I Never Promised You an Organic Garden » internet http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog and other things you won't expect... Sat, 21 Jan 2012 18:46:16 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 en hourly 1 Live on the Internet http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/live-on-the-internet/ http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/live-on-the-internet/#comments Tue, 29 Sep 2009 02:04:03 +0000 Becky McKimmy http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/?p=140 I know most people won’t recognize all the fabulous web/tech celebrities but this is still a fun video.  Who can pass up puppies:

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]]> http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/live-on-the-internet/feed/ 0 Technology Today: Ravelry http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/technology-today-ravelry/ http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/technology-today-ravelry/#comments Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:33:16 +0000 Becky McKimmy http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/?p=131 As I finish  knitting projects (most recently a baby sweater and set of  wash cloths), I record my new projects in Ravelry.  Ravelry is a perfect union of two of my strongest areas of interest: knitting and the internet.  It is an online community for knitters and crocheters that goes way beyond social networking. Ravelry allows its users to post and track projects, search patterns, store information about stashed yarn, search forums, keep a list of needles owned, join groups, see what others are making, comment on other users’ projects, and much much more.

projectI mostly use Ravelry to keep track of my projects, stashed yarn, and knitting needles.  Each user has a notebook that stores this information for them. In the projects section there is a list of all the projects you are working on or have completed.  There is a searchable database of patterns or you can add your own pattern.  Each project entry also includes information about the yarn used, (there is a search able database of yarn), the status of your project, the progress of your project, your rating of the pattern and yarn used, and information about what needles were used.  The project entry also contains a place to store images of the project.  You can upload photos you have taken directly through Ravelry or through amazing integration with Flickr, you can simply drop and drag photos you already have listed on Flickr .

notebookThe stash section has a similar interface and will allow you to keep track of yarn you have on hand, including information about the brand, color, weight, and number of skeins.  There is a searchable database of yarn available that has nearly every type of yarn, even that old neon green 1970’s skein you have leftover from your grandmother’s stash. Ravelry is also smart enough to reduce the number of skeins of a particular yarn if you list it as being used in a project.  Another great feature is the ability to search for patterns that match yarn in your stash. Ravelry has a huge database of patterns sorted by yarn, project type, etc.  This is a great way to make use of random skeins of yarn.

If all those great tools and helpful sections weren’t enough, Ravelry also provides an online community for knitters and crocheters.  Users can connect with friends and view their projects.  There are also groups based around different topics, geographic locations, events, etc.  And possibly the most helpful, Ravelry has a large online forum system.  This allows users to connect with others who are working on similar projects, ask questions of more seasoned knitters or crocheters, or find solutions to common problems.

Ravelry really is the place to be if you knit or crochet!  For me it is the perfect melding of the two parts of my life and personality.  The creative artistic knitter and the technical geeky webside developer.  It feels as though this site was built with me in mind.  If you knit or chrocet and haven’t checked it out yet — GO NOW! If you are already on Ravelry, you can find me at http://www.ravelry.com/projects/bemckimmy.

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]]> http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/technology-today-ravelry/feed/ 3 Do you wanna date my Avatar http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/do-you-wanna-date-my-avatar/ http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/do-you-wanna-date-my-avatar/#comments Tue, 18 Aug 2009 12:24:11 +0000 Becky McKimmy http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/?p=126 A little geek humor for my fellow geeky friends courtesy of Amber Mac:

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]]> http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/do-you-wanna-date-my-avatar/feed/ 0 Techonology Today: I Love My Netbook http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/techonology-today-i-love-my-netbook/ http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/techonology-today-i-love-my-netbook/#comments Fri, 31 Jul 2009 04:01:14 +0000 Becky McKimmy http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/?p=119 While I was on my blogging hiatus, I added a new gadget to my collection:  A red Lenovo IdeaPad S10, 10 inch netbook.  I have been wanting a laptop for some time now, but the idea of lugging around a 15 inch or 17 inch behemoth never appealed to me.  They are far too heavy and unwieldy.   So I began to covet the Lenovo X-series laptops that are direct competitors to the Macbook Air.  They have a big screen, are super light weight, and have lots of power; however, they are ridiculously expensive.  This is where the new Lenovo netbooks came into the picture.

Matt mentioned off-hand one night when we were discussing “the lap top of my dreams” that I should just get a netbook. After some thorough online research, I agreed with him whole heatedly, and eight months later I absolutely love my Lenovo s-10.

