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Bookmarks

 

This page contains "bookmarks" of possible interest to residents of, or visitors to, Morro Bay, CA.
Many of these links have been added in response to reader questions about where to find something.

One of the most frequently asked questions is
"How do I upload and share photos or other large files, for free...?
There are now many free (or low-cost) sites that facilitate just this...
(Note: June, 2006... this is a very fast moving area... information below may well be obsolete by the time you read this)
visit and try out the following, more or less in order of value (depending on your needs)...

(Flickr is now the best site for many photographers!) ** Flickr.com (Flickr was getting a lot of press as it is now owned and managed by Yahoo! (8-05)) - calls itself the best online photo management and sharing application in the world - has two main goals: 1. We want to help people make their photos available to the people who matter to them. 2. We want to enable new ways of organizing photos.  My example page.  As of 3-06... Yahoo and Flickr are merged... you can now log into Flickr using your Yahoo ID.... as of 2/07 capacity of 100 MB of upload traffic is allowed per month for free (5MB per photo)  (storage space is not measured).. views limited to the 200 most recent images. . and you can upgrade capacity for a small fee.  Only smaller (resized) images accessible (though the originals are saved in case you upgrade later)

NEW  - THIS MAY WELL TURN OUT TO BE ONE OF THE BEST PHOTO SHARING SERVICE!--  <= This is an excellent service!
Try Google's free Picasa Web Albums (250 MB free) http://picasaweb.google.com/ 
You can upload photos at full resolution and get them back the same way - unlike many other free services.  If you run out of space with 250 MB, for $25 a year you can buy 6GB of storage space.  You can see my sample album at http://picasaweb.google.com/mikebaird/   One slight disadvantage is that people can figure out your gmail address given such a URL. (Note 10/06: Picasa with the Web Albums feature is now available to all at picasa.google.com.)  Search is surprisingly missing from Google's Picasaweb service.

photo.epson.com (very good) [Note" closes 4/30/08]
 Epson allows 100 MB free online picture storage - easy to use - go to http://photo.epson.com/ and enter the e-mail address of the account you want to see... try mike@[remove]mikebaird.com to see an example (remove the "[remove]" before proceeding) - goes to http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumList?u=4284546   Epson is one of the few top sites that allows viewing and saving of photos at full size.

(January, 2006) Check out the new Slide.com and Filmloop photo-sharing services.   They're young companies with interesting "social network" features.  Max Levchin, the co-founder of PayPal, is now CEO of Slide.  Guy Kawasaki, a venture capitalist who wrote the Foreword to my book Engineering Your Start-up, invested in Filmloop.com.  See my sample http://mikebaird.slide.com/ - note that you can even synchronize and subscribe via RSS to feeds from this site.  HOT   HOT  Slide.com allows you to upload 1000's of full-sized images, and your viewers can always see the full-sized versions.  This is a great service that is really taking off! (2-06)

photos.yahoo.com ( fairly good, new and improved 4-05 with drag-and-drop for easy upload of multiple photos - no storage limit on non-dormant accounts, URL is easy to determine -- see a sample at http://photos.yahoo.com/mikebaird );  Warning - Unless you want to buy prints, photos as displayed and downloadable only at the reduced size of 480x360... this is a nasty limitation more and more free photo sharing sites are using.  Yahoo Help says: "Only customers of SBC Yahoo! and BT Yahoo! can download full-resolution versions of their photos from their Yahoo! Photos accounts, via the "Download" button on the large photo view page.  Yahoo! Photos automatically creates 480x360 pixel "screen-size" versions of your full-resolution photos when you upload them. These images are optimized for sharing and display in web browsers."   Use Yahoo! PhotoMail  http://mail.yahoo.com/  to send photos via e-mail without using explicit attachments - recipient gets a link to your (again a reduced size 480x360) photo stored (for the next 90 days) on your http://photos.yahoo.com/ site or in a temporary album called PhotoMail uploads.  Very handy and practical but only for casual snapshot sharing.  One can try to use the new Print-at-home feature to download and view the full-original-sized photos stored, but not otherwise accessible for free) on Yahoo photo albums... but this is more than a bit obscure for most users, as it involves "printing" to an Adobe Acrobat Printer (also called Distiller), creating a .pdf file and not a .jpg in the process!
*** June 7, 2006... Yahoo launched a limited beta of a new Yahoo Photos site that lets people download high-resolution photos...
Yahoo is expected to launch on Thursday (June 8, 2006) a limited beta of a new Yahoo Photos site that allows people to download high-resolution photos, tag shots with descriptors for easy search and comment on other peoples' images. Yahoo has taken the technical sophistication developed at Flickr to the mass market. Flickr, which Yahoo acquired more than a year ago, is aimed at professional and serious hobbyist photographers who want to share their photos with others and create online communities. Yahoo Photos, ranked by ComScore as the top photo site with 30 million users worldwide, is targeted at anyone who shoots pictures and wants a way to store, organize and share them with friends and family.

