Robin Sagara - Blog

Feats of memory anyone can do.

2012-05-15T21:19:59Z

This is worth a watch. Joshua Foer is a science writer who 'accidentally' won the U.S. Memory Championship. In this TED talk he explains how.

PC Tip - What to do if you don't have a Mac and want Screen Shots

2012-05-10T19:01:11Z

Okay, so you don't have a Mac but you want those groovy screen shots I mentioned in the last blog entry? You'll have to get some free software so you can "grab" images from your computer screen. "Easy Capture" software can be downloaded for free via PC World Magazine at www.pcworld.com/downloads/file/fid,68497-order,1-page,1/description.html

Or, do this:

In Windows, taking a screen shot is done by pressing the Print Screen key on your keyboard. On most standard keyboards, it is found to the right of the F12 key in the upper right hand portion of the keyboard. When this key is pressed, Windows takes a snapshot of the current contents of the screen and saves it to the Windows Clipboard.

If you want to take a screen shot of just the active window, make sure to click once on the window you are working with, then hold down the Alt key and press Print Screen. This will send the contents of the active window to the Clipboard.

You will then need to save the image to an image editor. You can use any software that you feel comfortable with. If you don't have an image editor, you can find Microsoft Paint installed on almost every computer that runs Windows. It is usually available from the Start menu by clicking START, Programs, Accessories, Paint.

Once you've opened your image editor, click on the Edit menu and choose Paste. The Screen Shot will be dropped into the image editor for you to save. Click on the File menu, and then choose Save to save it as a file in the graphics format of your choice. The best file type to use for saving screen shots is .jpg (if your software allows it).

Or, just get yourself a Mac. We run both PC's and Mac's here, love the Mac computers, tolerate the PC's and only use them when we have to, and that's rare. I run Windows on my Mac (yes I do and it works fine) and that covers just about all the bases I need.

Mac Tip - Screen Shots

2012-05-10T19:00:02Z

Tops my list for "most useful" and least known Mac tip: Screen shots made easy. In other words, how to take a picture of part or all of your computer screen that you can then save, or email, or use just about anywhere. Great if you're documenting procedures or anything "how to" because you can show them what you mean with a picture.

Here's how:

To take a picture of your entire computer screen:

Use the Command-Shift-3 function. When you press Command-Shift-3 your Macintosh will capture a screen shot and save it to the desktop of your computer. Easy!

To take a picture of part of your computer screen. More complicated but probably a good idea if you're sending the image to someone and you don't want them to see everything you've got on your screen:

1. Get whatever you want to capture showing on your computer screen.
2. Press and hold the following keys and then release: Command Control Shift 4
(The Command key is the one that looks kinda like a four-leaf clover.)
3. Your pointer will change from an arrow to crosshairs (like a + sign).
4. Position the crosshairs over what you want to capture, then click, hold and drag until you've covered the image, then let go of the mouse.
5. The image is now on your clipboard, you can paste it into an email, a document, just about anywhere.

So, for example, if I was going to show you how to update a Squarespace blog, I'd show you this screenshot of what I'm looking at right now:

Very handy!

Giving Back. Social Entrepreneurship

2012-05-07T16:55:24Z

Making a profit and a difference. Social Entrepreneurship.

We belive that even the smallest action can be a powerful tool for change.

"A social entrepreneur recongizes a social problem and uses entrepreneurial principles to organize, create and manage a system to achive change for the longer term." ~Bilal Kaiser

Social entrepreneurs are people with innovative solutions to society's most presssing social problems. It's a concept that dates back to the 1960s, and more and more individuals and companies are making a big impact on the world through even small efforts.

There are many ways you and your company can become social entrepreneurs. Doesn't have to be a big to-do, and it will help your company's image.

Our program is pretty simple, and I realized today that I've never talked about it. So here goes.

We use 2% of gross revenue to support programs designed to provide women in crisis and poverty with tools and resources to move to a place of stability and self-sufficiency (Women for Women) and to help fund arts programs in public schools (DonorsChoose.org). We also use an amount equal to 3% of our gross revenue to donate time to help people like fine artists and small business owners who need, but cannot yet afford, the business support we provide. As much as possible, we buy from companies who have social entrepreneurship programs in place (TOMS shoes, BeadForLife.org).