It has the same fit and finish as its larger counter part, but comes in a compact, portable size that lets me easily take it anywhere I want. The smaller screen took a little a getting used to, but for the most part there isn’t anything I use my netbook for that I need a larger screen for.  It also has a keyboard that is 85% of full size, but the transition to the smaller keyboard was quick and easy.  The only complaint I have about the keyboard is the placement of the right shift key.  The up arrow where the right shift key normally is, and the shift key is one space further to the right.  That has definitely taken some getting used to, and I would suggest Lenovo find a way to upday the layout so this important key is in the default position in the future.

Because I kept my desktop computer and use my netbook as a supplemental/travel computer, I use it mostly for surfing the Internet, word processing, and processing photos we take with our new camera.  For those purposes, it works like a charm.  The only time I have noticed the slower processor is when trying to do extremely processor heavy activities like design work or trying to access my computer at work remotely.  For any other day to day function the netbook has more than enough processor power.  As any good geek, I also made my first order of business to remove the Windows XP the netbook shipped with and replaced it with Ubuntu.  Ubuntu is designed to work more efficiently on less powerful hardware and does not come loaded with lots of unnecessary applications that slow the computer down.  Ubuntu is also more stable and secure, but that is another blog post.

Probably one of the biggest reasons I chose this netbook over others is the fact that it does not have a glossy screen.  All the other netbooks on the market at the time I purchased the Lenovo came with a glossy screen.  I have found them hard to use in anything other than low-light situations and love the fact that the Lenovo netbook does not have one.

Last but not least, I love the design of my netbook.  The red cover is attractive and eye catching.  For me, having a laptop that I enjoy the look of was just as important as having a laptop I enjoyed the functionality of.  Lenovo also makes other color options in case red is not your thing.  The only complaint I have is that the red cover has a glossy finish that tends to show finger prints.  A matte finish would be more practical.

All-in-all, I absolutely love my netbook and am very happy with my purchase.  I would and have recommened this computer to others.

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]]> http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/techonology-today-i-love-my-netbook/feed/ 2 Technology Today: The People Who Make the Websites http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/technology-today-the-people-who-make-the-websites/ http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/technology-today-the-people-who-make-the-websites/#comments Tue, 29 Jul 2008 14:28:20 +0000 Becky McKimmy http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/?p=109 I just completed an online survey hosted by A List Apart gathering information about what it is like to “be the people who make the websites”.  This is one of the fastest growing fields in the country, and A List Apart is gathering information to better demonstrate what it means to work in this profession.

So if are a designer, developer, information architect, project manager, writer, editor, marketer, or anyone else who makes websites, even you freelancers, I encourage you fill out the survey. It will only take a few minutes.

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]]> http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/technology-today-the-people-who-make-the-websites/feed/ 1 Technology Today – Animoto http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/technology-today-animoto/ http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/technology-today-animoto/#comments Fri, 02 May 2008 12:41:40 +0000 Becky McKimmy http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/?p=92 This week on net@night I heard about a very exciting new web service out called Animoto. Animoto is “a web application that automatically generates professionally produced videos” from a selection of your photos and favorite music. It is amazingly simple to get a high quality video you can send to your friends and family, post on your blog, or use in a presentation. And best of all…it is totally free! (for a 30 second video)

To create your video you simply go to the Animoto website and walk through the easy 3-step process. First, you will need to select a bunch of photos you would like displayed in the video. They recommend no more than 15 for a 30 second video. With Animoto you can either upload them from your computer or grab your photos from a photo sharing sites like flickr, picasa, or photobucket. Next, you have the choice to upload your own DRM-free music or select from some of their tracks. Finally, you title the video and begin the production.

It takes between 15-20 minutes for the video to be encoded, and once it is complete you have quite a few options. You can either download the video to your local computer, email it to a friend, post it directly to Youtub, embed it in your website, or remix the video.

I created a Wii bloopers video to test it out, and it did a great job. Enjoy:

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]]> http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/technology-today-animoto/feed/ 2 Technology Today – The Day the Internet Died http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/technology-today-the-day-the-internet-died/ http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/technology-today-the-day-the-internet-died/#comments Fri, 18 Apr 2008 11:41:57 +0000 Becky McKimmy http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/?p=88 South Park, ever poignant, aired an episode last night in which the internet disappeared. Total chaos ensued when no one was able to check their email or talk on IM. Even the news stations were unable to report any news with the loss of the internet.

