I simply don’t have it in me to write a rant about phone-based customer service. Not that I don’t have the time (actually, I don’t) or the patience, I just don’t have the will. Plus, who cares? We all have stories, many of us have worked in the industry and have even more stories from both sides, and I would guess that most people don’t want to stress vicariously.

What I want to do, however, is muse. Maybe I need to get it out to feel better or maybe I think someone with this problem is reading. (Ir)Regardless of the reason, I want to address a conversation I had with a Cox cable technical support rep yesterday.

Let me provide a frame of reference: we just moved into a new (read: much bigger) apartment and had our cable internet moved over. Plugged in the modem+router, no dice. Called Cox at 10:30pm and they answered (that was very refreshing). It was a very mild-mannered (maybe I woke him up) guy who told me that the coax outlet I was using might be bunk. I hung up and tried another outlet; the same thing happened, blinking “Cable” light on the modem. It was probably a hook-up issue so I called in yesterday to get it ironed out.

The gentleman I talked to was friendly but had a need to talk over me… not aggressively, mind you, but consistenly. I’m sure I could use several more adverbs to describe his demeanor/tone but I’ll spare you.

We got to the point where it seemed logical to schedule a technician to come and look at the line. He kindLY stated that there might be an $89 charge if the problem was in the house and not on the outside. I politeLY said that I wanted the building owner to pay that fee if it was deemed necessary. Then he repeatedLY and irrationalLY ignored my request and gave me information that simpLY wasn’t pertinent to the situation.

Flash forward 10+ minutes of this ridiculous back and forth stemming from my desire to have the outside wiring checked but the inside wiring ignored. In the end, my question was answered and my request was possible but only after I got worked up enough to write this and wasted tons of time between the two of us.

*sigh*

So this turned into a rant, I guess, but let’s make something productive out of it. I taught customer service to phone reps for 2 years so here is what I would do on the other end of the phone.

• Listen. Stop talking and listen. Let the customer speak their mind, regardless of what they are saying. You can disarm someone very easily by not talking over them and just letting them get everything out. Don’t interrupt, wait for your turn, and stop sounding like you’re just looking for a gap in between words so you can start blabbing.
• Write.Write down what I say as I say it. Not only will this keep you listening but, when you get confused or it’s your turn to solve the issue, you have a bit of information to work with. If the person I talked to had written down what I said about paying the fee, maybe our conversation could have been 80% shorter.
• Explore. Either with me on the phone or by yourself while I’m on hold, run through all the possible options for the situation and be clear on what they mean. Even if you’re just brainstorming with me, I would rather hear 10 different options that don’t work instead of 1. Chances are that one out of the 10 actually WILL work for me.
• Solve. If I repeat myself eight times then you’re not hearing what my problem is (or I’m trying to hypnotize you). Solve my problem by re-phrasing yourself or repeating back what I said or offering different solutions. If we’re both repeating ourselves then there is something wrong. Since you can’t control the customer, control yourself.

Let’s make the world better one customer problem at a time.

Tags:   customer service · How To · technical supportNo Comments.

• Show up early…. yes, you. Everyone needs to show up early. Depending on the amount of work that needs to be done, staff members should be on-site and setting things up AT LEAST an hour before people start showing up. Registration tables, video demos, installations, presentations… everything takes time to get ready. WHY: Because it looks silly to be dinking around with technology and paperwork while people are showing up. Have you ever gone to a great hotel and had the concierge tucking in her shirt, the computers getting installed, and the bellhop tying his shoes in the middle of the lobby? Look like you know what the heck you’re doing and be ON POINT well before the people show up.