Here are some tips, as featured in Inc. Magazine (and the article Social Entrepreneurship for a Better World by Bilal Kaiser):

Know your issue. Be clear on what you’re passionate about and how you want to improve others’ lives.
Build the brand. Like the TOMS “One-for-One” model, it’s important to differentiate your platform from other organizations and help build trust with consumers and donors.
Think of it as a business. Even though your ultimate goal may be social change rather than pure profit, thinking of and running your organization like a business will help further your cause.
Develop smart partnerships. It’s important to align your cause with the appropriate brands to not only support your mission, but also to carry out operations and distribute goods.
Make an emotional connection. Focus on your core mission and share it with customers by building an emotional connection such as showcasing how your organization’s efforts have made an impact.

Whatever you do, big or small, it does make a difference.

The Price of Petrol in France

2012-04-30T19:53:00Z

So many puns, so little time. Artist Gary Smith sent this to me, so I'm sharing it because it made me laugh. Never one to miss a promotion opportunity, Gary reminded me that he is planning an Esacape to Portugal this July for one of his workshops. As Gary says, "The bad news is: Time flies. The good news is: You're the pilot." Check it out.

A thief in Paris planned to steal some paintings from the Louvre.

After careful planning, he got past security, stole the paintings, and made it safely to his van. However he was captured only two blocks away when his van ran out of petrol.

When asked how he could mastermind such a crime and then make such an obvious error, he replied, Monsieur, that is the reason I stole the paintings.

I had no Monet

To buy Degas

To make the Van Gogh.

See if you have De Gaulle to send this on to someone else by sending this link - http://tinyurl.com/PriceOfPetrolInFrance

I sent it to you because I figured I had nothing Toulouse.

Art Writers Grant Program

2012-04-25T16:35:10Z

This looks very interesting:

The Creative Capital | Warhol Foundation Arts Writer Grant Program.
Deadline June 6, 2012

The program provides grants directly to individual writers whose work aims to support the broad spectrum of comtemporary visual art, from general-audience criticism to academic scholarship. Writers of articles, blogs, books, new and alternative media, and short-form writing are eligible.

To apply, you must be "an individual; an art historian, artist, critic, curator, journalist, or practitioner in an outside field who is strongly engaged with the contemporary visual arts; a United States citizen, permanent resident of the U.S., or holder of an O-1 visa; at least 25 years old; and a published author (specific publication requirements vary depending on project type category). Please note that work published in college newspapers and undergraduate student-run publications will not be considered toward the published author requirement."

Grants range from $3,000 to $50,000 depending on the needs and scope of the project. Get complete guidelines and info here at the program's Web site.

Worth a look!

How Secure Are Your Passwords?

2012-04-19T00:07:53Z

I will admit to reading the AARP newsletter. Harry says I can blame it on him. He's retired and happily married to a MUCH younger woman (me). ;-D

Anyway, I do find some really good stuff there, like this article on the worst passwords. They're easy for hackers to figure out. Here's the list:

password (The most popular password and most easily hacked.)
123456
12345678
qwerty (The top left letters on the keyboard)
abc123 (The fifth most common password.)
monkey (The experts can't figure why this is popular, but it is.)
1234567
letmein
trustno1
dragon
baseball
111111
iloveyou
master
sunshine
ashley
bailey
passw0rd (Changing the "o" to a zero doesn't help.)
shadow
123123
654321
superman
qazwsx (a top-to-bottom letter sequence on the keyboard)
michael
football

If you recognize one of these, do me a favor and change it. Please. Using them will significantly increase your risk of identity theft and other bad stuff.

How to make your passwords safer:

Make them long (at least 12 keystrokes), mix `em up with upper- and lowercase letters, spaces, underscores, symbols and conscious misspellings.

Also, use different passwords for your different online accounts and CHANGE THEM every 90 days or so. I have so many that I can't possibly remember them all, so I keep them in a password-protected Word file. Of course, I made that password especially difficult. Being of an age to read the AARP newsletter, I sure hope I don't forget what it is.

Microsoft has a web page dedicated to helping you create strong passwords. Go here to check it out.

As always, all my best to you and yours!

Facebook Changes, Yeah, Again

2012-03-21T20:42:58Z

As you probably know, Facebook pages are changing, yeah again, so that means you'll have to change voluntarily now, or they'll automatically upgrade you March 30, 2012. Sorry.

You can preview your Facebook page in the new format now, and you'll be able to see what it looks like with the new design, take a tour, and customize it. Only admins of your Page will be able to see the preview or the new design until you publish it, and you can view your current design any time.

For the past two weeks I've been busy updating clients' Facebook pages, and I can reassure you that they are just as confused as you are about the changes.

