I have discovered a new (at least new to me) way to get organized in what I need to do and a way to organize projects and tasks.
What I have discovered is a free software program called Freemind. The software is available for the PC and for the MAC and there is an iPhone app.
The software is free, and can be gotten by clicking on the button below. While the software itself is free, it is not apparent what is does or how to use it. The button below will get you to a free video that will get you started and there is a full video available with instructions and samples.
I have just returned from a three day Internet Marketing training seminar in Wilmington NC. This was truly an outstanding seminar given by Bob Jenkins – also know as Bob the Teacher.
I closed my store Thursday (Feb 25) and drove to Wilmington NC. It was a 12 hour drive so I arrived in Wilmington at 8PM.
The seminar began Friday Feb 26 and ended Sunday Feb 28. Each day was totally filled with module after module of excellent material. Friday evening the group went out to dinner which was great in that I got to meet with some of people attending the seminar.
Saturday evening there was a reception which gave another excellent opportunity for networking with the others at the seminar.
The last seminar presentation ended Sunday at 6PM and I drove back last night. It took the same 12 hours to drive back as it did to get there. I got back to my house at 6AM this morning – slept a few hours and got back to my store around 1 PM today.
The 12 hour drive back was great, light traffic, the moon was out and it gave me 12 hours to think about the seminar and to think about the material presented.
This was truly a great seminar that has given me a lot of things to implement in my business plus a whole new way of looking at things and some totally new directions to consider.
Tags: bob jenkins, bob the teacher, live event, Marketing, S.I.M.P.L.E., wilmington NC
Internet marketing seminar with Bob the Teacher,Bob Jenkins. I am in Wilmington NC at a seminar called SIMPLE. This is day two of a three day seminar and it is simply GREAT!!!
I will put up some details later & will have lots more about this when I am on a computer rather than my phone.
From my iPhone
Tags: bob jenkins, bob the teacher, Marketing, wilmington NC
I learned something really great through a not so great experience about iPhone photos and movies.
I got a message to upgrade my iPhone and the upgrade failed, not an Apple problem – one of the computer I synch to my iPhone does some really odd things with iTunes. I took my phone to another computer and got the update but all of my Apps were gone and so were my most recent photos that I took with my iPhone.
Something to know about Apps is if you change computers you may not be able to retrieve your Apps unless you call Apple which I did and they got it working on their side for my second computer.
Looked at my Camera roll and found lots of photos were gone. When you synch an iPhone – iTunes does make a backup however the backup is not readable.
I found a program called iPhone/iPod touch Backup Extractor that is free and makes the iPhone backup files readable. It only runs on a MAC – the really great news is you can get to your photos and save them – you can even put them back on your iPhone – not back on the film roll unless you restore from the correct backup that has the lost photos. What I did after extracting my photos from the back up file was put them in a file and up load the file in the photo synch tab in iTunes.
When I get some time I will be putting up some information about iTunes and iPhone and synching. Main thing that is not obvious is in the place in iTunes where your phone shows up – right click for a menu of things like make a back up and restore from backup.
If you click on the more obvious Restore my phone – it will wipe out everything on your phone.
Tags: iPhone, iPhone Backup, iPhone Backup extractor, lost photos found
I am sure you may have seen ads on TV, in newspapers, on your computer and in your email about Internet Marketing. It is the hot topic these days. Certainly a lot of the stuff especially in TV ads are rip offs and not in the least helpful other than relieving you of excess money.
One of the people that I read and follow is Skip McGrath – Skip has a free newsletter that always has useful information about Internet Marketing, Selling on eBay and a lot more. Skip and his wife Karen great people who give really good advice.
What I learned from Skip’s Feb 2010 newsletter is that there is a place that offers evaluations and reviews about the people selling seminars, books, eBooks, and various Internet marketing services and products. This is a place where you can look up information about the various people and “systems” out there and perhaps will be very useful in helping you choose if you want to become involved in a system or purchase a product.
The site is called IM report card . On this site you can look up products, services, people, business opportunities and so on and begin to learn the truth about the various offers.
In fact since I just recommend Skip here is his review on IM Report Card to give you an example of what this site has available. You might find as I have that Skip’s material is excellent and helpful.
In contrast here is the report on StoresOnline.com These are the people that send you a flyer in the mail inviting you and a guest to a local hotel for a free lunch or dinner. The give you some free prize and or software. Their flyer always looks good and has some big name companies logos. This is an example of something you probably will not want to be involved in.
I finally got around to connecting my iPhone to a big screen TV to see what a movie would look like. To connect the two I got the Composite AV cable from Apple. This AV cable has the yellow video plug, and red and white plugs for audio. It also has a USB cable. I have been using this cable for awhile now in my car – the USB cable goes to a 12Volt power connector and the Red and White go to the MP3 outlet. This allows me to play music from the iPhone (iPod section) to the car stereo.