• If you’re presenting, have some kind of back-up in case everything blows up. Have another story, have a riff on-deck, have a prop… have SOMETHING to keep that energy going. Presentations stop, internet access breaks, and wireless mouse batteries run out; be ready for it. Distract attention from the control panel windows that are going on and tell an embarrassing story about yourself. Don’t slam your OS or your software or your IT department or yourself - that gets awkward. Don’t walk people what you’re doing, multi-task. WHY: Though every great (and many good) speaker(s) can recover from a screeching halt, not everyone knows what to do DURING the screeching. If you’re lucky, there’s an IT person around who can fix the problem on the fly but you still need to keep that attention (if you even had it in the first place). Technical problems will always happen and usually at the worst times. No one is rolling their eyes at you as long as you don’t make it worse on yourself.

• Have excellent IT staff on hand. Actually, this rule is for everyone at all times. Find someone, hire someone, pay them well, treat them like they are all-important (because they are), let them work the way they want to, make sure they understand security and privacy, make sure they’re not painfully anti-social, and befriend them. WHY: There is no work-around for having a great IT guy/gal. Having someone who can quickly (and correctly) fix problems instills massive confidence. Most people (I’m talking 90% [conservatively]) don’t know how to fix fairly basic computer problems. Having someone to help these folks is very valuable. Having someone that can fix everything else as well is priceless. The IT Admin for the company I’m contracted with is smart, capable, cool, calm, collected, patient, and knows it all. It’s a pleasure to watch him work his magic.

• Does your audience need files? Documents? Installs? Data? Databases? Put all this stuff on a cheap USB and give it to them with instructions. Not possible? Sensitive data? Put all this stuff on several USBs and train your staff on how to implement. WHY: The more people armed and capable (actually capable) to help your audience, the quicker that problems will be solved and the better the conference will run.

• Give each of your staff members a pack of sugar-free gum. Tell the ones presenting that if they chew gum during the presentation that they will be fired. Then say, “Just kidding… but seriously.”

• Just saw this - if your projector isn’t fitting the whole screen on the big screen, adjust the resolution on the computer running the presentation. In Windows XP, right-click the desktop, select Properties, select the Settings tab, and drop the screen resolution down (try 800×600).

• Drink less sleep more, even if you’re having fun. WHY: Sounds ridiculous, I know, but just go with it.

Tags:   audience · conferences · presentationsNo Comments.

Whether you’ve been here a couple of times or only once (and hopefully planning on returning), you might have seen my little tagline up in the header, “Helping You Tame Your Technology.” This should be more or less self-explanatory (as most good taglines are) but “taming,” to me, goes beyond just learning and using your electron-fueled personal possessions. Taming your technology means keeping your possessions and communications well-used, trouble-free, and to a minimum.

I’m always taking a second look at what I do and what I own (or want to own) to make sure I don’t fly off the deep end and create more work/stress for myself. Here’s what I do to keep it all together.

Taming your tech means: making it work how you want it to

The first part of this tamed tech meme is probably the most obvious. Taking control of your digital life means learning how to use what you have and using it well and fully. Buying a web-enabled phone because you want to have your email with you wherever you go and never learning how to use it or accessing your email remotely but losing the organization scheme you used before is also letting your technology tame you. Learning how to get your Gmail or Hotmail through the mail program built into your phone and managing the system when you can over the web is taming technology.

If you find a gadget, a piece of software, or a web page that can solve a nagging problem, then, naturally, you will spend the time to learn it as best you can. But so many people don’t take the extra time to learn that extra little bit and end up with more products then they need. Taming your tech means making what you buy work completely rather than throwing more money at a problem and ending up right back where you started.

How I apply this in my life/business: I do a lot of digital image manipulation and have been for quite a while (about 6 years). I pull and modify screenshots, make my personal photos look better, and make various web images. Would you believe that I just bought Photoshop? I’ve been using free programs like Paint, Paint.net, and Photofiltre. This put me at a bit of a disadvantage because, now that I actually need Photoshop, it’s hard to re-learn what I know in other systems. The upside is that I can recommend some great free programs and still got the work done.

