How Do I...

How Do I Braise Beef?

2009-02-19T12:51:00.003-08:00

How Do I Braise Beef?

Braised beef is excellent, tender and can add a little different texture to a meal that might surprise your family. Instead of cooking in a crock pot or on the grill, this is an excellent alternative.

Braising beef is a thrifty way to cook as typically more tough cuts of meat are used. The meat is browned and then simmered in a liquid until tender.

How to Braise Beef: (from wikihow)

Select a roast. Pot roast, chuck roast or any lean, inexpensive cut may be used.
Brown the roast on all sides in a small amount of oil in a Dutch Oven over medium-high heat on the stove top until well browned.
Add seasonings and aromatics such as garlic or onion.
Add a small amount of liquid, an inch or so deep. Water, broth, beer or wine are all good choices as braising liquids.
Cover and simmer over low heat or in a 250 degrees F. oven until the internal temperature of the roast is 150 degrees; this should be about one to three hours, depending on the size of the roast.
Check the roast occasionally with an instant meat thermometer to test the internal temperature, and replenish the liquid if necessary.
The remaining liquid may be served au jus or may be used to make a nice gravy.

How Do I Dress to Play Ice Hockey?

2009-02-19T12:51:00.001-08:00

How to Dress to play ice hockey...

Here are the basics of getting dressed to play ice hockey:

First and foremost you are going to want to start off with your underlying garments such as maybe a compression shirt or shorts.

From there you are going to want to put on your protective cup which may also have girdles to hold up your socks. From there I usually like to put on a shin pad and then another shin pad. After that you are going to want to pull up your socks in order to hold these shin pads in place. You can have one for each leg. From there you are usually going to want to put your pants on right after that in order so you are not going to get into any confusion while getting dressed and encounter any problems such as if you were to put your skates on the floor you're not going to be able to pull your pants up over your skates. So after your pants probably move down to your skates. You don't have to go any particular order, left or right.

Go ahead and lace up your skates.

After that you are going to be complete with your bottom half of equipment. From there you are going to want to put on your shoulder pads and adjust them so that they are snug on top of your body. Once your shoulder pads are on you can move to your elbow pads and then once your elbow pads are on, almost done, go ahead and strap your jersey on and then you'll be just like I am here and the only thing you are going to need is your helmet, your gloves, and your stick and you'll be ready to take the ice. So that's how you get equipped in the basics of ice hockey.

How do I dress to play ice hockey?

How Do I Dance the Electric Slide?

2009-02-19T12:50:00.004-08:00

How do I Dance the Electric Slide?

I think the best way to explain this one is to show some videos. The best way to learn it is to practice and even take dance classes. I am sure there are dance studios in your area that will teach you the electric slide and it might be fun to meet new people.

If you are dead set against classes then here you go. First, an explanation of what the Electric Slide is.

From Wikipedia:The Electric Slide is a four wall line dance. The dance was created by American dancer Ric Silver. Originally called The Electric, the dance was created in 1976 for the re-opening of Vamps Disco in New York at 71st and Broadway. It was choreographed to the international hit song Electric Boogie by Marcia Griffiths; the song was written for Griffiths by Bunny Wailer, who did not copyright the song until 1982. The song was originally released in 1976 and re-released in 1989, when it became a dance craze.

You can learn it from dvd's like these:

How Do I Work Out Averages?

2009-02-19T12:50:00.003-08:00

How do I work out Averages?

Working out averages is one of the most simple things to do in math, other than addition and subtraction of course. Working out averages is a good thing and can come in quite handy in a lot of situations. You never know when you might need to work out an average.

The basic formula is this: you take the sum of the numbers you want to find the average of and divide that by the amount of numbers you just added up.

Example:

Lets find the average of these 10 numbers:

958

100

498

10000

If we add all of these 1o numbers together, we get 11,722

So we then take that number divided by 10 ( because that is how many numbers we added up) and we get 1,172.2.

So there you have it, we worked out the average of ten numbers. This same formula can be applied to any amount of numbers. Next time you ask How do I work out averages? You will know.

How Do I Fix My TV?

2009-02-19T12:50:00.001-08:00

How do I fix my tv?

First you need to figure out what is wrong with the tv. You can ask yourself these basic questions first:

1. Is the power cord plugged in to both the wall and the tv?
2. Is there power going to the plug that it is plugged in to? Maybe there is a switch that needs to be turned on.
3. Is the tv on the right channel? Sometimes nothing will show up because it is on the wrong channel.
4. Did the tv work previously? if it is brand new, take it back and get another one.

If you answered yes to all of the previous questions then you have a bigger problem.

At this point, fixing your tv might not be the best thing for you to do yourself. But if you feel like digging in, and you think that you have the skills to replace some parts, then you might want to try and do it yourself.

