So what is it? Instead of trying to explain it myself, here’s a video that illustrates what it does pretty well.

So what does something like Google Wave mean for you? Off the top of my head, there are a couple of situations I think it would be useful…

• If you’re a member or an organizer of a group or organization, then something like this could make communications between members a whole lot easier. I’m currently organizing a Meetup group and something like this would be a lot more useful than the regular back and forth emails to group members
• If you’re working on a project with a group of people (setting up a website, doing a collaboration, custom work, doing a large commission) something like this could keep exchanges between all parties from getting lost (and people getting ticked off)

Anyway…stay tuned.

For the record, a web browser is a piece of software on your computer that allows you to surf the Internet, like Internet Explorer (the big E), Firefox, Safari, and of course Google Chrome.

A search engine is a website that helps you search the Internet, like Google, Alta Vista, Yahoo!, and Microsoft’s new search engine Bing. You need a web browser in order to get to a search engine. Most browsers include a search box tool that will allow you to use a search engine directly from the browser.

And what’s AOL? It’s an Internet service provider, or a service that allows you to connect to the Internet. AOL also includes it’s own proprietary web browser which allows people to surf the Internet. Other Internet service providers also includes Cox, Comcast, and Earthlink. You’ll need an Internet service provider in order to connect to the Internet.

I’ve been on both sides of that panicky call that something’s blown up and it’s not working and there’s a couple of things that you can do in order to help make that tech support call just a little less stressful:

1. Don’t panic- This is easier said that done when you’re computer’s on the blink and you’re staring down the barrel of a deadline. But things will be less stressful if you don’t freak out. Chances are the problem is not nearly as bad (or expensive) as you think.

2. Check the obvious before you call- One of the first things that your tech person will have you do while you’re on the phone is to check out the obvious causes of trouble, mainly they’ll have you make sure that the computer is plugged in, or that the surge protector that your computer is connected to is turned on. They’ll also have you check to make sure that cables are plugged in and not loose. Or that you’re entering your password in correctly. Or that you don’t have the “CAPS lock” key on while you’re entering in your password. Or that you’re spelling the website correctly. The reason why they have you run through this drill is because a lot of times the trouble is as simple as the computer not being plugged in. So run through some of the obvious causes of trouble before you pick up the phone. If you still have your owner’s manual for your computer, take a look at that and see if your particular trouble has been addressed in the manual before you call.

3. Get prepared- If you have any warranties or service contracts on your computer gather up all of those materials before you call. It will save you a bit of time just in case your tech person requests this information. You may also need the serial number for your computer. These are usually located on a sticker placed on the back, bottom, or side of your computer or they are located in your computer registration paperwork.

4. Be as specific as possible- Simply saying “My computer’s not working” is usually not that helpful to your tech guy (or gal). They already assume that your computer isn’t working properly because chances are that you wouldn’t be calling if everything were fine. What they need to know is “in what way is your computer not working?”. So when you call up, you need to be as specific as possible. Will your computer not start at all? Is the problem that you can turn the computer on but it won’t go past the startup screen? Perhaps you can get past the startup screen but you can’t open up a particular program? When you finally get your tech person on the phone, describe your problem from start to finish, what you’re trying to do when you encounter your problem, if you were doing something before the problem occurred, what your computer does, and if there are any special situations that seem to go along with the problem.

5. Write down error messages- Usually when something goes wrong on your computer, you’ll get some kind of error message that attempts to tell you what the problem is. I not quite sure who writes these messages, but it would be helpful if they were written in something other than early “Geek” so that people without a computer science degree can understand them. But if you can’t make heads or tails of the message, take the time to write them down. While they look like gibberish to you, it may mean something to your tech person and knowing exactly what the message is may help them diagnose the problem just a bit faster.

