Chris Pirillo » desktop

uBoard Review

Chris — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 09:49:16 +0000

uBoard Review is a post from Chris Pirillo

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I do have a lot of desk space, but it’s still not enough. I could always build up if I wanted to, by adding shelves. This would allow me to put things on, under and around the shelving. What type of shelves would I use? I’m glad you asked! The uBoard is not just any old shelf, sitting there doing nothing. It’s an amazing addition to my work space!

Not only can the uBoard help keep your desk organized, it gives you a three-port USB hub! We never have enough USB ports around as Geeks, do we? I know I don’t. You’ll also find a cup holder/notepad holder on the other side of this handy little shelf.

The uBoard is thin and lightweight, and will easily go with your office decor – no matter what style or colors you’ve chosen. You can place your laptop on the shelf, and put your keyboard underneath. You can use your uBoard for any number of things – all of which can help free up your space, and keep you more organized.

I know my uBoard will stay on my desk, and be put to good use. How will you use your uBoard?

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What’s Your Favorite Screen Saver?

Chris — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 09:04:24 +0000

What’s Your Favorite Screen Saver? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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Even when I have something important to talk to you about, I still find my Inbox overrun with the same question – “What screen saver do you use?!”. For whatever reason, that appears to be a burning question in our community. Instead of recording a video today on some deep, intellectual topic, I decided it was best to discuss these screen savers and soothe the question fires. So – where DO I get those awesome screen savers?

I happen to be using screen savers from Really Slick Screensavers. The screen savers there are available for both OS X and Windows – and will cost you nothing but the time it takes to download the files! They’re seriously cool and fun. I admit to sitting and staring at them at times… totally forgetting to do any work!

So now you know what screen saver I’m currently using. Today – this is my favorite, and what you’ll see on my monitors. Tomorrow – who knows? I tend to change it up a bit, depending on cool new things I find.

If you know of even better screen savers for OS X than what you see I have now, email me a link. I’ll definitely check it out.

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How to Create an Icon

Chris — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 09:40:21 +0000

How to Create an Icon is a post from Chris Pirillo

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How many icons do you have on your desktop? I’m betting you probably have a few, unless you have them hidden. Even so, you still have tons of icons on your computer. An icon isn’t like a ‘normal’ graphic, since it can have multiple sizes or resolutions within the same file. They’re quite complex little pieces of art, so how can you easily create them yourself?

ConvertIcon is a simple icon utility. It can import ICO, PNG, GIF, and JPEG formats and export to high-quality PNG or ICO files. There is no software to download and it’s 100% free. It truly is this simple, folks. Just select an image from your computer, choose the size of the icon you want to create, and wait a few seconds while the site does the work for you!

Create custom icons for your documents folder, your My Computer desktop icon, or use them anyplace you wish – on your Windows computer, of course. Sorry Mac people, this one isn’t for you!

The best part of this site isn’t only that it’s easy to use: it’s the fact that you can export your icon into all of the sizes you might want or need. They’re all included in the .ico file (or .png!) that is output when you are finished.

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How to Create Your Own iPhone or Desktop Wallpaper

Chris — Tue, 19 May 2009 06:47:44 +0000

How to Create Your Own iPhone or Desktop Wallpaper is a post from Chris Pirillo

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I don’t know if you remember the Spirograph toy or not. It had these little plastic gears that you stuck a pencil inside of. Then you created different patterns on your paper by moving the gear around with the pencil. The patterns varied depending on the size and shape of the little gear. Come on – I know you remember it!

I have a website for you where you can create similar things on your own, to use for things like your wallpaper! Myoats is simple to use, and allows you to create any number of very cool looking pictures.

Myoats is a community where people create designs using an online drawing application. These designs can be rated, downloaded, and archived. The Most Liked designs are rewarded by being featured on the home page.

Once I created my design, I could save the picture as it was, or export it in one of several different ways. I could even change my design, to change the number of sides it has or change the pencil size. I can increase the line size, the intensity and even the opacity! There are honestly no limits to what you can create on Myoats, other than the limitations within your own creativity.

Check it out, and create something awesome for yourself. Don’t be boring and use the same old wallpaper everyone else has. Make something that is uniquely yours… and then be sure to upload it to your Geeks account to show off!

