It’s so tiny. It’s so mini. It’s so fun. It’s the Flip Mini camcorder!

Simple to shoot. Simple to share. It has been touted as one of the most significant electronic products of the year. (Do I sound like a sales ad? Maybe that’s because I’m so sold on the product!)

I played with one the other day. It’s really easy to use. It will record up to 60 minutes of video. It is compatible with both the Windows and Mac OS. And the neatest thing is that to connect to your computer you don’t need a hodge podge of cords and cables. Just flick a little switch and out flips a USB connection. (Hence the name ‘flip.”)

The 1G sells for $130. The 2G runs $150 and for $180 you can get the the 3G version. Obviously, the more you pay, the more features you get. Obviously. The least expensive one comes in 6 colors while the most expensive one allows you to design your own look if you so choose. Pick from a gallery of tons of designs. Or create your own pattern. Or upload your own image. Way cool.

If you’ve held out (like me) from getting a camcorder because they are rather prices, this might be just the thing.

This would be a great technology to help you stay connected to those grandchildren who live far away. Your son or daughter could video your grandchild playing soccer, at a piano recital, coming home from school and eating an after school snack, showing off a pet doing tricks, their outfit on the first day of school, or dressed in their Halloween costume and with all of their loot from trick or treating.

You could video tape yourself reading a bedtime story to them, doing a ‘day in the life of grandma,’ showing them the fall colors where you live, taking them on a virtual tour of your city, of you singing happy birthday to them, of you demonstrating how to make a dessert (and then send them the recipe to make themselves).

This would make a great Christmas present for a grandchild. Or a great birthday present. (For you, too! You might want to ask Santa to put one in your stocking this Christmas!)

Digi-Gram

I like to think that I am efficient. My alter ego tells me I’m just lazy . . . Whatever.

Even though I’m faster than greased lightening when typing (have you ever wondered just how fast that is??) and am just as accurate (I never strike the same place twice . . .), if I can be faster I’m happier. Here’s a quick technology tip that can make your browsing the Internet just a wee bit easier — by typing less.

Let’s say that there is a web site that you like to check out occasionally. You do not have to type in the whole URL in your browser’s location bar. Forget typing in http:// and forget typing in www. For example, if you like to see recipes on the Pillsbury site, you can just type pillsbury.com and your browser will automatically fill in the rest of the information for you! Go ahead. Try it! Other examples: jeep.com, yale.edu, nytimes.com, nutrition.gov, and un.org.

This can also apply to sub-pages on a website. Let’s say you want to check out the Pillsbury’s Bake-Off contest. Just type in pillsbury.com/bakeoff (you don’t have to capitalize the ‘B’ and the ‘O’) and your browser will zip to the page that talks about the Bake-Off. (This year’s winner received one million dollars for a peanut butter cookie recipe! Mmmmmm . . . maybe I ought to be trying out my hand at cooking instead of spending my time writing this blog!)

This quick typing tip will work in Internet Explorer 6 (haven’t tried it in 7) and Firefox 2. 0 on a Windows based machine and in Safai 3.0 and Firefox 2.0 on a Mac computer.

Happy computing!
Digi-Gram

Have you ever come across a web page where the font was so small you could hardly read it? (Too vain to admit that you might need glasses???) There’s a way to easily remedy the situation — without having to get your eyes examined or without having to pay for an expensive pair of glasses!

While you still have your browser open, hold down the Command key (for a Macintosh computer) or the Control key (for a Windows machine) and then tap the plus sign one or two times until you are able to read the page. Viola! What once seemed to be minuscule is now easy to read. This trick works in both Safari and Firefox.

The reverse of this is also true. Maybe you’ve increased the font too much. Maybe you wish that you had stopped one or two taps ago. Maybe the page is now bigger than what you really want. Sheesh! What are you going to do now?

Simply hold the Control key or the Command key and tap the minus sign to make the page size get smaller to the desired size.

Now that you know this trick, you’ll never be plagued by web pages with font sizes that are difficult to read.

Enjoy!
Digi-Gram