6. Make note of any recent changes or incidents- Sometimes the cause of your computer trouble is something that’s changed on your computer or some incident that has happened recently such as:

• the addition of new hardware (printer, scanner, hard drive, memory, etc)
• the addition or deletion of software
• a power disruption or power surge
• the addition of deletion of a service
• software upgrades or security patches

Sometimes changes like this can cause some unforeseen problems with other things that may or may not seem to be related to your problem. When you’re talking to your tech person, make them aware of any changes or additions that had occurred before you started having problems. They’ll be able to tell you if these changes are related to your trouble.

7. Keep notes- A lot of times a call to the support department means that you’ll be spending a lot of time on the phone being sent from one person to another. If you can, keep notes on who you talk to, when you talked to them, and what they’ve done to help diagnose the problem. If you find that you have to keep calling the support department or if you have to a repair person fix your computer in person, these notes will come in handy.

So what tips to you have to survive a call to the your computer support department? Leave a comment and let us know!

Well, earlier this week, the folks at Adobe (the creators of Tweetdeck) came out with a new test version of Tweetdeck that’s quickly made it my favorite Twitter tool.

Here are some of the features in this version of Tweetdeck

• It integrates with both your Twitter and your Facebook account, so you can monitor all of you Facebook friend updates as well as those on Twitter. You can even start a Facebook Chat through Tweetdeck.
• It has a search function built in so you can search for specific topics that people are twittering about. Plus you can save the search and monitor new tweets as they come in.
• You can easily reply, send direct messages, and retweet interesting tweets from the people you’re following by clicking a single button.
• You can read the individual profiles of the people you’re following including when they joined, their website address, and the last tweets that they sent.
• You can mark which tweets you’ve read.
• You still have the ability to group your Twitter followers in categories you define. It’s now easier to add new people to your groups by clicking on the [+] on one of their tweets.
• It now has link shortening tools built in (yay!) and you can choose from a ton of different services like Snipurl, is.gd, bit.ly, tinyurl, and more.
• It also has pop-up notifications. So if you have your Tweetdeck window minimized in the background, you’ll get a pop-up update and sound alert every time you get new tweets.
• It’s also has integrated with some other Twitter services like Twitscoop (what topics are hot on Twitter now), 12seconds (12 second video posting), StockTwits (stock information via Twitter), and TwitPic (posting photos on Twitter).

Now because Tweetdeck arranges all of your information in multiple columns, it still takes up a lot of space on your screen. Plus, it’s important to remember that this is just a test version of the software, which means that there still may be some bugs in it. So far I haven’t run into any problems, but always be aware of the fact that test software isn’t going to be perfect.

If you want to check out Tweetdeck, visit the website at: http://www.tweetdeck.com/beta/

I tweeted about this yesterday morning and wondered out loud what we would do without it. So of the responses I got was pretty interesting:

Noirist @nikolena be bored to death, not have a life…need I enumerate all the scenarios? lol

fernfiddlehead @nikolena I can imagine a world without it.

ilovemakonnen @nikolena I CANT EVEN THINK OF THE WORLD WITHOUT IT!

Just the mere fact that I was able to communicate that bit of news, wonder about it, and get a bunch of responses within 5 minutes shows how much the world and the the web itself has changed in the past 20 years. When I was growing up I couldn’t have imagined that I was going to become a web designer because…there was no such thing when my teacher asked me what I was going to be when I grew up. But for my 16 year-old god daughter, there really was never a world without the web and it’s entirely normal that she talks to me through instant message and Facebook as much as she does over the phone or in person.

Could I have imagined when I was making my first web page back in 1995 that the web would the first place I go to for news, movie times, and how to spell a word instead of the television, the newspaper, and the dictionary? Could I have imagined that I would have made a small career out of helping artists make their way around the web? Or that I would use it to watch a historic presidential inaugaration as it was happening while monitoring what other people where thinking and feeling on Twitter and Facebook? Could I have even imagined Twitter and Facebook?

Nope…I sure couldn’t imagine what it would be like back then…and I can’t imagine life without it now.