If you do want to try and fix your tv yourself, then I suggest going to www.fixyourowntv.com and telling them your problem and ordering the parts to fix it. They seem to be the best available options for that sort of thing.

If you don't want to do it, I suggest contacting your tv's warranty repair shop and taking there to get it fixed.

Fixing your tv doesn't have to be hard, just let the experts handle it, or give it a try yourself.

How do I fix my tv?

How Do Ipods Work?

2009-02-19T12:49:00.000-08:00

How do iPods Work?

Shop iPods

We all know the iPod, if you don't know of it, you must be from another planet and wouldn't be interested in this article anyways. If you are thinking about buying an iPod or already own one and interested in how it works, here you go.

The iPod Rocks!

The iPod is usually categorized as a portable music device that among other things play music files such as MP3's. MP3's are digital files that can be played on most computers today. Music is not saved in analog form; instead it is saved in digital form, and stored on a hard drive or flash memory unit or in the case of the iPod a miniature digital hard drive. It should be noted that besides the ability to play MP3's, most iPod's can play AAC, WAV, AIFF, Apple Lossless and Audible 2, 3 and 4 formats.

I am sure you have some, or used to have some audio CD's right? Well a CD can hold about 80 minutes of music, which isn't very much.

How does the Apple iPod fit hours upon hours of music in such a small amount of space? The answer is compression.

The iPod can fits so much music because of the codecs that it uses to compress the MP3's or other digital audio files. Codecs are compression decompression algorithms and are formulas that allow you to shrink the size of large files into very small and manageable files. The iPod is able to read these shrunken files and create high quality audio files out of them, which in turn play the sound to your earpiece and let you enjoy the music.

Today, there are many different types of iPod's available. They can include traditional iPod's, video iPod's, the iPod Nano and the iPod Shuffle. These different types of iPods usually use one of two types of storage; miniature hard drives or flash memory.

Miniature hard drives can be smaller than 2 inches and fit as much as 80 gigabytes of data, making it extremely easy to store your entire music collection and download several full length motion pictures. On smaller sized units such as the iPod Nano and iPod Shuffle a different type of storage media is used, it is called flash memory. This type of storage unit usually holds from 1 to 8 GB of data. The advantage of using flash memory is that it is even smaller than miniature hard drives and extremely thin, allowing an even smaller device to be created.

How do you get music onto your iPod?

For the most part, transferring audio and video files to your iPod is extremely easy and convenient. There are two main ways that most people transfer files to their iPod; using iTunes and transferring their MP3 or other files from their computer.

iTunes is Apple's music and video store that sells digital files that users can download. These files come in a format called AAC and include DRM (Digital Rights Management) so that there are limitations on how you use these files. Usually your iPod can easily synch up with iTunes with the help of your computer and transfer the music from the iTunes site off the internet directly to your iPod through the use of a USB cable.

For those people that already have CD's or MP3's on their home computer, your iPod also plays these types of files. You can easily synch your iPod up with your home computer or computing device and send these files from one device to another. It should be noted that depending on the type of iPod you own, you can transfer music files, view music videos, TV shows, full length motion pictures and even digital photos.

How do Ipods Work?

How Do I Turn Off the Norton Firewall?

2009-02-19T12:48:00.004-08:00

How do I turn off the Norton Firewall?

Buy at Amazon.com

Turning off the Norton Firewall is sometimes necessary to do certain things, download or upload certain files etc. You obviously want to turn off the norton firewall for something, otherwise you wouldn't be here.

Here goes:

Norton Internet Security

Log on using an account with Adult or Supervisor rights. Open Norton Internet Security.
On the left side of the window, click Internet Status and then click Current Status.
In the Current Status window, click Disable.

Norton Personal Firewall

Open Norton Personal Firewall.
On the left side of the window, click Internet Status and then click Current Status.
In the Current Status window, click Disable

You can also disable Norton Personal Firewall by right-clicking on the Norton Personal Firewall icon in the notification area of the taskbar and selecting disable.

Next time you ask "How do I Turn Off the Norton Firewall?" you will know the answer.

How Do I Apply for Cobra?

2009-02-19T11:58:00.000-08:00

How do I apply for Cobra insurance?

FIrst you need to determine if Cobra is right for you vs. a traditional health insurance plan.

Do you have health insurance already? Do you want to make regular doctors visits? How much are you willing to spend on insurance per month?

These are all important questions and should be answered before looking into any kind of insurance plan.

COBRA isn't actually a company or a type of insurance, it is a law that was passed and the COBRA stands for Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act.

You should seriously consider continuing your health benefits under COBRA if you...

have had comprehensive benefits and don't mind paying more for them.
want continual, guaranteed coverage at a higher cost.
have had recent health problems.
have had ongoing health problems.
are taking expensive medications.
have been declined for private insurance recently.
have a history of medical problems.
have had an accident within the 60 day window of enrollment.
are pregnant or planning to get that way.
got a job and your new employer does not offer a health plan.

