During this third Audacity video tutorial, we’ll discuss Audacity’s default sample rate of 44100Hz. The important thing to remember here is, if you are mixing in other sources of audio, you’ll want to have matching sample rates. So, when you are importing audio into audacity, you have to check the sample rate to make sure it matches here. And if none of the preselected ones here, you can click on other and enter any rate you would like.

The other sampling format discussed is Bit Processing. 32-bit float is actually twice the quality of standard CDs. But, it’s a good way to work. Generally, what we can do is, work at 32-bit quality and then export in 16 bits. Again, 32 bit is going to take twice as much as storage space as 16 bit. Well, that also depends on your computer space. 32 bit is recommended for higher quality.

Audacity Tutorial - Part 3 <- Click here

During this second Audacity video tutorial, we’ll navigate through the Audacity Control Panel. Learning the Audacity interface will make it easier to understand the various buttons and menus. I’ll show you the Audacity File Menu, View Menu, Project Menu (a great way to import media), and Generate Menu. Under the Effects Menu we have a wide range of very cool and different effects, Analyze Menu for analyzing the audio, and the Help Menu, if you have any questions about how to use Audacity.

Also shown are various Audacity interaface buttons or controls. For example, buttons are for Copy, Paste, Trimming and Silencing. The Silencing button is an often overlooked feature in Audacity and it’s very useful: if you have a pop or something, click on silencing to eliminate the pop.

Audacity Tutorial - Part 2 <- Click here

Welcome to the Audacity tutorial series, a 10 part Audacity tutorial guide. During this set of Audacity tutorials, we’ll commence with an introduction to Audacity, guide you through the Audacity interface, then walk you through on how to record and edit, and finish off with some cool Audacity tips and tricks including using Audacity effects.

So let’s get started! If you’re are new to Audacity, it’s a free audio recording software, often used to edit podcasts, music, and much more. During this first Audacity video tutorial, will show you were to get the software and how to install it.

Audacity Tutorial - Part 1 <- Click here

Using add-ons allow you to customize Firefox to meet your needs or personalized style. Free feel free to browse the thousands of available free add-ons https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/. We have compiled a list of ten of our favorites (in no particular order) which was no easy task!

WebMail Notifier
WebMail Notifier checks your email when used with various webmail accounts (Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc) and notifies the number of unread emails. This can be a real time saver, especially for those of us with multiple email accounts.
https://add-ons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/add-on/4490

IE Tab
In an ideal world, websites and features would be the same in all browsers. IE Tab is useful to open the current webpage in the IE Tab, which simulates viewing a page in Internet Explorer.
https://add-ons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/add-on/1419

Tree Style Tab
Firefox popularized tab style browsing, that is, the ability to have multiple brower windows open at the same time. Having multiple tabs open can be a real time saver, and using Tree Style Tab can be surprisingly productive. Tree Style Tab allows you to use vertical tabs instead of horizontal tabs. A real time saver with some nifty features!
https://add-ons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/add-on/5890

Adblock Plus
One of the most popular Firefox add-ons and it’s easy to understand why. Adblock Plus blocks website ads and banners. This will result in faster downloads since and page refresh since those annoying ads will not appear. Nice!
https://add-ons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/add-on/1865

Xmarks
This add-on allows you to sync your bookmarks across multiple browsers. With many homes using multiple computers, and many of using computers at work, we easily have bookmarks saved in multiple locations. Now you can sync all of your bookmarks!
https://add-ons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/add-on/2410

NoScript
If there was only one security add-on I would recommend, this is it. Active scripts from websites are used by the “bad guys”. Using NoScript, you can specify which sites to trusts and allow to run active content. Active content is often needed to ensure complete website functionality, but why not decide which websites to trust!?
https://add-ons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/add-on/722

iMacros
We love to replace repetitious work. For web browser intensive users, this can be a real time saver. Use iMacro to automate repetitive tasks and make your life easier. Use it to complete web forms, launch your popular sites and remember passwords. This takes some time to learn, but well worth it.
https://add-ons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/add-on/3863

AutoPager
Speed up your browsing with this nifty add-on. AutoPage will automatically load the next page of site. This will save from having to manually navigate to the next page. Simple and brilliant!
https://add-ons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/add-on/4925