NEW (July 2006)  Try Tabblo - my trivial sample site is http://app.tabblo.com/studio/person/mikebaird/  

Amazon's recently acquired Shutterfly service is quite good for casual sharing of photos - no storage or upload resolution limitations, easy sharing by invitation or by URL; see my sample share.  Uploading tools are the best I've ever seen.  However, once uploaded, you or your friends can't view photos except at ~480x320 resolution, and download any version larger than ~600x400.  Shutterfly makes its money by selling prints.

 

Download Google's new free Picasa Photo Organizer

Kodak Gallery http://www.kodakgallery.com/  (now same as http://ofoto.com ) also is reported to have great storage and cheap prints.  See my sample site.  Has drag-and-drop upload... but it also says "we ask that you make at least one purchase every 12 months to keep the images stored in your account."  As with most free photo-sharing sites, pictures are re-sized downward, and this is not a good site for sharing large photos either.

dotPhoto.com -- seems to allow sharing and downloading of full-sized photos.  However, the URL for easy fie sharing is not clear - try viewing my sample site  (alt).  Invitations sent from the site seem to be the only practical way to share photos on most photo sharing sites.

photo.net photography resource you can upload 100 photos free - my example site here -- this is geared for professional photographers

hpphoto.com (100 MB) (the only way you can view other photo albums is to be invited by the album owner) (my example)
[Note: 8-05, HPPhoto is now Snapfish.com - once high-resolution pictures are uploaded, Snapfish charges $0.49 a photo to view or download them - they want to sell you prints.]

Buy space at pbase.com for ~$23/year for 100 MB (for an example, see Gary Robertshaw's site)
Many photo professionals use Pbase

A radical new photo sharing service is http://sharealot.com/ (I have not tested this yet... but it "shares to others' PC automatically using a peer-to-peer network scheme much like Kazaa - use at your own risk -  photos are replicated on the computer of the person you shared with)

Streamload.com offers 10GB storage free, and 100MB download per month... good for storing and sharing large pictures, videos...
 
webshots.com  Note: Webshots (once the best and no-brainer recommendation) can no longer be recommended because, although once the leader in this field, they have somewhat degraded their service to change, without user permission, desktop behavior (such as wallpaper, screensavers...) and most annoyingly, to present deceptive ads like "warning, your PC clock is out of adjustment" while mimicking a Windows message.  Once adapted to their antics, however, the system really does work quite well, and is widely used.  However, recently (2005), access to full-sized photos (called professional photo downloads) is severely restricted on the free accounts. Their site says "Webshots Free members are limited to 5 photo downloads a day. Webshots Premium members can download all the photos they want."  Also, photo storage for free accounts is limited to 240 photos now.  You can try to view my sample albums (URL may not work - signup probably required).

PolaroidPics - where you decide how to store and share your digital photos, order prints and create unique photo gift.  Has very easy drag-and-drop uploading, good for uploading dozens of large images!  However, you lose access to the high-resolution versions... Polaroid keeps the high-res versions to fulfill print orders only.  Also, sharing requires e-mail based "invitations" issued from their site - (there is a way around this, but determining the correct URL is inelegant). 
* PolaroidPics shut down effective 9-29-05... what a turbulent industry!

fotolog.net is fairly new, limited free space.... my example site

Faces.com is a very nifty photo site - it is oriented towards building a friendship network, but the upload tool is very good.  Sample site at http://mikebaird.faces.com/

 Adorama (the big photography store) has a free, yet professional-level service, at http://www.adoramapix.com/ for uploading, sharing, and printing photos... has multiple uploading tools, including a killer drag-and-drop tool... looks very good on first glance!  Seems to emphasize photo print quality, and will accommodate 30MB images, including TIFF formats in addition to JPGs.  Full size images can't be viewed online, but they can be downloaded (many photo sharing sites do not allow downloading the original photos).  Sharing albums is through an online invitation form only.. the "URL" of your album is not obvious.  (Try this test album I made... requires sign-in, and probably will not work for you; here is another URL to try which also requires that you establish a free account at adoramapix.com).  In re-testing this site (11-05) I had problems downloading my original full-sized images.