Click through to see the clip.

South Park Clip

In typical South Park style, this gets to the heart of a question many people have been asking… Are we too reliant on the internet. As someone who works in the technology sector, my gut response is no. But upon further inspection, I realize in some ways we are. I have had to instate an “unplugged” night every Monday to keep myself from spending every waking hour in front of the computer; I can’t confidently display/publish/send anything I’ve written without running it through spell-checker first; I don’t know how I would ever get to a new place without Google maps; and I can’t remember the last time I even turned on TV news or picked up a newspaper.

Instead of researching things ourselves and taking the time to figure things out, as a society, we now look to the internet to solve our problems for us. Even more disturbing, a lot of people have adopted the attitude that if it is on-line it must be true.

While South Park is meant to be a comedy poking fun at our society’s foibles, I can’t help but wonder, what would happen if the internet stopped working. What do you think?

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]]> http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/technology-today-the-day-the-internet-died/feed/ 2 Technology Today — From Bits to Bites & Windshields to Worship http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/technology-today-from-bits-to-bites-windshields-to-worship/ http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/technology-today-from-bits-to-bites-windshields-to-worship/#comments Sat, 12 Apr 2008 12:38:22 +0000 Becky McKimmy http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/?p=84 Since I forgot to post an item for Technology Today last week, I am going to post a second one this week. I am pleased to announce that Matt, my multi-talented husband, has now launched a blog of his very own. From Bits to Bites & Windshields to Worship will be about Matt’s four main interests — computers, cooking, cars, and Christianity.

He plans to post once or twice a week with interesting facts and insightful commentary on topics he is passionate about. There is already a few weeks worth of information ready for your perusing pleasure so — CHECK IT OUT!

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]]> http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/technology-today-from-bits-to-bites-windshields-to-worship/feed/ 1 Technology Today — Geni http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/technology-today-geni/ http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/technology-today-geni/#comments Mon, 07 Apr 2008 20:52:12 +0000 Becky McKimmy http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/?p=82 I started a Technology Today section in my blog with the intention of posting each week about a neat item in the technology community, but have not bee very successful. Matt and I have been quite busy and will continue to be, but I will try and be more intentional about posting.

GeniFor this week, I want to highlight Geni (Chris Hardie also highlighted this in his blog). Geni is free web 2.0-style online genealogy software. It allows you to create an interactive family tree that you and your family members can join and update. The software has a social networking feel and allows each person on the tree to create their own profile, containing personal information, photos, and news updates.

For a large family like mine, with people scattered across the country, it is a great opportunity to keep in touch with each other, post familiy news, plan family reunions, and learn more about our family’s history. Geni is currently ad supported, thought I haven’t seen many ads on their site so far, and may add a premium section in the future; however, the current basic features will remain free. Your tree information is also exportable. Geni offers an export to GEDCOM format, a standard file format used to save, transfer, and transport genealogical information.

You also have the capability to share your family tree with friends and family via email, a url, or embedding in a website. Here is a sample of my tree:

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]]> http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/technology-today-geni/feed/ 3 Technology Today: Common Craft http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/technology-today-common-craft/ http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/technology-today-common-craft/#comments Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:41:57 +0000 Becky McKimmy http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/?p=78 I have decided to add yet another new section to my blog. I am adding a “Technology Today” section, where I will select one technology related item each week and write about it so the average non-geek can understand. It could be a website, software, a gadget, or anything else related to technology.

There is always something new and exciting going on in the world of technology, but information is not always accessible to those who don’t have time to devote hours to surfing the net or listing to podcasts. I hope to be able to wade through some of the information out there and pick out one item a week that I find interesting and share it with everyone who reads my bog.

Common Craft LogoFor this week, I have selected the Common Craft Show. The Common Craft Show is run by the husband and wife team of Lee and Sachi LeFever, and they take complicated or commonly misunderstood concepts and make short explanatory videos. Their easy-to-understand videos cover a wide variety topics including RSS, Twitter, blogs, social networking sites, and new light bulbs.

New videos are posted approximately once a month, and they are a great way for non-geeks and geeks alike to learn how things work.

My favorite is their video on RSS (Really Simple Syndication):

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