How To Make A QR Code That Links To A URL

Posted on by
Reply

QR codes can be used for several purposes and there are multiple ways to create them, but today I learned of a new quick and easy way to generate one that takes someone directly to a URL.

Shorten a URL using http://goo.gl/ or http://bit.ly and then just enter .qr after the shortened link. The resulting page will show your new QR code.

Here is the step by step:
  1. I want people who scan my QR code to go to http://www.rcsailors.com/2011/05/squaw-island-race-2011/
  2. I go to http://goo.gl and enter my site and get back the shortened version here: http://goo.gl/QIc6K
  3. I just add .qr to then end to get http://goo.gl/QIc6K.qr and visit that site to see my code.
  5. Drag that image to my desktop and then use it in my marketing or ad.
I haven’t thought of a good use for this but I’m frequently asked how to create QR codes and now I have another answer other than sending the person to http://qrcode.kaywa.com/. That site allows you to make QR codes that do more than just send someone to a web page.

The Problem with Job Boards

Posted on by
Reply

The Ladders has released a brief new white paper by the Aberdeen Group called “Challenges in Sourcing Six-Figure Talent.“ (It is a .pdf download).

In it, they share their research on how partnering with an online provider to source resumes is more effective than just posting on job boards. It is an interesting read and presents many problems and challenges that still could be solved in the employment vertical space.

Job boards can increase the reach of recruiters and hiring managers into otherwise difficult-to-access talent pools, but 70 percent of survey respondents said that reach can make things worse by delivering unqualified candidates, most of whom are unqualified for the advertised position. In addition, 59 percent said the volume of applicants funneled through job boards strains the resources of hiring companies and recruiters, making them less effective at identifying and vetting candidates who are actually qualified.

Additionally, 61 percent of respondents said they spend too much time looking for the right candidates for these jobs and 45 percent don’t see value in paying for job postings on these sites and job boards.

Read Sharon Florentine’s article here: The Problem with Job Boards.

Taylors Valley, VA Photos

Posted on by
Reply

I’ve owned the domain name TaylorsValley.com for a long time. I bought it so that a squatter didn’t pick up the name. At the time, internet access in the Valley was pretty much non-existent. I finally got around to doing something with the domain.

Each morning before I come to work I’m going to try to post a photo that was taken in or around the Taylors Valley area. Photos may come from as far away as Whitetop  or Mt. Rogers or Backbone Rock but the community of Taylors Valley will still be at the center of attention.

If you have photos taken in Taylors Valley, email them along and if they are the right size – at least 990 pixels wide – I’ll add them into the mix!

Here’s a shot of me fishing up stream from what we call the first trestle. It is actually trestle 28 or something like that but growing up, it was the first trestle you came to when you hiked down the train tracks towards Damascus, VA.

Enjoy!

Fly Fishing, Whitetop Laurel Creek

 

 

Google URL Shortener

Posted on by
Reply

Stop sending long URLs!

Google has a new URL shortener at http://goo.gl

Copy a long URL from a page you want to share and then visit http://goo.gl/ and paste in the long link and hit submit.

The site will return a much shorter link that you can share with people.

As an example, here is the long url to this post:

http://www.billblevins.com/2011/01/google-url-shortener/

Here is the shortened link using Google’s URL Shortener:

http://goo.gl/3tPT8

Shortening links avoids all sorts of problems with email clients breaking long urls into pieces and give back many of your characters to use in your  Twitter message.

You don’t need to sign in to use it. However, if you do sign in with your GMail account, the new Google URL Shortener will save all of the links you shorten and report to you how many people clicked the link you shared. Go now and check it out and stop sending long urls!

There are many other sites that do this too including tinyurl.com and bit.ly.

Do you sometimes you get a shortened url sent to you in a message (especially in junk mail messages) and you’d rather know where it was going to take you before you click? Try http://longurl.org/.