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How to Create a Seamless Tile Background Image

Chris — Tue, 12 May 2009 15:54:16 +0000

How to Create a Seamless Tile Background Image is a post from Chris Pirillo

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Sure, you can take a small picture and turn it into a tiled background for a web page or your desktop. It’s not difficult to do. What is difficult, though, is creating a background that is seamless out of that small image. Not every image will work for this. It can be really tough to create something that flows together and looks right.

I have a tool for you that works from within your web browser. You can use it to create some kind of seamless image to use wherever you may need it. Repper is really easy to use. Just press “Start tool now”. It will give you a basic image by default. While you’re moving the skin around, it will show you a live, dynamic preview of what you’re doing. It’s the easiest tool I’ve ever seen that will help you accomplish your goal.

I’ve seen plenty of tools over the years that will help you do this. They’re expensive, and hard to figure out. Not only is this easy – it’s also free! Repper is a free-to-use pattern creator that turns your images into eye-catching designs. You can start playing right away: just upload an image and start dragging!

You can use Repper to create unique background patterns for your social profiles or your personal webpage. Or use it for posters or business cards, to design textile patterns or whatever you can think of; your imagination is your only limit!

Make sure you send me your cool ideas and websites! How else can I share them with the rest of the World?

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How Much RAM Does Your Computer Have?

Chris — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:02:12 +0000

How Much RAM Does Your Computer Have? is a post from Chris Pirillo

I remember the days of having only 256MB of RAM, do you? Now that I have several GB of RAM, it’s hard to think back and understand how I managed to function in those days. How did I make anything work? How did I get anything accomplished? How much RAM do you have these days?

2Gb on desktop and also on laptop. – Kol Tregaskes

2GB on desktop, 2GB on both laptops, with dedicated memory for the video cards – SoN9ne

2GB on my home PC and my work laptop. – Alex Scoble CISSP

3GB – Chris W

2GB on my laptop, soon to be upgraded to 4. – Stupid Blogger (aka Tina)

Just 1GB at home but 4GB at work! – orionstarr

8GB on desktop. 4GB on laptop. – Jeff Douglass

2GB – Jason Shultz

512MB – directeur

6G on the Mac Pro, 4G on the Dell laptop. – Joey Gibson

Remember the old days when having 500megs was a big deal! – orionstarr

1GB on my laptop, 4GB on my workstation, 2GB on our media center. – Akiva Moskovitz

my laptop has 4GB ram, 320GB HD. My phone has 8GB flash. my first computer had 4MB ram, 35MB HD. – Chris Hollander

ugh as i have groused before my laptop at work has 500 megs of ram and it is almost physically painful – Marco (aureliusmaximus)

10GB in my Mac Pro, 4GB in my MacBook Pro, 2GB in the MacBook Air – Andru Edwards

2Gb in my 4 year old laptop… – Ricardo Vidal

4GB on MBP, 2GB on my work Dell lappy – saeba

4gb – JohnBfromMemphis

1gb desktop – Nick Munson

500megs was a big deal? I am probably from stone age, KB was for that time. I bet someone has used Byte. – Yu-Jie Lin

2GB laptop and 4GB on desktop – Leandro Ardissone

4gb, but vista only reads 3.5 gb – americanm

2 GB on my laptop and 4GB on my workstation – Saad Kamal

2 Gb, running Vista Business Edition – Alexandre Micaelo

4 gb – RAPatton

4gb laptop – Erik S

15 quadrillion hexamegapetabytes. – Tad, Fool

The correct answer is: never enough. – Mack D. Male

4GB – on a 24" Aluminium iMac – robert sørensen

Tad, you are truly hardcore. ;-) – Kol Tregaskes

4GB Mac Pro, 2gb Macbook Pro – Duncan Riley

4GB in the desktop, 2GB in work-issued Dell Latitude D830 – Mike The SysAdmin

Is there even such a thing as “enough” or “too much” when it comes to RAM?

Do You Make Your Own Desktop and iPhone Wallpapers?

Chris — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 05:13:55 +0000

Do You Make Your Own Desktop and iPhone Wallpapers? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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I’ve talked about Desktoptopia before. It runs in the background, and downloads different backgrounds to your desktop. I usually always have it running. Now remember, a wallpaper is not a screensaver. I’ve found a neat website, though, for creating your own wallpapers. Striped Backgrounds is a free service that allows you to create your own striped backgrounds.

