Monday, January 24, 2011

A Network in Your Pocket

GroupMe lets you effortlessly group text with the people in your life that are important to you. It's your real-life network, in your pocket. It's totally free and works on every phone.
I've just recently started texting, because now we have a texting package on our cell phones.  So far I've sent a few texts to my kids, and I've updated my twitter and facebook from my phone.  And that's about it.

I may not have a use for this yet, but I can definitely see how GroupMe could come in handy.  It's a free service that lets you create multiple groups of contacts, such as family, soccer team, business associates, study group.  Then, each group gets assigned a special number.  Send a text to that number, and everyone in the group gets it, no scrolling through contacts and selecting multiple recipients.  Replies to the group number go to everyone in the group.  You can also call a group number for an instant conference call - for those times that texting just doesn't cut it.

I started a group of my own and got a number (262)528-3922 - because it was free and I could - and it was easy.  So far I'm the only person in it, so if you want to be part of my group, let me know! Or just check out GroupMe and start some groups of your own.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Reviewing a Product from CSN Stores

The kind folks at CSN Stores have offered to let me review one of their products.  Of course I jumped at the chance because there are a lot of really nice products available from CSN Stores.  With over 200 online stores, CSN Stores has practically anything you need or want.  You can buy area rugs, ceiling fans, corner tv stands, dinnerware, home decor, and so much more.  My problem is going to be deciding what it is that I want! 

If you haven't heard of CSN Stores before, be sure to check them out.  You can shop at any or all of those over 200 stores and check out with one shopping cart.  Shipping is free on many items, and their customer service is really great. 

Come back soon to see my review.  Well, not too soon - I've got some deciding to do!

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Royalty Free Music

I was trying to put together a video today using Windows Live Movie Maker.  I’m not sure exactly what I did, but at some point it told me that I had not added any music and did I want to add some now.  Sure, why not.  So I started looking through my music files to find something appropriate.  How do you even know what music is appropriate for a video?

 

Well, obviously I don’t know, because the song I picked (because it didn’t have words – that was my reason) wasn’t right – or so my son said.  Then he pointed me to the Royalty Free Music available on incompetech.  I hadn’t heard of it before – of course, I’d never been looking for music for a video before – so I checked it out.  Sure enough, lots of music to choose from, free to use with attribution under a Creative Commons license.

 

I didn’t end up choosing anything because, while you can browse by genre and feel, I still didn’t know what I was looking for.  Maybe next time…