Tab Mix Plus
If you love using tabs, then you’ll Tab Mix Plus. This add-on will enhance your tabbed browsing experience by including additional features including features when you click on a tab, duplicating a tab and a lot more.
https://add-ons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/add-on/1122

Personas
No productivity gains with this add-on, but it is a fun and easy way to add a new look and feel to Firefox. Using Persona, you can add a new “skin” or design to personalize the way Firefox appears. Sheer indulgence!
https://add-ons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/add-on/10900

Everyone is jumping on the Twitter bandwagon these days. I’m jumping off. I was late jumping on since I thought it was a passing fad with limited amount of use for my business. In the past 2 months, Twitter is in the news daily. Lots of interesting stories about how “so and so now ‘tweets’”, and how a Taco truck in Los Angeles has created a frenzy using Twitter. So, I jumped on the bandwagon to see what I was missing. Now I can say “Been there, done that”.

So why do I find Twitter of minimal value? Every day, you and I are bombarded with emails (business and personal), Facebook requests, RSS updates, podcast updates - you name it. And let’s be honest, we only have so much time in a day to dedicate to work and family. Twitter is just another piece of technology vying for our attention. It dawned on me how useless Twitter was when I was subjected to hundreds of Twitter updates offering no interesting or compelling story or value. One individual was head of social media for a large software company. Do I really care how she is spending her weekend, evening, or what she is eating for dinner. NO! Or how about a podcast directory website that constantly lists each new podcast listed! Then there is the Vegas specialty sites competing with each other to blast the world with headline news from Vegas. Useless for me, and likely for most people.

I know, I know, call me a ranter. My point here is that Twitter offers minimal value. Are there people or businesses using Twitter successfully with compelling stories. You bet. But don’t be fooled because a Taco truck in Los Angeles has 10,000 followers. Like any other marketing success, Twitter offers value to only a small niche of the population. That’s why I will discontinue using Twitter, not read new Tweets, and continue to focus my marketing efforts elsewhere.

Is Twitter a passing fad or here to stay? Let me know what you think.

-Simon

In my previous article, I discussed how to calculate how much it is costing both you and your company leaving your computers powered on. I also showed you how to calculate potential savings by reducing the amount of time the computer is powered on. But leaving an organization’s computers powered off creates a quandary for I.T. staff. What about the need to remote to that computer to install software? What about the need to push out important patches and updates?

Well, one option is to purchase a utility that uses the Wake on LAN feature to automatically start the computers at a pre-scheduled time. Those of you not familiar with Wake on LAN, it uses a special network packet, the Magic packet, to send a signal to your Magic packet compliant network card. When the network card receives this packet, it automatically powers on the computer. Sounds great, doesn’t it? Well, you may discover that pushing out a Magic packet through versus subnets may not work according to plan. And, there is the cost of the software to do this. I’ve tried some free products but they were manual start ups one computer at a time, and not viable for a complex network.

How about poor man’s Wake on LAN? Most modern BIOS have the ability to schedule an auto start. So, you could actually configure the motherboard BIOS to do this for you. For example, Lenovo which is the brand I am most familiar with has an auto start feature. For Lenovo PCs, you get to the BIOS by pressing F1 when the computer starts (POST). Each computer manufacturer has a different startup sequence to get to the BIOS, so watch closely when your computer starts. Some manufactures include the ability to push out BIOS updates across the network. We manually configured nearly 500 computers to auto start each morning at 7:00 a.m. before staff arrive. This offers some advantages: 1) I.T. staff can continue to push out Windows patches throughout the night (we use WSUS). 2) Staff can immediately login when they arrive. This may not sound like a big advantage, but have you noticed how impatient you users are waiting 5 minutes for a 5 year old XP machine to start!?

There may be exceptions - for example, staff working from home or other remote workers. Some VPN manufacturers include the ability to use a Magic packet during a VPN connection - I’ve tested this with mixed results.

There you have it - an easy to save your company money by instructing employees to turnoff their computers each night, and auto starting the PC without requiring Wake on LAN.