A List of My Most Interesting iPhone Applications

Posted on by
Reply
  • WeatherBug – The best weather app I’ve found with good radar however WeatherUnderground has the best “mobile” web page for weather at the moment (ie: no need to download an app).
  • FourSquare – Where are you? Where are your friends?
  • RadarScope – Collection of weather radar views from the NWS
  • Google – Pretty good voice search so you can do that while you are driving and still keep your eyes on the road.
  • Words With Friends (Free) – A Scrabble game you can play with your friends who also have the app. (Not sure why Scrabble hasn’t sued them but anyway, it is good.
  • Twitter – Twitter client.
  • Bump – Transfer files between mobile devices via bluetooth after you bump the two devices together (and they have a cool domain name: http://bu.mp)
  • Shazam – Hear a song on the radio, hold up the app and it will tell you the name of the song, artist and links to iTunes, etc. to buy it.
  • SlingPlayer – Watch your TV at your house via a SlingBox connected to your home TV.
  • FlightTrack Pro – Connects to TripIt and alerts you when flights are delayed
  • SkyGrid – Top trending stories of the moment with multiple links to go read the details on the web
  • DoodleJump – Odd little game where you jump a bug up the rungs of a ladder except there is no ladder and it really isn’t a bug and you can shoot things and … etc.
  • Loopt (don’t really use this anymore but it is kind of like FourSquare but I keep it on my phone because my sister still uses it and she won’t switch to FourSquare)
  • CardStar – Transfer all of those little key fob membership cards from all of your favorite stores to an app and you can just show your phone instead of the card. It hasn’t worked for me yet anywhere I’ve tried it but one day it might. I don’t carry the cards with me anyway so maybe if it works…
  • Groupon – Deal of the Day
  • ColorSplash – Turn color photos into B&W photos, then color parts of them. Pretty cool.
  • Police Radio – Listen to the police scanner for most places around the country when the person who streams the channel has their site online. Monroe County, NY is offline more than it is online.
  • 1Password – I have no use for this app but I LOVE the browser / computer application and the app syncs so I just mainly use it as a backup for my passwords on my computer if that ever fails.
  • Shooger – Coupons
  • 2D Sense – Scan the QR and QC codes
  • Angry Birds – Game where you slingshot little angry birds at green turtles or some other little green animal.
  • Facebook – Social networking site that garners 15 minutes per day (or about 7 hrs per month) of the average user’s time. Not me.
  • MotionX GPS – A really nice GPS that I don’t use because I really only need a GPS on a boat and this just isn’t accurate enough yet so that I wouldn’t run into a dock or the shore.
  • HomeWeather – Links to my home weather station, CWOP DW3513 in Fairport, NY
  • iPatch – Mainly just to put a patch over Jonathan Biddle’s eye whenever I see a photo of him.
  • iHandy Level – I use this to tell when to stop cranking the lift on the front of my power boat so the water drains out the back when I put it away.
  • Kindle – Used to read books from Amazon.com
  • Buzz – Google’s version of Twitter
  • Navionics Lakes East – One day I’ll have a use for this detailed GPS mapping program
  • LinkedIn – One day I may need to get in touch with a contact from the past
  • LiveCams – A huge collection of video camera from all around the world.
  • NightCamera – I used to use this when I wanted to take a photo at night and they kept turning out blurry, this program would wait to snap the picture until when my hands stopped shaking.
  • Photogene – Sort of like Photoshop for a mobile phone.
  • PS Express – Photoshop for a mobile phone. Sort of like Photogene
  • QuakeWatch – Feel an earthquake? Use this app to see where it was and how strong it was.
  • RedLaser – Scan UPC codes and price compare and link to sites where you can get more product information
  • MouthOff – Characters say what you say with a funny mouth
  • Weber On the Grill – Grilling cheat sheet
  • Pandora – Streaming Internet Radio
  • Paper Toss – You have to be very bored to get into this game but basically it is throwing paper in a can with varying amounts of wind blowing across the room making accuracy random and difficult
  • RC Heli Gold – fly a remote control helicopter on your iPhone screen
  • Rowmote – Control your computer mouse from your iPhone and launch applications. I use this as a clicker when I’m presenting using Keynote or Powerpoint
  • Tipulator – Helps you calculate tips and splitting up bills when you are sharing the cost with a lot of other people
  • TripIt Pro – My travel agent when I’m on the road after I’ve planned everything out with my real travel agent
  • UpCode – Another 2D bar code and QR code reader
  • SpeedTest – How fast is your Internet connection?
  • StickWars LE – You have to play this game once. Let me know if you play it twice.
  • Trapster – Driving down the road, you can report police activity and view reports from others on the same.
  • Trulia – Get information on houses for sale via an interactive map or what is around you that is on the market
  • Urbanspoon – Restaurant search with a randomizer!
  • WindForecast – What is the wind going to be in a certain spot at some point in the future? Use this app.
  • WunderRadio – Streaming radio stations
  • EyeTV – Control your EyeTV if you have one and still use it.
  • Zillow.com – Really nice real estate information site.
  • Waze – Eat cupcakes while you are driving and score points. Help Waze map the United States in the process.
  • Whoppa – Keep track of the big fish you caught and see where others are catching them and what they are using for bait.

