Create an E-mail Business Card

Create an E-mail Business Card

Want to create your very own e-mail business card? Do you use Outlook Express? If you said yes to both of those questions, this tip is for you. I actually just received an e-mail from someone the other day who had a business card attached to their e-mail and I thought that was a really good idea, so I wanted to share it with all of you too. Okay, let's check this out!

You can include a business card in your e-mail for any reason you want. Maybe you work for a top notch business and you like to let other people know about it along with the e-mails you send out. Or, maybe you run your own business and you figure e-mail is a great way to get the word out about what you do. You could also make a business card just for fun if you wanted to. It's a perfect way to exchange contact information with other people. So, either way you slice it, it's a good deal.

Okay, let's get started. To create a business card in Outlook Express, open up the e-mail program and go to your Address Book (Tools, Address Book). Now, you'll want to create an entry for yourself, so click on New, New Contact and type in your name or your business name (whichever you prefer). You can include just your first name or your full name. That is up to you. Click OK when you're done.

Then find your name in your list of contacts and click on it to highlight it.

Next, go to File, Export, Business Card (vCard). The vCard is just the format the business card uses. The format can also be used in different digital devices and operating systems. Now, a new window will appear and you'll just want to choose a location to save your business card in. You can save it in your My Documents folder or even on your desktop. It doesn't really matter where you put it. Just place it somewhere you will remember and a spot that is easy to get to. Once you pick a location, click Save. That's all there is to that!

Now, you also have the option of inserting your business card into every e-mail you send out. This is probably a smart thing to do if you want to get more information about your business out to people, but if you just need to exchange contact information with a few people, you can also just attach it to certain e-mails. This just saves you from having to type out all your information every time you need to give it to someone. Also, if you just want to send your card to business people and not to family and friends, you'll only want to attach it to certain e-mails and not every single one.

So, to put the card into certain e-mails only, go back to the main page of Outlook Express and compose a new message. Then go to the Insert menu and choose My Business Card. That will take care of that part.

Now, to put the card into every e-mail you send out, go to Tools, Options and select the Compose tab. Under the business cards section (toward the bottom of the box), you can choose either Mail or News. (You'll probably want to choose Mail, unless you use the News part of OE often). Either way, use the drop down menu and find your name in the list of contacts that appears. Your name should be there, because you already created your own contact earlier. Click OK when you're done and your business card will now show up in every e-mail you send.

Pretty cool, huh? Give it a try today!

PocketMod

PocketMod

Don’t have a fancy Pocket PC or organizer? Well, with PocketMod, you don’t need one! I discovered PocketMod just a couple of weeks ago and I haven’t stopped using mine since. Let's check it out!

So, what is a PocketMod? Believe it or not, but it’s not another electronic gadget. It’s actually just a piece of paper you can use as a personal organizer. And best of all, it's completely customizable!

Creating one for yourself is easy! Here's how:

1.) Go to http://www.pocketmod.com and click on the Start icon.

2.) You can then begin to customize your cover page. To do that, first click on the button labeled Cover. Then click on the spanner and screwdriver icon.

3.) Next, enter in your details and click on Close. Now, click and drag the cover page into the spot on your PocketMod that says Front.

4.) Okay, it’s now time to add other items! Simply repeat the same process as above for six more pages. For example, I like the Sudoku widget, the calendar and the shopping list, so I added all of those to my PocketMod. Of course, you can add whatever suits you the best. When you're finished, click on Print PocketMod to print out your organizer.

5.) Once you’ve printed your PocketMod, it’s time to fold it. On the PocketMod homepage (or, here if you prefer), there's a video that shows you how to fold it. Just follow the directions and you'll be all set!

You’re now completely organized. Yes!

Ms office Oops! How Can I Undo That?

Oops! How Can I Undo That?

Okay, so the other day, we learned how to add to the Safe Senders list in MS Outlook 2003 and 2007.

But what if you've accidentally added someone to the list who shouldn't be there? How can you remove that name from the list?

It's a good question and I thought it deserved an answer, so let's get right down to business!

In Outlook 2003 or 2007, go to the Tools menu, Options choice.

Under the Preferences tab, you're looking for the Junk E-mail button.

When the Junk E-mail window opens, you need the Safe Senders tab.

In the center, you should find a list of senders you've selected as safe.

Choose the one that needs to be removed and then click on the Remove button.

Click OK twice to get back to Outlook.

Voila. It's back to blocked pictures for that sender!

Raise Your Keyboard

Today, I have one question for you: "How do you feel about the height of your keyboard?" Okay, so that may seem like a pretty odd question, but believe me, it's legit for this quick tip! I'm talking about the height of your keyboard as it sits on your desk (or wherever you may keep it).

Some of you may know about this, but the rest of you may not, so I thought this would be a neat little entry for today's newsletter. Go ahead and flip your keyboard over on its back. What do you see? Besides some wording, etc., you should see two clips on either side of the keyboard. If you pull those clips out and then set your keyboard back down, you will notice that it gains a little bit of height. Wow, who knew?!

Those special clips are there to help you get the most comfortable feel for your keyboard. If it's better for your hands to be a little higher as you type, use the clips. If you try it for awhile and decide you don't like it, push the clips back in and your keyboard will then sit flat on your desk once again. It's just an easy way to achieve the best fit for all of your typing needs. Check it out!