Reducing the amount of time your computer is powered on increases the lifespan, saves you money, and reduces the amount of harmful CO2 in the air. Talk about win-win-win! Most organizations and a lot of consumers leave their computers powered on 24/7/365 (24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year). Many of you may wonder how much electricity you are using and what the cost is on an annual basis. 

Just how much power does your computer use? That is not an easy answer, but if your computer is 3 years old, it is likely using on average 120 watts of power. While new computers may use less, a high end graphics card and other add-ons will boost the power usage. Do not confuse your power supply rating with power usage. If you have a 400 watt power supply, this is only peak amount of power it can dish out, and not actual power usage.

To determine the cost of leaving your computer turned on, you will need:

1. the amount of hours the computer is powered on each day
2. the cost of electricity per Kilowatt hour (kWh)
3. the amount of watts used by your computer (do not include your monitor yet)

Here’s the calculation for a computer on 24 hours, at 13 cents per Kilowatt hour, using 120 watts of power on average: = 24 X 0.13 X (120/1000). Note the 1000 number is needed to determine the amount of watts (120) it takes to make one Kilowatt-hour (kWh). This equates to 37 cents each day. It doesn’t sound like a lot, however, multiply that by 365 days and the computer is costing you an additional $137 each year.

But wait! if you are an I.T. manager overseeing a large fleet of computers, BECOME A HERO! Leaving 500 computers powered on 365 days costs your company over $68,000! Add 500 LCD “Green” monitors which average 35 Watts, your electricity bill increases another $20,000 to over $88,000 each year. Now spread that over 4 years and you have some eye-popping costs.

Here comes the hero part: Let’s assume you can reduce the power consumption for each computer and monitor to only 10 hours each day. You could reduce your company’s electricity bill by $54,000, or over $216,000 over 4 years. Simply change the calculation to:10 X 0.13 X (120/1000) X 365, where 10 is the amount of hours the computers will be turned on each day. Also, change the .13 if your cost per Kilowatt-hour (kWh) is higher or lower than 13 cents (look on your utilities company’s bill - it should your cost of electricity per kWh - and don’t forget to factor on all those taxes!)

Is the $216,000 savings a best case scenario? Absolutely! Some employees may already power off their computers and monitors before leaving, but from my experience, most do not. In fact, a report I completed for 500+ PC/Mac organization showed that nearly 90% of their computers were never turned off by staff departing for the day.

You will also need upper management buy in so they have an edict which will more or less force staff to shut down their computers before leaving each day. With cost savings like this, not only will an organization be foolish not to take on this “Green Initiative”, it becomes a great marketing tool for organizations to tell the public. “We are reducing our greenhouse gases by this much.” And, due to cost savings, perhaps a few staff will keep their paychecks, the computers will last longer (especially the hard drives and fans), and save some green by going green. So what are you waiting for, BECOME AN I.T. HERO!

My next post will include an easy way to power-on the computers each morning before staff arrive. This allows staff to login immediately, and allow I.T. staff to push out software, updates and patches.

-Simon

I have a bunch of new video tutorials arriving. The 10 part video series on Audacity is nearly done. Subscribers to the free Hot Buttered IT newsletter have already viewed the first 4 and the feedback has been incredible. These videos may surpass the Asterisk videos in popularity. I’ll get the Audacity videos posted eventually, just not exactly sure when.

I have some other cool videos coming soon – just need a few hours of quiet time to complete them.

Are there any tech videos you would like to see?

Talk to you soon.

-Simon

Wrap-up, sites to look for information and help

OK, lets do a wrap-up of what we have learned through our videos.

First of all we’ve learned what is VoIP and all that buzz around, we got introduced with asterisk and what can it do for us about VoIP.

Next, we’ve learned about how to install asterisk on linux systems along with some basic asterisk’s command line features and dialplan options. We also talked about setting up new extensions  using configuration files and about different actions you can do with calls in your system.

Then we checked how to configure devices and software that can be used with asterisk to place calls.

And then we’ve discovered a very wonderful web interface for asterisk that is called trixbox, we talked about getting it running and setting up basic features along with an overview of the system.

