Tech Tips for Catholic Teens

“Is there a way to subscribe to Podcasts that are not in the iTunes store?”  I just received a call from a good friend from our Church and he was asking if and how to do this.  I used to think that you had to use Juice (a.k.a. iPodder) or some other pod-catching software, if your favorite Podcasts were not listed in the iTunes store.  However, I later found out that there is a feature in iTunes that allows you to subscribe to RSS feeds*.

This feature has actually existed ever since iTunes added podcast support, but people rarely know about it.

Step 1: Open iTunes and go up to Advanced > Subscribe in the menu bar.

Step 2: When the podcast dialog box pops up simply copy and past the podcast feed url and click “Ok”.

* You can listen and subscribe to any Podcast feed inside iTunes as long as it is a valid RSS feed with media enclosures.

I am convinced that a lady I work with has perfected the art of using her vacation days.  Depending how many days and how your company’s vacation policies are, you may want to consider some of the key planning techniques used by my brilliant co-worker:

• Put your requests in early (like before everybody else).
• Take Mondays/Fridays off weekly to have extra long weekends.  Let’s just say you get three weeks worth of vacation per year; you could have three day weekends for about half the year straight! (man, I wish I would have thought of this.  Now I have to wait until next year to try it!)
• Plan your vacation days before and after paid Holidays (if you get paid holidays).  This will feel like you actually took an entire week off (without using up as many v-days!)
• Don’t let others in on your little secret until your requested days have been approved by whomever does the scheduling.  This sounds a little selfish now that I think about it.

These may just be commonsense to most of you, but I never really thought of’em until I began to realize this co-worker is never at work on the coolest days to not be at work : )

Every employer is different.  I’ve worked for one where we had to use our vacations days a week at a time (meaning that we couldn’t take off individual days).  The place I work at now is really nice about letting us use our vacations days whenever we want as long as it is approved and we have someone covering our department while we are gone.  If you don’t get vacations days or personal days at all, then maybe you should consider a new career ; )

As Rebecca of the Catholic in Film School blog mentioned, Real Catholic TV launched yesterday (September 1, 2008). Real Catholic TV is a fully online Catholic TV Network.

Shows include:

• Catholic News Roundup with Vic Faust
• The Vortex with Michael Voris (think Andy Rooney meets Bill O’Reilly)
• Today’s Saint featuring stories of various saints.
  
• Today’s History explores certain historical events in the church.
• The Preview Channel shows some of the programming you could receive if you upgrade to the Premium subscription.

Check out www.realcatholictv.com and let them know what you think.

Athanasius contra mundum of the 50 Days After blog thought of a really cool idea.  He calls this idea “Adopting a Catholic Blog”.  Contra says that “By adopting you would keep the author(s) in your prayers and link to their site on your sidebar (if you have a site). But you would also read their blog with some frequency, maybe blog on one of their posts, and comment on his or her blog as you see fit.”

Four Easy Steps to Adopting a Catholic Blog:

1. Choose one of your favorite Catholic bloggers (preferably a St Blogs Blog.)
2. Add a link to this blog in your blogroll or links section of your own blog.
3. Post your selection in the comments section of Contra’s post (try not to adopt the same blog as someone else.)
4. Pray for this blog’s author(s).

Please direct your comments to Contra and let him know that you are praying for him as he is being deployed soon.

Every Friday I post my top 5 blogposts that I have come across throughout the week.  You have all weekend now to check them out : )

1. What’s in a Name?
2. “Brideshead Eviscerated”
3. High School Literature, “Jane Eyre”, & My First Rosary
4. Are Teenagers Necessary?
5. Jimmy Akin meets Jack Chick

If you have a blogpost that you would like to share with me feel free to contact Catholic Tech Tips and I will get it.

Have a great weekend!

Joshua

“Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, braiding the hair, wearing gold jewelry, or dressing in fine clothes, but rather the hidden character of the heart, expressed in the imperishable beauty of a gentle and calm disposition, which is precious in the sight of God.” (1 Peter 3:3-4)

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Let me start by saying how much I dislike Windows Vista!  Okay, now that I’ve gotten that out of my system, I want to share with you an available fix for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.

Windows Vista did away with the old Windows Help (WinHlp32.exe) program that allows you to view 32-bit Help files with the file extension .hlp.  Microsoft is strongly encouraging developers to no longer use the .hlp file format, because “WinHlp32.exe has not had a major update for many years, and it does not meet Microsoft’s [new] standards…”  However, they have graciously made WinHlp32.exe available as a download from the Microsoft Download Center.