Taming your tech means: using only what you need

This second part ties in to the first part but is more about removing than adding. Owning and using technology should do nothing but make what you’re doing perceptibly better than it was before. This could mean work, this could mean family and friends, or this could mean entertainment. If having three email accounts, two blogs, two computers, a web-enabled phone, an ipod, a digital camera, and a printer/scanner helps you do what you need to do, then it’s not a problem learning, maintaining, and replacing all of the above. If, however, having all of this only serves to distract, disturb, and annoy without improving anything, then it’s time to reconsider some or all of it.

Everyone is welcome to drown themselves in as much technology as they can wrap their paycheck around but, if your goal is productivity or a gain in personal time or effective business reach, then maybe charging and syncing everything is doing more to hold you back. Taming your technology is taking control of the gadgets you use and using only what works.

How I apply this in my life/business: My laptop is probably 7 years old, one of the PCMCIA ports doesn’t work, and is somewhat limited as to what it will run. Am I saving for a new one? Am I waiting for the right price? Is it collecting dust in the closet? None of the above. This little guy lets me write, organize files, code for the web, brainstorm, answer email, and surf the web. These are the only things I need to do while on the road these days so there is not a compelling reason to upgrade.

Taming your tech means: keeping your tech to yourself

We’ve all seen it: the cell-phone guy/gal, noise polluting an entire coffee shop; the kid with an ipod turned up so loud you can make out the lyrics; friends who talk to you while writing an email to someone else on their Blackberry. It’s so east to retreat into our own little worlds, especially when we’re fooled into thinking we’re somehow better connected because we have more channels of communication at our disposal. When we fall for this trap, though, we start to lose touch and move away from society at large. Taming your technology means being aware of the impact that your technological life has on other people. This could mean giving your phone or computer a break when you’re around others, being cognizant of the noise your device(s) are creating, or facing your gadget addiction before it saps money aware from more important things.

I’m going to take this point one step further and say that taming your technology means staying as close to sustainable as you can, even if it means making sacrifices. We all have our lives to live and our jobs to work, but if you’re leaving 2-3 computers on all night, commute in something that gets less than 20 MPG, and still replace light bulbs with incandescents, it’s time to tame your technology.

How I apply this in my life/business: I’m in the 97th percentile of energy use in my neighborhood according to the power company (LINK). I run the computer overnight sometimes but every light bulb is fluorescent, computers and electronics are on power strips that get shut off at night, and I charge things in my car (“free” electricity). When it comes to my social impact, you can find me with my phone always on vibrate, leaving the room to take a call, and my music high enough to drown out the din. I’m no Miss Manners – or Mister for that matter – but I make it a point to be aware of my surroundings enough to avoid dirty looks.

Taming your tech means: staying on top of it

Sometimes the question has to be asked: why bother? With so many work opportunities (reputation-building, networking, side projects), communication options (blogs, micro-blogs, social networks, email platforms), entertainment channels (books, social media, television, movies), productivity tools, it’s impossible to try and take it all in. It is tempting, however, to try. When we start to get mire ourselves in fabricated “have to’s” (I “have to” post on my blog, I “have to” update my profile, I “have to” sign up for that site), our priorities, work, and personal life suffer. It’s very easy to make more work for yourself by trying to be everywhere at once and keep tabs on every trend that’s remotely relevant to you. It’s also very easy to create time sinks with poor organization, poor set-up, and a lack of planning.

It’s hard for me to present a universal rule for everyone to follow but I will say this: if you’ve ever asked yourself if something should go/be replaced/be completely renovated, keep asking until it happens. If you’re not getting any benefit from it, should you keep wasting your time doing it? Also, if you can fix it or replace it for a significant benefit, what are you waiting for?

How I apply this in my life/business: I don’t spend much time on any social network and I don’t actually participate in social media beyond Digging or Stumbling the occasional site that really catches my eye (or submitting my own). I find that neither one contributes much to my life so I’m not motivated to keep them up.