The best way to apply would be to call your favorite health care provider and ask them about their Cobra plans, or if you don't feel like doing that, then visit www.cobrainsurance.com and get a quote.

How do I apply for Cobra?

How Do I Know if my Son Has Allergies?

2009-02-17T14:01:00.000-08:00

How do you know if your son has Allergies?

Allergies are something that affect many people of all ages. We usually find out that we are allergic to something at a very young age, and can actually develop allergies due to exposure to certain foods. Things like peanuts for example, if given to a child at too young of an age can cause them to develop an allergy.

The best way to find out if your son has allergies

A skin test

A skin test is used to identify the substances that are causing your allergy symptoms. Basically an allergen is applied to your son's skin, then the skin is scratched or poked to allow exposure and then the results are evaluated. It may also be done by injecting the allergen under the skin, or by applying it to a patch that is worn on the skin for a while.

The poke or scratch test takes about 5-10 minutes overall and is relatively painless. I would plan on staying for about an hour for the overall appointment so plan for that. The reason is waiting for the results, which take about 15 minutes to see how your skin reacts.

Patch tests take longer, as you must wear the patch for about 48 hours to determine if there is a delayed reaction. Unfortunately during this time you can't go swimming or take a bath. Then you have to go back to the doctor to have the results checked and see if he is ok.

When Should I Call My Doctor?

Call your doctor or emergency number immediately if your son experiences any of the following symptoms:

Fever
Lightheadedness
Wheezing
Shortness of breath
Extensive rash
Swelling of the face, lips or mouth
Difficulty swallowing

Now you don't have to ask how do I know if my son has allergies anymore. You can feel confident that you will know what to do and you can prevent any accidents from happening by going to your doctor first.

How Do I Find Someone's Email Address?

2009-02-17T13:26:00.000-08:00

How do I find someone's email address?

A lot of people might want to look up an email address for one reason or another. Maybe you want to find out a long lost friend's email address to reconnect, or you might want to find out the name of the person who is sending you harrassing emails? Whatever your reasons for wanting to find someone's email address, there are some easy ways to get it done.

You Can Pay For It

If you don't mind spending a few bucks on the information, and letting someone else do the work for you, then this is probably the best way to find someone's email address. A prime example of a site that will do this for you is www.emailfinder.com

With Email Finder, you can search by email address to find the name attached to it, or you can search by name to find an email. They also have options to search what Social Networking sites a person is on and you can do background checks.

The cost is either $14.95 for a one time purchase of one report, or you can pay $1.95/mo and have access to as many searches as you want for the entire year. Either way, relatively painless procedure and it is easy.

Free Methods

This way is not quite as simple and if you are thinking about doing it for free, and you really need that special someone's email address, then I would suggest you slap yourself. Not hard, just a nice firm slap on the face. Now wakeup.

If your time is worth more than $15/hr than I suggest you pay someone who already has a database of emails. It just isn't worth it.

But if you insist, here are a few search methods that are free and usually don't turn up any sort of relevant results, but you might have better luck.

Yahoo! People Search
http://people.yahoo.com/

WhoWhere?
http://www.whowhere.lycos.com/

MESA, the Meta Email Search Agent
http://mesa.rrzn.uni-hannover.de/

There you go. Next time you find yourself asking How do I find someone's email address? you won't have to go far to find the answer.

How Do I Decorate Myspace?

2009-02-12T22:15:00.000-08:00

How Do I Decorate Myspace?

Decorating your myspace page can be a fun way to show off your personality and showcase your favorite team, celebrity or musician. There are lots of things you can do to your myspace page to decorate it, and unlike facebook, myspace allows you to do almost anything with your personal page.

Myspace 2.0

Let's start with the overall theme of your myspace page. Myspace now has a 2.0 feature that lets you upgrade to their new version, or if you are just signing up, that is the version you will start with. Upgrading to 2.0 gives you many new options, some of them include:

- Profile 2.0 gives you granular control over privacy, and enhanced customization options.
- Hide your comments, friends, age, last login, and more.
- Make parts of your profile visible to specific groups of friends (friend categories).
- New themes to style your page without any knowledge of HTML or pasting codes.
- Profile 2.0 loads faster and has a sleeker, more modern look.

Notice the new themes addition. This allows you to integrate a new theme to your page easily without any technical know how. You can change around the layout of your apps and add modules to the page in almost any order you would like. The Profile 2.0 is a definite improvement and can be very easily updated.