Happy birthday World Wide Web! Can’t wait to see what you’ll be like in another 20 years!

What do you think of the web and where we are now? What do you think life would be without it?

This week’s newsletter article is second part of a five-part series on “How to Use Video to Promote Your Art Website“. In this second article, I discuss what software you’ll need in order to perfect your online video.

To read the article, sign up for the Crafted Webmaster Newsletter for free here: http://www.craftedweb.com/subscribe.html. If you subscribe now, you can get my free audio download, “10 Steps to Getting More Traffic on Your Website” and get 10 powerful tips on how to increase traffic to your art website.

Was this move necessary? I don’t know. It’s pretty easy to ignore unwanted followers. Before you follow someone, check out their profile to see if they seem to be an interesting person to follow before you hit that “follow” button (Lesson #3 on my tips to finding interesting people to follow on Twitter). I’m quite sure there were some obvious spammers that needed to be purged from my followers list. You can easily spot who’s a spammer straight off by looking at their profile. If the great purge got rid of those turkeys then good riddance. But the point is, they didn’t bother me because I choose not to follow them in the first place.

I guess I’m a bit more upset about being automatically removed from some of the folks I was following. I’ve tried to only follow folks I’ve found interesting, so the fact that some of my follows may have been labeled as “spam”. Makes me sad.

Now, I’m not exactly sure how Twitter decided that a certain person needed to be “unfollowed” from whoever’s follow list. All I can hope for is that if you happened to be following me and find that I’ve disappeared, you can visit my profile and follow me again. And hopefully, I can someone find all the people that’s currently gone from my “following” list.

[Update] My followers/following counts are back to normal…thanks Twitter!

Image by Pearsonified

• On the fly pictures for my blog- One of the reasons why I’ve started making a habit of carrying my camera around is that a lot of times I would see something that would give me an idea for a blog entry and I would be cursing myself because I didn’t have my digital camera with me and my phone doesn’t take pictures (yes, I’m one of those die-hards that still wants her phone to be a phone). So now, when I seen something interesting, my camera’s there to snap that quick picture.
• Inspiration- This use will be familiar to anyone who’s seen Project Runway. Have you ever seen something that inspires you to make a new piece of artwork? Perhaps it’s the colors of a sunset, or the texture of a piece of cloth, or the lines of a building. Now that I have my digital camera with me everywhere, I snap pictures of colors, inspiring scenes, or neat looking lines and arrangements. I then print those pictures out and put them on my Inspiration board in my studio. If you’re particularly good at snapping beautiful pictures, you can turn them into prints or little notecards. Check out the link roundup on Photographing Your Work for some tips on how to turn digital images into prints.

  In fact, if your a Flickr user and your photos are particularly good, you may be able to earn a bit of money. Stock photography company, Getty Images, has recently announced that they will be contacting Flickr users about liscensing some of their images for their stock photography clients. Depending on the liscense agreement, Flickr users may get between 20 to 40 percent of the liscensing fee should their image be chosen. You can find out more about this on the ReadWriteWeb site.

• Visual reminders- I got this tip from a website on public speaking called Amazing Public Speaking. Sometimes when I’m on the road I’ll need to remember something, like where I parked my car, words on some signage, or how I packed my show materials in my truck. Now when I need to remember something, I’ll take out my digital camera and snap a picture of whatever I need to remember. Then whenever I need it, I bring up the picture on my camera.
• Digital recording device- I got this idea from internet audio and video expert called Mike Stewart. My particular camera can record 3 to 5 minutes of video. The other day I got my idea for the tax tips blog entry while I was driving. So I simply pulled out my camera (while I was sitting at a stoplight of course), put it on the driver’s side seat, and turned on the video recorder. Then I recorded my tax tips to my camera while I drove. Then when I got home I transcribed what I said into a blog entry. Ready for something neater? I extracted the audio out of the video I made (the actual video only shows the roof of my car), edited it and included it in a podcast. But I wasn’t done yet…I took the edited audio, made a small slide show and combined them to turn it into a video tip which I’ll be posting on SlideShare. Three uses for the price of one!

