Neat Net Tricks Issue #85
September 1, 2000 
http://www.NeatNetTricks.com
Reply-To: NNT@silver.lyris.net 

IN THIS ISSUE:

01.  Camtasia
02.  Emergency notifications by email
03.  MP3 to CD
04.  For the record
05.  Crystal ball
06.  PDF trove
07.  PC-to-Phone
08.  Don't let this one get you down
09.  Movie critic
10.  Lazy search
11.  Transferring bookmarks
12.  Translating the mail
13.  Neat Net Nifty

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01.  CAMTASIA.  Techsmith's Camtasia is a slick, simple-to-install
screen camcorder offering Webmasters and software developers alike an
easy way to capture screen activity with real-time effects (cursor
highlighting and audible mouse clicks). Save it as a compressed AVI 
file and use it for training tutorials, multimedia projects, or 
introduction to new software for distribution on CD-ROM's or on the 
Internet and Intranet. Camtasia Producer uses a drag and drop process
for clip repositioning.  It allows transition effects and combining of
AVI files. Camtasia is a non-linear editor that produces standard AVI 
files or streaming formats for a website presentation. Dubit Audio 
Editor allows adding voice narration and audio files to the finished 
production. which can then be viewed with  Windows Media Player, as
well as with any AVI player. An evaluation version is at 
http://www.techsmith.com .

02.  EMERGENCY NOTIFICATIONS BY EMAIL.  (Well, by computer, cell phone,
or digital pager to be more precise.)  Just enter your email address 
and check a few options at http://208.184.24.125/ , and you'll be
notified of severe weather, utility outages, emergency supplies
locations, organ donation, daily weather forecasts, routine blood 
drives, and other Internet services as you wish, customized for your 
specific area.

03.  MP3 TO CD.  MP3, as discussed at length in previous NNT issues, 
is a great way to condense those humongous sound files and still 
maintain near-CD quality.  The problem is, in so doing, you need a 
computer to play them and your CD boom box won't do it.  Not so, if you
use MP3 CD maker at http://zy2000.com .  This software conserves hard 
drive space by copying MP3 files directly to your CD without generating 
temporary .wav files.  It even prints a nice label.  And you can take 
your MP3 along and listen to them as you would any other CD.

04.  FOR THE RECORD.  Search over 1500 databases of public records at
http://www.pac-info.com .

05.  CRYSTAL BALL.  Remember those black spheres that you asked a
question of, then turned them over to have an answer float to the top?
Well, if you've got a little time to kill, the cyberspace version is
available at http://www.excite.com/horoscopes/fun/crystal_ball/?view .

06.  PDF TROVE.  A PDF file (PDF=Portable Document Format) retains
formatting when transmitting over the Internet, and it just looks a 
lot better on monitor or printer.  Many software and hardware systems
now put their user manuals on line in PDF format.  To view PDF files,
you need an Adobe Acrobat Reader, but it's a free download at
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html. If you're looking
for stuff for your Adobe Acrobat Reader, search for all .pdf files on 
line at http://searchpdf.adobe.com/

07.  PC-TO-PHONE.  This phone program offers two ways to go. First, 
you can choose Web-based dialing if you're on the road a lot. If 
you're going to make most of your calls on one desktop, then the 2.6 
mb download is probably best for you.  Either way, you get free calls 
to anywhere in the U.S. and Canada, and you can call worldwide for a 
small charge per minute charged to an on-line account in which you 
deposit funds.  It's at http://www.deltathree.com .

08.  DON'T LET THIS ONE GET YOU DOWN.  Currently there are only 2.5
million graves in the database at http://www.findagrave.com/ , but you
can add more, search for resting places of the famous or non-famous,
and leave flowers or a photo along with a message.  It's all free, but
cyber-flowers and a message?  What if you get a response?

09.  MOVIE CRITIC.  After you rate at least 12 films at 
http://www.moviecritic.com you can then become a member (it's free).
Thereafter, based on your likes and dislikes, this service will 
recommend movies you'd probably like.

10.  LAZY SEARCH.  Send the topic of search in the subject line of your
email to search@inquiremail.com and this service returns results from
several major search engines. You'll get the results within a minute or
two.  Now, why is this needed?  We who are blessed with unlimited time
are sometimes unsympathetic with those who have to count minutes.  This
frees some time with off-line research.

11.  TRANSFERRING BOOKMARKS.  There are a lot of ways to transfer your
bookmarks from one computer to another, but probably the easiest is to
simply copy them to a floppy and then load the floppy in the same path
on the second computer.  With Netscape, you will likely find the file
in your Netscape folder under the appropriate user profile.

12.  TRANSLATING THE MAIL.  WordWalla provides web-based, PDA, and
wireless translations in 35 languages, thus, in their own words,
enabling 3 billion people to communicate in their own language. More
about WordWalla at http://www.everymail.com .

13.  NEAT NET NIFTY.  Here's your chance to wax nostalgic and see the 
Web "as we remember it."  Read the time line to get Dj Vu's glimpse of
the "good old days" on the Internet at http://www.dejavu.org/ .  But the
really neat part of this site is the Browser Emulator where you can see 
how your Web site, or someone else's site, would look when viewed with 
an old browser.  There's lots of choices with Mosaic, Netscape, Lynx, 
Internet Explorer, and others.  But gadzooks! No frames, java applets 
and all those special effects we've accepted as commonplace?  And they 
called them the "good old days?"

Neat Net Tricks often pauses to recognize a Web site and recommend your
visit.  Set aside some time to expore the site and enjoy it.  Sites
that are predominantly non-commercial in focus are identified as 
"nifty" when their all-around content, originality, interest, variety,
and graphical presentation have earned this award.  If you'd like to
nominate a nifty site, send the URL to mailto:jteems@neatnettricks.com 
with a brief note telling why you think the site deserves the award.

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Copyright 2000 by Jack Teems.  All rights reserved.