I promised you to show where to look for additional information on asterisk systems. Here it is – www.voip-info.org – it is the best resource for getting info on any aspect and topic of asterisk. Here you can find all about actions you can make with you call, AGI scripting, different device configuring and many other useful information. This web site is a wiki one, meaning everybody can add information here, and there are already a huge number of pages as it already runs for years. Be sure this is the first place where you should check with for any question or trouble you have encountered, and I bet that you will find your answer here!

Also, you can check documentation sections of www.trixbox.com and www.freepbx.org for any questions you have with web interface.
This is it. I hope this videos were useful for you and you really enjoyed it. Don’t waste your time and start playing with asterisk now! Thank you and goodbye.

Trixbox features’ overview Part 2

In this video I will show you how to administer you trixbox system

In order to get to trixbox administration page you have to click on “switch” link near the “User mode” status text. The default username for every trixbox installation is “maint” and password is  a word  “password” in lowercase.

Once you are in administration mode, you will be presented with status overview of your system. Here you can see “System Statistics”, “FreePBX statistics”, freepbx is the name of the webinterface that trixbox use, so it will be mention on pages a lot. Also you can check your system uptime and “server status” to be sure that asterisk and other essential software is running ok.

As you can see using trixbox’ administration mode you can configure a huge number of options for your asterisk system without a need to memorize them all. I will not cover all of them, but you can get help on any single feature and option just by moving your mouse over it, as you can see the system is very well documented so you can be sure you won’t get lost.

Lets take a look at important configuration options. Extensions is obviously is one of them. Clicking on extension will take you to a page were you can see a list of all the extensions already configured on your system and also an option to create new one.

In order to create new extension you have to choose what technology it will use and then click “Submit” button. Here you can define a wide range of options, and as I told you before has a help in case you are not sure about you need it or not. After you are done  with setting all needed options you have to click submit button again.

You have to remember one thing, while you are doing any changes through web interface, you are changing that in memory, meaning in order to get them applied to asterisk configuration and reload it you have to click on “apply configuration changes” orange ribbon in the upper part of the page. It will ask you for confirmation and if you are sure then your changes will be applied to asterisk.

Another important option you need to setup is trunks. Here you define your VoIP provider with whom you will be able to place calls to. As with extensions, first thing you have to do is to define what technology your provider is using. As usual, every option is very well documented and necessary options are placed in configuration, so you can be sure that you will not miss anything. Moreover, most of the providers have a help page on their websites, where you can find what options you have to exactly setup for your trixbox and asterisk in order to work with them. It is almost incredible how trixbox became almost standard and everybody supports it.

Once you are done with setting up your trunks, you have to define how your calls will be placed to and received from those provides using defined trunks. To do this you have to setup “Outbound Routes” and “Inbound Routes” respectively. Lets start with outbound ones. You have to define route name and optionally route password, if you do, every time somebody on your asterisk system try to dial out through this provider will be asked for password. Next important option is “Dial patterns” it defines how you and your users will access that provider and for what purpose. As you can see you can write here any rule you want, but there are some predefined patterns that may save your time figuring out what and how for you will use this route. For example lets assume that we will use this route for long distance calls and international ones, as you see system choose the correct settings for us. The last option you have to set while defining outbound route is what trunk we will use. Lets choose our newly created trunk. And you are done, now every time you will be placing international or long distance calls, you will be directed by system to our trunk.

Lets move on and configure inbound route, so outside users can reach those who are inside. Lets give it some distinguishing name, and the important thing here is to match the inbound number that has been dialled, this is usually number you get from your VoIP provider, and in terms of asterisk it is called DID or direct inward dial. After this you have to decide what to do with your call once it reached the  system, you can set this at “Set destination” option. Here you can terminate the call with some number of reasons, connect it directly to some extension you have setuped before, redirect it to voicemail of some extension, put it in a ring group and join a conference. Putting in “ring group” means that all local extensions that are members of particular ring group will ring at once, as soon as new call will arrive. After you are done, don’t forget that you have to apply changes to you asterisk system by clicking on orange ribbon bar and choosing “Continue with reload”. There are a lot of other options that you can setup and enable through this webinterface, you can experiment with them freely and be sure that every option is very well documented.

In addition to configuration options in administration mode, you can get number of reports on system usage, like who was calling whom, what was the duration, and also some nice graphs on call distribution and other important aspects of your asterisk system.