If you want to change your theme for example you need to:

1. Login to your account.

2. Click on the Profile - Customize Profile Tab

3. Choose your overall theme from the available list.

4. Choose your layout ie. two columns, three columns, etc. there are a bunch.

5. Choose your modules if you want to take off or add any

6. Hit the Preview Button

7. If you like what you see, hit publish and your page is done.

Myspace 1.0

If you have an older version of the profile on myspace you will need much more technical know how. If you insist on finding out exactly how to update your old page, I would suggest searching Google for myspace layouts and usually each layout has instructions on where to past the code.

Most of the time there is some code that needs to be posted in the About Me section as well as the Who I'd Like To Meet section in the admin area. Posting the provided code will automatically change the look of your page. If you know anything about CSS, then you might be able to go in and change the look of your page even more by editing that code.

Now when someone asks you "How do I Decorate Myspace?" you can help them and make it easy for them to get the job done.

How Do I Put an RSS Feed on my Website?

2009-02-12T15:01:00.000-08:00

How do i put an RSS feed on my website?

This post is assuming that you are talking about posting a public RSS feed or a feed from a third party provider. This type of setup will basically allow you to show the feed or headlines from another website on your site. A lot of people do this to dynamically update the contents on their own site without really having to create anything themselves.

There are a number of options to do this, some for .php and .asp or just iframes basically that sit in your HTML. Depending on what type of site you have, you will need to find the best suited feed for your needs.

RSS Feed Resources -
a great start if you want to put an rss feed on my website.

rss2html.php
- free PHP script for dynamically displaying RSS feeds as html.

RSS2HTML Pro - free PHP script for dynamically displaying RSS feeds as html.FeedRoll

Pro - display content using PHP or javascript.

FeedForAll- export your rss feed to html or an html table so that search engines will see the rss feed contents when they spider! OR use a FREE PHP script to display RSS feeds.

rss2html.asp
- free ASP script for dynamically displaying RSS feeds using ASP.

RSS2HTML.com
- service for displaying RSS feeds.

RSS Cache - the rss2html Cache module saves the feed locally for a specified period of time, making feed retrieval much quicker.

FutureRSS
- this allows Items in a RSS feed to be created ahead of time, and then slowly released over a period of time.

GoArticles
- Syndicate articles appearing on GoArticles a large article repository.

RSS to Java Script - Free rss/rdf to javascript conversion. No XML or programming expierence is necessary.

Feed2J
- An RSS Feed is a dynamically generated summary (in XML format) of information or news published on other web sites- so when the published RSS changes, your web site will be automatically changed too.

Link Ripper - This tool will reach out to a web page, strip out a chunk of that page's source between a start and the end string, strip out all the hyperlinks, and return them

RSSLib
- install RSSlib scripts and customize them to add content directly to your web pages. These scripts are made with PHP & ASP.

NewsletterByRSS
- sign up for an NewslettersByRSS email address, add this email address to your newsletter subscription. Your newsletter RSS feed is automatically created!

QuickRSSFeeds
- enter the url of the RSS feed and it will generate java script that will display the feed on your website.

FeedRoll
- a free service for syndicating popular RSS and ATOM news feeds on your website or blog. Select a feed, customize the design, then copy and paste the code provided onto your page.

RSS to JavaScript - RSS-to-JavaScript.com was designed to easily convert any valid RSS, RDF or ATOM feed into easy to implement Javascript. No XML or programming expierence is necessary.

RSSmesh
- The RSSmesh script is used to merge multiple RSS feeds into a single RSS feed.

This list should be a good start for you to put an rss feed on your website. There are a number of other options but this list covers most of them.

How do I put an RSS feed on my website?

How do I pray?

2009-02-11T20:56:00.000-08:00

How do I pray?

This question just doesn't have one answer. There are so many ways to pray some of which include being a part of an organized religion, meditation, bible study and going out into nature and thanking God for all of what he has created. There are roughly 40 different organized religions in the world today.

Webster's New World Dictionary (Third College Edition) defines religion as:"any specific system of belief and worship, often involving a code of ethics and a philosophy."

Within organized religions, there are rituals. Some receive holy communion or "Christs body and blood" as well as tithing which means to give a percentage of your annual earnings to a church and the clergy. Some practice certain gestures like kneeling, the sign of peace, genuflecting, singing and praising. More extreme gestures may include "spiritual cleansing and healing" performed by the minister. Millions of people are members of one form of organized religion. The community, rituals and doctrine of these religions are very comforting to people.

Some alternatives to belonging to an organized religion would include daily meditations, affirmations and/or prayer. Living a life of faith in a higher power, giving thanks and being a generous and kind person are spiritual alternatives as well. Some choose to donate to charitable causes rather than to tithe to a church. Some believe that God did not specify one "true" religion and instead wants us to have a relationship with him how each of us see fit.

Still others believe that there is no God or higher power. This belief is called atheism which means "the theory or belief that God does not exist". To be agnostic means "a person who believes that nothing is known or can be known of the existence or nature of God or anything beyond material phenomena; a person who claims neither faith nor disbelief in God.