So do you have a digital camera? What cool uses have you found for it?

1. Follow people you already know- It’s seems obvious, but some of the first people you follow should be the people that you already know. If you’re using an email service like Yahoo!, Gmail, Hotmail, AOL, or MSN, you can allow Twitter to search your address book to see if any of your contacts already has an account. It also allows you to send an email invitation to people from your address book to join Twitter if they don’t already have a Twitter account.

2. Browse the followers of your followers- If you already have people following you, visit the profiles of your current followers and see who’s following them. Chances are that you may find potential followers that have the same interests as you.

3. Don’t follow indescriminately- Try to find people that have the same interests as you. Twitter is as much about monitoring as it is about sending updates. You want the people that you’re following to be talking about things of interest to you. So choose the people you follow carefully. Before you hit “follow” button, check out that person’s previous tweets. What were they about? Are they entirely self-serving, are they just talking about what they last fed their cat, or do they provide some interesting information as well? Because of the nature of Twitter, you will get a certain amount of “chatter” that you may not be interested in, but some of the most interesting people to follow will balance that with something useful.

It’s also a good idea to look at the volume and frequency of a person’s tweets as well. How often do they tweet? When was their last tweet? If it was a month or two ago…they might not make an interesting person to follow. By the same token, you may not have the time to follow someone who tweets about something insignificant every 10 minutes throughout the day.

Now, what if you’re using Twitter as a means to promote yourself and/or maybe to bring more traffic to your website? Wouldn’t you want to include more people and not less? Not necessarily. Not everyone will be interested in what you do, so gathering a huge group of followers that won’t eventually visit your website is just a waste of time. It’s just like I stated in my series on marketing through social networking, you’ll get better results if you concentrate on people that’s likely to be interested in what you’re offering. So do a bit of research before you start following.

4. Follow those who follow you…within reason- On Twitter, it’s usually good form to follow the people that’s following you. But be careful! There are some that try to use this common courtesy as a means to gather large numbers of followers so they can spam them with unwelcome commercial messages. Again, don’t be indescriminate when it comes to following people on Twitter…it’s okay not to follow someone if they seem to be trying to spam you.

5. Use the search function to find followers- Twitter has a search engine that allows you to search profiles and tweets. So if you type in the word “art” you’ll find all of those Twitter profiles, usernames, and tweets that contain the word “art”. Be aware that this is a kind of scattergun approach to finding followers, but it can be a good way to start if you’re at ground zero.

There’s also a interesting service called Summize that allows you to search Twitter conversations. If you type in the word “crafts” you’ll get all of the Twitter conversations that contain the word “crafts”. I actually like this service a bit better than the Twitter search.

So if you haven’t checked out Twitter yet, you can go to the Twitter website…and if you sign up for an account and need someone to follow, check out my Twitter profile and follow me!

I’ve found Twitter to be a great way to drive traffic to both my websites and my blog. Every time I put up a new blog post, upload a new video, make an update to my website, or add to my Etsy store, I’ll send a tweet about it along with a direct link. Since I’ve been on Twitter I’ve noticed an increase of subscribers to my blog and to my mailing list. There was one tweet that I posted that resulted in 5 new subscriptions to my newsletter all in one night.

Now, I also try not to make all of my tweets just all about me and my websites, I also try to post links to useful news and websites as well. You find out very quickly that people that do nothing but “tweet their own horns” on every single update are very tiresome. Just like I wrote about in my series about social networking…it’s all about giving as well as and taking.

