Convert WMV to iPad compatible file

I like to combine digital photos with the movies that I take with my PureDigital Flip Camera and make them into slideshows using HP Memories Creator which came bundled with my HP printer.

Thought it would be nice to have a slideshow presentation like that on my iPad.

Well, I figured out how.  And I didn’t have to buy any new programs to do it - the necessary programs were free.

I got the Windows Live Movie Maker program free from Microsoft.
Get yours here.  It comes as part of the Live Essentials package. You have to have Windows 7 to run WLMM.

In Windows Live Movie Maker, I can combine photos, videos, music and have special effects and all kinds of cool stuff.  It generates a WMV file.  WMV files can be viewed in a Windows Media Player.

You cannot upload a WMV file to the iPad / iPodTouch. 

You will need to convert that WMV file into a MP4, which is compatible with the iPad and iPod Touch.  And to convert it, you need another free program - Any Video Converter.  Get the “Any Video Converter Free”.

Once you convert the WMV to MP4, you upload the MP4 through iTunes, the usual way. 

I’ve been looking for a WMV file convertor for a long time.  The ones I’ve seen cost $40 to $50.  Free is so much nicer!  And you can convert WMV to AVI, also.

And Microsoft has another nice free program that does a nice slideshow of zooming in, out and across photos – Photo Story.  It really makes a nice presentation of your quilts, with music.  Or make a slideshow of the construction of a particular quilt (or gift) for a special occasion.  It will generate a WMV file that you can convert to MP4 for iPad / iPodTouch.

Computer running slow?

If your computer is running slow, it is time for a little bit of maintenance.  If you’ve let it go for awhile, this maintenance might take more than a little while to complete.  But, future maintenance will be a piece of cake.

I knew that fonts were probably causing my computer to boot up slowly.  But, I was hesitant to remove them.  Ya know, the fonts I throw out today are going to be the fonts I’ll need tomorrow!

Today AOL had this article  that had some tips and links to getting your computer up to speed.  It also gave me a link to Microsoft’s directions on adding fonts, removing fonts and deleting fonts.  And in those directions, there’s directions to move fonts.  Now, I didn’t know I could move fonts.  That’s gonna work for me.  I will see what fonts I can live without and move them to my external harddrive.  That way they won’t boot up.  And if I ever find I need them, I know where to find them.

When I went to C > Windows > Fonts > I was shocked to see that I had 1339 fonts on my computer!  Just about every program you install seems to put in their own fonts – especially the publishing programs.  I got a big moving job ahead of me.  I’ll just do a little at a time, when I can spare the time.

And then there was a link to an article about what you should do at least once a month to improve your computer’s performance.  I must say that I’m pretty good about doing the Disk Cleanup and Defragging.  But, I will now add Disk Check to my list.

Lists for iPod Touch

Has this ever happened to you – you bring home a book from the library and when you start reading it, you realize you have read it before?  The thought of dragging around a list of “books read” never appealed to me.  Although I did meet a gentleman at the library who had a printed list (of many pages) of books he had read!  It would have to be constantly re-printed, in order to keep it in alphabetical order, or sorted by author.

I do bring an envelope of clippings of articles on books to watch for when I go to the library.  What a mess that is to look through!

So, I thought – how about putting the list on a page on my website and then I could look at the list at the library on my iPod Touch.  Wow!  What a great idea this is!

I can update it at any time and don’t have to print anything to have a current list at my finger tips.

I had a head start on a list of books I had read, as I had created one on a spreadsheet, years ago, but I never kept up on it.  I was able to get names of some “books read” from the notes in the envelope.  My list is not complete, but it I had to start somewhere and now was a good time.

I also have a list of books I want to read.  And also a list of my favorite authors.  I can hardly wait to try this out the next time I go to the library!

Then, I thought, why not put up a list of movies we’ve watched so that I can access them on my iPod Touch?  So when someone asks me, “seen any good movies lately?”, I can just whip out my iPod Touch & flick through the list of movies to jog my memory.

It was easy to get up a list of movies, cuz I’ve been keeping track of the movies we’ve watched since we got Netflix in Dec. 2009.

We recently enjoyed “Fracture” with Anthony Hopkins. A good courtroom drama with suspense.

Another thing I have put on my website – for my own use – is a webpage that has a list of all my favorite links.  So, it’s real easy to find all my “private pages” – all I have to do is remember the address of that one page.
I can do that …

Desktop Wallpaper WindowsXP

I got bored with my desktop wallpaper – same old, same old.  So, I went to National Geographic and found they have some wonderful photos to download for wallpaper.  For free.

And, if you have trouble with WindowsXP and viewing the text below your desktop icons cuz the text is the wrong color to be easily seen – here’s the thing that worked for me – found the solution on a forum --

Right-click on your desktop
“Arrange icons by…”
”Lock web items on desktop”
It puts a colored box around the text and changes the default white text to black text.  Then if the colored box is not to your liking, just change it to any color you wish with the “Color” field which brings up the whole color wheel.  Choose a color to blend in with the wallpaper or contrast with it.  In any event, you will have black text instead of white text.

Have some fun with a whole new desktop!

iPod Touch & Sewing

I found another great use for the iPod Touch.  I found the best way to keep track of my sewing stitches and the adjustments I make to the stitches on my new Janome 6600 is to take a close-up picture of the foot used and then type notes on the photo.

