Wednesday, June 30, 2010

How to Solve Poster Printing Problems Over the Internet

by: Kaye Z. Marks

Poster printing is a cinch, especially when you use the Internet to solve problems. That is right! You do not have to suffer problems in printing, software and design when you print posters anymore.

If you have an Internet connection, you can easily solve all your problems over the Internet. Let me give you the facts straight and easy on how this is possible. You do not even have to be an expert to do this!

• Printing problem solved through online printers – One of the first major problems is of course finding the right poster printer. In the yellow pages, you might have a few good listings, but very little information is available in there. When you look for online printing companies through the Internet, though, your options will probably skyrocket.

There are hundreds of printers online and you can easily find extra information about them since you are on the Internet. You can easily see sample prints, printing quotations and their printing options online. Moreover, you can even research for reviews and testimonials of your prospective company to really be sure that they are the ones you need. That is why you will have no problems if you do your project online.

• Design problems solved through online design resources – Now, if your problem is in the design, the Internet has also a few things that can help you. Off the top of my main list, the internet can provide two major things. Those things are templates and images.

o Poster templates – these can really help you develop your design easily. With a template, all you really need to do is to copy and paste your design elements into it. All the major guidelines and dimensions are already set within the template so that your whole draft can be easily ready for poster printing. The great thing is, you can download these templates online from printing companies. So this is really a great tool to use and easy to get as well online.

o Poster images – Images are also freely available on the Internet. There are hundreds if image database sights out there that you can search images from. Most even, offer these using creative commons licenses that are easy to use. Just be sure that you download large high-resolution images and you should be all set.

• Software problems solved through free open source software – Finally, if software is the problem, more particularly the cost of software, then the Internet is here to help you out as well. You can easily download free open source software applications for you to use in poster design. For novices for example, downloading OpenOffice.org and using its Draw application can be enough for you to print good quality posters. For the more experienced designer though, Gimp is nice open source alternative to expensive software like Photoshop or Corel Draw. Therefore, as you can see, even in terms of software, the Internet can solve your poster design problems.

So do not worry about your problems with printing. As long as you have the Internet, you will always have options.

Wipe Out the Harassing Emails of Cyber Stalkers using a Reverse Email Trace

by: Ed Opperman

There are very few families left that do not have at least one computer that is used for the family to surf the World Wide Web. It is a great place for kids and teens to study and research for homework, to play games and have fun, and to perform various needed tasks for work. There are dangers however that lurk in several areas of the web that every parent and individual should always keep an eye out for. Although there are many things that are always being done to keep the Internet a safe place to be, there are still all sorts of problems that can happen.

Stalking is one such problem that has caused frightening problems for a large number of people that regularly get on the Internet. AOL, Yahoo, Gmail, and many other types of email accounts are often the target of criminals that get their kicks from stalking innocent individuals on the web. If this is a problem that you have faced, it is important not to just allow it to happen. First and foremost you should consult the authorities, and then your next step should be to consult with an experienced private investigator. Using a reverse email trace, the knowledge of an investigator can help you to wipe out the harassing emails you have been receiving from cyber stalkers.

This beneficial type of investigation is as easy as supplying an expert with the stalkers email address. A few of the benefits about having a reverse email look-up performed is will not cost you a large amount of money, and the detailed results will be sent to you in a very short period of time. Revealing the identity of a stalker can also help authorities to put a permanent end to the activities the criminal is partaking in. Your entire family will benefit when you make the decision to wipe out the harassing and threatening emails of cyber stalkers that are bothering your family, and you can do this through the use of a reverse email trace.

Some of the detailed information that can be revealed is the name of the stalker that is causing the harassment, the street address where the individual lives, the geographic location where they live, the type of browser that is being used, links to websites they visit, and other forms of helpful information.

Don't waste any time in wiping out the harassing emails of cyber stalkers. Consult with a professional that knows how to use a reverse email trace to put an end to frightening threats

Copyright (c) 2010 Ed Opperman


About The Author

Ed Opperman is President of Opperman Investigations Inc.If you need help with a cyber stalking investigation visit http://www.emailrevealer.com

How to Make that Printing Output Arrive as Fast as Possible

by: Kaye Z. Marks


Engaging on an online printing project is one of the fastest ways to get your prints fast. However, did you know that you could do a few things to make the output arrive faster than it usually would?

