Just For Fun Plus One
By Cate Eales
Appeared March 19, 2009 on castanet.net
This week we discuss fun things to do with your digital
photos, help for crossword puzzle people, plus one program that is just
plain useful. No dire security warnings this week; the standard
precautions still apply!
Say what?
Here's a quick way to put a goofy speech bubble into a photo: Point
Internet Explorer
here. It took about three minutes to make my friend's dog into a rock
star.
I uploaded a photo of the dog, manipulated the controls on kuso cartoon,
waited 15 seconds or so, and had my silly photo. The site works with
Internet Explorer 7, but I never could get it to work correctly with
Firefox. Still, it was easy, silly, and fun, presumably for all ages.
click to enlarge image
1 picture = 1,000 words
Let's say you have hundreds of digital photos of your cat's birthday
party, or your grandkid's grade 6 graduation, or your team's triumphant
season. Hundreds. You know that no one will have the patience to look at
all of them, but you want to do something special. And easy. And free. And
it doesn't take a lot of time.
Check out the tool called
Shape Collage, here.
Shape Collage will create a collage for you, usually in less than a
minute. The tool includes several shapes (rectangle, heart, circle) and
you can easily create your own. You can use text, too, with any font you
have on your computer. Decide what photos you want, pick or create a
shape, and three clicks later you have a collage.
I used 103 photos (© Yadranka ~
http://www.yadranka.com) from the
2009
World Wheelchair Curling Championships, drew a (rough!) shape like a
curling stone, and produced an interesting collage. I had these photos on
my computer, but you can use photos on the web as well.
click to enlarge image
Create your own crossword puzzles
Or, get help solving someone else's.
If you like doing crossword puzzles, but you sometimes need help,
Crosstips.org (http://crosstips.org/)
might do the trick. You enter the length of the word and fill in the known
letters, and the website helps you guess the answer. Good news: it will
guess in English (US) and English (GB). Also Swedish!
But if you're feeling creative, you can easily create your own crossword
puzzle with Eclipse Crossword, a free program
available here.
This couldn't be any easier. Download the program, install it, and start
creating your puzzle. You can save it,
print it, put it in a
newsletter, or make an
interactive version for the web.
Find me an opener!
Have a file you don't know how to open? Think you need an expensive piece
of software to open it? Chances are there is a great free program that's
just as good as the expensive one, and you'll
find it here.
OpenWith.org provides detailed information about most
file extension and links to free programs that can open and create each
type of file. Download and install the desktop tool. Next time you
encounter a file that your computer can't open, right-click on the file,
and then select "OpenWith.org - How do I Open This?".
If OpenWith knows the file type (and they do know tons of them!) you'll
see a list of compatible programs. If you already have any of them, you'll
see "Installed" next to the program(s). If you don't, you can click on a
link to download a program. OpenWith will step you through getting the
program installed and opening up your file. There are
complete, not-at-all-intimidating instructions here, with pictures.
Do you need help with your computer? With your
scanner/printer/camera/music player? Do you have a virus or a
spyware problem? Do you have a new computer and now you're wondering
how to get the files from the old one over to the new one? I'm here to
help you and your computer get along! To ask a question, make a comment or
suggestion, or schedule a visit, email
cate@rlis.com. You can read previous columns
here. If you'd like to
subscribe to this column by email,
please visit this link. It's easy, and free. If you'd prefer the
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Links
Cartoon speech bubbles
http://kusocartoon.com/create-comic-bubbles.php
Shape Collage
http://www.shapecollage.com/
Yadranka International
http://www.yadranka.com
Wheelchair Curling 2009 Worlds Coverage
http://wheelchaircurling.com/worlds2009.htm
Crosstips.org
http://crosstips.org/
Eclipse Crossword
http://www.eclipsecrossword.com/
OpenWith.org
http://www.openwith.org/
OpenWith instructions
http://www.openwith.org/help/desktop-tool-instructions
Getting Along With Your Computer Column Archives
http://rlis.com/column.htm
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---
Cate Eales has been helping people make online computing safe, accessible
and fun for over 20 years. She lives in Kelowna with her husband, Eric,
and her dog, Sandy. Cate is a partner in Real Life Internet Solutions,
helping individuals and small businesses with virus, spyware and malware
eradication; personal computer training and management; digital image
management; music transfer; and website design, hosting and management.
Email Cate at cate@rlis.com with your
comments, suggestions, or questions. To browse the column archives, visit
the Real Life Internet Solutions website at
www.rlis.com.
©
Cate Eales 2009 – All Rights Reserved
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