Download the Audio Pronunciation of English Words from Google

via labnol.org

A Google tip from Digital Inspiration. Good to know, for those times you are not sure hot to pronounce a word.

Just click on the link above to read the whole post.

Posted via email from sefcug's posterous

How to Use Google Search More Effectively Infographic

Some more Google information, found on Mashable.com:

http://mashable.com/2011/11/24/google-search-infographic/#

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Just click on the link to see the whole posting and the very large infographic. I think this will help a lot when you are researching something using Google search.

As always, feel free to let me know what you think of this find, and whether it is useful for you.

Posted via email from sefcug's posterous

Google and Privacy Settings

As a result of the Google Secrets: Redux presentation by Boca Raton Computer Society (BRCS) Vice President Jerry Naditch, I have received questions regarding protecting privacy while using Google search and other Google products.

If you have similar concerns, check out PC World's Google Privacy Checklist at:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/250950/google_privacy_checklist_what_to_do_before_googles_privacy_policy_changes_on_march_1.html#tk.rss_howto

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I hope this helps!

Let me know what you think.

Posted via email from sefcug's posterous

How To Find Creative Commons Content With Google

via makeuseof.com

Don't plagiarize use Creative Commons content. Click on the via makeuseof.com link and read the article to see how easy it is to find content you can legally use for your blog, website, or whatever.

Do you currently use Creative Commons content? If not, why not?

Posted via email from sefcug's posterous

Teach Parents Tech? | bLaugh

via blaugh.com

Sounds like a good resource from Google has been found.

Posted via email from sefcug's posterous

Official Google Blog: Goodbye to an old friend: 1-800-GOOG-411

Back in 2007 we launched 1-800-GOOG-411, a voice-powered directory assistance service that connects you quickly to businesses across the U.S. and Canada. On November 12, 2010, we will shut down the service.

via googleblog.blogspot.com

This was posted October 8, 2010 but, I did not see until today.

I have used this service infrequently, but when I did I was out of town and it came in very handy.

The only alternative I have been able to find is 1-800-BING-411, but I don't know much about it.

Does anyone know of other alternatives for people who don't have smart phones, like me?

Posted via email from sefcug's posterous

How can I block someone in Google Chat/Gtalk?

via askdavetaylor.com

Useful.

Posted via web from sefcug's posterous

Gmail - Plus Addressing

I like that Gmail allows me to use "Plus Addressing", because it makes it easier for me to organize specific incoming email.

According to the Wikipedia Gmail entry, Plus-addressing section, as accessed 12OCT06 :

Gmail also supports "plus-addressing" of e-mails. Messages can be sent to addresses in the form: username+extratext@gmail.com where extratext can be any string. Plus-addressing allows users to sign up for different services with different aliases and then easily filter all e-mails from those services, however, a significant number of services do not support email addresses containing plus signs.

One I use all the time is gmailaddress+bu@gmail.com, the first portion is not my real Gmail address of course. This is for when I am sending myself a backup of information done at work to my Gmail account, and I have a filter set up to automatically label any emails to gmailaddress+bu@gmail.com with a specific label. More about Gmail filters in a post to follow.

I also use a plus addressed Gmail to sign up for things online, then if I have a problem or start receiving a lot of spam I can just set a filter to automatically delete any thing coming in to that address.

In effect plus addressing gives you unlimited disposable email addresses, at least I have not found anywhere that would not accept one.

I am sure there are some more creative ways to use plus addressing, and would like to hear from my readers about their different uses for this. Leave a comment on this or any post to let me know.

Gmail - Overview

Gmail is a free, web based, email service that I have been using for quite a while now, primarily for backup of important documentation, rather than a normal email service.

In this posting, I want to give an overview of my impressions and usage of Gmail, and later posts will deal with more specifics of how I have Gmail work for me.

All posts related to Gmail will be labeled Gmail for your convenience in locating them.

There are a lot of features in Gmail, but here are the ones most important to the way I use the service, in no particular order:

• Storage - Currently 2,768+ megabytes, and increasing all the time.


• Labels - Labels are used instead of folders, unlike most other email applications.


• Attachment Size - Up to 10 megabytes of attachments are supported.


• Searching - Very easy to find the specific email you are looking for.

Earlier in this posting, I said that I use Gmail more for backup of important documentation; I have several regular email accounts and use the Thunderbird email client for those. The Gmail account, is what I use to send myself a compressed folder containing all data from work each day, as well as backups of newsletters, handouts, etc. from the BPCA and BRCS computer user groups.

This enables me to get the most current information I need, when I need it, from anywhere I can access the internet.

Gmail is by invitation only at this point. Luckily there are ways to obtain an invitation.

• I have some invites available from my account, that will be available to BPCA or BRCS members, as long as the supply lasts, just send me a request.


• Request an invitation from a friend, who has an account with invitations.


• Do a web search for "gmail invitations"; there are many constantly changing listings.

In future posts, I will show you how to use various features of Gmail to organize your correspondence using labels and filters.

Current Gmail users are invited to comment with how they use Gmail to increase their productivity.

Google - Exact Phrase Searching

You have moved to a new area and want to find a computer user group nearby. You go to Google.com and search for: computer user group,(results: about 366,000,000).

To search for the exact phrase in Google just enclose the same phrase in double quotation marks like this: "computer user group", (results: about 123,000).

It should be a lot easier to narrow down when you use an exact phrase search. As you can see by the very broad example above, you would have to dig through over 300 million results of sites without the exact phrase, but only a little over 100 thousand with the exact phrase.

If I search within the 100 thousand for CT (Connecticut) it is narrowed down to 587, for MD (Maryland) 810, etc.

Coming up with a good search phrase and searching for that exact phrase, should keep you from getting frustrated.

Google - View In HTML Instead of PDF

If you use Google to search a lot for information, a great number of the best search results will be PDF (Portable Document Format).

When you click on the link a copy of Acrobat Reader opens, and takes considerable time opening if it is a large PDF file.

A way I find to be much faster is to use the Google "View as HTML" option, normally to the right of the second line in the listing.

It won't be real pretty, but you can quickly see if the information you are looking for is there, without having to wait for Acrobat Reader to open.

I find that this helps me a lot and I hear a lot of grumbling at work from those who do a lot of Google searches. I have shown a couple of those grumblers this little time saver and it seems to work for them also.

Go ahead and try this the next time a PDF shows up in your Google search, it won't hurt anything and you can always go back and bring up the PDF through Acrobat Reader, if you don't like this view.

If you do try this, let me know what you think.