Google+ Remove Circles from Public View on Profile Page

To make your people circles non-visible on your public profile:

Within Google+, in the upper right corner click on your icon, then Profile, then in the body of the page "Edit Profile".

Mouse over the circles of people in the left rail, click, and uncheck: "Show people in my circles" and "Show people who have added you to circles".

Note: People in the same circle will know about each other.

Remove All Missing Songs from iTunes

This is how to quickly remove all dead tracks from iTunes:

1) Make a static playlist called “All Live Files” and drag your entire library into it. Be sure you 'DRAG' not 'copy' your files.

2) Make a smart playlist called “Missing Files” with the rules set as ‘Playlist’ ‘is’ ‘Music’ and another rule set as  ‘Playlist’ ‘is not’ ‘All Live Files’

3) ...the broken songs will not transfer and “Missing Files” will contain all those broken songs.

4) Delete the songs in the Missing Files folder:
Windows: SHIFT + DEL
Mac: OPTION + DEL

Source and thanks to: http://paulmayne.org/blog/2007/11/how-to-remove-broken-or-dead-tracks-from-itunes/

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WinMerge - Great Tool for Comparing Directories

Great tool for comparing 2 directories or hard drives (download is from CNET): http://download.cnet.com/WinMerge/3000-2079_4-10386887.html?tag=contentMain;contentBody;1d
4.5 starts out of 27 votes

Instructions for using WinMerge:
http://manual.winmerge.org/QuickStart.html

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Best Format for High Quality CD Sound

There's no real consensus here, but would go with WAV if you want to preserve the original format as close as possible (but takes up lots of space). However going with mp3 will "compress audio files to about one tenth of their original size while delivering close to CD quality audio".

From iTunes support site.

"If you want to burn high-quality audio CDs with the songs you’re importing without losing quality, choose Apple Lossless or AIFF. (Keep in mind that songs imported using this format use much more disc space.)"

Per http://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/which-audio-format-is-best/:

"WAV: Developed by IBM and Microsoft, WAV stands for ‘waveform’. This file format does not compress audio. Understandably, WAV files take up a sizeable chunk of the storage space on your disk! However, this lossless format assures you of CD quality audio that can be used for broadcasting, or distributed through DVDs and CDs. An added advantage is that the WAV format is easy to transform and compress into MP3 or other formats if the need arises. And importantly, it runs on any Windows or Mac systems as well as most web browsers. So, if space crunch is not a problem, consider the WAV format to store and distribute music. File extension .wav."

"MP3: Perhaps the most popular sound format for music recording, MP3 files are the sound part of MPEG files. They can compress audio files to about one tenth of their original size while delivering close to CD quality audio. Because of their small file size, MP3 files are quick to download. In fact, they have become the standard when people want music for their multimedia presentations, or are looking for background music in their web pages. However, a major drawback of the MP3 format is that it is not a good format to use for looping. This is because MP3 files contain an unspecified amount of silence at the start and end of the file. To avoid the burp or hiccup this causes, and achieve a usable loop, opt for WAV format. MP3 files are supported by most software systems, and come with the file extension .mp3".

And more good information here, although quite technical:

http://jthz.com/mp3/#TOP

Download YouTube Videos and Convert to MP3 (and other file formats)

These are my favorite tools for downloading a YouTube Video and converting it to an audio file. It is a 2-step process. First you'll download the video, then you'll convert it into your desired audio format.

Both of these apps are ranked highly on CNET by both editors and users, and appear to be safe. The links below take you to the application download page on CNET. 

1. Download and install the free YouTubeDownloader [NOTE: During installation, you can chose "decline" and NOT accept the YouTubeDownloader Toolbar. If you flew by that choice and already downloaded it and want to remove it, follow these instructions to remove the YouTubeDownloader 'Yahoo' Toolbar].
2. Next download and install the VideoLAN VLC Media Player. This converts the video to an audio format. (Instructions for using VLC are further below.)