SmugMug.com  is being praised by the press (2005)... PC Magazine selected Smugmug as the Editor's Choice for photo sharing, and Maximum PC Magazine gave smugmug the only 9 star rating among photo sharing sites and raved that "Smugmug walks away with the other guys' lunch."  Like many services on the Internet today, you have to pay something for a decent service... smugmug.com has a $49.95 Standard  plan, a $49.95 Power plan, and a $99.95 Pro plan to pick from. Here is a sample site.  Note that photos can be viewed and/or saved at any size including the original full resolution.  

http://imageshack.us/ is a good place to upload full-resolution photos - useful for linking to thumbnail pictures in ads, etc.  Learn more...  Works well, but subjects viewers to lots of ads... but, what do you expect for free?  Handles images to 1 MB (images up to 3 MB are re-sized to 1 MB).  I suggest that you use a temporary e-mail address if you decide to optionally "register" ... as the address you use will appear on a web page presumable reachable by search engines.  My sample one - Risso Dolphin  My sample two - 2005 docent meeting composite

Here are some relatively new photo sites and services I have yet (10-06) to evaluate (mentioned in http://news.com.com/2061-12572_3-6084601.html) :
* http://www.sharpcast.com/ says "Our desktop organizer backs up your photos for you, organizes them into web albums, and keeps them in sync so you don't have to."
* http://www.phanfare.com/ says "Online photo and video sharing service Phanfare, Inc. announces a new single-payment lifetime membership program for consumers that offers personalized Internet album hosting, sharing (up to 8GB per month) and archiving of all member photos and videos for life"
* http://snipshot.com/ says "No download necessary—100% browser based, no plug-ins required; Edit big pictures—up to 10 MB, or 5000x5000 pixels; Import PDF (first page only), EPS, and SVG files; Import pictures from any web site (including Flickr) with our bookmarklet; Flickr export, or save as GIF, JPG, PDF, PNG, or TIF; Basic editing tools like crop, rotate, resize, basic image adjustments; Unlimited undo and redo (Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Y, or ?Z and ?Y on your Mac); Nondestructive scaling, rotating, and cropping—we always work from the original."
* http://pxn8.com/ edit images online in a browser-based photo-editor.

SnapJot.com is one of the latest (2006) photo sharing sites.  See the mikebaird example age.

Sending or sharing large files:

  • Want to e-mail someone a VERY LARGE attachment?   Go to YouSendIt.com and your friends will receive a link to your file, which will be uploaded and stored online for about one week - at no cost.  You can send files as large as 100MB (free) to 2GB (not free - several levels-of-service options are now offered).   It takes just seconds to use.  Your file will be stored by YouSendIt without ever filling up your recipient's mailbox.  YouSendIt will automatically email your recipient a link to your file stored on their server.  This is a proven service.
  • Putfile.com offers to temporarily host large files, videos, and images -- for free (ad-based).  See a sample site at http://www.putfile.com/mikebaird (content may expire after six months) (has 2- 25 MB limits, and restrictions on file types, e.g., no PDFs)
  • If the above services do not handle your very large file (e.g., 200 MB), try sendthisfile.com (I have no experience with them yet)

  • Use Microsoft's FolderShare to Transfer Files to 2GB in Size -- Use Microsoft's FolderShare to securely keep files synchronized between your computers, share files with friends or colleagues, and remotely download your files from any web browser - transfer up to 10,000 files up to 2GB in size each (this is sort of like magic)

     

Professional Photographers use DigitalRailroad to communicate with clients - DigitalRailroad.org is my personal photo portal linking to my  http://digitalrailroad.net/mikebaird/ -- this is not a free or cheap service.

Don't like using Yahoo! Groups for group communications? Try using Google Groups (Beta).

Be PC safe -- get PC Help  (<=extensive help here)

Need a userID and password for occasional access to paid web sites?  Try http://bugmenot.com/

mail2web.com or e-mailanywhere.com
Read your e-mail from a browser, away from home, without worrying about deleting it from your mail server

Have broadband at home, but need occasional Internet access while on the road?  Try dial-up provider http://myfreei.com/ same as http://access4free.com/ same as http://access-4-free.com/  $5 set-up fee, then 10 hours free a month forever... if you use more than 10 hours in any month, pay $1/hour up to a max of $10/month.  No ads, many access phone numbers.  Highly recommended. OUT OF BUSINESS EFFECTIVE MAY 2005

A solution to e-mail spam -- Outlook 2000/XP and Outlook Express users can block spam for a small fee -- download SpamNet from cloudmark.com 
Eliminate Spam e-mail in Outlook 2000/XP, with SpamNet from http://www.cloudmark.com/ -- this is perhaps the only anti-spam system that actually works --- This is a prime example of "community power in action."  Outlook 2003 now contains an excellent free "Junk Filter."  This catches almost all the spam that SpamNet traps.  Make sure you update Microsoft Office regularly to update the related filter files.