Twitter also makes a great networking tool as well. I’ve meet a lot of artists using Twitter, and I’ve been introduced to a lot of new work, websites, and information by simply monitoring the tweets from the people I’m following. Part of the value of Twitter is not just in sending tweets, but in monitoring the tweets of others…especially if you’re careful to follow interesting people. Because you can also send direct messages to people that are following you, you can hold conversations with the people that are following you. Through my conversations on Twitter, I’ve found a couple of artists to interview for Interview Tuesdays, and I’ve also got an offer from another blog to write a guest post.

There’s also a lot of great tools that you can use with Twitter too. I already wrote about how you can use Jott to send tweets. There’s also a number of tools that you can use to send tweets without having to go directly to the Twitter website. I now mainly use Twirl to send updates and to monitor the tweets of those I’m following. Another service that I’m using for posting links to my tweets is called Tweetburner. Tweetburner is a link service for Twitter that shorten long links to short ones…a really important service when you’re limited to only 140 characters per tweet! As an added bonus, you can also track how many people click on your links…and Twirl is also integrated with Tweetburner so you can shorten your links directly in Twirl (can you tell I really like Twirl?).

Another cool service I’ve recently discovered is called Twitterfeed. This is service that allows you to hook your blog up to your Twitter account so that it automatically sends an update every time you add a post to your blog. Now Twitterfeed is a neat service, but it’s not perfect. I have found that it sometimes misses posts, so be sure that you keep an eye on it. If you have a Wordpress blog installed on your website, then there is a plug-in called Twitter Tools that can also send tweets to your account every time you put a new post on your blog. I haven’t tested it yet, but since all of my blogs run on Wordpress, I think I’ll give it a try.

So, that’s my experience with Twitter so far! Intrigued? You can sign up for a free account at the Twitter website…and while you’re there, check out my Twitter profile and send me a tweet!

This weekend, I finally created a Twitter account. I’ve known about Twitter for I guess going on two years, but this is the first time I’ve actually ever created an account. And so, now I’m in the process of playing with it.

What is Twitter? Basically it’s a form of “micro-blogging”. Really micro. About 140 characters micro. You have your own homepage where you post updates called “tweets”, which look similar to blog posts. People can also subscribe to your Twitter page and follow all of the “tweets” that you post to your page. However, unlike blogging, you can also post tweets directly to other people on the Twitter network. So in a way Twitter can also be a form of conversation as well.

Like I mentioned earlier, your posts or “tweets” can only be about 140 characters long. So there is no long drawn out posts on Twitter. Your messages are short and to the point (unlike this blog post). In your tweets you can tell people what you’re doing, post links to interesting things you’ve discovered, pretty much anything you can think of.

You can post updates in a couple different ways. You can log on to your account at twitter.com and submit your tweets there. You can also add your cell phone number to your account and update via text messaging. There’s also some software that you can download to your computer that allows you to post tweets and monitor the Twitter stream without having to go to the website. Right now I’m testing out twhirl and Twitterrific.

Plus, if you have a Jott account, you can post to Twitter by calling Jott and recording a message to your Twitter account. The Jott service transcribes your voice message and posts it to your Twitter stream. It even provides a link where people can hear the actual voice message that you leave. If you’re not familiar with Jott, check out the previous post I did about it.

I’m still in the process of playing around with it…but I can tell you that it’s pretty interesting so far. I’m already thinking of a couple useful applications for it. So stay tuned. Meanwhile, check out Twitter…and if you’re feeling adventurous open an account (it’s free!). If you’re already on Twitter, check out my Twitter profile and send me a tweet!.

Click To Play

There are tons of social booking sites out there, but this video concentrates on the site called Delicious. I in fact use Delicious on this site to catalog a list of web design links that you’ll find on the left site of the site under the Heading “Useful Links“.  So check out the video, and then check out my Delicious links!

I did a lot of out of town shows last year and met loads of artists who practically live on the road for 9 months out of the year. If you have email or a blog or a web site that you need to check on or update on a regular basis you’ll need to have some reliable ways to connect to the Internet while on the road. Fortunately, these days, it’s easier to stay connected to the Internet if you’re prepared.

