Free Texting!

I'm serious. It is free!
Even if you don't have a cell phone!
All you need is a google email account and a friend to text.  Google email is free too!
I often use this when I'm at home since I have a very limited (cheap) texting plan, and my kids don't have cell phones, but they have a few friends that do.
Read here to learn how.

Further tips:
If you have friends who are not in your email contacts list, you can still text them after enabling the Text Messaging (SMS) option (under Settings, Labs).
Above the chat list on the left side of gmail, there is a search box. Type in their phone number w/ area code, hit enter, and follow the prompts.
Later, you can just click their name in the list and hit enter to open a text box.

To switch to texting, click on "Send Text (SMS)"

To ensure you are texting and not chatting, their phone number should be visible at the top of the window where you are texting. ↓  If it isn't there, → you are chatting instead of texting, and they may not receive your message.  To switch from chat to texting, click on the down arrow beside More, and select Send Text (SMS).  →

In texting mode, the phone # is at the top.

←After switching to texting, you see that the phone number is at the top.  At the bottom there is a notice that your friend may be charged each time you send a text.  Check w/ your friend to make sure their incoming texts (from you) are free for them.  
The "SMS credit" is explained here.

For the cousins or friends that don't have texting, our kids all just message back and forth using Gmail's chat (both parties must have Gmail accounts).
Some features you will see, including voice/video chat or adding people to a current chat, are not available in texting.

sMiLeS,

YOUR bookmarked sites - available from ANY computer!

I have a google account, and by that, I mean I have a gmail account. (I know some that have an account, but don't use the gmail.)

I have found MANY things under that google account, and I use a few - blogs (of course), the calendar, Picasa web albums, Google reader (to see updates of blogs I follow), Google Books (where I can read first chapters of certain books before I buy), and BOOKMARKS! 
(learn more about these here)

When I sign into my account, I can access my favorite bookmarks from any computer.
This is pretty neat!

When I want to bookmark a site I am on, I simply click on the blue and white star in my google toolbar, and the star turns yellow indicating this is now a bookmarked site or page.
 
Then I click on the down arrow beside the star, and click "manage all."
On the left under where it says Sort By, I click "Date."
This puts the last site I saved at the very top, and I checkmark the little box next to it and file it under a category by clicking "Copy to List."

The trick is how to get that star in your google toolbar, because I'm thinking it might be different for different browsers. For me, I just hover over the toolbar and right-click, then click "Google toolbar options" and then "Tools" and check the yellow star.

Then when I am on a different computer, I just go to google.com, and click "sign in" on the top right, then type into the browser "google.com/bookmarks."

If I'm not at home, or if my computer crashes, I still have my favorite links. =D

Yay!

Think someone has accessed your gmail account?

AskDaveTaylor tells how to see if someone has accessed your gmail account from another IP address, and at what time.  It shows the last 10 logins.  You can even see if someone is logged in at the same time you are.
He says the first thing to do is change your password.  Then come back and finish reading the article.  =)

Gmail: multiple accounts - receiving and replying from default email account

If you use google mail, here's what you can do for free:
►have all emails forwarded to your default (main) email
►have all forwarded emails automatically labeled so you'll know to where they were originally emailed
►reply from your default email as "From:" any other gmail you own without signing in and out!
►get visual and sound notification when you receive email at any other gmail account(s) you own

If you don't have a gmail account, it's easy to set up.
Create a gmail that will be your main email.  The one you give your friends and family, or the one you will use the most. This is your default email.

A new email can be for your business, for your blog or website, or even for your children if you want to be able to see if they have email without signing out of your own account.
►1.  First sign out of your default gmail account.
Sign into your second gmail account, or if you don't have one yet, click Create an Account.  You are allowed to use the same password for multiple gmail accounts.
You may have several that you want to manage from your default account.  These will all be referred to as new email accounts to differentiate from your default account.

►Remember to always scroll down to see if you need to SAVE CHANGES.