A portion of my digital time is spent blogging, one of those activities that you either get and do or don’t and avoid. The few hours I spend every week staying on top of updates gives back by keeping me in touch with the industry(ies) that I’m involved in, helping my improve my writing skills, and adding a bit to my reputation by offering up a piece of myself up-front. It’s something I like to stay on top of that also serves a purpose.

Tags:   taming your technology · theoryNo Comments.

Scene 1 opens with our hero attempting to delete a file found on a shared network drive.

Our hero attempts to contact the colleague in question.

…time passes…

No response.

fin

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This is a companion to my 6 steps to easy typography in any document article I wrote a while back. Here is the quick and dirty process for adding a font in Windows XP.

1) First, find the font you want to install and note the folder it is in. Font files typically have an extension of .TTF (True Type Font) or .OTF (Open Type Font).

2) Click the Start button, then Control Panel.

If this loads a blue screen that says Pick a Category, click Appearance and Themes and then, under the See Also heading on the left, select the Fonts link.

If this, instead, loads a screen with several icons, simply double-click the Fonts icon.

3) Under the File menu, select Install New Font…

4) The navigation here is REALLY goofy and very old-school. For me, it’s kind of funny because it harkens me back to Windows 3.x. If you have less nostalgia about the days or yore with Windows, you’re just going to find this frustrating.

Under the Drives drop-down, you have all the drives on/in your computer. This includes CD-ROM drives, USB drives, and hard drives. The default setting when you pull up this window is “C:,” typically your main drive. Since, in step one, you noted the location of the font file you wish to add, you’re going to find it with this silly “drive-then-folder” navigation.

Pick the correct drive, then, in the Folders window on the left, drill down to the correct folder.

Hint: If you downloaded the font to your desktop (the default location for Firefox [you are using Firefox, right?]), go to the C: drive (or whichever drive Windows is installed on), then Documents and Settings, then find your login name (this is what you use to log in when your computer starts up - probably your first or last name; if you don’t login then it’s probably Administrator) and enter that folder, then Desktop. Yes, I agree, it would be nice if that was easier to find.

5) When you’ve got the right folder selected, the font file(s) will appear in the List of fonts window. Simply select the one(s) you want to install (hold down CTRL then click for more than one but less than all) or push the Select All button to install everything in that directory.

6) Click Ok and start making beautiful documents!

Bonus! How to find cool fonts!

As long as you promise not to go crazy with these, I’ll show you where to get some great fonts (some of which are free).

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This story started about 2 or 3 years ago in my previous car. When I would burn MP3 CDs (just simple data diss), some songs would play, some would play for a bit and then go blank, some would skip, and some discs wouldn’t even play. I drove me crazy to have a head unit that could play MP3 discs but not actually play the MP3 discs. It started happening out of the blue so I assumed the unit had gone bad and I was out of luck.

Flash forward to last weekend and I stumbled into buying a new-to-me car. It has an MP3 capable head unit and I was excited to start using that feature again. Burned a Wu-Tang disc, brought it with me the next time I was going out, popped it into the player and… SAME PROBLEM. What the hell?

So I bought new/different CDs - same problem. Tried my other burner - same problem. Tried a different software - same problem. Tried a different disc style - same problem. Sometimes they would verify and sometimes they would error out but ALL the time they would not play properly. I was beginning to think that my music collection had gone bad except it played fine on the computer and on an iPod.

It was Google time, in a big way. Here are a few things I found out about burning a CD of any type. It turns out, the solution was easy. All I had to do was…

Turn down the burn speed

Just because your discs say they are capable of burning at a certain speed doesn’t mean they actually are. The Sony discs I bought were rated for up to 48x but, as soon as I turned the speed down to 24x, discs burned great and played just fine in the car. Try a speed much lower than the top speed, like 24x or 12x.