Here are the proper steps to ensure a successful install:

1. You must install the correct version of the update!  Click here to verify your environment (you have to use Microsoft Internet Explorer for this to work).  For instance, I am running 32-bit (x86).
2. Once you have figured out the information needed in step 1, you are ready to install the update.  Make sure that you are logged on as an administrator.  Click here to obtain the WinHlp32.exe download for Windows Vista.  Click the “continue” button and wait for it to validate.  Then click the “download file below” link.  You will then be taken to a page with different versions of the file.  You will want to download the file which corresponds with the information you received in step 1.  Run this file and you should be all set to view those old Help files.

As always, if you have any problems with this tutorial, feel free to post a comment.

Q. I used to use the Filter menu > Color > Invert Color on a group of shapes with multiple colors to quickly change the colors. In CS3 the Color Filter is gone in the Filter menu! I tried the Invert and Complement options in the Color panel, but they don’t work on multiple colors. Invert makes everything black, and complement makes everything the complement of the topmost object… obviously not what I want to do. Where’s my color filter in CS3? I liked some of the other options too… like the saturation filter. Can someone point me in the right direction, or am I out of luck with this? Adobe often moves things around in upgrades, and sometimes it drives me nuts.

A. I totally understand your frustration. I often wondered why, in the earlier versions of Illustrator, spell-check was under the Type menu and not under Edit menu. Then, just when I started getting used to it being under Type, they went and switched it to Edit in the following upgrade.

Like you, I love the Color Filter feature that used to be found under the Filter menu (which only made sense). Well what I have found, after a little searching, is that they’ve moved it to: Edit menu > Edit Colors, in CS3. I read somewhere that the move was to help support the new Live Color feature.

See the related links for a better explanation of Live Color.

• Edit Colors in the Live Color dialog box
  
• Create a Color Group in Live Color
  

Blessings,
Joshua

If you have a question about anything computer or faith related, contact us and we will gladly respond in a futurer post.

I’m trying something new this week.  Let me know what you think.

Every Friday I will post my top 5 favorite blogposts that I have come across throughout the week.  You have all weekend now to check them out : )

1. Google Apps Tips, Tricks & Tweaks
2. Adobe Illustrator nerd
3. Ichthux Website Back OnLine
4. Pre-post sideshow: Modesty
5. The Convert (a poem by G.K. Chesterton)

If you have a blogpost that you would like to share with me feel free to contact Catholic Tech Tips and I will get it.

Have a great weekend!

Joshua

A couple of months ago, Tim, one of the creators of the Faith Database, asked if I would be interested in helping beta test the new version.  How could I say no?  I had been using the previous versions for some time and quickly saw how powerful of a tool this truly is.

The first thing I noticed in the latest version was the new interface.  Not to put down the previous versions, but this latest version looks wonderful!  They have included some video tutorials built into the program to help the user more fully use the database to its intended potential.  When I watched the first video tutorial, I instantly recognized the narrator to be Jerry Usher of Catholic Answers.

If you are like me, you have a bookshelf in your home that includes numerous translations of the Bible, a couple Scripture commentaries, two different editions of the Catechism, the Compendium, the Code of Canon Law, various Encyclicals, books on Church History, some of the classic Christian writings, books about the Saints, writings of the Early Church Fathers, and so on.  The Faith Database is like having your own personal Christian library at your fingertips, but with greater search abilities.  Search any topic relating to the Christian faith and instantly have access to virtually hundreds of resources on that very theme.  One of the nice features is the capability to bookmark portions of a text that you know that you’ll be referring to time and again.

Let’s just say that you can’t find what you are looking for; the Faith Database actually has a built-in web browser, which allows you to search the internet from within the program itself.

Another great feature is how you can export any document or search result to Word, Open Office, Excel, or as a PDF, HTML, TIFF, BMP, PNG, GIF, JPEG, PDF, RTF, XFF, XPS file.

Oh! And just for fun, you can test your knowledge about the Catholic faith by clicking on the Test tab.  I am currently rated a “Novice Apologist” in case you were wondering.

Here are some screenshots of the Faith Database (Beta Version)

Product Summary

• Search over 10 Bible Translations, hundreds of early Church doctrines, and over 1500 classics covering 2000 years of Christianity all at one time.
• Read what the Fathers and Doctors wrote about any particular passage in Scripture.
• Know how to defend your Faith using quotes from the Scripture and Early Church Fathers.
• Contains over 1500 writings, 75,000,000 words & 80,000 pages.
• LEARN MORE >>

I hear that a Mac version is in the works!

Below are some related links about the Faith Database:

• Biblical Research with FaithDatabase (Video Tutorial)
• Searching FaithDatabase (Video Tutorial)
• Faith Database (Giveaway!)