First RC Laser Regatta was Learning Experience for Three CYC Members

Posted on by
Reply

Below is an article that is being sent to the Canandaigua Yacht Club’s newsletter for consideration for use in the Aug. 1 edition.

A group of members have now purchased three RC (remote control) One Design Laser sailboats and there are two more to be ordered (this week, hopefully) and a couple of other people considering the purchase. Shortly, we’ll be joining the North American RC Laser Class Association and forming an official fleet on Canandaigua Lake and racing at CYC. The current leading name is the Canandaigua Yacht Club Remote Control Sailing Fleet (if the club will have us).

–

On Sunday, July 18, three sailors from Canandaigua Yacht Club competed in a “first of its kind” (for CYC) Remote Control Regatta.

Remote Control Laser Sailing

Sailing RC Lasers at Canandaigua Yacht Club

Skippers Jack Bennett (#05), Bill Blevins (#254) and Nelson Habecker (#54) competed using remote control one design Laser sailboats in a series of round-the-buoy races.

Frank Sacco served as the PRO and his boat, Dr. Heeks also hosted spectators, Larry & Nella Neeck. The boat was also the mobile racing platform for the three skippers. The course was set just South of the mooring field and marks were attended by a spectator boat.

Three races were run, although the final race was shortened due to the number of large spectator boats crowding the course which unfortunately blocked the wind for the small competitor boats.

Bennett’s racer seemed to develop a mind of its own, and on multiple occasions did penalty circles for no apparent reason. Mark-set-and-spectator-boat driver Gary Schmidt was sent to rescue the wayward craft a few times throughout the afternoon.

Habecker’s craft was on course for the gun and a bullet in the first race, but at the last minute, the skipper decided to ride a wind shift directly into the beam of the Race Committee boat which left Blevins clear to overtake from behind and cross the finish line first.

Two other races were completed but the results are still under review for various reasons, and thus are still deemed unofficial.

Informal races are planned for Sunday afternoons at the South end of the CYC waterfront, sometime around 4 p.m., or whenever the crews and boats arrive and feel like sailing. Additional regattas will be announced in the future. For more information on joining in on the fun around this exciting sailing opportunity, contact club members Bill Blevins or Nelson Habecker.

If you are interested in obtaining a RC Laser Sailboat, visit http://www.sailrclaser.com. The boats are available as a ready-to-sail kit that includes the boat, 3 sails, transmitter and travel bag. All that is needed to sail are double A batteries. Setup time is about 5 minutes from the bag to the water!

Everyone is welcomed to participate (with a RC Laser or any other RC sailboat) or just come out as a spectator.

We’ll bet you haven’t seen racing like this before!