Sapphire Wire
Give the Gift of Memories
The holiday season is upon us, which means we are hurrying and scurrying, looking for the perfect gift for everyone on our shopping list. The stores are filled with clearance-priced sweaters, perfume sets and useless gadgets that will soon be relegated to a musty box that's never opened again. Read more.
Domains and Hosting
by Kisha Geijer
Recently, a friend asked me a few questions about creating a website for a family business. She's a pretty geeky type of gal herself, but has never ventured into the world of web hosting companies and domain purchasing. This is the foundation of having your own website, so if you've been thinking of branching out from blogger to having a .com address of your very own, this will help you get started. It's not hard to do, but the first time can be a little confusing. Read more.
Increasing Your Blog's Comment Count
by Kisha Geijer
Some bloggers won't admit it, but everyone secretly likes to see their blog's comment counts go up. Oh, they say, I just write for me. I don't need comments. Yeah, right. Let's be honest about it--who doesn't smile at an inbox full of comments when they wake up in the morning? In a perfect world, all of those commenters are telling you that you're nice, you're smart, you're funny and you write extremely well. To build an audience of people who leave lovely comments, you need to increase your website traffic, and that can be difficult when you're getting started. Read more.
Identity Theft
by Kisha Geijer
Identity theft has been a growing concern for the past few years. People who will gleefully use your personal information in a wide variety of nefarious ways are out there, just waiting for you to slip up and give them something to work with. Once you give it to them, they might apply for credit in your name, use your credit cards as their own or give your name while committing other crimes. It's up to you to reduce your risks of being the identity they steal. Read more.
Put Some Thought Into Your Start Page
by Kisha Geijer
Back in the bad old days of dial-up, it used to drive me crazy how long it would take to load my starting page. Sometimes I would be opening the browser when I was offline, and then it would take forever for it to give up and stop trying to load a page it couldn't access. At the same time, I had a personal homepage that I devoted a lot of attention to, and I kept a copy of it stored on my computer so I could work on it. One day it occured to me that I could solve one problem with the other, and make my online life better in the process--so I created my very own offline start page. Read more.
How to Become an Excel Wizard
by Magnus Geijer
At almost every job site, there is that one go-to person for all Excel questions. This is a person who can turn your mess of seemingly random numbers into a neatly-organized, smartly-colorized, perfectly sensible display of data, with only a few keystrokes. This article may not turn you into that person overnight, but it will give you a helping hand with some of the easiest hints and tips for everyday Excel use. Read more.
Author Blogs
by Kisha Geijer
On a whim one day last year, I bought a book in a store because I thought it looked interesting. It's no secret that we're big readers here at Mosaic Minds, but I've never been a big new-book-buyer until the last few years. Mainly, I had no money for new books, and I read so much and so quickly that it was just so much more economical to buy used books at flea markets and yard sales. Read more.
Digital Scrapbooking
by Kisha Geijer
My family always teases me about how much I love paper, but even so, I have never been able to get into scrapbooking. I love the idea of all the rich papers and embellishments available now, but I don't have much space for supplies, and I can't believe how expensive everything is! And, at heart, I'm a photo purist. I can't stand the idea of taking scissors to a photograph. Add that to my ever-expanding collection of digital pictures, and it's no surprise that I have become a digital scrapbooker. Read more.
Finding Information on the Internet
by Kisha Geijer
My parents call me occasionally to ask me to look something up for them on the internet. They've been gradually convinced that there is a lot of useful information online--they're just not interested in using it for themselves. Of the people who do have internet access, most will know the basics of how to find the things they're looking for--just type it in at Google or Yahoo or AltaVista or any one of a thousand different websites known as search engines. However, most people don't use these sites as effectively as they could. Read more.
Firewalls
by Kisha Geijer
You may have heard the term "firewall" before, but you may not know what it means or whether or not you need one. Thankfully, I can clear the matter up for you pretty quickly--a firewall is a means of protecting your computer from unwanted access by others, and yes, you need one. If you're connected to the internet, it's possible that other people can also access your computer. Hoping that most people don't know how to do this or depending upon a hacker not finding you are pretty inefficient ways of protecting yourself. Read more.
All About Fonts
by Kisha Geijer
I have this secret obsession with fonts. If I'm not careful, I will find myself with a hard drive so full of fonts that it takes twenty minutes just to boot. Then, of course, I have a horrible time trying to choose between various fonts when it comes time to actually use them. I figure that it's healthier than my other obsession, though--with potato chips--so I don't yet feel the need to work too hard on curbing my font enthusiasm--luckily for you! The following links will help you leave your mark on any project. Read more.
The Best of the Web
by Kisha Geijer
The longer I've been a technology nerd, the more I've come to expect of the tools I use, and the internet is no exception. Luckily, the web does not disappoint--there's plenty of great stuff out there. In this issue, we'll look at some of my favorites. Read more.
