It’s easy to add links in WordPress.  But it is important to create links that open in a new browser window and do not pull users away from your website.

Links to Websites
To insert to a link to another website in any page or post that will open in another browser window:

• Copy the URL of the website into the clipboard
• Open page or post and put curser where you want the download link
• Type message for download link and highlight this text:
• Click link in the toolbar:
• Paste Link URL to URL, Edit the Title to what you want displayed, click “Open link in a new window/tab, and click Add Link:
  

Insert PDF links   

To insert to a link to PDF in any page or post (will open in another browser window or download depending on the browser settings):

• Open page or post and put curser where you want the download link
• Type message for download link and highlight this text.
• Click Add Media:
• 
• Click Select Files:
• Select files to upload
• Do the following:
• 
• Highlight the link.
• Click link in the toolbar
• Paste Link URL in to URL, Edit the Title to what you want displayed, click “Open link in a new window/tab, and click Add Link:

Links to in Blogroll

To link to another website in your Blogroll (usually displayed in the sidebar) that will open in another browser window:

• Click Links, Add New
• In the “Target” box make sure “_blank” is selected:
• 
• Click Update Link

Going green with your PC can save you some green ($$$)!  By powering down your PC or using power management correctly you can save up to $60 a year per machine.  For the Planeteer that equals a half a ton of CO2 a year that will not be adding to global climate change.  Go planet…and wallet!

Turn off your PC and Monitor
To maximize energy savings turn off your PC and monitor every night.
If you want to make Captian Planet really fly high, unplug your PC and monitor when not in use.  An easy way to do this is to use a power strip (with surge protection) and turn it off after powering down your PC gear.

MYTH – Turning your PC on and off wears it out.
Today’s PCs are can handle an average of 40,000 power cycles.  That’s a power-up and power-down once a day for almost 55 years.  Perhaps at the dawn of the PC era (the mid-1980s) there may have been some truth to this.  So if your PC looks like this

Complete with dual 5¼ floppy drives and green text-only monitor, then you may want to leave it on…or put it in a museum.

MYTH – It takes more power to turn on your PC.
The small electrical surge used when a PC turns on is far less than the drain of a PC that keeps marching 24 hours a day.   I won’t overload your circuits with specs on amps used on power-up vs. over time, but if you think about it, it makes sense to give your PC a rest.

Give It a Rest
Even those with the best green intention may not be able to power-down the PC every night.  The next best thing is the proper use of power management.  Here are the recommended power management settings:

• Monitor/display sleep: Turn off after 15 minutes or less
• Turn off hard drives/hard disk sleep: 15 minutes or less
• System standby/sleep: After 30 minutes or less

Instructions for enabling power management vary by operating system.
Click the below links for Power Management Instructions:
Windows 2000/XP
Windows Vista
Mac OS X

Hibernation
Also, you should enable hibernate.  The hibernate mode only use about 5 watts of energy for your monitor and 2.3 watts for your PC.  This is virtually the same as a powered down PC.  To do this go to Control Panel, click on “power options,” and set your PC to “hibernate” after a specified time (most recommend 30-60 minutes).

Here are some other green tips that will help save you money while saving the planet.
Screen Savers Don’t Save
Those cool 3D screen savers do not save energy.  It is expense wallpaper. If you like fish, put a picture of Flipper by your PC and use the recommended power management settings.

Flat Screen Use Less Power
Not only do flat screens save power, but they save your eyes.  Flat screen users notice less eye fatigue.   Flat screens are easier to move and take less space.  And the price barriers have dropped making these cool looking devices fit into even the tightest of IT budgets.
Just don’t forget to give you old CRT a proper burial by appropriately disposing of it.  Click here for more info on how to dispose your monitor and other PC equipment.
How to Dispose of Computer Equipment

Laptops Use Less Power
If you are looking for an excuse to go mobile with a new laptop, play the green card.  And low laptop prices make this almost a financial wash for the accounting department.