Striped Backgrounds is insanely easy and fun to use. Use the ‘Randomize!’ button to have the site choose colors for you. Or, click on the “color picker” button, and choose your own. You decide what color your stripes should be, and in what order. When you’re happy with what you’ve created, just choose your screen resolution, and click the “Download” button. The picture will open in a new window or tab full-size, and you will then just save it to your computer. Poof! You now have your own customized, striped background.

The nice thing is that they also have an iPhone section. Create striped backgrounds for your iPhone with ease. There are a couple of Google ads on there, but they’re unobtrusive. They don’t bother me at all.

This site is easy, free and functional. Be sure to check it out, and then show me your cool new background.

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Do You Measure Your Desktop with Ruler Software?

Chris — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 23:38:32 +0000

Do You Measure Your Desktop with Ruler Software? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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Since I stream my life while in the office, I get people who ask the same questions every day. One of them is usually “how big are your monitors, anyway?”. I thought I’d answer that question once and for all, using a measuring tape. I think this is going to take awhile, so you should probably get a cup of coffee while I measure. Isn’t there an easier way? Thankfully, there is Rulers. Rulers is free software that works on both Mac and PC.

Rulers allows you to create a set of rulers on your whole screen. Many common graphic editors allow the rulers on their working areas only. Using the guidelines enables you to measure and position objects with precision. It’s incredibly useful in many fields, such as computer graphics, desktop publishing and web design. Rulers can also be used to select a screen area and take a screenshot that is automatically saved to desktop, or copied to system clipboard.

The main features include:

#Unlimited rulers creation
Multiple units of measurement
Multi monitor support
Take a screenshot of selected area or whole screen
Magnifier
Color picker

If you know of other cool cross-platform software, let me hear from you… especially if it’s free. And don’t worry, I survived cutting my thumb.

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Where do you Download Desktop Wallpaper?

Chris — Thu, 29 May 2008 03:55:33 +0000

Where do you Download Desktop Wallpaper? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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Every single day in the chat room, someone asks me where I get my wallpaper from. Sometimes I make them myself, using Oxidizer. Sometimes I download them from somewhere. But my friend Andy Stanberry reminded me about using DestopTopia.

Desktoptopia is a FREE desktop background manager that automatically loads and displays designer desktops on your monitor, as often as you wish. Loving the current desktop? Can’t stop staring at it? Just click Pause in the menubar, and stare all you want. You can also go back, or to the next desktop right from the menubar. Setting how often your desktop changes is just as simple. You can rate desktops anytime from the menubar. You can also subscribe to categories like Photography, Illustration, Typography, Architecture, Graphic Design, 3D, and Abstract. Or you can mix it up with a little from all the categories.

Got two monitors? We’re so jealous. But, Desktoptopia has got you covered. You can decide how you want Desktoptopia to work with your multiple-monitor set up. You can have twice the love and duplicate the desktop on both monitors, only show desktops on one (whichever one you want), or show different desktops on each monitor. Quick, what’s your monitor resolution? Yeah, we don’t know ours either. Desktoptopia will automatically detect your resolution and deliver you the appropriately sized desktop, so your desktops always look their best.

Desktoptopia delivers the most beautiful and inspiring desktops around from our ever-growing collection. But that’s only half the story. They keep our desktops usable, so you can actually find stuff on your desktop.

3d Wallpaper Art - Digital Art Wallpapers.

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How and Where do you Save Files?

Chris — Thu, 08 May 2008 05:36:09 +0000

How and Where do you Save Files? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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Where do you save your files? Do you have any particular folder on your computer? Or… are you one of those people who forgets to save their work? The bottom line is, I want to know how and where you save files. I have a top five here from Nick, to give you some tips on where and how to save your files.

Tip 1 Always finish a file you save with 001 at the end of the file name. Then, when you make any changes, save the next version as

002, and so on. This way, you create a revisioning system in case anything ever happens and you need to revert.

Tip 2 Always save your file in the right folder, especially if you’re working on a specific project. Save all work related to this in one particular folder, and even use SubFolders. You can also use a desktop search tool, such as Copernic Desktop Search.

Tip 3 No matter what you’re doing, save often. For faster saving, use CTRL + S to save your files.

Tip 4 Back up important files. Copy them onto an external hard drive, flash drive, or an external website.