Thanks to Platinum GLS on VWVortex.com

Get rid of nested directories

You would think that a CD player would be able to figure out directories inside of directories but some just can’t. Some of that probably has to do with the fact that most CD players are linear, meaning that they only have forward and back controls, not up and down, so navigation might be a problem. If you are using folders, use them in the root directory only (meaning the “first level” of the file structure) and, just to be sure, if you are using directories, put all the songs in a directory (no songs in the root directory).

Yes

No

Rename long and/or oddly-named files

In addition to nested directories, some players also have problems with certain characters and file name lengths that border on infinite. Get rid of symbols and shorten the name a bit to make sure that your player can read and display the name. Some burning software will actually rename the file but that doesn’t always mean that your play can play them.

Yes

No

Update your driver firmware

Firmware is software that resides within hardware to instruct it how to function and how to run commands sent by your computer. If your burner is over a year old, there might be a firmware update to download and install. This sounds technical but it shouldn’t be that hard. Go to the website of the manufacturer of your burner and search for updates, find your model number, download and install.

Memory problems - not enough or going bad

It’s unlikely that the first problem you would encounter with bad memory on your computer would be burning a CD but stranger things have happened. Run a memory checker (like Memtest86+), just in case. It’s more likely that maybe you’re doing a little too much multi-tasking during your burn sessions. Surf the web, write a letter, or plan your next CD but leave your Photoshop, Crysis, and Maya3D applications closed. It is possible to overrun your burning buffer and affect the data that is written.

Finalize your CDs

MP3 players don’t like “multi-session” discs (when you can add data later) so make sure to finalize the CD. Every burn program should have this option available.

Defragment your hard drive

But you do that regularly anyways, right?

On an XP machine, go to Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter. Make sure to run it when you won’t be working on your computer, like overnight. I’d recommend doing this once per quarter or more frequently if you move files around a lot.

As a side-note, the disk defragmenter icon is probably one of my most favorite icons of all time. Yes, I have favorite icons.

Yes

Still not working? Here’s more options for you

Here is a great list of things to try from Acoustica.
Here is a whole site dedicated to helping you solve this little problem.

Hoped that helped!

Tags:   CD burning · How To · MediaNo Comments.

$249.99 plus tax for the Web Premium versionat the SDSU student store…

Now all I have to do is learn it! My arsenal:

• The Illustrator CS2 Bible from Wiley. I bought the CS2 version because I had a *gasp* pirated version and wanted to get good enough to justify buying the full version. I’m not sure that Illustrator will be my weapon of choice from the Adobe suite but I want to be able to at least edit any vector graphics that I get my hands on. It’s all about being versatile.
• Lynda.com training videos. Some of them came with the software and there are a few free ones on-line. Lynda is only $25/month which is a great deal is you sit down and learn one or two products in a month. Self-paced, professionally created, and they cover a broad range of products. Good deal! On-line learning is underrated right now.
• Adobe help files. I don’t know why I was surprised to find instructional PDFs bundled with this software. Part of me thought that once you bought these, you were on your own. These files are hundreds of pages long and, thankfully, link contextually to the software (meaning you can get help from within the software when you need help).
• Screwing about. I’ve heard/read that just playing with the program is a big part of learning it. I’d say that’s half-true. I’m still using Paint.net at work (and, sometimes, at home) and find it to be very simple, very usable, and functional to about 10% of Photoshop. I don’t WANT to use Paint.net but I know it fairly well and, to be honest, the quick stuff is much easier to do there than in Photoshop. All griping aside, I want to use Photoshop exclusively so I’m trying (desperately) not to even open Paint.net.

I’m finding it tough to just do what I want to do in PS. I’m sure that comfortability will come with time. At least it’s remotely intuitive (GIMP stopped me in my tracks the first 3 times I tried to use it).

It’s photo editing abilities are , to say the least, amazing, even if the drawing functionality is a bit.. convoluted.

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This post goes out to the habitual offenders, the ones who know but don’t do it, the ones who know AND do it but waste time with Photoshop or something similar, and for those who do it and do it right but want others to do the same and don’t want to spend the time teaching or writing out the instructions. Print it out and hand it out.