PC Game Reviews
by Magnus Geijer
To increase our nerd factor, this issue's Sapphire Wire will contain a few reviews of recent games for the PC. Read more.
Stopping Spyware
by Kisha Geijer
One of the most annoying problems with the internet these days has to be spyware. If you're not familiar with the term, it refers to a class of software that is generally installed without your consent and can report to a third-party as to what you do with your computer. Most people are a little uneasy at the thought of their private information being transmitted around the world without their knowledge, and spyware also tends to consume massive amounts of resources, slowing down your computer to a crawl and sometimes making it unable to run at all. Read more.
Protecting Your Kids on the Internet
by Kisha Geijer
Although the internet is a valuable resource, both for research and for keeping in touch with family and friends, it can potentially be a dangerous place, especially for children. Parents must learn to protect their kids online just as they do offline, but it can be difficult to understand what they need to be guarded against and how to do so effectively. Read more.
Sharing Your Digital Pictures
by Kisha Geijer
You've bought your digital camera and learned to take excellent photos, so by now you should have a ton of great shots of your daughter's first soccer game and the view from your kitchen window. The next step is to share those pictures with friends and family. In this issue of Sapphire Wire, we'll look at three different ways to share your pictures. Read more.
Taking the Picture
by Magnus Geijer
Now you've got your new digital camera. It's got great optics, lots of memory and more megapixels than you can shake a stick at. That means your pictures should automatically all be brilliant from now on, right? Unfortunately, no. The basic rules of photography still apply, but a better camera gives you a better chance of your pictures coming out looking like they did in the viewfinder. So, besides the camera, what can you do to make sure your pictures come out their best? Read more.
Digital Cameras
by Kisha Geijer
Everywhere you go, from the office to family reunions, someone has a stack of digital pictures--often on copier paper--to show off. They will invariably look a little smug as they tell you that they printed the pictures themselves (as if you couldn’t tell.) They might whip out their digital camera and show you the last sixteen pictures they took of their Aunt Bertha's last dental visit. "Oh, I know I don't need that many pictures of this," they'll say, "but it's free so I just couldn't resist!" Or maybe that's just how the true geeks of the world, like myself, see digital photography, but my husband--also a geek--and I have taken nearly seven thousand pictures in the almost-four years we've been married. So if you've been secretly coveting your neighbor's digital camera, you're in luck--this is the first of a three-part series on that very subject. In this issue, we'll talk about buying the camera. In the next installment of Sapphire Wire, we'll look at tips for taking perfect pictures, and the next issue will contain ways to share and print the excellent and free photos you're now taking. Read more.
Geek Speak
by Kisha Geijer
Is there a geek in your life that you'd like to be able to converse with in style? Do your eyes glaze over when the nerds around you throw cryptic words around? Do you nod in agreement when they look to you for an answer, but secretly you're just wishing you had more potato chips? Well, fret no more--we're going to help you learn some of the right words to fake your way through those awkward moments. Read more.
Favorite Windows Programs
by Kisha Geijer
One of my favorite geek pastimes is trying out new software. It's the thrill of the pursuit--finding a program that does something perfectly just makes me happy. It doesn't usually even matter if I didn't know I needed to do this task until I found the program that will do it--I just like trying them out. In this issue, I'll share with you my very favorite of the Windows freeware/shareware market. Read more.
Online Music
by Darci Chapman
From the return of a gentler, legal Napster to the recent launch of Apples iTunes Music store, to rumors and hints of Microsoft entering the fray sometime in 2004, the last year has seen an increasing number of services offering online music where customers can purchase and then legally download song files for their personal use. But a brief look at the myriad services soon shows that not all music services are alike. Some will help you manage your digital song files while others provide "jukebox-like" online radio services. Some services are "pay-as-you-go" while others require a monthly fee and offer differing levels of services. Read more.
Intro to Blogging
by Kisha Geijer
A few years ago, the popular thing to do online was to have your own homepage, preferably with at least one animated gif. These days, a more specific kind of homepage is in fashion. Blogging, short for web logging, is the art of online journaling, and it's taken the web by storm. Read more.
My Penis Is Large Enough, Thanks
by Kisha Geijer
One thing that pretty much every internet user has in common, regardless of nationality, age, gender or interests is that they hate unsolicited email, commonly referred to as spam. You could set up a new account every so often to stay one step ahead of the spammers, but it's always a hassle to make sure all your mail gets to the new address. The bad news is that there is no ultimate solution to the spam problem. The good news is that with a little effort, you can get some relief from the flood of emails selling you prescription medication, colon care products, mortgage rate reductions and my personal favorite - spam blockers. Read more.