If you choose to have faith then any method that you use to give thanks can be considered prayer. Now that you know some different outlets you won't have to ask how do I pray?

How Do I Get Ink Out of Clothing?

2009-02-11T10:15:00.000-08:00

How do I get ink out of clothing?

If you are reading this, chances are, you forgot that you left that pen in your pocket after school or work and when you got home you realized that the darn thing had exploded. Don't worry, it happens to the best of us.

Below are some tips on getting ink from different types of pens out of your clothes. Good luck.

First of all, when you find the stain, it is very important that you try and clean it immediately, as the longer you wait, the harder it is to get the stain out.

Ballpoint Pens.

If a ballpoint pen is the culprit, follow these instructions to get ink out of your clothing. Use a clean wet sponge to blot the stain. Do this until the sponge is no longer lifting ink from the stain. Next, let the stain on the clothing air-dry. Afterwards, spray the ink stain with some hairspray. Then use two paper towels to sandwich the soiled fabric. Next, dab the ink-stained clothing’s backside, to blend the stain into the second paper towel. Perform this procedure repeatedly until the stain has been removed. The next step is to place a pre-treatment stain remover onto the stain. Finally, wash the clothing in warm water and then air-dry it.

Felt Tip Pens.

A different procedure should be used when a felt tip pen stains your clothing. First, press a paper towel onto the stain to remove most of the ink. Next, use a cotton swab to add denatured alcohol to the stain. Denatured alcohol is alcohol that has been made toxic or undrinkable. Finally, clean the fabric in the normal manner.

Permanent Markers.

Permanent inks and markers create some of the most difficult stains to remove and require a special approach. Keep in mind that if a cloth or pattern cannot be bleached, removing the ink stain will be nearly impossible to accomplish. Your first option is the method using two towels, mentioned in the ballpoint pen section. If the stain remains, use fingernail polish remover. When using the “two-towel” method previously described, use fingernail polish remover as a substitute for the denatured alcohol. Transfer the stained section to a clean, dry towel. Then completely rinse the affected area of the clothing. You could also use acetone, although this chemical does not function well on several types of fabrics. Use the same “two-towel” procedure. Again, remember to rinse the section completely. Another option is to rub a mixture of baking soda and water onto the ink stain. Yet another plan of attack is to treat the ink stain with a stain spray, gel or stick. Then wash the clothing. After washing, if the stain remains, repeat the baking soda method, and then rewash and dry the garment.

Now, next time you are wondering, "how do I get ink out of clothing?" you will know. It is a relatively easy process, as long as you find the stain before its too late.

How Do I Claim Unclaimed Property?

2009-02-09T15:03:00.000-08:00

How Do I Claim Unclaimed Property?

What is unclaimed property?
Unclaimed property includes money, stocks, bonds, dividends, utility deposits, insurance proceeds and tangible property that is in the possession of the gov't because it is unclaimed by its rightful owner.

You might be surprised to find out that you have money just sitting out there waiting for you.
Have you ever moved without getting your utility deposit back, or forgotten about an old checking or savings account? That money is still yours and you can still get it from your state government. Several states have made finding and recovering unclaimed property much easier with online access to property databases and even online claim forms. This feature is designed to provide you with information about unclaimed (escheat) property and links to all available online state property recovery resources.

Get up to $1,000 by Tomorrow! Confidential Same Day Approval.

Claiming Unclaimed property is easy, there are plenty of websites out there that will do the work of finding any property for you, or you can do the searching yourself based on your state. For example, if you live in Massachusetts, you can search for unclaimed property here: MA Unclaimed Property Search.

Step 1.
All you have to do is find your states treasury website, and the find the unclaimed property division within the website. If they don't have a website, you may need to do this over the phone.

Step 2.
Search the unclaimed property division for anything you may own.

Step 3.
Fill out the appropriate inquiry form. If you are searching a website, it will most likely tell you immediately if you have any unclaimed property.

Step 4.
Sit back and enjoy your new found treasures and tell all of your friends to check for themselves.

Now if anyone asks you "how do i claim unclaimed property?" you can help them find any riches they may be owed.

How Do I Make a Headboard?

2009-02-08T22:07:00.000-08:00

How Do I make Headboard?

Well making a headboard can be complicated or it can be simple, depending on what type of headboard you are looking to make. If you want to make a headboard out of Iron rods or some sort of intricate headboard made out of metal, I would suggest hiring a professional. If, on the other hand, you want to make a simple headboard made out of wood, then I will show you how.

Design the Headboard

First of all, you need to sit down with a piece of paper and a pencil and sketch out what type of headboard you would like to create. This can be done by sketching multiple ideas out on paper and refining those ideas until you get the best one.