IN THE NEW EMAIL ACCOUNT

►2.  Click the gear symbol at the top right, then Settings.  
In the menu that goes across, click Forwarding and POP/IMAP, click Add a forwarding address...
Put in your default email address (that you want mail forwarded to), and click Next.  It will tell you a verification has been sent.

►If you have several to forward to your default mail, sign in to each account, and do all those now before signing back into your default mail.
►Sign out of the new account and back into your default gmail.

IN THE DEFAULT EMAIL ACCOUNT
►3.  In your default email, for each email address you forwarded, you should have an email that says Gmail Forwarding Confirmation.  Open this email and click on the link to confirm request.  Then you may delete this email.
►Under the gear symbol, click Settings, Filters, Create a New Filter.  In the To: box, put in the name of your new email (like Martysahm@gmail.com) that you want forwarded to your default email. Click Next Step.

►4.  Check Apply the label, Choose Label, New Label, type in name of new email (but not the whole email address - like "MartySahm") OR the name of a person if you are managing another email account.  Click Create Filter.

Incoming forwarded emails that are set up to be automatically labeled will look something like this.
This one is labeled "Info Morsels" -- a blog I used to have.
Labels can be any color you choose.

►5.  You're still in the Settings, so click Accounts, click the circle Reply from the same address the message was sent to.   (If you have already set up accounts in this way before now, this circle should already be marked.)
►Click Send mail from another address.
►In the pop-up window, put in your name as you want it to appear to others for this new email, and type in the name of the new address.

►NEW - now there is a setting to Treat as an Alias.  In other words, if you reply as Sam, but your default email is Tom, it will tell the receiver that Sam sent this as Tom.

If you don't want this to happen, uncheck the Treat as an Alias box.  
If you have past accounts you have already set up in this way, you can go change all of them if you want to.  Read more here.
►Click Next Step, Send Verification.
►Close window.

You are still in your default email.
►Again, if you are doing this for multiple accounts, while still in your default email, repeat steps 3-5 for each email address.

IN THE NEW EMAIL ACCOUNT

►6. Then sign out of your default email, and back into the new email.  There should be an email for you to confirm that your default email can send mail "as" your new email.  Confirm by clicking the link in the email.
►Also, click on the gear symbol, and go back to Settings, Forwarding and POP/IMAP, and make sure the circle is ticked beside "Forward a copy."  Save Changes.
Sign into and do this for each email you wanted to send mail as. 

 

Now sign back into your default email.

IN THE DEFAULT EMAIL ACCOUNT

►7.  Click Compose mail.  In the From:  line, click the drop down menu, and click on the new email address.  Now you are sending email from your new email while still in your default email.

All email including replies to your new email address will be sent to that new email address and forwarded to your default email account.
You're done!  =)

►You can also create labels for anything, and apply them to any email after you receive it. Videos, Pictures, Important, etc.  Just checkmark the email you want to label, click on Labels, create new, and type in your label name, then Ok.  Then if you want to Archive (file) an email, you can find it again by clicking on the name of the label in the sidebar of your email account.  This is like a folder.
Do not archive until you have attached a label, or it will be difficult to locate again.
Under Settings, Labels, you can decide which labels (folders) you want to show in your sidebar.

►To get visual and sound notifications of any new mail even if your browser is not open, get Gmail Notifier.  It displays an icon in your system tray that is white when there is no mail, blue when you have mail.  Notification sounds when you get incoming mail.  Now you'll know if you've received email in any gmail account you own!

Settings on Blogger

So if you've started a blog with Blogger, there are a few settings you may not realize you have.
Some are self-explanatory, and others, I'm still not quite sure, so I leave them alone!!  =)

At the top of your blog, click Design, Settings, then Basic.
Or, at blogger.com, click the down-arrow to the right of your blog, and click Settings.

►See the Permissions section.
Here you can choose who can view your blog.  Anybody, Only These Readers (they must have a gmail and sign in to view your blog each time), or Only Blog Authors, which is yourself, and anyone you add as a blog author. 
People you add as a blog author can post, but not change any settings or change your posts unless you add them as administrator.  But then they could remove you, so I don't recommend adding anyone else as administrator.