It is easy to make prints arrive faster if you know how to work with a printing company. Let me give you a few tips that should expedite your printing output quite well.

• Use the template as guide – A great way to make your printing output arrive faster is to use the online template as your foundation for designs. Whatever kind of material you need to have printed, by using the template provided, you can help speed up the process because everything is already set.

The online template is already pre-designed to make printing easier since it has the proper guidelines, settings and dimensions that the online printer expects. They do not have to convert or alter your design. They just need to load it and it the output would be produced fast.

• Proofread your own work three times over – Proofreading thoroughly is also another important thing to do to make your output arrive faster. Most online printers do some proofreading before they mass-produce. It is only logical to do this since you would not want to waste materials in online printing if there are mistakes in the initial drafts.

By proofreading your own work three times over and making it perfect for printing, you will prevent any situation wherein the blueprint will be sent back for editing. That is why it is good to do a thorough check. You will not need to waste time in going back and forth in proofreading.

• Use standard options when possible – You might also want to consider using standard configurations and settings to make the process faster. Typically, most have preset configurations in their printing machines. These configurations are usually aimed for receiving standard print designs and options for production. By using the online printer’s standard options and minimizing your own options, you should also be able to expedite the process. The printers will not need to readjust their machines and settings for mass production. Since everything is standard in your design, there is nothing to change or customize.

• Set an appropriate arrival schedule – Finally, some printers do offer special services that can help you get the output faster. While some printing companies are content with 3 day or 5 day printing, other companies, offer overnight printing services if you really need the output urgently. It will cost a lot, but if you are in an emergency then having a set delivery date is really useful. So make sure that you choose the right company that will offer you the best schedule.

Great! Just follow those tips and your online prints should be delivered to you extremely fast. You would not have to worry about slow printing anymore.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Karaoke Tips - Creating Karaoke Tracks

By: Manuel Boissiere


In this installment of Karaoke Tips, we're going to cover actually creating your own Karaoke tracks. There is a lot to cover here so grab yourself a cup of your favorite beverage and then we can get started.

There are many ways to create your own karaoke tracks. Some easy, and some not so easy. Some can be done cheaply and other ways cost a pretty penny. What you choose will depend on your tolerance for suffering and your bank account. In this case, there is no free lunch. You get what you pay for.

The ideal way is to get the actual recording of the song you want to sing and then have the vocals ripped from it. The problem with this method is that not all vocal rippers are the same. Some are downright awful. And the really good ones, don't even ask about the price.

Another way is to purchase specially made audio tracks of these songs where the person who made them has this really expensive professional vocal ripper and then charges you an arm and a leg for these songs. One of the problem with this method is piracy. Truth is, you really don't know if the person offering these tracks has the right to do so. A lot of copyright infringement goes on in this business.

Still yet another way is to by a specially made arrangement of the song. It may not sound exactly like the record, but in most cases, it will be close enough. In this case, what you want to do is listen to the song before you make the decision to buy to make sure it sounds good enough for your liking.

Another way to create a karaoke track is from a MIDI file of the song in question. There are plenty of folks out there who actually perform these songs using MIDI instruments and make their own arrangements. Problem with these MIDI files is two fold.

For starters, you have no idea how good the arrangement is going to be until you hear it. And let me tell you, some of them are downright awful.

Another problem is that there is MIDI format 0 and MIDI format 1. You want to look for format 1 because those files have all the tracks separated so that you can remove the melody line if need be. With format 0, you can't do this. Problem here is that not every MIDI creator states what format the file is in, so you have to ask.

As you can see, there are problems with all these methods, either in quality or in the cost to obtain the songs.

I have found the best solution hands down and you can see an overview by following the link in the resource box. Singing Superstar is a fully fledged Karaoke system that harnesses the power of your PC. You can test your skills with real time golden notes, line bonus' and popup's as you sing along with your favorite song.It's affordable, easy and reliable. I highly recommend it.

To YOUR Karaoke success

Manuel Boissiere

Karaoke Tips - Lyrics and Audience

By: Manuel Boissiere

In this installment of Karaoke tips, I want to go over lyrics.