Search the Internet 

google.com   Google Viewer  Google Toolbar
search.msn.com 
yahoo.com  search.yahoo.com
ask.com  
teoma.com (owned by Ask Jeeves)
alltheweb.com (good for searching long strings) a "scientific information" search engine
altavista.com (newly revived)
 MyWay.com, a banner-free, pop-up free portal and search engine
Dogpile is a good metasearch engine ("all the best search engines piled into one")
 SuperPages.com is the latest greatest "yellow pages" service
Very spooky -- search for personal information about anyone at Spoke (not easy to install and use, but interesting)
Finally, a decent way to search your PC - download Google's just-released (Beta) Google Desktop Search   Also, try using our simple Google search START PAGE as your home page
Yet another new search engine to try http://clusty.com/

Medical information - free online:  pubmed.gov and nih.gov

Search comparison buying sites 

Google Translate text or a web site

m-w.com or education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary
Dictionary -- looks up words you don't know

virtualdr.com  and  discussions.virtualdr.com
Free good advice on solving common PC problems

Test your Internet connection speed and security settings

speakeasy.net/speedtest (very good, tests both up and down times)
 pcpitstop.com/internet  PCPitStop is a popular and useful speed test (both upload and download - 10/06 I used to always recommend this site first... I now question the results here for very high speed connections like Charter's new 10,000 down/1,000 up, as all the other test sites report higher speeds))
dslreports.com/stest  DSLReports speed test (both upload and download) - links to:
nitro.ucsc.edu and netspeed.stanford.edu are probably the best sites to test upload and download speeds, and measure other performance factors
Get DrTCP to set your Windows XP system for tweaking parameters such as RWIN for Enabling High Performance Data Transfers.  (I found after much experimentation that 251120 or 256960 = the best RWIN setting for Charter's 10Mbps/1Mbps service on some WinXP high-end machines... but every machine and application will be different).  Windows Vista (Jan. 2006) Operating system will finally optimize your TCP settings for you and this will become a non-issue.
Bandwidth speed test speed test (can only use three times a month free)
webservices.cnet.com/bandwidth  CNET speed test
giganews.com also lets you test your connection speed 

Be PC safe:  Run Norton's free Security and Virus Detection scans;  Update Windows;  Install Norton System Works 2004 (Norton Antivirus and Norton Utilities)  Don't open e-mail attachments unless you know what you are doing. Run PC Pitstop's free security tests   Run Steve Gibson's ShieldsUP! free security check

Wireless Internet options at http://www.tcsn.net/services/wireless.html (in Paso Robles, etc., but not available in Morro Bay) and http://www.digitalputty.com/services.asp (Morro Bay, some locations)

PC Pitstop -- Full Tests of your PCs performance and security (run often) pcpitstop.com/pcpitstop/       

security.norton.com
Free security check for Virus problems on your computer

GOOD STUFF:
Install PestPatrol -- a security and personal privacy tool that detects and eliminates destructive pests like trojans, spyware, adware and hacker tools. 
Also, Spybot - Search & Destroy here  Spybot - Search & Destroy can detect and remove a multitude of adware files and modules from your computer.

View folder sizes in Windows with TreeSize (to see where your disk space is being used)

irfanview.com
A decent free utility to view, print and manipulate images -- download their IrfavView32 program
(especially useful to re-size images, and print "best-fit-to-page") (Only handles one image at a time)

Popular Peer-To-Peer "File Sharing" Programs (Download absolutely anything, BUT, warning, these are now all major malware/spyware/adware-based systems -- these services and most of the products they deliver are all filthy with malware, adware and spyware -- you should only attempt to install them only cautiously on a second sacrificial PC that you are willing to have to re-format soon)

kaZaA.com  Welcome To KaZaA and The World Of P2P (warning major spyware/adware-based system)
 "KaZaA Lite" used to be a "safe" version of KaZaA but has been banned from the Internet (It was much better, with no embedded adware or spyware - but now its replacement http://www.mp3ebook.com/  is untested by me, and no longer free)
grokster.com  Next Generation File Sharing; (warning major spyware/adware-based system)
morpheus.com  Morpheus (warning major spyware/adware-based system)

Reading (including some controversial items intended to open your eyes; many of these items were recommended by visitors to morro-bay.com)