You would need to have a TV with composite in – Composite has a yellow cable for video and a red and white cable for audio. The movie played on the iPhone looks really good on a big screen tv. I would guess that movies from the iPad will also play through this or a similar cable.
One thing to be aware of – if you connect the USB cable to a computer to power the iPhone it will bring up iTunes and attempt to synch to the computer. Also if you do anything on the computer that brings up iTunes the movie play back will stop.
Another interesting thing is the movie will NOT play on the iPhone screen – when this cable is hooked up. Things like You Tube videos and camera roll videos do play through this cable to a TV but not on the iPhone screen at the same time. If there is a way to show whatever is on the iPhone screen – such as games or photos I am not seeing how to make that work. Everything other than movies comes up on the iPhone screen.
Apple apparently has a way to do this – when they do presentations they show them on a big screen hooked up to an iPhone. The big screen shows games, and iPhone screens. Anyone know how Apple does this?
Oh course the obvious question is can one record from this cable – the answer is yes if you have some sort of composite to digital converter. I was able to play the movie on the iPhone through my digitizer and record the movie on my MAC into iMovie.
If you want to watch a movie on an iPhone – including You Tube or from your camera roll I find you cannot have the AV cable connected. So if you are watching movies on your iPhone and want to externally power the phone – you will need to use the regular USB cable to a power source. Apparently when you plug the AV cable in the iPhone the output video goes to this cable and switchs off the iPhone screen. All you get on the iPhone is the title screen of the movie.
It will be very interesting to see how the iPad works with the iPad iWork software.
Tags: composite video and iPhone, iPad, iPhone, iphone AV cable
Another interesting thing at the boat show was a camper line that is very small and light. The manufacturer is Little Guy, and at the the show they had a camper that could be towed by a motorcycle.
These are called Tear Drop campers and are very light and low. Even a very small car could tow most of the models. These have an outside kitchen in the back and this seems like a good place to put an outside kitchen. One cannot stand up in this type of camper so the back hatch is about the only place to put a kitchen.
Here are a couple of photos of the model that is small enough to be towed by a motorcycle: (and yes two people can sleep inside of this camper)
Tags: Little Guy, motorcycle camper, RV Show
I was able to go to the RV and Boat show in Lexington last night. I do not have a great interest in boats, however it was interesting to see some of the latest innovations in RVs. Several of the RVs actually had lofts and a staircase to get to the loft. I would guess the lofts are a place for children – it is really amazing to see how much can be put in very small spaces.
An odd thing to me that was present on several RVs was a complete kitchen located outside the RV. Here is a photo of one that had a Microwave, Refrigerator, Stove top, cabinets, Sink and workspace. Of course this takes up space inside the RV – on this one they put in a bunk on top of where the kitchen is open to the outside and built into the wall.
Tags: Boat show, Lexington RV show, outside kitchen, RV
The iPad appears to be a really great thing for college students (or anyone taking classes or going to educational seminars or training.
You can down load books, it has Notes and appears to have a pretty good sized touch keypad in landscape mode. There is the plus of Internet access with either WiFi or 3G and special rates on 3G access.
The iPad is 7.5 X 9.5 inches and 1/2 inch thick – wieght 1.5 lbs – imagine a device where one can have their textbooks, their class notebooks, Internet access for looking things up and getting reference and fill in material. Add iWork and now you have a small light device that you can store your textbooks, take class notes, do reports, get and send email.
The possibilities of the iPad simply amaze me – when I was in college one carried books for each class, notebooks for each class, one would take notes as the instructor presented the material, we had to spend hours in the college library and far too often there would be only one copy of needed books and that one would be in use. One would go back to their dorm and type — as in manual portable typewriter — out class notes and then spend hours doing reports and home work. If you made a typing error it meant re typing the page.
The Internet and computers really have made changes in how students learn. I can find more detailed information in 5 or 10 minutes these days than was possible after spending hours or even days at the college library.
My guess is that the iPad will become very popular with college students and it looks like even an old geezer like me from the “boomer” generation could get a whole lot of use out of an iPad. I know I really like and use my iPhone – the bigger screen and keybaord of the iPad is really appealing. It will be more than a month before anyone can actually see on of these – so far it looks more useful than a Netbook.
The Apple presentation has finished. The latest product is called iPad
0.5 inches thick — 1.5 lbs — 9.7 inch screen
16g – 32g – 64g — costs from $499 to $829
Runs iPhone Apps – will have its own apps – WiFi and 3G with special 3G costs from At&t
And there is a version of iWork for it so that means spreadsheets, word processing, and power point type applications.
Some accessories are all ready available – like a dock with a keyboard.
This link will take you to one of the blogs.