These days, with ultra-compact digital cameras coming in around $200 and megapixel counts in the 7’s, 8’s, and 9’s, everyone is taking digital pictures and they’re all HUMONGOUS. Between on-line forums, emails from family members, and massive Powerpoint presentations, I’m drowning in over-sized photos and surrounded by people who, understandably, don’t want to waste their time resizing each and every picture they want to share. At some point, for some reason, these photos have to get smaller and, unfortunately, not everyone knows how to do that. And I’m Josh and I can help (at least the website says so) so I’m going to show you a free program that makes the whole resizing thing easier than you thought possible. If you’re using Photoshop and resizing each image, you’re wasting your time. And if you’re NOT resizing your pictures, you’re wasting everyone else’s.

Why should digital pictures be resized?

The problem with big pictures is their size. Har har har… no really, the size contributes two annoyances:

1. Big pictures are “physically” very large and can’t fit on the screen unless a particular program resizes them. The size can also stretch out web sites and make everything a complete mess
2. Big pictures are virtually large as well and, as such, are comprised of a lot of data. This can fill up email programs, slow down computers, and take forever to download.

With my Canon SD1000 (a small, great, inexpensive ultra-compact digi-cam) set to its highest resolution (meaning the size of the image), it’s taking pictures at 3072 x 2304 pixels. This is 7,077,888 pixels (or dots) of color that has to be stored and transferred. Unless you’re printing these photos on 8×10 paper, a picture of this size will do you no good. You’re also going to need several different emails if you want to send a whole group of them to someone, not to mention the hard drive space it takes to store them (on both machines).

Clearly, it has to be done but how to go about it?

How can digital pictures be resized?

In order to get your pictures in a more manageable size to use, share, and post online, you will need to reduce the amount of data that is contained in the picture file. This can be done by reducing the actual size of the photo while keeping the overall quality. This can be done with an image editing software like Photoshop but there’s no need to break out the big guns for such a minor task.

I just recently starting using the aptly-named software PIXresizer and I couldn’t be happier with how it works. I’ll walk you through some of the basic functions of this free software so you can pass them along to the technology-handicapped people in your life… or just send the link to a friend.

First, download it here (scroll down and look for the “DOWNLOAD [ 3.3 Mb .zip]” link). Open the .ZIP file and run the program Setup to install it on your machine. Make sure to add an icon to your desktop and run the program.

How do I use this PIXresizer program?

PIXresizer is very easy to use so I’ll keep these instructions nice and short. For those who are fluent in image language (sizes in pixels, images types, etc), this list of instructions will probably be useless to you. It’s very easy to poke around and figure out what to do. If you’re not so computer-savvy, I’ll show you how to get the most out of this great little freeware program.

This program runs in two modes: single picture and batch processing. We’ll take these one at a time…

Single photo resizing

When you first open the program, it will default to the “Work on one file” option. This is what you want to use when you just want to re-size one file (see, I told you this thing was easy). Step one is to pick a file to work on by clicking the Load Picture button.

As you might expect, this will open a file explorer window where you can pick the photo you want to alter. Conveniently enough, the window starts in your My Pictures folder. Choose an over-sized photo you want to change and click Open. Your photo will now be loaded in the little window on the right instead of that ridiculous image of the guy in the pink shirt taking your photo in front of the XP background (why).

Step 2 (marked as such in PIXresizer) is to choose a new size for your photo.

PIXresizer gives you a few quick options to make your life easier.

• 25% gets us to 648 x 486 pixels. This is not a “standard” size but it’s great for uploading to the web (Flickr, Facebook,etc). If you are sending over email, photos don’t need to be this small.
• If you’re sending over email, a perfect size is about 800 x 600 (the 33% option gets you close to this). Pictures of this size are not too big, easy to see on any monitor, and retain a good amount of the detail that was in the picture originally.
• If you want to just save some space on your computer and you’re not going to be printing these in a large format, you’re safe with storing them at around 1200×900. This size is small enough not to be unwieldy but still big enough to retain most of the detail of the original.
• The custom size can be used for any of the options I gave above or to make the photo a specific size (if requested by a person, program, or website).