For starters, this is where you really have to know your crowd. If it's going to be a wild and crazy evening where anything goes, then lyric selection isn't as important. In other words, if you want to sing a song that has some risque lyrics, you probably won't get any slack for it.

However, if it's a straight laced crowd then you're probably going to have some trouble pulling off some Green Day tunes. In fact, you might get quite a few stares in the process.

But that's not the only thing to take into account when choosing lyrics.

Sure, you're going to have the screen to look at when singing so you don't have to memorize the lyrics, but let me tell you something. Under pressure, especially with an up tempo tune or one that you are not that familiar with, it is very easy to flub your lyrics. With a slow ballad, not so much because you have time to read and then sing. With fast tunes, the time between reading and singing is greatly diminished and therefore makes it a little tougher. And if you're singing speed metal...you better know that song cold.

What you want to do, before getting to the club where you're going to sing, is go over the lyrics and make sure you know at least most of them. If you only have to look up for a few words or even a few lines, that's not such a big deal. You can probably pull that off. But if you have to read the whole song all the way through, it's going to detract from your performance.

One more thing about lyrics and song selection. A lot of songs have repeating lyrics. This makes it much easier to remember them whereas a song like American Pie, which has who knows how many verses, could be quite a challenge. In other words, the fewer lyrics you have to remember, the better.

Now I want to talk about the audience.

Too many Karaoke folks get all wrapped up in themselves like, "Hey, look at me...I'm cool"

Trust me...you're not.

The audience, big or small, is there for two reasons.

1. They're there to sing their OWN songs. They really don't give a hoot about what YOU are going to sing. Not really. But...

2. They want to be entertained. After all, it's a long night. They get to do one song and might have to wait hours to do it. So in the meantime, they want to be entertained.

You standing up there acting like a jackass is NOT entertainment. Well, maybe to some it will be, but to most, it won't.

What you want to do is show the audience that you're there for them. So, if you can pull it off, get a wireless mic and mingle with the audience while you're singing.

The songs that work best are ones where it is obvious you are singing to another person. For example, take the Cole Porter song that Frank Sinatra made so famous, "I Get A Kick Out Of You." Imagine walking through the audience and when you get to that line, give some cute girl at a table a wink and a nod or maybe just a look.

Think you're not going to make her feel special?

This is the kind of stuff that will really make the audience take a shine to you. In fact, don't be surprised if you get asked to do an encore.

See you next time with more.

To YOUR Karaoke Success,

Manuel Boissiere

Using MP3 Renamers to Save Time and Money

By: Paul F. Wood

Whether music is part of your professional life or just something you love, chances are you have a computer that is overloaded with musical files. And there are probably a variety of places that those music files have come from. Maybe a lot of those files have been imported to your computer from CDs in your own CD collection. Lots of the files may also come from an online music program. Still others you may have been found on various websites or gotten through e-mail from friends.

All of these different types of files piled up on a computer can get quite messy. There is no organization of the files either in the way they are titled or the information within them. If you're ready to make sense of all of this, you have two options. You can always go file by file changing each and every name. The other way to go is using an MP3 renamer.

For many, the idea of changing file names doesn't seem so bad. However, once you multiply the few seconds it takes to change one filename by hundreds or thousands there are many hours lost. Instead, you could use that time for all sorts of other things. Do you have business or personal things you'd rather be doing with this time?

By enlisting the help of an MP3 rename program, you'll be able to make file changes quickly and easily and spend the rest of your time more wisely. How does it work?

Title Changes

The first thing you are going to want to do is make all of your titles make sense. With access to a rename MP3 program, you can highlight an entire group of files and change the names all at the same time. It will then remove the current name and replace it with your text and numbers, sequentially with just one click.

Album and Artist Information

Often, the album and artist information gets lost somewhere in translation as music files are being digitally loaded into a computer. It takes little more than a quick click to be able to highlight a whole group of songs and add that artist in information in with a renamer program.

Text Find and Replace

Did you initially have a system for naming all of the files in your library? Did your music library initially start with a file naming system? But now you'd like to make a few alterations to your old system. Just one action will find and replace words or phrases out your files.

Inserting the Track Numbers

It isn't just a matter of wanting to wipe out the existing name and overwrite it entirely - often you'll just want to use music information in a specific part of the name. A classic example is track numbers - you will probably want to insert them at the beginning, but make sure that you can pull the numbers straight out of each mp3 file and use them in the name; you should also be able to place that information wherever you like.