Clean and Green
When you go green with your PC, you also go clean.  An orderly shutdown of a PC allows it to run maintenance clean-up routines that keep it humming along.  Think of it as giving your PC clean underwear.  Dirty underwear is just gross!

There are few win-wins in this world and give and take world.  But going green is one of those no-brainers that appeals to the hippie and yuppie in us all.
For more on going green check out the Energy Star website at http://www.energystar.gov/.

Facebook unveiled a new look causing a big buzz in the the social networking universe.  For haters, it opened the virtual door for yet another hoax about Facebook charging for their service.  Facebook assures they are free and will continue to be.

Wall posts and status updates were lighting up with the announcement that the social network will soon start charging its users due to the latest profile changes.
Here’s how the message looks:

IT IS OFFICIAL. IT WAS EVEN ON THE NEWS. FACEBOOK WILL START CHARGING. DUE TO THE PROFILE CHANGES. IF YOU COPY THIS ON YOUR WALL YOUR ICON WILL TURN BLUE AND FACEBOOK WILL BE FREE FOR YOU. PLEASE PASS THIS MESSAGE ON, IF NOT YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE DELETED IF YOU DO NOT PAY

If you get this message, ignore it and delete it.   There is no curse for erasing it, but if you re-post it you run the risk of looking foolish.

Many scams have claimed Facebook will ask you to pay in one form or another, but they’re all bogus.  Facebook reminds its users on the website’s main login page, “It’s free and always will be.”

Facebook makes a lot of money from the ads viewed and clicked by its 800 million active users.  In fact, the social networking giant is expected to make $4.27 billion in revenue this year, 89 percent of which will come from advertising.

Want to tap into the vast power of social networking for your project, idea, business, or organization?
Click here to contact TAS and let us help!

There are lots of websites and mobile apps you should have ready before you are in the path of a storm or running from an army of brain-eating zombies. This time of year reminds us to get prepared for the unexpected. Hurricanes, Earth quakes, and even zombie apocalypses have online resources that can help in the face of disaster.

FEMA and other organizations have gone online and mobile. This is encouraging since many times cell, text, email, and the Internet often stay online during catastrophes.

Here are some helpful links and mobile apps:

FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) Website
http://www.fema.gov/
The FEMA website is actually pretty good, especially for a government website.

Weather Radio SmartPhone App
The iMap Weather Radio has an app for your Smartphone or tablet that alerts you of life-threatening weather information.
http://www.biologyoftechnology.com/2011/05/weather-radio-smartphone-app/

Are You Ready?
http://www.ready.gov/
A FEMA webpage with a checklist to help you get ready for disaster.

FEMA Mobile Website
http://m.fema.gov/
Bookmark this FEMA mobile website on your SmartPhone.

FEMA App
http://apps.usa.gov/fema-mobile/
A free mobile app for Android-based devices so people can keep track of preparations that will help them better ride out a disaster. iPhone and Blackberry apps will soon be released (according to FEMA).

American Red Cross Shelter App
http://redcrosschat.org/2011/02/22/theres-an-app-for-that-shelter-view/
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/american-red-cross-shelter/id419258261
Official Red Cross iPhone app that’s free and directs you to shelters in your area that can provide assistance.

FEMA Text Messages
Get helpful text messages from FEMA:

• Text PREPARE to 43362 (4FEMA) to sign up for monthly disaster safety tips
• Text SHELTER+ your ZIP code to the same number to find the nearest shelter in your respective areas
• Text DRC and your ZIP code to the same number for information about the nearest disaster recovery center.

Click here for more on the FEMA text message service:
http://www.fireengineering.com/articles/2011/08/fema-new-tools-text-messages.html

FEMA Blog, Facebook , Twitter, and YouTube channel
http://blog.fema.gov/
http://www.facebook.com/FEMA
http://twitter.com/fema
http://www.youtube.com/user/FEMA

Zombie Apocalypse Survival Guide
The CDC has actually published a Zombie Apocalypse Survival Guide. This tongue-and-cheek web post got a lot of attention and has some good emergency info.
http://www.biologyoftechnology.com/2011/05/cdc-zombie-apocalypse-survival-guide-for-real/

The more you are prepared the better your chances of weathering the storm!