To clear up the confusion I've researched some of the top social media expert articles on the topic, and like this one best by Social Media Examiner, "7 New Facebook Changes Impacting Businesses." It's clear, concise and covers the basics including:

Cover Photos and Profile Images - There are rules about what you can put in them (a unique image to represent you) and what you can't (calls to action, contact info). Read the rules here
New Post Layout - Larger, Highlighted and Pinned
Company Milestones - to make your timeline more interesting.
New Apps - no more default landing tabs, but you can customize the new "Apps" section to showcase up to 12 of them.
Facebook Offers - to be rolled out to the masses soon.
New Admin Panel - meh. Facebook likes to change things up, a lot. This new Admin panel offers new ways to manage your account.
Advertising - Larger ads, the "Reach Generator"

Get edified here.

from Edvard Munch's "Scream" paintingIf you choose to ignore this and log onto facebook after the change, and make this face, contact me and I can whip something up to ease your pain. Or, do it now and I will set you up with something really groovy.

I'm just sayin.

You Can Resize Images in iPhoto

2012-03-16T16:55:56Z

Just had that question from a client, Harry was kind enough to remind me that it's possible (although not obvious at first glance). Here's how:

1. In iPhoto, go to the image and click on it so it has a yellow border around it
2. Go to the File menu and choose Export

3. On the little window that opens, choose the kind of file (like jpg), the quality and then choose the Size drop down menu and choose Custom.

4. Select the dimension you want (maximum width or height) and type in a number for number of pixels

5. Click Export button and follow the prompts for where you want to save it, like the Pictures file.

That's it!

Stuff We Love

2012-02-22T18:09:33Z

Just a few updates on Stuff We Love...and use every day.

Squarespace Websites:

Squarespace for websites is often our system-of-choice for most people. It's been years and we still can't say enough good things about this company, their wonderful platform for creating websites/blogs/portfolios, and their stellar customer support.

We have short helpful videos on our website for those of you on the Squarespace platform. They'll show you how to do all the basics to update your website yourself. Check `em out if your curious. They also have help videos at their website.

Now, Squarespace is offering live online workshops on a nice range of topics to help you get started, work your blog, maximize your SEO, build your portfolios, and learn how to use their truly great Members & Audience functions.

Shopify:

In my never-ending search for a great shopping cart, web marketing guru and SEO expert Leif Jason of Mastermynde recommended Shopify to me for a new client who needs a powerful shopping cart for her online business that she can update herself without getting a degree in computer programming.

I'm in the process of setting it up and so far am so happy to report that it's exceeding my usual high expectations. If you need a shopping cart or are tired of wrangling with the one you have, check it out.

Basecamp:

We use Basecamp to collaborate on projects and keep track of a whole lotta info that would be otherwise overwhelming. We could not run Sagara Development without it and many of our clients also use it for their businesses. As BusinessWeek said, "It's addictively easy to use."

You can communicate through the online system with everyone involved in a project (and have a record of those message), share files, calendar items with reminders, make notes on writeboards, setup and check off done items on to-do lists and milestones, and a lot more. Works on your mobile phone too.

They have a bunch of helpful videos too, to help you get started and use all the features.

Excel and Numbers:

Just about everyone we work with asks about ways to organize their data. They consider buying specialty software for databases, artwork and other types of inventories, and mailing lists. Often they buy new software only to find it's not what they need, is underpowered, or very difficult to learn.

Another thing most people have in common: They underutilize the software they already have. What we recommend is that they start with a spreadsheet, Excel or Numbers. Getting their data organized into columns is absolutely the best start to getting it all into one place that's searchable and sortable. Plus, when you need to get that specialty software, it's easy to transfer your data if it's set up correctly in a spreadsheet.

Photoshop Elements:

We use and love Photoshop (the big sister of Photoshop Elements) but it's overkill for most people. If you've ever had a hankering to do some image editing but shudder at the though of investing hundreds in Photoshop, not to mention the long learning curve, try Photoshop Elements. It's a very affordable scaled-down version of Photoshop that's low cost, much easier to learn, and still has lots of powerful Photoshop features.

Skitch:

Don't want to become an image editor, but need to make fast web-ready images for your website and other online uses like Facebook? We're talking seconds fast. Skitch is free and absolutely awesome. I used it to make all the little images for this blog post.

Hope this help make your work easier and more creative. As always, all our best to you and yours!

Please note: We don't get anything from these companies by recommending them. We're not an "affiliate," we just love them. :-D