If you click on the pic above, you will be able to read the note better on the enlarged pic.  My note tells me the Needle Position to use for a 1/4” seam when using the Open-Toe AccuFeed foot.  And the red arrows remind me where to line up the raw edge of fabric with the foot.

Putting this in the IPod Touch saves on ink and paper as I don’t have to print it out.  I bring my iPod Touch into my sewing room a lot.

Urawaza

That’s how the article in today’s Sun-Sentinel newspaper started out. Urawaza is the Japanese word for simple, clever lifestyle fixes for difficult problems. Funny, I had just heard about how to dry out a cell phone by putting it into uncooked rice on today’s “Today Show with Kathie Lee & Hoda” and that hint was in the article.

The article said to go to LifeHacker for more low-cost remedies. I stayed a while at LifeHacker! I put that site into my Favs. Tons of things to find out about. Says it is a “geek” site, but I found a lot of useful stuff which I did not consider “geeky”.

I found out about Google Analytics which comes with high recommendations as a great Stat Counter for websites and blogs from LifeHacker.

And I also found out about “Windows Live Writer” which is what I am using right now to write this blog entry. It’s the #3 Tool on their list of http://lifehacker.com/5161867/top-10-tools-for-your-blog-or-web-site

I’ve put in the pic above to see how it’s gonna handle graphics and if it will put the hyperlink on the pic so that it can be viewed larger. I like that the pic is put in place where it will appear – not at the top of the post, like Blogger does which requires me to move it to where it should be. There were several options for the borders of the pic – I chose to round the corners.

I do appreciate the spell checker in the program!
There’s even “strike-through” = strike- through if ever you need it.

I think Windows Live Writer is Urawaza!

Found while looking for something else

I just found the coolest place to subscribe to podcasts that are all about “things computer”. Years ago, there used to be a TV show called “Cnet Central” that had all kinds of tips for computer users and news about the latest “gotta haves”. In today’s paper there was an article about making your computer run faster - http://tinyurl.com/csuk5d

The article mentioned a video to watch on how to install more RAM in your computer. It said to go to cnettv.cnet.com , which I did and I found a ton of informational video podcasts that I could subscribe to. I immediately subscribed to Apple Byte, Insider Secrets, Cnet Top 5 and Quick Tips. It gave me the option to choose iTunes and they’re downloaded and waiting to go into my iPod Touch. They also had a little video that had 3 tips on how to make the most of AdAware, which I watched.

I will definitely be back to Cnet to see what else I might be missing! LOL

Fabric shopping with iPodTouch

Found out the coolest and greenest thing (no printing) to do with my iPod Touch. My method works with EQ6, but you might find other uses.

When I design a quilt in EQ6 and print out the Fabric Yardage to take with me to the store, I find the printout is “not exactly” what I viewed on my computer monitor in the design process. BUT if I view an exported image of the fabric, it looks “exactly” like what I saw on my computer. AND when I put that image in my iPod Touch, it gives me a much better idea of what fabrics I need to get. Can zoom in and out of the pic, too.

The fabrics I used to design the quilt might not be available when I go shopping. Why do fabric manufactures have to change their lines so often? I have some wonderful fabric in my stash that was purchased years ago and it is just as “current” as fabrics of today. And is sometimes just “exactly” what I need. I hate using up a favorite fabric, cuz I know I won’t be able to replace it.

So, if those desired fabrics are not available when I go shopping, when I view the fabric images on my iPod, I get a pretty close representation of what I need and can buy something that is “close enough”.

I found that creating 3 images covers all bases.

1) An exported pic of the quilt (a faraway look)

2) A “print screen” of the fabrics from the sketchbook (a close-up of fabrics)

3) A “print screen” of the fabric yardage page (yardage requirements)

2 & 3 were manipulated in PaintShopPro with some text added on 3. Actually, all you’d have to do is crop them and maybe add some text to 3 – like the date. And with the “zoom in” feature on the iPodTouch, you can view all of what you want to see.

If you have the current edition of “Stash” and used fabrics from there, you could probably find those fabrics still at your Local Quilt Shop. Then you might want to go the extra step and take a “print screen” of each fabric and its notecard. That way you would have the Manufacturer, the line and the numbers needed to purchase that fabric. No paper needed! Is this green or what!

I’m thinking that shopping at online shops would be easier by matching the iPod Touch image of fabric to an online image of fabric.

Printing pages

While talking with a friend, I realized that she didn’t know that her printer could print more than 1 page to a sheet. So I thought I’d blog about it, in case others didn’t know about this. You’ll really save on paper.

There might be different options on your printer or your printer may not even offer the options that mine does, but here’s what I can do on my HP OfficeJet 6210.

FILE > PRINT > PROPERTIES (or PAGE SETUP > PRINTER > PROPERTIES)
I am shown 7 different tabs that offer different options.

On the FINISHING tab, I can choose the number of pages to print PER SHEET of PAPER! If I print webpages, I usually use the 2 pages per sheet option and I can read the print just fine.

After I click 2 pages per sheet, I get an option in the right column where I can print PORTRAIT or LANDSCAPE.

Go through your printer “preferences” or “options” and see what’s available to you.

I really like the ability to print more than one page per sheet. If I print directions off of a webpage (or from a PDF file), I can get away with using far less paper.

And if you use PRINT PREVIEW in your Browser, you can see which pages you want (or don’t want) to print. And that saves on paper, too.