Dropbox is an online application to backup, share, and sync your files with other computers and mobile devices.  This Web application gives you a cloud-based server but without the hassle and a fraction of the expense.

Here’s how it works.

• Install on your PC, Mac, or Linux machine.
  Installation is easy and Dropbox works with just about anything that can connect to the Internet.
  Setup a Dropbox account by clicking here and following the easy instructions.
• After installation, a Dropbox folder appears on your desktop
• Dropbox lets you back up, share, and sync any file merely by dragging the file into the Dropbox folder.
  It works like any other folder!
• Your files are stored both locally in your Dropbox folder and online on the Drobpbox servers.
• Any changes made to files in Dropbox are automatically updated in all other linked Dropbox folders in other devices, as long as you are connected (or when you reconnect) to the Internet.

Dropbox pricing is simple and very reasonable

• 2 GB of storage – FREE!
• 50GB of storage – $99 a YEAR (or $9.99 a month)
• 100GB of storage – $199 a YEAR (or $19.99 a month

You can use Dropbox for free for 2GB of storage.  It’s simple, inexpensive, and it works.  What more could you ask of a cloud application?

Here are some other things you can do with Dropbox.

Go Mobile
Dropbox works with most mobile devices (iPad, iPhone, Android, other smartphones), so you can access files on-the-go.

Large Email Attachments
Use the Dropbox Public folder to email links for large files instead of clogging-up e-mailoxes by sending large attachments.  Here’s how:

• Copy the file to your Dropbox Public folder
  If you don’t have a Public folder go to the Dropbox main directory create a new folder and name it Public (Upper “P”)
• Right-click any file in your public folder and go to Dropbox  > Copy public link.
• Paste this link in your email.  The email sends the link and not the file.  Your email recipient clicks on the link to download the file.

Un-Delete
Dropbox has an undelete feature to recover accidentally delete files/folders in Dropbox.  Here’s how it works:

• Log-on the Dropbox website using your username and password
• Click on “Show deleted files”
• Deleted folders and files will be displayed in gray text
• Put mouse over deleted folder/file, click arrow to the right, and follow the prompts to undelete (restore)
• To undelete several files/folders, check the box for all files/folders to undelete, click “More” in menu at top of page, and select Undelete.
• Dropbox keeps deleted files for 30 days.

Other cool things about Dropbox

• Everything in your Dropbox folder is backed-up
• All your Dropbox files can be accessed from the Dropbox website using your login username and password.
• Checkout the following mobile apps that can be used with Dropbox:
  http://www.dropbox.com/apps/list?platform=4

Check-out the following video explaining Drobpox.

The website BeautifulPeople.com was hacked and ugly people were allowed “in” the exclusive site.  The Sherk virus allowed unchecked access so the pretty and plain were all mixed together.  Oh the horror!  The moral of this story: if good-looking people can get hacked, then anyone can!
HA!  Bet you didn’t see that coming.

One would think there is a karmic lesson of vanity here, and that may be so.  But the reality is that hacking is on the rise.  A survey by the Identity Theft Resource Center found that hacking accounted for the largest number of breaches in 2011 year-to-date.

Whether you have six-pack abs or you have a six-pack belly, make sure you a practicing safe computing.  Use virus protection and a safe browser.
TechAdvocate Solutions (TAS) can help you with your online security whether you are an individual, small organization, or large business.  Click here to contact TAS.  We can help with your system security, but not your abs.  Sorry!

As for BeautifulPeople.com, Greg Hodge, the site’s managing director said,

“We got suspicious when tens of thousands of new members were accepted over a six-week period, many of whom were no oil painting…We have to stick to our founding principles of only accepting beautiful people – that’s what our members have paid for. We can’t just sweep 30,000 ugly people under the carpet.”

Yea, there’s nothing scarier than ugly people peeping out of the carpet!  YIKES!  The unattractive were rejected from the site and notified by email.  OUCH!