►The listings and search engine options are also found under Basic, then under Privacy.  Choosing Yes for each of these allows your blog to be found when someone does a search.
• If you want traffic, you should allow Anybody, and certainly you want the google searches to find you.
• If you don't want traffic, you might still want to choose Anybody if many friends and family don't have gmail and won't be able to sign in to view.  But you can check the blog listing and search engine options to No so a search by strangers will not pull up your blog.
Either way, I would definitely moderate comments before they are published for all to see.
• Changing the search engine and blog listing settings later to No from Yes may result in people still being able to find your blog with a search.  Once your blog is listed, it gets 'spread' across multiple search engines, not just google.  Start with No if you're not sure about it yet.
If you didn't do this to begin with, but your blog is fairly new, it can still work.  It just may take a few weeks.  I have StatCounter, and can see how people have found my blog.  After I changed the settings, my seeing that people found my family blog thru a search did get less and less and finally stopped after several weeks.

►Posts and Comments is where you can determine the number of posts that show on your page. You can also decide who is allowed to comment.  If you choose Anyone, I suggest also selecting Always for Comment Moderation.  You don't want someone to post really bad stuff for everyone to see!
• I chose not to have Word Verification so that my readers don't have to bother with it.  I'm going to be checking the comments before I publish them anyway.  I can delete any spam before it can post.
• I also chose Embedded for the Comment Location.  This allows me to Reply to a specific comment rather than having to comment at the bottom.
• If you choose comment moderation, you can be notified of any pending comments by putting in your email address under "Email moderation requests to."

►You're still under the Settings, so click on Language and Formatting.  You can decide how you want the date and time to appear on your blog posts.  Check to see if the time zone is selected correctly, so that your posts won't say 4:00 am when you were in bed asleep at 4:00 am!

Have a great time tweaking the settings and seeing what they do!

Privacy and Security Settings:
Under Basic:
"Permissions"  
Under Basic, then Privacy:
"Add your blog to our listings," and "Let search engines find your blog."
Under Posts and Comments:
"Comment Moderation" 

Are you a Homeschool Blogger?

Are you a homeschool blogger that would like to find other homeschool bloggers?
You can!  Beginning today, blog links are being added at Homeschool Blogger's Update , and you can even have your own blog added!

Just leave a comment here with (1) your blog link, and (2) what name you want added to your blog title.  For instance, if you frequent any homeschool forums, you can add your screen name so that others will recognize who you are.  You can include your first name too, if you wish.  (See blog links at HSBU for examples.)
Just let me know in your comment here.

I'd also like to know how you found my blog and a little information about yourself.

Non-homeschool blogs will not be added.  This does not mean you have to post only about homeschool.  It means that we will not post the cooking or coupon blogs of homeschoolers, for example.  It needs to be a family-type blog, and it should be evident on your blog that you do, indeed, homeschool.

Questionable blogs will not be accepted, or may later be removed later from HSBU if I see the need.

Your blog needs to be viewable by the public.  If at a later date I see a blog has been changed to private, I will need to remove it.  If yours has ever been made private then back to public, check to see if your blog needs to be re-added to Homeschool Blogger's Update.

Just trying to eliminate spammers or unsavory people, etc.  =)
sMiLeS,

Google Accounts

If you have a google account, you have gmail. 
Do you know what else you already have???

►You can start a blog that is public or private, that only invited people can see.  I have several blogs and they are  a lot of fun with easy-to-add gadgets and more.

►You already have a calendar that can give you reminders when an event is near.  You can post the calendar on a blog.  It can be public or private.  If private, only certain people will be able to view the calendar you've posted.  You can allow others to invite people to certain events.