Getting Started

You will need basic hand tools and a few power tools to create your headboard. First you need to take your sketches and figure out the dimensions of the bed such as the height and the width that you will need. This will also give you a good idea of how much wood and how many screws you will need. Once you have this figured out, you are off to a good start.

Building the Headboard

In order to build the headboard, you need to take your measurements from the sketches and cut the appropriate pieces of wood from the boards that you have. You will most likely need a circular saw, tape measure, hand saw, pencil, battery powered drill, screws, a router if you need to do any edge work and maybe some other random tools.

Once you cut the pieces out that you need, you will need to assemble them with screws or nails. You will also need to attach the headboard to the existing bead frame whatever that may be. when asking how do I make a headboard, you need to think about all these things before proceeding.

Once the headboard is attached to the bed frame, you are ready to use it. Of course you will need to keep it clean and make sure that it is attached properly.

Now you know how to make a headboard, so next time you ask "How do I make a Headboard?" you will know and will be able to do it with a few simple tools and ideas.

How Do I Stream Video on the Internet?

2009-02-08T21:17:00.000-08:00

How do I Stream Video on the Internet?

Streaming video is the best way to get video across the internet. Instead of having to download the video completely to your computer before watching, you can "stream" it from the website's server to your screen without downloading anything.

What is Streaming Video?

Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by, and normally presented to, an end-user while it is being delivered by a streaming provider (the term "presented" is used in this article in a general sense that includes audio or video playback). The name refers to the delivery method of the medium rather than to the medium itself. The distinction is usually applied to media that are distributed over telecommunications networks, as most other delivery systems are either inherently streaming (e.g. radio, television) or inherently non-streaming (e.g. books, video cassettes, audio CDs). The verb 'to stream' is also derived from this term, meaning to deliver media in this manner. (from Wikipedia)

How Do I stream Video?

There are a few ways that you can stream video. One of the easiest ways is to upload the video to Youtube.com and if you need to have the video on your site, you can embed the video from youtube. Embedding the video means that Youtube will host the video on their server and allow you to play it on your site from their server. Using Youtube is very cost effective since you don't need your own server and their server is already very well equipped for this type of thing.

Another way to stream video is using Flash Video on your own. In order to do this, you will need a server and the program called Flash made by Adobe. With this program you can convert video files such as .avi, .wmv, .mov and more into Flash Video Files or .flv files.

The FLV files can then be embedded into a flash video player that will automatically stream the video if you check the appropriate box when importing. This is basically the same concept as Youtube but with your own server and programs. Streaming video on the internet this way can be a little more expensive and require more knowledge but you have more options as far as playing the video. You can opt for full screen, and many more options as well.

Next time you ask "How do i stream video on the Internet?" you will know the answer and won't have to worry about it. Now you can stream video on the internet yourself or through youtube.com.

How Do I Plug My mp3 Player Into My Car?

2009-02-04T15:49:00.001-08:00

How do I plug my mp3 Player Into my Car?

There are a number of ways you can plug your mp3 player into your car. All of them are fairly simple and are pretty different in pricing. Any of the ways you choose have their advantages and disadvantages of course so read on and find out which type of connection system is best for you.

FM Transmitter

This basically plugs into your car power outlet (cigarette lighter) and transmits the music coming from your mp3 player onto an empty radio station and to your speakers. The ones that plug into your car usually charge your iPod or other mp3 player at the same time which is nice.

There are similar versions that plug only into your mp3 player and use its battery to operate the fm transmitter. These types obviously use more power and can drain your mp3 player rather quickly. Either one usually delivers the same quality of sound though.

The downfall of this type of adapter is that if you live in the city, or at least a big city, it is pretty hard to find a clear station to tune to. In order to get clear transmission you need to have an empty radio frequency basically, like 92.9 or something that is just static. Then you tune your adapter to that station and it plays your music.

The upside to this type of adapter is that it is cheap, well cheaper than most other options at least. These types of adapters can run anywhere from $30 to over $150 for the top notch brands.

In Dash CD Player with mp3 Jack

This type of adaption system requires you to remove your factory radio and replace it with a stereo that has an mp3 jack on the face plate. This option is a little bit more of a pain in the rear but can increase your usability quite a bit if you live in a big city and have an older car.

The advantages are that you can plug directly into the front of the cd player, guaranteeing higher quality sound with no frequency interruptions. This option can also be fairly inexpensive if you opt for the cheaper brands of players. Some range in the $50 area brand new and if you are willing to buy used, then you can find them even cheaper on places like amazon.com

The downside is that you have to replace your existing car stereo with a totally new one. This can be quite a hassle depending on which type of car you have and which stereo system you buy. There also might be other items like wire adapter kits and kits to fit the player into the existing hole that will cost extra.

In Dash Adapter Kits

In dash adapter kits for your mp3 player are really nice because you don't really need to do much to get them installed. I would leave it to the pros if it were my choice but you can make up your own mind. These types of adapters basically plug into the back of your existing cd player and are then controlled from the cd player interface.