Time Magazine online
Newsstand.com "Delivering the EXACT digital reproduction of the print version"
MIT's OpenCourseWare a free and open educational resource for faculty, students, and self-learners around the world. OCW supports MIT's mission to advance knowledge and education, and serve the world in the 21st century. It is true to MIT's values of excellence, innovation, and leadership.
Ibiblio, one of the Web's oldest and largest digital libraries (free)
PC World magazine
PC Magazine
 Maximum Pc magazine
Digital Camera magazine
FARC-EP Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia People's Army
... looking for the end to state terrorism, the injustices, inequalities, unemployment and the humiliation before US imperialism
... we call upon the US to legalize narcotics consumption...
... constructing the paths toward the New Colombia
Cocker Spaniel lovers see the zimfamilycockers.com site; Dmoz directory
 paddling.net for Kayak enthusiasts 
Know your Schitt (humor) more at twistedhumor.com (< link removed 6-04; <= warning, ".exe" downwards from twistedhumor.com source site now contain adware changes to your search functions - no longer worth the price)
 theonion.com  The Onion (satire) News Source
 whitehouse.org -  satire
F---edCompany.com    Funny Report on New Economy and Dot Com Bombs
Comics online http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=index2&cid=1077
More comics inc. Compu-toon and Helen, Sweetheart of the Internet
 The Guardian
TechComedy.com  (funny items, like tech-support calls, for example this gem)
annoy.com free speech
Urban Legends snopes.com (don't believe everything you see on the Internet)
The Red Herring ("tech capital")
 The Industry Standard ("tech capital")
 ChristiansSuck.com (very intense and offensive...no endorsement implied)
 PC Magazine's Top 101 Web Sites
InstaPundit (Internet's most popular Blog)
 Top 10 uncool web sites
The Nation (national politics) 
Laid Off by OddTodd.Com  More cartoons and games  April Fool's  Music Credits
 Bravenet daily cartoon  from Randy Glasbergen
SOME NEW AND UNUSUAL COMICS
CEO Dad   Bulls N Bears  PC and Pixel  Fat Cats  Barkeater Lake
User Friendly by Frazer
* Urban Legends Reference Pages snopes.com
 * Does a Ford SportKa commercial show a cat being decapitated by a sunroof?
* Shiori Matsumoto Painting Art Gallery
* The Internet Weekly -- In Celebration of the Individual
 * PC Magazine
 * Air America Radio (a liberal talk radio station about info)
* Rick Klau's weblog
* Read the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest 2003 Results
* World News Network 
* Bongo News Satire, Parody, Jokes -- Formerly Garlic - The stinky newspaper 
* The Drudge Report hot news
* photo.net photography resource upload 100 photos free - example
* Keep up-to-date on PC technology - read Tech Tuesday
* CNet's news.com
* Check out wikipedia.org an open-content encyclopedia
* Watch Public Service video broadcasts from C-SPAN
* Check out wikipedia.org an open-content encyclopedia
* Worth1000.com manipulated images- some outstanding  kunst.relativeert.nl artist's website
* photo.net photography resource -- upload and share photos to the gallery - example - geared for professional photographers -- cool photos of the week
* International News: http://www.aljazeera.com/   http://news.yahoo.com (world)
* thenation.com Unconventional Wisdom Since 1865
* technorati.com says "Technorati brings you what’s happening on the web right now" 
* The Phat Phree  thephatphree.com is a daily humor publication
* The group blog PostSecret postsecret.blogspot.com  lets people reveal their innermost thoughts in often poignant mock postcards that add up to a community art project
* Pandora http://www.pandora.com/ Plug in the name of your favorite bands and get radio customized for you
* http://gigaom.com/ A personal weblog where Om Malik ruminates about broadband and its impact on our lives and other things technical
* Read business2.blogs.com The Business 2.0 Blog.  What Works. What Doesn't Work.
* http://www.topix.net/ News on 300,000 topics, from Autos to your ZIP code such as 93442
 * wikiHow is a collaborative writing project to build the world's largest how-to manual
 * gizmodo.com The Gadgets Weblog
* pcstats.com PCSTATS provides guides that detail many facets of modern computer use. Their "Beginners Guides" are especially recommended.
* http://blogs.forbes.com/digitaldownload/ says Not enough time in the week to keep track of the latest and greatest developments in the tech world? ... we crawl the Web, dig into the news and bring you the Digital Download, a blog dedicated to the day's must-read tech stories. It tackles a wide variety of subjects: enterprise computing, consumer electronics, academic research and much more.
 * vanityfair.com "access to people, personalities and power"