►You have a Picasa Web album.  If you have a blog, the pictures you've posted on your blog are already in your Picasa Web Album.  You can add a slideshow with new pics to your blog.  This is helpful if you have several pictures (or a lot!) and you don't want to post them all individually on one blog post.  Whether you have a blog or not, you can invite people to see albums right in Picasa if the album is not private.
Sample slide show.  (HTML code from Picassa was embedded in the blog post)

►If you are followers of several blogs, you can read all the updates in one place with Google Reader.

►I love Google Books.  A lot of times I'm able to read the first chapter of a book before I decide to buy.  Since I'm already signed into my google account, I can add books to my library and go back to them when needed.
There are many more, and some I've not even tried yet!
Note: When I click on any of these, I'm usually already signed in.

Arrow back to March and April, 2010, to click on the events to see how this calendar works.
If an address is put in the event, google maps feature will locate it.


Have fun learning about google applications!

Overlapping Text

If your screen looks like this, and the words and/or pic overlap the brown strip on the right, you may be using a wide-screen monitor.  Try holding down the Ctrl button and scrolling the mouse wheel a couple of clicks.  This can make the font smaller or larger.  This is also very useful to make text larger if you're on a website with small print, or smaller if you're on a site that you have to side-scroll to see the whole text that is off-screen.  ugh.
That brown strip actually is part of the design for this background.  When I chose the background, I chose the widescreen one, since I wanted my text to go across the screen more.  I knew it would not show up on my screen, however, but that would make it possible to also choose the wider post option that blogger offers.  I didn't realize it would get in the way of my text on wide screen monitors!
(The screen-shot is from one of my readers.  Thanks, Rick!)
ETA:  One reader commented that she "tried the Ctrl button and scrolling, but it only makes the post shorter, not narrower. I have a hard time seeing the words in the brown strip, so I just high-light your post and they show up just fine."
Wow, I'm glad she was able to resolve the problem, but I didn't realize how much trouble I caused! =)
It works that way for me too in Firefox.  In Internet Explorer, it does make it smaller and narrower.  Not sure about other browsers. 

Falling Mouse-Glitter!

Here's how to get the mouse pointer glitter effect: (which is not on my blog anymore)
Copy the code from here.
Go to your blog and click on Design.
Click on Edit HTML.
Checkmark Expand Widget Templates.
Use the Ctrl and F (find) buttons to search for the < head > tag (with no spaces) or just look near the top of your HTML code.  It's just a few lines from the top.
Position your cursor after the tag, and hit Enter.
Paste the code.  Click Preview to see how it looks on your blog before you Save Template.
Easy Peasy!
Remember:  If you think you messed up your HTML code, just click View Blog and do not save anything. ETA: for some reason, this works better in Firefox than in IE.  In IE, the glitter is an inch or two behind the pointer.
???

your signature

Here's how to get your signature like this,
at the end of each your posts.
Go to My Live Signature.
--If you don't want to register, scroll down and click Proceed.
--Or you can create an account so you can save multiple signatures. Click Register, and create your account.  Click Login, then click the New Sig tab.

The quickest way to get your signature is under "Creating a new signature", click Using the creation signature wizard.
You'll be taken through the steps to pick font, size, slant, etc. 
There are 120 fonts!  =)

If you want to only show your name without a box around the name, check Transparent. Transparent works best on very light backgrounds.  And a larger size or thicker font will of course show up better.

When you are finished, click on Use Sigs.  Then Generate HTML code, then Generate a code for your 'handwritten' signature.  Scroll down and click Generate Code.  Scroll down and highlight/copy the code.

On your blog, go to Customize, click on the Settings tab, click on Format, scroll to the bottom, and paste your code in the box that says Post Template.  Save Settings.

Each time you create a new post, the signature will already be there.  At the top right of the new post box, click on Edit HTML tab, click your cursor at the beginning of your signature code that is there and hit the Return/Enter key a few times.  Go back to the Compose tab and you will have space within which to begin typing. Spacing down before beginning your post will keep your signature from appearing in the MIDDLE of your text, which has happened to me!  =)
If this happens, edit your post, position your cursor after the last character in your post and hit Enter.
This should fix it.