You will be able to convert YouTube (.FLV) files into the following formats:

MPEG Layer 1/2

MP3 - MPEG Layer 3

AAC - MPEG-4 part3

Vorbis

AC3 - A/52 (Dolby Digital)

E-AC-3 (Dolby Digital Plus)

MLP / TrueHD">3

DTS

WMA 1/2

WMA 3 1

FLAC

ALAC

Speex

Musepack / MPC

ATRAC 3

Wavpack

Mod (.s3m, .it, .mod)

TrueAudio (TTA)

APE (Monkey Audio)

Real Audio 2

Alaw/µlaw

AMR (3GPP)

MIDI 3

LPCM

ADPCM

QCELP

DV Audio

QDM2/QDMC (QuickTime)

MACE

Instructions for using VLC (to mp3):

1. Select tab "Media"
2. Click Convert / Save
3. Click Add (and select song - you can only do one at the time in the free version)
4. Click Convert / Save button at bottom
5. Select the destination file
6. Enter File Name (AND BE SURE TO END FILE NAME WITH .MP3)
7. click Save
8. Beside "Profile" select Audio - MP3
9. Click Start

Done!

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Uninstall Spigot Yahoo Toolbar that came with YouTubeDownloader

Here's how to remove the Yahoo Toolbar:

1. Right click on the Yahoo toolbar that you want to remove.
2. Select Help
3. then Uninstall

More info here:
http://youtubedownloader.mybrowserbar.com/help.html
http://youtubedownloader.mybrowserbar.com/uninstall.html
http://youtubedownloader.mybrowserbar.com/privacy.html

See here to install YouTubeDownloader WITHOUT the YouTubeDownloader (Yahoo) Toolbar: http://digital-qa.blogspot.com/2011/07/download-youtube-and-convert-to-mp3-and.html

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Google+ Get Your Own Vanity URL

This creates an easy to relay URL for your Google+ account.

This is what Google+ gave me:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/102894643679747124527/posts

This is what I got from gplus.to:
http://gplus.to/beckysnyder

They both go to the same place. Likely the gplus.to is a redirect, address shortener.

http://gplus.to/

Source: http://mashable.com/2011/07/06/gplus-to-google-plus/

Online Digital Signature for Fax or Email

Keeping this info handy... I'm sure I'll need to fax my signature somewhere someday.

"An online service, Hello Fax (http://www.hellofax.com/), keeps a digital image of your signature on file, which you can then position and resize onto any document you upload to the service. Once the document is “signed,” you can e-mail it or send it to a fax machine from your PC. The service can also, for a fee, provide you with a fax number. Incoming faxes can then be viewed — and signed — onscreen."

Source: Getting By Without a Computer Printer - NYTimes.com

Microsoft Word Free PDF Converter

You probably already have a free PDF viewer (think Adobe) but here's a free PDF creator, developed and licensed by Microsoft, so plays nice with your Office applications.

"With those applications you can read PDFs, but you also want to be able to convert word-processing files into PDFs. If you are using Microsoft Word in Windows, the 2010 version has a “Save as PDF” option in the “Save as” menu. Earlier versions of Word can download a free software patch (http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=7) from Microsoft to do the same thing."

Source: Getting By Without a Computer Printer - NYTimes.com

Sony Vaio Touchpad Stopped Working

Options to fix the Touch Pad:

❑ You may have disabled the touch pad. Press the Fn+F1 keys to enable it. (This is what happened to me. Not sure how that happened though.).

I've also had to power-off and then back on again to get the touchpad to work.

Other options per Sony's Vaio Manual - haven't tried most of these:
❑ Make sure that a mouse is not connected to your computer. (DigitalQA - This shouldn't matter.)
❑ If the pointer does not move while a software application is running, press the Alt+F4 keys to close the application window.
❑ If the Alt+F4 keys do not work, press the Windows key once and then the , key several times, select Restart with the M or m key, and press the Enter key to restart your computer.
❑ If your computer does not restart, press the Ctrl+Alt+Delete keys, select the arrow next to the Shut down button with the m and , keys, press the Enter key, select Restart with the M or m key, and press the Enter key to restart your computer.
❑ If this procedure does not work, press and hold the power button until the computer turns off.

Source: Sony Vaio Manual

Click here for another source if needed (haven't verified any of these though).

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