Your laptop- The easiest way to stay connected on the road is to have a laptop that has wireless Internet capabilities. Most new laptops on sale now or ones that were for sale a couple years a go already come with wireless capacity already built in. If you have an old dinosaur though, you’ll still be able to connect to wired services using your Ethernet connection (that hole in the back of your computer that looks like a slightly bigger telephone plug).

WiFi Hotspots- Go to your local Starbucks or public library, and you’ll usually find that they have a wireless connection available. If you’re flying, a lot of airports have wireless access available as well. Some even have business centers where you can connect using your wired ethernet connection. I spent part of a three-hour layover at the Douglas International Airport in Charlotte, NC at the great little business center that had both wireless and Ethernet access. It sure made the time go faster sitting in a nice comfy chair catching up on email and reading posts from my favorite blogs. I just wish our airport in Norfolk had wireless! If you’re staying in a hotel, most large chains also have either wireless or Ethernet capabilities available in every room or in their business centers.

WiFi Finders- If you’re passing through parts unknown where there isn’t a local Starbucks (yeah it’s possible) or large hotel chain, it can also be useful to have a WiFi finder which is a little gadget that indicates when you enter a location that has a WiFi signal. Most laptops will automatically find wireless signals, but you don’t want to walk around with an open laptop trying to find a signal and you sure don’t want look for a signal while you’re driving. Most of these devices are about the size of a keychain and cost between $19 and $30. You can find them at your local electronics store.

WiFi for Free- It’s important to remember that not all WiFi spots are free. If you’re staying in a hotel that has Internet access, you’ll need to check beforehand to see if there’s an extra charge for the service. Usually they’ll have this information on their web sites before you book your room or you can check at the front desk when you arrive. Be sure to check on charges beforehand you log on, or you’ll end up with a unpleasant surprise on your hotel bill. I found this out the hard way, it’s not always apparent to you when you log on that you’re being charged. Some chains offer free Internet access to most or all of their hotel properties. I stayed at a lot of Choice Hotel properties last year because of the free access. (Interestingly enough, I’ve found that you usually have to pay for Internet access at your more expensive hotels…it was about $12 per day at the US Grant. At $200 per night seems like they’d spot you $12 for WiFi). You can also check the web sites of whatever airport you have a layover at to see what they have available.

You can also check out WiFi Free Spot which is a web site that lists airports, hotels, and RV parks and campgrounds that have free wireless access.

Mobile Broadband- If you’re at a spot where you can make a cell phone call, you can also access the Internet by using a Broadband PC card. You can purchase these cards from companies like Verizon and Sprint and then you pay a monthly fee for the Internet access. You can also use this option at home if you don’t have cable Internet or DSL access in your area. Cards usually cost around $50 and your monthly fee ranges from $50 to $70 per month.

Dial-Up- Dial-up may be slow but it is an old standby, especially if you’re not sure about the availability of WiFi at your location or if cell phone signal strength is spotty. As long as you can find a landline phone, you can log on to the Internet. And all you need on your laptop is a regular old modem. Some dial-up companies have a variety of local access numbers so when you’re logging on it costs no more than a local call. Some companies even have 800 numbers, so that logging on is just like making a toll-free call. Dial-up access usually costs around $10 per month and you can get an account from companies like NetZero and PeoplePC.

If You Don’t Have a Laptop- You can always check out the local library to see if they have public computers with Internet access. That will do to check your email in a pinch. Again, hotels also have business centers where they’ll have computers available (most often for a fee). And don’t forget about cybercafés. These are places where you can use a computer with Internet access for a fee. They usually charge by the hour, but you can also buy a day pass if you need the computer for longer. There’s usually at least one in most cities. You can find a running database of cybercafés in cities and countries all over the world at the Cybercafe Search Engine.