* americanchronicle.com an interesting news aggregation site
* theync.com "Young nationalist-conservative politics group, news, humor & more" has among other things, interesting videos at  http://theync.com/pastmedia.shtml - the good stuff in the site is unfortunately littered with annoying ads and right-wing crap
* Rainy day viewing - LiveScience.com's "amazing images" and "image gallery"
* Watch Meet the Press anytime, Sundays after 1PM ET
* Digital Download, a blog dedicated to the day's must-read tech stories
* Read Yahoo! Tech Tuesday to keep up-to-date on technology issues related to home computing and consumer electronics
* pcstats.com PCSTATS provides guides that detail many facets of modern computer use. Their "Beginners Guides" are especially recommended.
* TheSmokingGun.com The Smoking Gun exposes cool, confidential, quirky documents that can't be found elsewhere on the Web.
* huffingtonpost.com Arianna Huffington's liberal blog (hot)
 spotbit.com based on Indian company up2u.in  "Steal this magazine"  has free pirated .pdf versions of many popular magazines - this can't last. Spotbit.com has been up about a week (as of 5-17-06), and is offering PDF downloads of over 150 magazines.   Penthouse, Scientific American, etc. -- SpotBit calls itself "the Free e-Magazine Archieve" <= That's the site's spelling. SpotBit carries a tiny notice that ingeniously says "If the copyright of any magazine belongs to you, contact us and we'll remove it!"  WARNING - these web sites may compromise your PC - unconfirmed reports of LAN routers being punched open after visiting these pages...
* Instant Media http://instantmedia.com/ offers High-Definition TV on your PC, for free (with ads).
* http://www.woostercollective.com/ Street Art graffiti -- The Wooster Collective was founded in 2001. This site is dedicated to showcasing and celebrating ephemeral art placed on streets in cities around the world.
* This website delivers many cartoons to one page daily - magic of sorts http://comics.john-m-moore.com/
* http://www.csmonitor.com/  The Christian Science Monitor has good balanced news and opinion coverage.
* HopeDance  hopedance.org  reports on the outrageous, pioneering and inspiring activities of outstanding individuals and organizations who are creating a new world -- regardless of their spiritual tradition or political agenda -- "Radical Solutions inspiring Hope"
* memritv.org  The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) explores the Middle East through the region's media.  MEMRI bridges the language gap which exists between the West and the Middle East, providing timely translations of Arabic, Persian, and Turkish media, as well as original analysis of political, ideological, intellectual, social, cultural, and religious trends in the Middle East.  Founded in February 1998 to inform the debate over U.S. policy in the Middle East, MEMRI is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit, 501 (c)3 organization.  Has good translated videos you will not see on Western TV.  The project archive currently includes clips from the following sources and TV guests: Sources: Al-Arabiya TV (Dubai), Dubai TV (Dubai), Dream2 TV (Egypt), Channel 1 TV (Egypt), Palestinian Authority TV (Gaza), Al-'Alam TV (Iran), Sahar TV (Iran), Jaam-E-Jam TV (Iran), IRINN (Iran), New TV (Lebanon), Al-Manar TV (Lebanon), MBC TV (London), Al-Jazeera TV (Qatar), Qatar TV (Qatar), Iqra TV (Saudi Arabia), Channel 1 TV (Saudi Arabia), Syrian TV (Syria), Al-Majd TV (United Arab Emirates). TV Guests: Islamic clerics and leaders, Arab and Iranian journalists and editors (working in the Middle East and the West), academics and researchers, public opinion and policy makers, politicians (parliamentarians and government officials), military experts, intellectuals, and authors. 
* Another unrelated source of overseas videos, never shown on Western TV, which features interviews of captured journalists by terrorists, IED explosions in Iraq, extremely graphic and offensive executions, etc. is ogrish.com (link suppressed intentionally) -- not to be visited by the squeamish.  Warning, Ogrish and LiveLeak content is extremely intense and offensive to many - do not visit this site if you have any question about its suitability for you - must be 18 years old to enter. Note: 11-06, ogrish is now liveleak.com (link suppressed intentionally)  (Categories: News, Entertainment, Personal, Creative, Work-related, Misc.)
* Uncensored from Israel...  debka.com (a website run by former Israeli intelligence officials).
 Read Yahoo! Tech Tuesday to keep up-to-date on technology issues related to home computing and consumer electronics.
 This website delivers many cartoons to one page daily - magic of sorts http://comics.john-m-moore.com/
Looking for some beautiful photos - Check out photo.net/photodb/photo-of-the-week