Tip 5 Always save to the correct file type. For example, with a simple Photoshop file, save it as a .jpg or .png. Keep in mind what you’ll be using the file for in the future when you choose your file extension.

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Yule Log: Fire Video Screen Saver for your Desktop or iPod

Chris — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 05:25:21 +0000

Yule Log: Fire Video Screen Saver for your Desktop or iPod is a post from Chris Pirillo

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There’s nothing like a crackling fire to warm you inside and out during the holiday season. And now… you can even have that “fire” on your desktop.

At iYule.tv, you can purchase 30-minutes of crackling fire and a beautiful original score by Geoff Smith formated for wide or standard screen portable players, your computer or Apple TV. This was filmed in high definition, and can come with or without music.

This is a collaborative effort between Geoff, Paul Cullgian, and Cali and Neal. The cost for the Yule Log is anywhere from $5.00 to $10.00, depending on what you need. Why should you pay for this? Well, a portion of the proceeds is going to charity. ‘Tis the Season for giving, after all. In Cali’s own words:

This is something we’ve worked on nights and weekends for almost a month and we hope it’s something that will warm your heart and bring smiles to the faces of friends you share it with.

If you’re giving someone an iPod that plays video this year, load it up with the iYule Log.

If you’re taking that special someone in your life out for a nice holiday dinner, load iYule Log on your iPod and put it on the table for a touch of whimsical romance.

Proceeds will be split by the producers and a percentage will go to three of our favorite charities. Geoff chose the Songs of Love Foundation, a charity that provides personalized songs for chronically and terminally ill children and young adults. Paul has chosen LitLiberation, the largest online literacy experiment in history. Neal and I have chosen Heifer International, a non-profit that helps families in poverty by giving them valuable live animals to provide eggs, milk and farming help.

The video we’ve produced is a cozy multi-sensory experience that pulls me into the romantic essence of a fireplace, every time I turn it on to watch.

You can also get the cool Christmas clock wallpaper you see on my other desktop, for free!

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Christmas Wallpaper

Chris — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 03:40:45 +0000

Christmas Wallpaper is a post from Chris Pirillo

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Ahhhh… the holiday season is upon us, whether you’re ready for it or not! We spend a lot of time, money and effort decorating our homes. Regardless of which holiday you may celebrate… I want to know how you deck your desktop!

I get almost all of my desktop wallpaper from Flickr. Flickr is just amazing. There are now over 2 billion images there from people all over the world. Some of these images come from professionals, and many of them come from everyday users like you and me!

If you want to find some great holiday wallpaper, it’s easy with Flickr. Simply do a keyword search for your favorite holiday term(s). You’ll get literally hundreds of matches to choose from. Flickr pictures make excellent quality wallpaper, as well.

If you’d like to send your holiday photos to my digital photo frame, you can upload them to Flickr, and tag them with chrisframe. I am subscribed to an RSS Feed that will automatically download them to my frame.

What do you do to decorate your home, and deck your desktop? Let’s hear from all of you out there!

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Changing Your Desktop Wallpaper is Easy!

Chris — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 09:33:31 +0000

Changing Your Desktop Wallpaper is Easy! is a post from Chris Pirillo

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Chances are, you have a picture on your monitor screen behind your icons. This is called your desktop, and the picture is your wallpaper. It’s exceedingly easy to change this picture, and I’m going to show you how.

Let’s say you’re surfing the Internet, and come across a picture that is funny or beautiful. You’d love to look at this picture all the time! Well, you can! Simply right click the picture in Windows, and choose “Set as Background”. Voila. That picture is now on your desktop. In Safari for OS X, right click the picture and choose “Use image as desktop picture”.

Oh, wait. You say you don’t have a right mouse button on your Mac? You don’t need one. Simply hold down the Ctrl key and click your mouse button. This does the same thing as a right click on a standard Windows mouse.

Some people may want to choose to use a picture already on their computer, and switch to it as their background. On Windows, you can right click on your desktop, choose Properties, and then click on the “Desktop” tab. You can now browse to any picture on your computer, and set it as your background. On a Mac, go to your System Preferences, and click on the Desktop and Screensaver button. From there, choose “Desktop”. You can now browse any of the pre-installed pictures from Apple to use, or browse to your own picture to set as the background.