To get an idea of what these sizes actually mean for you check out the examples below:

400 x 300

600 x 450

800 x 600

1200 x 900

Original size

This will give you a good idea of what it will look like on other screens. Keep in mind that some web browsers will resize your photo automatically. To see them in their native size, right-click on the displayed image and select either Save Image As… or Save Picture As… and pick a place on your computer. Now open the picture on your hard drive to get a better idea of what it will look like for others.

The other size option that is given is labeled Maintain Aspect Ratio. Every image has a particular ratio - the length divided by the width (or vice versa). As you make images smaller or larger, you usually want to keep this ratio the same so the image does not distort. Unchecking this box will allow you to put in two separate measurements for length and width, allowing the image to skew.

Resized to 200 pixels while maintaining aspect ratio:

Resized to 200 x 150 pixels without maintaining aspect ratio:

Step 3 in this process has you choose a file type. If you’re not sure what to pick, either keep the default file format by selecting Same as original or choose JPEG (you can’t go wrong with JPEG for basic web and sharing uses).

The last option, Step 4, allows you to save the image as black & white (Output greyscale) and keep the EXIF data (additional non-visual data). These should be unchecked if you’re just resizing the picture.

Click the Save Picture button and you’re complete!

Multiple photo resizing

One of the best things about PIXresizer is its ability to resize several different photos at once. This mitigates the chore of sharing, uploading, and storing photos.

First, switch the view by clicking on the Work with multiple files tab at the top of the window.

This view has a few different options but only two that we’ll cover. The first, aptly named Step 1, deals with where the files are and where they are going.

The organization here is a bit confusing at first but after this brilliant explanation, it will be clear.

The top button, Source, asks what folder on your computer holds the batch of pictures you wish to resize. Checking the Subfolders box above tells PIXresizer to include all the folders that are located within the folder you choose.

Click the Source button and find the appropriate folder. If that folder has all the pictures you want to resize and there are other folders present within that folder, keep the Subfolder box unchecked. If, however, you are resizing a whole directory structure of pictures, check this box and let PIXresizer loose.

Now that you’ve told the program where to find the pictures, now you need to tell it where the new pictures should go. Click the Destination button and a window appears asking you where you would like to save the resized images. Pick a folder or click the New Folder button to, well, add a new folder.

If you are including subfolders from your source location and want to keep the same folders in the new location, click the Copy Directory Structure checkbox.
Now, pick the new size for all the pictures. Don’t worry about the checkboxes here; they’re not of too much use (in fact, I haven’t been able to figure out what their purpose is).

Simply adjust the slider to the size you want the largest dimension (so that portrait and landscape oriented photos adjust the same) from 96 pixels to 1200 pixels. The batch mode is not able to handle anything larger than 1200 pixels but, for most people, this is completely fine.

Lastly, choose the save pictures options (Enlarge if needed will enlarge any images in the directory structure that are smaller than your chosen size) and click Save Pictures.

That’s all you need to make your digital life (and those of others) just a little bit better! Please share this link with anyone you think could use it and, for those “net-challenged” folks, download the PDF, print it, and hand it to them.

This post in PDF format

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From the Chronicle of Higher Education’s Wired Campus:

New Study Debunks Myth That Most Tech Entrepreneurs Are College Kids
The research, sponsored by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, studied U.S. engineering and technology companies founded between 1995 and 2005. It found that the median and average age at which U.S.-born entrepreneurs founded their technology and engineering companies was 39. There were twice as many entrepreneurs older than fifty than those who were younger than twenty-five, and 1 percent of U.S.-born founders of tech companies were teenagers.