Reading continued - the below are finance-related
 * internetoutsider.com -- Henry Blodgett's back and he's blogging.  Henry was one of the Internet's most notorious figures and  Merrill Lynch's Internet analyst at the top of the bubble -- later disciplined over conflicts of interest

DVD rentals:  netflix.com DVD rental service - beats driving to Blockbuster, 3 out-at-a-time now < $20/mo.  Best and most popular service... highly recommended.
Also filmcaddy.com (Blockbuster's weaker attempt to compete with Netflix, 4 out-at-a-time $20/mo., but longer delivery times, weak interface)
Have good bandwidth? you can now rent movies online at movielink.com.

Self-publish and print-on-demand

  • (Highly recommended) LuLu.com (started in 2002) is getting a lot of publicity (2005, 2006) as a self-publishing vehicle, and is rapidly growing (91,000+ professionally bound books were published through Lulu in January 2006, nearly three times the 35,500 books the site produced in August 2005.  Sales are running at about $1 million a month but growing at an extraordinary clip of 10 percent monthly, said founder Bob Young.).  Read their http://www.lulu.com/about/ page which says in part "Lulu is the web's premier independent publishing marketplace for digital do-it-yourselfers. It's the only place on the web where you can publish, sell and buy any and all things digital — books, music, comics, photographs, movies and well, you get the idea. We simply provide the tools that leave control of content in the hands of the people who created the content. You see, Lulu is a technology company, not a publisher. So you can use Lulu to publish and sell any kind of digital content, and no one here is going to ask you to change anything. Ever. Your vision is entirely YOURS." There is no set-up fee and no minimum order to publish and sell on Lulu. We manage the online business, including printing, delivery and customer service. You set your own royalty for each piece of content, and at the end of each quarter, we'll mail you a check for the royalties your content generates. Lulu makes a small percentage from each transaction, which means that we only make money if you succeed in selling your work."   LuLu was founded by Bob Young, who might be better known as the co-founder of Red Hat open source software company.  See my sample Lulu storefront at http://www.lulu.com/mikebaird to e.g., a photo at http://www.lulu.com/content/164274 and a PowerPoint presentation at http://www.lulu.com/content/164514.  In fact, many smaller publishers now use LuLu for all their printing and distribution services.  "Self-published" and "Vanity" press authors should not confuse "getting a publisher" with printing, distribution, and fulfillment services.  Before LuLu, I recommended the following two services, which still might be right for you. 
    (Note: in early 2006 I noticed that the "Global Distribution Service" (since renamed "Published by Lulu...") at LuLu, which gets you an ISBN number and distribution through the wholesale channels like Ingram Book Group, was not offered for books with color illustrations.  This was a major disappointment for certain kinds of works, like CA State Park ecologist Michael Walgren's  popular local nature books; In November 2006 I notice that wholesale distribution of color books is  now supported in the 8.5"x11" and 8.5"x8.5" formats).
  • blurb.com  As further proof that the print-on-demand self-publishing market is growing, a new player -- called Blurb ( http://www.blurb.com/ ) -- became a competitor to Lulu on May 3, 2006.  Pricing and mechanics differ at Lulu and Blurb, though the basic process is similar.  At Lulu, authors upload their material as preformatted, printer-ready files and then tweak them online.  Blurb offers offline formatting by providing special software that authors download and use to lay out text and images.  For now (May 2006), Blurb offers only full-color hardcovers starting at $30 for 40 pages, each 8 by 10 inches. Prices rise to $35 for 80 pages and $80 for 400 pages. Paperbacks will be coming soon, along with templates for different genres, including novels and text-only manuscripts.  Lulu offers far more choices, including text-only formats, paperbacks that start at less than $9 and color books at less than $35.
  • (Highly recommended) Xlibris print-on-demand  How to...  Xlibris is top-quality self-publishing.  It is not free, but the services rendered are excellent.  Morro Bay resident Freeman Hall produced a book using Xlibris.
  • iuniverse.com Self-publishing...
    One chief difference between the newer services Blurb and Lulu, and the older services Xlibris and iUniverse, is that Xlibris and iUniverse charge authors up-front fees, which makes publishing through them more expensive.
  • Not necessarily recommended, and definitely not a brand presence, printmybookonline.com is local to Morro Bay (being in Los Osos, CA) and might be worth your investigation.  (Note: 3-28-06 Oops, printmybookonline.com now seems to be out of commission, the domain owner is spotlightprinting.com).
  • Compare the above services that can reward the author with most of the profits, with, for example, iuniverse.com or publishamerica.com which might be thought of as self-publishing vanity press options with an online twist.  If you do most of the work and take all of the financial risk, you should get most of the rewards.
  • If you can sell your book proposal to a recognized traditional publisher (this may be much more difficult than writing the book itself), who will make a significant investment in you, in improving your product, and in marketing your book.. that is usually preferable... but the fact is that most books, especially those written by first-time authors, and books written for smaller niche markets, do not have the potential financial return-on-investment needed to make them candidates for traditional publishers.
  • BookSurge print-on-demand publisher was acquired by amazon.com in 2005 and should be given serious consideration for "author initiated publishing".  They have good distribution services, inc. for color books... Pricing example, a 60 page, full color, 8.25"x11.75" book would retail for $25.99 and be printed on 80# white paper using 4-color CMYK using their Author's Express Publishing Program - Full Color - $299 (gets you an ISBN and distribution)... trim size no smaller than 4" width x 6" height, no larger than 8.25" width x 10.5 height.
  • CreateSpace is another newer Amazon property (see BookSurge above) that facilitates self-publishing print-on-demand books (new), CDs, and DVDs (previously).  This alternative for book publishing just came to my attention in January 2008. "The CreateSpace Book on Demand program is a self-service, do-it-yourself online tool that allows you to upload your ready-for-printing PDF book files and make your trade paperback book(s) available for sale online."  With this service you get an ISBN and marketing and sales at Amazon.com.   Depending on your project and personal computer skills, CreateSpace should be seriously considered in place of Lulu or Blurb (two services I highly recommend above).

Publicity:  Submit free press releases at http://i-newswire.com/

FREE PDF Creation Programs:
* With Acrobat Reader® software, you can view and print Adobe PDF files... but to create PDF files, you need...
* With pdf995 and Danneprairie Win2PDF you can create PDF documents for free
* CutePDF (http://www.cutepdf.com/) is a free PDF-creation program
* PDF Creator is installed as a printer driver. To create a PDF, open your document, then print to the PDF Creator "printer."  The result is a PDF file.
* Also, Adobe offers an online subscription service that allows you to pay a small fee to turn a set number documents into PDF files (http://createpdf.adobe.com)
(A special note for LuLu.com users wanting to make free PDFs... see LuLu to read this FAQ compiled by Lulu PowerPoster Don Campbell: http://www.athleticaid.com/other/PDF-FAQ-1E.html.