The advantages of this system are that it is easy to install if you have the right car and stereo already, and it sounds great. The cool thing is that most of these allow your ipod to be controlled from either the cd player or the iPod itself which is nice. Also most work with the iPhone as well for hands free talking.

The downside is that they aren't available for many makes and models of vehicles. Also they are fairly expensive $169+.

Summary

Next time you ask "how do I plug my mp3 player into my car?" you will now know the answer. If you live in a more rural area or a smaller city, the fm transmitter is the way to go. If you want a new cd player anyways or want better quality than the fm transmitter then you should go with a new car stereo. If you have a newer vehicle and want the ultimate mp3 player to radio system, then you need to get the In dash adapter setup.

How Do I......Blank - What is This Blog?

2009-02-03T13:29:00.000-08:00

How do I use this blog?

That is a question you may be asking yourself this very moment, well that is an excellent question, and questions is what we are all about here.

Specifically any question that starts with "How do i.."

The purpose of this blog is to provide simple and easy to understand answers to your "how do i.." questions. We want to provide a place for users to come and be able to easily find what they need to know how to do.

How do I find what I'm looking for?

Two ways. First you can use the search bar to find what you are looking for, or you can browse our categories to find what you need. Either way your questions will undoubtedly be answered.

So why don't you ask "how do i get started?" and start finding the information.

If there are any questions you would like answered, please send us an email and we will get to them as quickly as possible.

How do I play .rar files?

2009-02-03T12:08:00.000-08:00

How do I play or open rar files?

Well .rar is an extension like many others including .zip which is the most commonly known extension. It is used to compress large files into smaller file sizes and to place a bunch of files into the same folder and compress the file size of the whole folder.

To open a rar file you need a extraction tool that can extract the .rar archives and place the original uncompressed files in a specified folder. The process is fairly simple and if you know what you are doing, can be done for free and quick.

There are plenty of paid programs out there that can effectively play or open a .rar file but why not stick to the free ones when you can. Below is a list of free versions that I have used and work rather well.

Free .rar Opening Programs

7-Zip - www.7-zip.org/

The main features of 7-Zip:

High compression ratio in new 7z format with LZMA compression
Supported formats:
- Packing / unpacking: 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR
- Unpacking only: ARJ, CAB, CHM, CPIO, DEB, DMG, HFS, ISO, LZH, LZMA, MSI, NSIS, RAR, RPM, UDF, WIM, XAR and Z.
For ZIP and GZIP formats, 7-Zip provides a compression ratio that is 2-10 % better than the ratio provided by PKZip and WinZip
Strong AES-256 encryption in 7z and ZIP formats
Self-extracting capability for 7z format
Integration with Windows Shell
Powerful File Manager
Powerful command line version
Plugin for FAR Manager
Localizations for 74 languages

J Zip - www.jZip.com

With Jzip you can:

Create Zip compatible files
Unzip any Zip file archives
Supports other archive formats like TAR, GZip and RAR
Improved compression ratio
Fast compression engine

WinRar - www.rarlab.com/download.htm

Using WinRAR puts you ahead of the crowd when it comes to compression by consistently making smaller archives than the competition, saving disk space and transmission costs.
WinRAR provides complete support for RAR and ZIP archives and is able to unpack CAB, ARJ, LZH, TAR, GZ, ACE, UUE, BZ2, JAR, ISO, 7Z, Z archives.
WinRAR offers a graphic interactive interface utilizing mouse and menus as well as the command line interface.
When you purchase WinRAR license you are buying a license to the complete technology, no need to purchase add-ons to create self-extracting files, it's all included. One price, one payment, once.
You also receive the benefit of a life-time use of the WinRAR archiver. No upgrade fee to pay. When a new release is made, simply download and install, your license is valid for life.
WinRAR is easier to use than many other archivers with the inclusion of a special "Wizard" mode which allows instant access to the basic archiving functions through a simple question and answer procedure. This avoids confusion in the early stages of use.
WinRAR offers you the benefit of industry strength archive encryption using AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) with a key of 128 bits.
WinRAR supports files and archives up to 8,589 billion gigabytes in size. The number of archived files is, for all practical purposes, unlimited.
WinRAR offers the ability to create selfextracting and multivolume archives.
Recovery record and recovery volumes allow to reconstruct even physically damaged archives.
WinRAR features are constantly being developed to keep WinRAR ahead of the pack.

Now next time you ask yourself "how do I play .rar files?" you will know the answer and be able to quickly extract those all important .rar files you need.

How do I download Movies?

2009-01-29T13:59:00.000-08:00

Well this question comes up often and there are a lot of really easy answers, but I am going to give you the hard one. Ok well not really a hard one, but a fairly long one, so next time you ask "How do i download movies?" you'll know the answer.