I have a habit of thinking of myself as “behind” in many ways. Step one is mitigating this feeling a bit through actual information rather than perception.

Step two, and the most important, is being rid of the idea of “behind” or “ahead” out of my brain.

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In a flurry of self-branding excitement and possible arrogance, I rushed headlong into the world of web and graphic design. Armed with a blog about sustainable transportation with a self-centered title (joshisjosh.com), a large group of supportive friends and family, and another group of confused classmates, professors, and colleagues, I charged forward and consumed all of the tutorials and free how-to web pages I could get my hands on. I already had one project lined up and I was confident that my charm and charisma would push me from project to project, swinging on each accomplishment like monkey bars towards fame and fortune.

I devoured blogs about search engine marketing/optimization (I barely knew how to code), Photoshop tutorials (I have access to a copy at school and even then I find it hard to do something as simple as crop an image), and design instructions. I poured over CSS galleries and design samples and coding forums. I signed up for hosting, bought a new computer, and set out to pursue this insistent, confusing, potentially disastrous dream of mine. It was my time, I would not be denied!

Very quickly, reality set in. I had quickly acquired a heavy pile of new books to certify myself in all things IT-related, another egotistical URL (joshcanhelp.com - heard of it?), and a sinking sensation that I might be going about this all the wrong way.

It took up until this morning to understand where I started to go wrong. Seth Godin describes it perfectly (the following is an excerpt):

Here’s an interesting dichotomy:

I published a book so I need you to read it
vs.
There’s something you need to read, so I wrote about it.

Or

I’m fifty and I just made an album because it was time for me to make one.
vs.
These songs won’t let go of me and I want to share them with you because they matter.

The first is me-centric and explains that we’re promoting something that got made because we need to sell it. What we do is make stuff and sell it, and what you do is buy it or watch it. “I needed to make something to sell, here’s the best I could do.”

The second is you-centric. It starts with the needs and desires of the consumer and ignores the committees, the compromises and the economic realities. It says, “I found something for you, here it is.”

I like you-centric, I talk about you-centric, I try to push for you-centric at work, I’m all about you-centric. I’m a consumer and I want things and entertainment and media that makes sense for me. I’m a producer and I want people to like what I do and let me work on their projects. I want companies to give a damn what I think and I want to be insanely useful to my friends, families, clients, and colleagues.

So the problem I’m seeing with my initial “business plan” (there are quotes because, for the time being, I do not have a business plan) is that I envisioned putting myself out there and the business coming to me because, well, I’m me. This is celebrity thinking, actor and model thinking, author, director, and musician thinking. I’m just entering the market with the ludicrous assumption that there are already people waiting outside my virtual door for the next insightful Josh blog or the next amazing Josh service or the next crazy Josh endeavor. Like a product devised in a boardroom and never once shown to consumers before rushing to market, I figured that the idea was sound simply because I had it.

Read my About Me page and this post and you’ll see that, through and through, my intentions have always been to be a resource before anything else and offer the kind of service and attention that is only possible by someone (like myself) who truly enjoys connecting with people, old and new. But the problem lies in the fact that I had no idea what the market was like out there and no clue what people needed.

Four customers deep and I’m already starting to get it:

• The blogs that I read, the designers that I follow, the tutorials that I read… none of these people are who I’m going to help. All things can always improve but these people do not need me.
• The coolest Flash gadget, the slickest widget on my blog, the best Twitter post will not get me closer to the people that are having trouble managing their technology. Referrals, USPS, and networking will.
• Unlike me, most people don’t really care what the code on their site looks like or how a wireless network works. Most people want to know how to use what they have and they want it to function properly ad infinitum
• Just because you’re a teacher, just because you know something, just because you have information to share does not mean there are always students waiting for you.
• Few people care about the design process, design elements, and the subtleties of good design. That’s why many people probably don’t immediately call a web designer an artist.

Thanks again, Seth.

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