Read and print PowerPoint documents with Microsoft's free PowerPoint Viewer
 With this release, the Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer 97 supports PowerPoint 95, 97 and certain aspects of PowerPoint 2000 and 2002 files. This viewer allows people who use PowerPoint to share their presentations with people who do not have PowerPoint installed on their computers.

Educational Radio
PBS Counterspin current program (archives)

Investments:
 briefing.com Daily commentary on the stock market
Higher-yielding alternatives to Certificates of Deposit:
    GMAC investments in liquid money market type "Demand Notes," and $1000 minimum fixed rates, fixed dates SmartNotes
    Ford Motor Financial money market accounts and fixed-rate notes (details)
Links to financial sites (rough)

Mills ASAP can make copies of just about any document

Morro Bay-stuff on eBay

Buy Prescription drugs online: (related article by reason.com)

  • With a USA Rx (note: I have no personal experience with the following companies... they are listed as a courtesy only)
  • Without a USA Rx (Note: effective early 2005 the US government was cracking down hard on these businesses and their customers - no longer recommended)  (*these were proven performers), even for Schedule IV controlled substances such as Ambien or Stilnox (Zolpidem)
  • Use remedyfind.com to access anecdotal information on the effectiveness of various medications
  • http://www.medsmex.com/ Their site says "All products sold are classified as non-controlled medicine within Mexico (meaning you can walk into any pharmacy and buy our products without a prescription)... to be used to acquire medicine at discount prices. It is legal to order medicines from Mexico and have them shipped to you as long as you are ordering medicine for your own personal use. All products sold are FDA approved... We are not running over the border from the United States into Mexico and purchasing medicine and carrying it back across the border to put it in the mail to our customers. All products are sent from our offices within Mexico City, all products are sent thru customs and available for inspection by customs. The return label on the package you receive is the exact location of where it is being sent from." (No Rx required; believed to be reliable based on some Internet postings only - signature may be required on delivery)

Assisted Living & Nursing Homes --  Research, facilities... (SLO, Morro Bay)  

Digital Camera Reviews:  

The new (2003) Canon Digital Rebel EOS-300D  (steves-digicams review is excellent)
is a 6.3 MP sub-$1000 SLR camera and a top pick in this price range.
"Most Important Camera of 2003 Award"
(Note: The Canon EOS 300D, Kiss Digital and Digital Rebel are the same camera)
froogle price comparison  digicamera review
CANON 100-400IS EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM with Image Stabilizer a $1,400 killer lens for this camera
Canon EF 75-300 F/4.0-5.6 IS USM for Canon-AF Camera  ~$430
Lexar Media 2 GB 40X CompactFlash Card Pro(CF2GB-40-380) ~$580 (Get 45X if possible) - camera comes with no CF card
Canon Speedlite 420EX Flash for Canon EOS & Digital SLR Cameras ~$180

dpreview.com   
Wired Review  
Nikon Coolpix 5700  Broadway's Price: $849.00
 Minolta Dimage 7Hi 5.2MP
Canon EOS D60 6MP Digital Camera 35MM SLR very nice (>$2,000)
Nikon D100 (comparable to Canon D60)
 -- check price listings on comparison-shopping sites like MySimon.com and Epinions.com
 digital-cameras-info.com is a site a friend likes

Download the Alexa Toolbar for a whole new browsing experience (warning - contains spyware)

MoveOn.org -- Democracy in Action -- MoveOn is working to bring ordinary people back into politics... Pursuing "great goals for our nation"

Personal "fun" reading page

Take a free online "Hearing Test"

Religious answers to science questions -- amusing or serious, depending on your view.

BeltOutlet.com is a good source for hard-to-find quality travel items (discounted Tilley hats, money belts, shoulder wallets, Pocket Socks...

Record TV on your PC like a TiVo from http://snapstream.com/ Beyond TV 3

Google language and translation tools

Zazzle.com is the place to go to order custom T-shirts, posters and prints...

Free Legal Help online for low-income Californians

Want to e-mail someone a VERY LARGE attachment?   Just go to YouSendIt.com and your friends will receive a link to your file, which will be uploaded and stored online for one week - at no cost.  You can send files as large as 1GB.  No registration is required. (warning, obnoxious misleading ads appear on this site)

Nolo Press has all sorts of do-it-yourself legal advice... including...
 Using Works in the Public Domain including "If You Want to Use Material on the Internet," and
Getting Permission to Publish: Ten Tips for Webmasters  and When Copying Is Okay: The "Fair Use" Rule