The social networking website http://www.beautifulpeople.com/ describes itself as an “elite online club, where every member works the door.”  The site says about one in seven applicants are admitted and 5.8 million have been rejected.  They currently have about 700,000 members from 190 countries.

An Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) can protect your computer equipment.  This super surge protector has a large battery that kicks-on when a power interruption occurs.  So your digital gear stays safe from dangerous electrical fluctuations.

Most power outages last for a few seconds to a few minutes.  Besides the annoyance of having to reset clocks when power is restored, there is a benevolent invisible force at work.  Beyond human perception are high-energy electrical spikes as the power goes down and up.  These surges can damage and even fry sensitive electronics.

However, the battery and surge protector at the heart of the UPS acts as a buffer to absorb much of the device-damaging energy.

And there’s another aggravation a UPS can help avoid.  It’s a hot summer day and the power grid is running an overload capacity.  You’ve been editing an important document for hours (without saving).  The power blinks for only a few seconds, but long enough to make you realize you should have been saving your work.  But it’s too late.  It took only a few seconds for hours of work to go down the digital drain.

But with a UPS the battery would have kicked-in providing valuable time to click the save button.

Most office supply and electronics stores sell UPS equipment.  The price usually starts at $40 to $50 and will provide about 5 to 15 minutes of battery time.  More expense units provide more battery time and can absorb more intense surges.

The following devices should be connected to a UPS:

• PC
• Monitor
• DSL or Cable Modem (this equipment is very sensitive)
• Network switches and routers
• A desk lamp (so you can see to power-down your PC when things go dark)

A UPS can also protect other electronic investments such as audio and television equipment.

You can go green by recycling your old devices and get some “green” in return at gazelle.com.  Gazelle pays cash for old cell phones, laptops, digital cameras, and other stuff.

Yesterday’s hot gadget becomes today’s pile of junk cluttering-up your closet or basement.  Here’s how to turn that trash into some monetary treasure:

• Go to gazelle.com and setup an account (easy account setup).
• Answer a few quick questions like does the device powers on, and if the battery works.
• Gazelle calculates an offer and if you accept, they will email you a shipping label.

I’ve used gazelle.com and it was a very good experience. After sending in an old phone and laptop, I got several emails from Gazelle keeping me posted on the progress of my order.  About a week later a check arrived just as promised. So Gazelle does what it says, and it doesn’t get much better than that.

Also, Gazelle can setup a website for schools and other groups to organize a gadget drive to raise money.  Or you can use Gazelle to turn gadgets into donations for your favorite charity.  Click here for details.

If you are looking for an easy, non-eBay way to get cash for old electronics, then give gazelle.com a try.

The iMap Weather Radio has an App for your Smartphone or tablet that alerts you of life-threatening weather information.  The application “wakes up” your mobile device when danger approaches.

It uses the phone’s location to determine if there are weather alerts in your area.  It is listed for just $9.99 and is one of those “must-have” apps, especially during storm season.

Here’s the iTunes link:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/weather-radio/id314841443

The iMapWeather Radio app features timely video, voice forecasts, verbal, and/or textual severe weather early warnings including the following:

• Alerts
  Receive a “wake up call” voice from the National Weather Service during severe weather events
• Weather maps
  Interactive local radar maps showing your location relative to emergency warnings.
• Multiple locations
  Receive precise notifications for your location and up to four other locations
• Video Programming
  Check in with local TV severe weather programming with real-time streaming video from your local television stations (where available).

For more info see the following video on the iMapWeather Radio app.

Don’t DISLIKE on Facebook.  Facebook does NOT have a dislike button.  But there is a scam going around inviting you to enable the Facebook DISLIKE feature.  It will infect your machine.  And that’s something you will dislike!

There has been much discussion and hullabaloo about a Facebook dislike button.  One page encouraging Facebook to  add a dislike button has over 3 million supporters. This scam plays into that controversy.

DO NOT enable the Facebook DISLIKE button if you get a wall post or any other e-message encouraging you to do so.  It can really mess-up your system.