Social Bookmarking

Social Bookmarking

I know most of you have probably heard of bookmarking and some of you probably know what I'm talking about when I say social networking, but what about social bookmarking? Do those three things even have anything to do with each other? Well, the answer to that is yes and no. Allow me to explain!

When you bookmark a Web site, you're pretty much adding it to your Favorites list (in your Web browser) so that you'll be able to find it easier and faster the next time you want to visit it. That way, you don't have to take up so much time finding it again on the world wide Web. Now, I'm willing to guess that most of you bookmark a lot of Web sites on a regular basis. Am I right? So, once you have all those sites compiled, what are you going to do with them? Wouldn't it be nice to be able to share them with other people who may have the same interests as you?

Well, that's where social bookmarking comes into play. It allows you to share your bookmarks with other Internet users in a collaborative sort of way. Usually, social bookmarking takes place on sites where the users can create an account for their bookmarks. It's also helpful to do it on sites that allow you to insert keywords for the types of bookmarks you add. That way, they all can be organized and set into categories that other users can easily search through.

Social bookmarking gives you the chance to see all of the Web sites you may have missed thus far. By seeing what other users submit in certain categories, you can view the ones that fit your interests the best. You won't have to waste your time looking at other sites that don't interest you. Also, by being able to see all the sites that other people add, you can start to accumulate a whole slew of new resources. It's all so helpful and you certainly can't complain about that!

Once you become a part of a social bookmarking site, you become a member of that community. You and all of the other users are there for the same reason and you can help each other out in finding sites that will benefit all of you. It also makes searching the Web so much easier and quicker. Another great thing is that once you're part of a site, you can access it from any computer and any browser. That way, you're never limited in seeing the social bookmarks you've been waiting for.

Now, you're probably wondering how you can get started. There are a few social bookmarking sites online today, with one of the most popular being del.icio.us. You can create your own account there and once you're all set up, you can search by keywords to find other bookmarks that may interest you. This site also has lists for the "Popular" and "Recent" categories, so you can dive right into your searching. You can find bookmarks for all types of things on here too. From software to design to photography to shopping, it's all here!

Another great social bookmarking site is digg.com. We've told you about this one before in our newsletter and you can read here for some basic information about it. Digg is mostly geared toward technology and science, but if you're into that, it will be perfect for you. You can leave comments (diggs) on the site as well, which makes it all a little more interesting. One more popular social bookmarking site is reddit.com. It is a great source for up and coming online content. Reddit also has a very unique and easy voting system. Other social bookmarking sites that may be worth a look are Furl, StumbleUpon and Slashdot.

Now, of course, there are always pros and cons to everything and social bookmarking is no exception. If social bookmarking is going to work properly, it takes a lot of organization to make sure all of the information is divided up correctly and is relevant. Sometimes the sites fall short on that and it can make your research a lot more difficult. On the other hand, these sites allow you to gain a bigger knowledge base, all while helping others do the same. Social bookmarking is a feel good type of thing and if done right, it can benefit a lot of people. Oh yeah!

~ Erin

BigString

Have you ever wished your e-mail would do certain things for you? Well, today, I want to introduce you to a new e-mail service you might like. It's called BigString, but before I go into any detail about it, I have to ask you a couple questions. Have you ever wanted to erase an e-mail that was already sent? Or, how about ensuring a private e-mail wasn't forwarded, saved or printed? Would you like to record a video right in an e-mail? Luckily, all of those things are just a few of the features BigString boasts. So, let’s check it out!

To get started with BigString, you first need to create an account. Here's how:

1.) Head on over to http://www.bigstring.com/ and click on the Sign Up link.

2.) Now, you’ll need to set up a username. Type in your choice and click on Check Username. BigString is relatively new, so there are plenty of choices for usernames. If your choice is available, click Continue.

3.) You’ll then have to fill out the usual information: your name, password, set up a security question, etc. Once you're finished, click Continue.

4.) Next, click on Take Me to My Inbox and you'll see this screen:

5.) To begin typing an e-mail, click on Compose.

Now, here’s where the magic begins! You can select from all different types of e-mails. Let’s check them out!

• Recallable Messages – These are messages that expire after a certain number of views, an exact time or a time after it was opened. They can also be edited. For example, if the wrong information was sent to the wrong person.
  
  
• Quick Destruct – Messages that destruct after either 15 to 30 seconds or one to two minutes after being opened.
  
  
• Regular with Tracking – These are messages that can be tracked by how many views they've had.
  
  
• Video Mail - This one allows you to record a video using a Webcam. The video can be set to self-destruct after a certain number of views.
  
  
• Secure Mail – This uses encryption to keep your e-mails private.
  
  
• Regular – Of course, you have the option of sending a normal e-mail as well.

6.) You can experiment with sending e-mails to yourself with those different options. I’m sure you’ll notice that it's rich-text formatting, which is similar to MS Word. You can also embed an image if you wish. To send an e-mail, simply click on the green Send button.

Now, I’d like to show you how to recall and self-destruct messages!

7.) First, click on .

8.) Here you can see that an e-mail I sent to myself hasn’t been read yet. To self-destruct it, just click on the checkbox and then click on Self-Destruct.

9.) Now, let’s say I wanted to edit the following message:

10.) Just double click it and type in your corrections. Then click on Update. It’s as easy as that!

11.) As for the video e-mail, I have a Webcam and I've recorded a short clip. When the recipient gets the video, they'll have to click on a link to be directed to a video player similar to this:

That's it. Now, go on and enjoy all that BigString has to offer!