What is Twitter & What are Tweets!!!

Twitter began in 2006 and is a website, owned and operated by Twitter Inc. and based in San Francisco, CA, but has several other locations in the US including San Antonio, TX and Boston, MA.

Twitter is another free social networking site (like facebook) where users can send and receive “tweets”.

A “tweet or tweeting” is a text message/post with up to 140 characters and all you need to use Twitter is an Internet connection or a mobile phone. You can follow many different tweets and followers can follow you..

You must join Twitter - which is free and you will be required to “sign up” and create a username and password as you do with all Internet accounts..

Twitter is used world-wide by individuals, celebrities, businesses from breaking world news to updates from friends …

Check it out for yourself at http://www.twitter.com/ - Twitter website makes it easy to join and offers lots of helpful tips for those of you who are learning to use their service. And again, it's free and simply another new way to "stay in touch"

Should you have many different passwords to get into your accounts?

NO – the more passwords you have the more likely you are to forget them. Consider having 2 or at the most 3 different passwords, but be sure they are strong (combination of numbers and letters work best). Consider

• 1 password for getting into each of your email accounts
• 1 password for getting into your financial accounts
• 1 password for getting into all other accounts you register with

TIPS:

• Keep your primary email addresses, user names and passwords on an index card with your other important papers.
• Don't share your passwords on the Internet, over email, on the phone or in the mail with something sent to you-only when you generate the contact. Internet Service Providers (ISP) and reputable companies will never generate calls, emails or correspondence asking for your password or other confidential information. If it doesn't feel right - don't respond!!!!
• Passwords are always case sensitive
• Never use your email password for anything but your email account
• Create another password (minimum 8-20 characters) a word & phrase with 3 or 4 numbers (be sure the numbers & letters are not consecutive, that you use for all other Internet accounts. If you need to change it, reverse the order (i.e. 4378david or david4378 or DAVID4378 or 4378 DAVID)

What to do with the digital photos you are taking?

Here we go again – taking lots of photos and then stashing them in our computers – like we’ve done over the years with photos that weren’t properly identified with whose in the photo, when it was taken or where – we meant to do that, but life got in the way.. Now it's the digital age and we're doing the same thing when we put them in our computer instead of in a box, bureau drawer or closet… We hope these ideas will help you as you build your photo library on your computer

When you copy photo's from your camera's memory card to your computer to the "My Picture or Picture" folder it is beneficial to immediately create a folder indicating what the event is - better yet, consider having master folders for each year, and then sub-folders for the 12 months during the year and within the months, sub-folders for specific events... When you want a particular photo (s) in one of these sub-folders, simply create a new folder with the project name on it, or to email, or to print, and copy the photos you want from the various folders, to the project folder; done with your project-empty/delete the folder - and you will know that the original photo is safe in the correct folder...

Editing photos using Google's "Picasa" a "free photo editing software program" that allows you to easily and quickly edit your photos, crop them - improve color, change to sepia or black & white, add soft focus lighting or enhance them in a variety of other ways; upload them to web albums to share with friends & families or to add to your blog, create collages, movies, print them and many other wonderful features... and it's all free...
to download this free software, go to http://www.picasa.com/ and follow the download wizard

Windows Movie Maker: another free software, that will allow you to create movies with your photos and enhance those movies with with animation and music that you've downloaded from your favorite CD's. Again, this software is free and easy to work with - finished movies can be saved to CD's or DVD's for gifts or personal use..
This free software is included on all computers with Windows XP & Vista and can be downloaded to those pc's with Windows 7 - for more info on this go to the following hyperlink:
http://www.downloadsquad.com/2009/02/11/windows-movie-maker-2-6-available-for-vista-windows-7/

Create and Publish your own book: another free software from either http://www.blurb.com/ or http://www.lulu.com/ that allows you to create and publish your own book - either all photo's, all text, or a combination of both... Sizes, styles, paper choices all vary depending on what you want and your budget... when you go to these websites - you can download their free book creation software - blub.com uses "booksmart" and you can then create your book in your own time; personally I know of people who've taken over a year - so no rush.. once the software is on your computer you can work at your own pace...

Hopefully we've given you some food for thought - we will share more ideas with you in the weeks ahead, including digital scrapbooking and more. If you have a suggestion, send it to us so that we can share it with your fellow students... In the meantime - enjoy...

USING PUBLIC COMPUTERS - Traveling during the holidays?

You can check your email from any computer in the world, hotel, motel, cruise ship, highway stops, airports, Internet café, libraries, copy and/or coffee shops and of course at homes of friends or family.. But because you are not at home, be more careful when you use a computer that isn't yours, especially when you are typing or working with private information like credit cards, banking, medical and other sensitive information you may not want anyone else to see... A FEW SAFETY TIPS....

DON'T SAVE YOUR LOGIN INFORMATION - Always logout of Web sites by pressing logout on the site (Many programs-especially instant messenger programs and free email, such as hotmail, gmail & others include automatic login features that will save your username and password – so be sure not to check this off to have the computer remember your user name & password, so no one accidentally (or on purpose) logs in as you.

DON'T LEAVE THE COMPUTER UNATTENDED WITH SENSITIVE INFORMATION ON THE SCREEN - If you have to leave the public computer for any amount of time, logout of all programs and close all windows that may include sensitive information.

ERASE YOUR TRACKS - When you're done using a public computer you should delete all the temporary files and your Internet history: Here Is How To Delete Your Temporary Internet Files And Your History:
1. In Internet Explorer, go to Menu Bar, Left Click Tools for Menu List, Then Left Click Internet Options.
2. On the General tab, under Temporary Internet files Left click Delete Files and then click Delete Cookies.
3. Under History, left click Clear History.

WATCH FOR OVER-THE-SHOULDER SNOOPS-Because there's so much news about how hackers digitally sneak into our personal files, we sometimes forget about the old fashioned version of snooping. When you use a public computer, watch for anyone looking over your shoulder or watching as you enter sensitive passwords. If you really want to be safe, avoid typing your credit card numbers, bank account information, or any other financial or otherwise sensitive information into any public computer.

Enjoy your holidays and be safe...