Be Prepared- Before your trip, you need to make sure that you have all of the cards, cords, cables, and access numbers you need to log on. Check out your location for availability of Internet access so you can avoid any surprises. You should also make sure that your laptop battery is fully charged before you go. You might not be able to find easy access to an electrical outlet and some places are really stingy with the number of outlets they have. And of course, don’t forget your power cord!

Ok…post done…I’m going out to check out the sights!

During the summer season…or actually any season, be prepared for the inevitable summer storms and surprise electrical surges by installing surge protectors on all of your electronic equipment. These will protect your equipment while you’re away from home. And you might even consider unplugging your equipment right before a storm when you’re home…even if they are on surge protectors. After all, it’s easier to pull out a couple plugs than it is to replace a $1,000 laptop.

Must time for another Plain English video for the folks at Common Craft. This video explains all about social networking online.

Just blue skying before the holiday…

…to all you U.S. readers…have a Happy 4th tomorrow! I’ll be sitting back with my jeweler’s pliers with SciFi on tonight and tomorrow…The Twilight Zone marathon! (Yes, I am that big of a geek)

Probably the most common mishap that laptops face other than the risk of being dropped is damage from liquids like water, coffee, Red Bull, or any other type of liquid you might be consuming whilst working. Of course the sensible thing to do is to not drink or eat when in laptop working mode. But then how fun will that trip to Starbucks be without your trusty laptop? The next best thing is to keep the coffee and sticky buns a safe distance away from your laptop while you’re working and consuming. A guy I worked with had a “2 foot rule”…which meant no drinks or food should be within 2 feet of a keyboard or a device that plugs into a wall.

But despite our best efforts, sometimes the worst does happen and suddenly our laptop is soaking in the beverage of our choice. Fortunately you can salvage your laptop by using these tips from this article from WikiHow; How to Save a Laptop from Liquid Damage.

Perhaps the most important tip they give is the very first one…”Don’t Panic”!.

Once you’re on Skype, you’ll be able to talk to other people who are on Skype for free. If you and the person you’re talking to has a video camera installed on your computer, you can even make video calls. Skype will also allow you to call any landline or cellphone in the world through a feature called SkypeOut. That means that you can use your computer to call up someone in Germany, dial your friend’s cell phone in California, or call your Mom’s house phone down the street. Now while talking to others on Skype is free, you’ll need to buy minutes from Skype in order to use SkypeOut. They do have a great unlimited calling plan for SkypeOut calls within the US and Canada. Currently they are running a special where if you sign up by January 31st, you can make unlimited calls to US and Canadian phones for $14.95 per year. After January 31st, the price goes up to $29.95. SkypeOut also has international calling rates that start at 2.1 cents per minute for countries like China, Germany, Mexico City, Taipei and London.

Last night I tested out Skype by calling my husband’s cell phone, calling up my sister-in-law and by checking my business voice mail over my laptop. Everything appeared to work quite nicely, I was able to carry on a conversation just by using the internal speakers and microphone on my iBook and my husband and sister-in-law had no trouble hearing me. I even recorded a call using Skype and Audio Hijack Pro, which is a program I use to help record my Crafting Voices podcast. Using Skype and Audio Hijack I was able to record one side of a phone call and if I hooked up my microphone, I could also record my end of the conversation separately, which will help improve the way I do phone interviews by 100%. If you’re planning on doing podcasts where you’re doing interviews over the phone, the $14.95 per year that you’ll pay for Skype is more than worth it.

There’s also some other nifty features like SkypeIn, where you get your own Skype telephone number so people who aren’t on Skype can call you through your Skype account. There’s Skype Voicemail, where other Skype members can leave you voicemail messages even when you’re offline. You can also make conference calls with up to four people for free. There’s a charge for both SkypeIn and Skype Voicemail, so I hadn’t tested those out yet. Apparently you’re allowed to choose which country and which area code your SkypeIn number is to have and like looks the the subscription to SkypeIn is about $30 per year. Skype Voicemail is about $15 per year, although if you purchase SkypeIn, you’ll get the voice mail for free.