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Change Your Desktop Theme in Windows XP

Chris — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 05:12:16 +0000

Change Your Desktop Theme in Windows XP is a post from Chris Pirillo

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Have your meeting online, with GoToMeeting. You can get a free 45-day trial at GoToMeeting.com/ChrisPirillo.

Several people joined me on a GoToMeeting. Using that, we can share and see each others’ desktops, as well as talk to each other. During this video, one of the chatters shared with us the site he uses to customize his desktop.

GoToMeeting is a great way to conference in several people at once. I’ve been using it for about a week now, and we’ve had a great time getting a bunch of our community members together. The interaction has sparked some excellent conversation.

One of the chatters has a really cool desktop, and was asked where he got it from. There are two different places he goes: DeviantArt.com and CrystalXP.net. At both sites, you can obtain free images to use for your desktop wallpaper.

Changing your wallpaper on your XP desktop is simple. Once you’ve saved the picture you want to use, do the following:

Right click anywhere on your desktop and choose “properties”.
Click on the “desktop” tab
Click “browse”, and navigate to where your picture is saved, then select it.
Click “Apply”, and you’re all set! You can also choose whether to display the picture centered, stretched, or tiled.

Also, you can simply navigate to your picture on your hard drive, right click on it, and choose to “save as desktop background”… you just don’t get the options to center it, etc.

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Laptop vs Desktop

Chris — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 16:01:33 +0000

Laptop vs Desktop is a post from Chris Pirillo

http://live.pirillo.com/ – Compucraze64 from the chat room writes in:

For Christmas, you may or may not know I’m really hoping for a computer as long as I get half of the money for it. And I want a desktop computer. However, my dad disagrees and always says no and that I should get a laptop. I keep trying to convince him that a desktop contains more power and hard drive space for less cost. But, he insists on a laptop. Is there any other way I can convince him into a desktop instead of a laptop.

The real question here is: which is better for your lifestyle?

A laptop has a huge advantage for students and people on the go: mobility. Laptops offer the ultimate in mobility, allowing you to take your laptop almost anywhere. While you may not have as much power, you’ll be able to take everything with you much more easily then it would be to drag a desktop across the city.

Desktops do offer more performance per dollar, but they are stationary, and getting your data around can be a bit more difficult.

Chris recommends making an argument – a list of positive reasons – why a desktop would be better to own than a laptop.

Can you help compucraze64 build a list of reasons for getting a desktop or against getting a laptop?

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How to Handle Remote Tech Support

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:30:00 GMT

Using GoToAssist is the easiest way to view and control another person's computer online. Use it to provide instant technical support to family, friends and customers. Start a session with just one click, and instantly connect with the other party.

Network Tools for Windows

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

You need these network tools, no matter which operating systems and networks you have to support. SolarWinds ipMonitor: Affordable Network Monitoring for SMBs. Get turnkey network, server and application availability monitoring with SolarWinds ipMonitor v9.0. This easy-to-use, reliable solution for SMBs delivers out-of-the-box availability monitoring so you always know exactly what's up with Active Directory, DNS, Exchange, FTP, Web, IMAP, MS SQL Server, and SMTP. Download your free trial today. Or, try their totally free tools! And, through 2/29, save 20% when you purchase ipMonitor 9.0.

Get Your Own Web Site

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

Starting at just $3.99/month, web hosting from GoDaddy includes 99.9% uptime, 24/7 support and free access to GoDaddy Hosting Connection, THE place to install over 30 FREE applications sure to help you get the most from your hosting plan and Web site. Enter code CP2 at checkout, and save an additional 10% on any order.

Plus, as a friend of Chris Pirillo, enter code CHRIS7, that's C-H-R-I-S and the number 7, when you check out, and save an additional 10% on any order. Get your piece of the internet at GoDaddy.com.

VMware and Parallels for Virtual Machines

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

It doesn't matter if you're running on Windows or Mac OS X - every power user needs either Parallels or VMware (or both). There's never been an easier way to test software without destroying your primary operating system's stability. Think of how many times you wish you could press a 'reverse' button on your computer. Plus, there's no easier way to try new Linux distributions - see what all the fuss is about. Run Windows in OS X, run Linux in Windows, but the best way to do either is with VMware and/or Parallels.

Coupons for Online Shopping

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 07:56:13 GMT

This feed is fueled by Lockergnome Online Shopping and Coupon Codes

Before you shop next time, see if we have a coupon first.