IDT Windows XP Audio Driver Downloads

By: GiselleS


If you are using the XP operating system and a piece of hardware is not functioning correctly (i.e. there is no sound on your computer) or has not been found during installation then the problem may be related to a one of the Windows XP IDT drivers you have installed.

A device driver is used to control any installed computer hardware. The problem is normally solved by downloading and installing the latest device drivers available from the official IDT website.

You will find that there are a lot of IDT drivers have already been installed on your system. These have usually come direct from a hardware manufacturer, who gave them to Microsoft for inclusion with the operating system. These have been digitally signed by Microsoft as having been tested for Windows XP compatibility and programming solidity.

The driver signing program was instituted after Microsoft had found a problem with buggy software drivers. It created a program in which the makers of hardware equipment to be used with the computers could pay Microsoft to test and certify the safety and stability of their drivers. This has resulted in an overall improvement of the stability of the operating system.

Every now and then, when you try to install the software for a new gadget you will see a warning box. This states that Microsoft has not tested the new driver. If this message appears you should contact the manufacturer (IDT in this case) or their website to find out if an IDT Windows XP certified driver is now available for your hardware.

If there is not a certified driver available, you may as well try to install the driver you have anyway. If it seems to make your system slow or less stable you can always uninstall it. It is possible to wind your entire operating system back to the condition it was in before you installed the questionable driver. This is called system restore or rollback.

This roll back feature will restore any drivers that were replaced during the installation of the suspect one. To find it, open the device manager and double click the component in question. Click the driver tab in the resulting properties dialog box and then click the rollback drive button. The overwritten drivers will be reinstated.

Whenever possible, however, you should always use the drivers that came with your equipment. This is especially true if you got them from the manufacturers website as they are likely to be newer versions than the IDT audio drivers that came with Windows XP.

If you would prefer not to see the unsigned driver message every time you install something you can disable it forever. Conversely you can set it so that your system will never accept unsigned drivers. These options are available in the Driver signing options within the System Properties dialog box.

Finally, there are software programs which automatically detect your computers harwdare and download the correct official IDT drivers for you. In a few clicks, your sound will be in full working order again. This software works with Windows 7, XP and Vista.

A Guide To The Different Types Of Network Servers

By: Vincent Rogers

There are a few different types of network servers, and they are all intended to perform a very specific task. The question that many people have pertains to what exactly a server is, and for that reason we are going to talk about the concept, and then we will take a look at a few of the network servers that perform the various tasks within a business.

A server can refer to a piece of software, or it can refer to an entire computer. When you have an entire computer functioning as a server it is referred to as a dedicated server. If you have a computer housing multiple servers, it is a non-dedicated server. In many cases this is referred to as a 'box', and no business would be complete without at least one of these.

VoIP

The types of servers out there are quite varied. First of all there is the VoIP server. It stands for Voice over IP, or Voice over Internet Protocol. This is not a server type that you would normally see in a private home, but in business you might see it quite a bit. The size and power of a VoIP server will depend highly on the number of users that need to access it.

Web

Another type of server that you will find common in businesses is the HTTP server. This is a fairly powerful type of server that hosts web pages and in some cases can become a file server. It is not often used as a file server however, because this is the job of the FTP server.

File Hosting

FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol and is used solely for hosting and the distribution of files. FTP can be used for either small or large files, and is available in two varieties: Client and Server. Both of these can be obtained as free open source, or they can be paid for. Paid versions obviously have more support, but free versions have the advantage of being...well...free.

This is a list of some of the more basic servers in a business. The file server will be the most useful in any business as you are no doubt going to find out. The others will come in handy, and web servers will be useful for advertising. There are a number of other different server types out there that you might be interested in using however, among them being a mail server. The important thing to remember is that you should of course only strive to use the servers that your business truly needs. In other words don't overreach, and don't invest in technologies that simply will not be useful to you.

Stick to these guidelines every time you find a new server that may be worth using. Figure out what your exact requirements are and what system would best suit it, then find the quickest way to implement it. You will find that in this modern age of e-commerce, servers are of great use to large and small businesses alike.