So how useful would something like Skype be in your life and business? Do you already have Skype? If so, how’s working out for you? Leave a comment and let me know what you think!

“Should I get a PC or a Mac?”

This of course opened up a small can of worms and you got comments that ranged from:

“Don’t buy a PC. It stands for ‘Piece of Crap.’ “

to

“Why i wont EVER buy a Mac . They don’t have any cool Pc Games …”.

The upshot of the…well, I really can’t call it a discussion since about 90% of the replies were from very passionate Mac users who enthusiastically endorsed Macs.

So if you’re in the market for a computer get a Mac…right?

Well, not necessarily.

I get this question quite often from artists who want to get a computer and are curious as whether a PC or a Mac would be best for working their web sites. As someone who uses a PC and a Mac on a daily basis, I have to say that in most cases, it’s really a matter of budget and personal preference. Most anything that most artists would need to do on a computer including building and maintaining a web site can be done well on either a Mac or a PC. Most of the industry standard software used in building and maintaining web sites are available in both platforms and most brands of computer peripherals like scanners, mice, digital cameras, and printers are compatible with both platforms. And while you’ll have techno-diehards on both sides running calibrated performance tests to prove which one is the greatest and the fastest…let’s face it…if there’s any difference in speed, it’s really not enough to effect what us regular folks do.

Both platforms have their own set of pros and cons of course. A big advantage that Macs have over PCs is that they are essentially virus free. Yes, I have heard of the existence of virus for Macs, I just never personally have seen one in the last seven or eight years I’ve used a Mac. Many Mac users also claim that the design of the Mac make it easier to work with. Also, if you are planning to do any heavy duty graphic design for print, then Macs still have a slight edge over PCs, although the gap has narrowed in the last few years.

The biggest disadvantage that Macs may have versus a PC is that they tend to be more expensive than a comparatively outfitted PC. Also, finding local computer support and repair for a Mac is a bit more difficult in comparison to the number of computer repair services that you would find for a PC, especially if you live in a small town or in a rural area. And if you’re doing web design, you’ll need to find some way to check your site on a PC in order to make sure that your design looks the same as it does on a Mac.

On the other hand while most of the software that an artist would need for web design is available on both a Mac and a PC, there are a lot of smaller, lesser known programs that may be useful that are only available on a PC. The gap with that issue is also closing since Apple has come out with Intel-based Macs, so you can run PC software on a Mac, though I haven’t played had a chance to play with the Intel-Macs myself. You can also get software like Virtual PC that will allow you to run most types of PC software on older non-Intel Macs. If you also plan to use your computer for playing games, you’ll find that not all of them are available for the Mac. So if you’re a heavy duty gamer you may be better off with a PC. If you like to tinker with your computer, do your own upgrades, or like to build your own system from scratch, you’ll find that PCs will fit the bill nicely. Some lines of Macs like the Mini are not exactly upgrade friendly, and while you are perfectly able to upgrade memory and hard drives in the MacPro towers some parts, especially memory, are rather finicky and need to be “Apple certified” in order to work properly.

So how do I answer the PC vs Mac question? I basically tell people that while the capabilities of both platforms are more than adequate for what the average artist needs, the ultimate decision depends on their needs, their personal preferences, and their budget, and that they should research each platform before they make a decision. In a way, a computer is no different than any other tool. The right tool is the one that makes it easier for you to do your work. For some, it’s a PC for others it’s a Mac. The choice is really up to you.

So what do you prefer? Leave a comment about what you think about the PC vs Mac debate and then answer the PC vs Mac poll.

Full Disclosure: As the happy owner of a PowerMac G4, an iBook, a Mac Mini, and 2 iPods, I have to say that on a personal level, I’m firmly in the Mac camp. But I always try to be objective.