First off you are going to need a computer and an internet connection. Obviously if you are reading this you are off to a good start. Before I get into the meat of this post, let me just say that in no way am I condoning downloading movies illegally. I will give you multiple options below and you can make the decision yourself.

3 Ways to Download Movies

iTunes

iTunes is the most widely accepted source for downloading movies online. They offer one of the largest selections available, and they offer one of the best user interfaces. Through iTunes, there are a two ways to download movies:

Rentals
iTunes has titles from every major Hollywood studio and the iTunes Store makes it easy to rent your favorite movies with a click. Standard-def movie rentals are $2.99 for library titles and $3.99 for new releases. And for just $3.99, you can rent HD movies directly from your widescreen TV via Apple TV. Rent a movie and you have 30 days to start watching it. Hit Play, and you have 24 hours to finish it — or play it as many times as you want. Rentals disappear when they expire, so they won’t take up space on your hard drive.

Purchases
Why rent when you can own? Download the movie permanently into your digital collection. From comedy to drama, romance to classics, independent to thriller, the iTunes Store has thousands of movies available for purchase. Most movies start at $9.99. iTunes also offers short movie downloads, including famous Pixar shorts that cost only $1.99

Of course if you already have an iTunes account and are looking to keep things legit, then this would be the best way to download movies. Of course if you want things for free, I would suggest the following two options, although I wouldn't condone them.

Limewire

Limewire is a peer to peer sharing program that allows you to share files with your peers. Pretty self explanatory. If you aren't familiar with this type of program, basically you search for whatever it is that you are looking for and Limewire accesses all of the other computers hooked to it and their shared files. If what you are looking for is on one of those computers then you are able to download it from them, sharing it with them.

You most likely heard of the whole "Napster" fiasco that happened a few years ago over people illegaly downloading music. Napster got shut down. Limewire is somehow still standing, maybe because they offer a pro version with paid downloads? Not sure.

Getting Started
You will first need to go to www.limewire.com and download the software to your computer. Just follow the prompts once you get started, it is fairly simple. Once the software is installed you are ready to get searching.

Downloading a Movie
All you have to do is click on the search tab and type in the name of the movie you wish to download. It is that simple. Your search results will come up slowly as Limewire searches all of the available movies. The tricky part is selecting which file to download since the results are usually chock full of fake downloads and other spamming crap.

If it is a popular movie, usually the top result is a safe bet since it has the most returned results. Each result also shows you the type of connection that the download is coming from and the bitrate and the type of file such as .avi or .mov or .wmv etc. You can narrow your search results by clicking on the categories on the left hand side to get more accurate.

One thing to take into consideration when using limewire is the safety factor for your computer, it is an easy way to get information stolen from. Here is a little piece of info from the Limewire website:

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation's consumer protection agency, cautions that file-sharing can have a number of risks. For example, when you are connected to file-sharing programs, you may unknowingly allow others to copy private files you never intended to share. You may download material that is protected by the copyright laws and find yourself mired in legal issues. You may download a virus or facilitate a security breach. Or you may unwittingly download pornography labeled as something else.
To secure the personal information stored on your computer, the FTC suggests that you:

• Set up the file-sharing software very carefully. If you don't check the proper settings when you install the software, you could open access not just to the files you intend to share, but also to other information on your hard drive, like your tax returns, email messages, medical records, photos, or other personal documents.

The third and final way to download movies that I am going to talk about is this:

Torrent Files

A Torrent is a small file with the suffix .torrent, which contains all the information needed to download a file the torrent was made for. That means it contains file names, their sizes, where to download from and so on. You can get torrents for almost anything on lots of web sites and torrent search engines The Pirate Bay. This method of downloading movies is a bit more complicated as it requires you find the torrent, download it and then open with a torrent client.

Once you have found the torrent that you want and have downloaded it to your computer, you need to find a torrent client such as Utorrent or Bittorrent or on a Mac Tomato Torrent. You need to open the file with this client and it will do the rest of the work for you.

Once your file is downloaded completely, which may take a while, then you can open it with your movie player of choice and enjoy. Make sure you know where the file is being downloaded to so you can easily find it once it is done.

A RECAP

Next time you ask "how do I download movies?" you will now know the answer and feel more comfortable with the choices available to you online. Downloading movies can be a time consuming process and can also get you in trouble if you choose the illegal route so be careful. Now you know how to download movies, go on, go out and get yourself some movies and popcorn and have fun.

How do I write my first blog post?

2009-01-28T16:30:00.001-08:00

This is it, you just sit down at a computer and put your fingers on the keyboard, home row preferrably, and start typing. It's that easy. I am doing it right now as we speak. This will be the shortest lesson on this blog and you will find out how to do many things soon to come.

You'll never need to ask "how do i do _______" again.