application such as Blogger or Wordpress, then this step really won't apply to your site as it really is automatic. But adding a site map to your Blogger or Wordpress blog will offer quicker and more complete indexing. To add a sitemap to Blogger, click adding a Google sitemap to your blog. You will need to know your sites feed URL which is (http://yourblog.blogspot.com/rss.xml). Before you add a sitemap to your site you will need to create a Google Webmaster Tools account (this is a free service).

For iWeb and .Mac users
If you are using an application such as iWeb, there is a great tutorial for adding a site map at Become No. 1 on Google. Along with this webcast you will need a site map generator. You will also need to make an account with Google Webmaster Tools . Again simply click on this video link and watch the tutorial (don't worry, it's all free).

Add a Privacy Policy
Your site may need a privacy policy depending on your content and how you want your readers to perceive your site. An automatic privacy policy generator is the way to go. After following the link, simply read and answer the questions and press generate. It's as simple as that, and it's free.

Now you're ready to go. Keep in mind that Google typically makes a round of crawling each week, so it will take a bit of time. However, this process shouldn't take longer than about 1.5 weeks. Each time you add information to your blog, you will need to ping it to make Google aware of your update. Best of luck!

Editing and adding html in iWeb is easy!

2007-04-27T07:23:00.000-07:00

So you've had long hours and days staying up to make your website in iWeb. Well the truth is, iWeb's deceptively easy to use, user friendly abilities put somewhat of a burden on the advanced users, or even those users that learn very quickly and want to take their site to the next level. You're probably thinking great I finally can start a blog or website without the thing costing so much money to be done by a pro. Well you're right. You can create as much flare as you want on your site, as long as you have the patience to learn.

Now you're past the whole click and poof you've got something pretty on your site; you want something more. You want the ability to write your own code and let iWeb take a break. Good for you.

It's easy to edit html in iWeb
Getting right to the point. In iWeb there is a scary way and a not so scary way to edit the html code that you want in your site. First the scary way (just to be torturous).

The Scary way:
Note: if you are altering the html code already produced by iWeb, this is the only way.
While you're in iWeb you decided you might want a banner at the top of your home page. So at the top of your page you type BANNERHERE or something distinctive that tells you where to put the code in the next step.
Then you publish your website either to a folder or idisk... it's almost done. When your site is published, navigate to the through the folders where you published your website and find the page where you placed your marker; in this example it was BANNERHERE on the home page. So for this example you'd find the homepage.html file; or what ever it is named. Then open text edit. Navigate to the folder you have found your page at. Be sure to click "ignore rich text commands". Then open the file.
Find the place holder you've typed (BANNERHERE or whatever you chose) and replace that place holder with the html code you want.
Now the thing to remember with this way is every time you update your website and republish it, you'll have to redo this process every time. To me this is a bit scary. This is why I wouldn't do this if I had a website that I updated often. So, thankfully, there is an easier way.

The not so scary way:
Note: this method only ads html code to your site; It cannot alter html already produced by iWeb.
This way is so simple its just plain mad (although it would be more simple if apple wrote this feature in with iWeb, but that's just too much to ask).
Here it is. Simply go to iWeb Enhancer, the site to find this add on software which does wonders, and download. You can use it up to 10 times before paying for it, and did I mention that it works great. Instructions of how to use iWeb Enhancer are on the site.

Tips
Before reading the tips, go try out iWeb Enhancer (it's free to use ten times!)

Place all html code including the placeholder in a round rectangle.
Make sure when using iWeb Enhancer to place the placeholder before the html code you want to place in your site.

Benefits of iWeb Enhancer
The benefits of using the iWeb Enhancer:

When you want to republish your code is still there. The scary html method as mentioned above doesn't provide for this.
It only takes a few minutes to edit html code and your site verses hours with the scar way.
Google Adsense ads are so much easier to implement.

How to secure your computer!

2007-04-24T18:47:00.001-07:00

Why isn't my computer safely secured?

Well there are many reason: You may have not installed all required updates and patches. You may not be using the proper / safe software.

How do I install updates and patches?

Windows users: This should be set as automatic from factory settings, however, things have their ways of just changing. To check that automatic updates is currently set for all windows users: first click on the start bar. The start menu should pop up. Then right click on my computer; another menu should pop up. Then click on properties; this should open a separate window. Click on the automatic updates tab at the top of the window. Make sure this is set to automatically update.

MAC users: This should be automatic, but if you have this turned off here are the instructions: Go to systems preferences. Then click on software update located at the bottom of the systems preferences screen. Then click check now. This will scan your computer and cross reference the software that is located on your computer with the latest versions from mac.

I have an antivirus program. How do I update that?

This is relatively easy and should be set to automatically update, however, all programs are different. To make changes to your anti virus software it does depend on which program you are using, whether it be McAfee, Norton Antivirus, or some other program.

Windows users: Generally, it should be as easy as right clicking on the icon of the specific antivirus software that is in use that appears in the start bar near the clock. After you right click on the appropriate icon, there should be an option to update virus software.

MAC users: You don't have this problem because your computers are special!

So what is next? I'm doing everything safely now right?

Not quite. Since the introduction of FireFox, the Internet community has been divided on opinions of what program is safer until now. One of the latest studies conducted by ScanIT has proven that Internet Explorer missed about 80% of vulnerability tests while it's rival FireFox missed about 15%. ScanIT used a test program, Security Checker, which is used to detect vulnerabilities in browser programs. ScanIT CeEO David Michaux states that around 98% of Internet Explorer users were exposed to online threats during 2004. So clearly FireFox is the winner in that arena.

What about my passwords that I use? Are they safe?
Most People use words that are naturally easy to remember. The problem with doing this is that most of the time someone who knows you could easily guess or figure out the word you chose for your password. So get imaginative. Don't fall into the trap of using one of the most commonly used passwords:

* no password (simply pressing enter)
* admin
* root
* password or PASSWORD
* god
* letmein
* love
* monkey
* pass
* sex
* 123, 1234, 12345, or 123456
* secret
* money
* asdf
* qwerty
* letmein
* passme

Use combinations of letters and numbers. Maybe one number before your word and one number after. Do NOT use the beginning of your email address. That is notoriously used in identity thefts.

About

2007-04-11T09:07:00.000-07:00

Every wonder what your computer or Mac can really do? This site can show you some pretty sweet tips and tricks on really how to fully optimize and secure your machine. Security of you machine is extremely important these days as many computer viruses are inadvertently downloaded everyday. You will also find some tricks about blogs and websites.

If you find some things that you really like, but your machine isn't a Mac, iBuz can help you decide which Mac is right for you. iBuz reviews top quality Apple products such as Macs as well as other technological innovations in the market.

2007-04-01T20:13:00.000-07:00