Wilton Library Technology Blog » Software

Simplify Your Thanksgiving Shopping List

mamfranco — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 11:56:28 +0000

People often ask “what would I use Excel for”? Here’s something I’ve been doing for years and it truly simplifies my Thanksgiving menu shopping. Our Thanksgiving menus do not often change dramatically from year to year so once you do this, it just takes minor tweaking to update it each year.

I created a spreadsheet with five columns: Recipe, Item, Amount, Measurement, and Store. Then, I enter rows for each menu item as follows:

Baked Stuffed Mushrooms Mushrooms, Fresh 24 Pieces Grocery

Baked Stuffed Mushrooms Pecans 1 cup Grocery

Mulled Cider Apple Cider 1 gallon Grocery

Red Wine Pinot Noir 4 bottles Liquor Store

Be sure to convert measurements to a standard. That is, for Butter, I convert sticks and cups to tablespoons. Once all the menu items are entered, sort the list by Item. This will group all instances of Butter together, all instances of Celery together, etc. Then, subtotal for each change in Item. This will insert lines in the spreadsheet totaling how much Butter you need, how many stalks of Celery you need, etc.

I print the subtotaled list, cross out all the items I do not have to buy and then shop for what’s left. If I change one or two recipes the following year, I just delete the rows for those recipes, add rows for the new recipes, sort, subtotal, and print. It is amazing how much time is saved by keeping this spreadsheet! Time to get ready to go out to pick up my Thanksgiving groceries. Our best wishes to you and your family for a wonderful Thanksgiving from all of us at Wilton Library.

~mary anne
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A Great Recipe App!

mamfranco — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 12:04:51 +0000

Back in 1993, I bought a recipe program. It was made for Windows 3.1 or higher and I love it almost as much as I used to love my Palm contact list and calendar. My husband successfully moved it to each new computer and operating system we acquired (it is now running on a Windows Vista machine). We don’t know if it is capable of making the journey to Windows 7 or 8 and this is a major problem for me.

My colleague, Carolyn Benjamin sent me an article from Thursday’s New York Times called App Smart: For the Thanksgiving Cook, a Recipe Manager to Celebrate by Bob Tedeschi. It reviews a number of recipe apps but the standout for me is Paprika Recipe Manager. The iPad app was $5 and entirely worth it. It is easy to use and their support is amazing. I emailed my first question at 12:55 pm on 11/18 and received a perfect instructional answer to my question at 13:06 p.m. As I began to use the app, I had a few more questions and my contact at Paprika, Christine Meranda answered each question quickly and in easy to understand language. I then decided to spring for the Mac version of the app ($20) so I can also use my keyboard to enter recipes manually. The best part of this is that the files sync between the iPad and the Mac so everything is always up to date on each device.

My husband is happy too–no more moving of the incredibly important recipe program. This was a great Thanksgiving present to myself as I always cook for what is my favorite holiday! Thanks, Carolyn!

~mary anne
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iCloud Is Not Half Bad!

mamfranco — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 10:47:56 +0000

In preparation for buying an iPhone 4S this week, I explored iCloud. I had my doubts but was more than pleasantly surprised! The most important features on my phone are contacts, calendar, and to do list and while some solutions I have explored have appeared adequate, none has been completely easy to use or fault free. Until yesterday. I upgraded my MacBook to OS X Lion and my iPad to iOS 5. These two processes went without a hitch (a treat in itself) and, after signing up for iCloud, I entered a few test calendar dates. First, I entered one on the MacBook Air and it magically appeared on the iPad. Then, I entered another one on the iPad and that one appeared on the MacBook. I edited each of the events, and the revised versions appeared on the other device. I haven’t experienced such ease of use across multiple devices since I was using my old Palm Treo! Such ease, however, can come with a price. iCloud is free up to 5 GB and then there is a cost. All I can say though is: Wow!

~mary anne
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And The Tablet Scene Only Gets Worse: HP Throws In Towel

mamfranco — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 13:38:07 +0000

I loved my Palm Pilot. I loved my Palm Treo Smart Phone. I really liked my Palm Pre Plus Smartphone in spite of the fact that the number and quality of apps never compared to Apple. It’s a sad day with the demise of webOS, the Palm phones, and especially the HP TouchPad (which runs; oops, ran WebOS). After not even two months on the market (and after almost immediate price cuts), HP has abandoned the HP TouchPad tablet and may be exiting the PC business altogether. This article from Adrian Kingsley-Hughes of ZDNet gives details. Yes, I feel sorry for those consumers who purchased TouchPads and wonder why it is so easy for a company to mislead consumers. The moral of the story is to be careful when plunking down your hard earned money on new gadgets; it might not be worthwhile to be one of the first to purchase a new-to-market item.

~mary anne
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Netflix Streaming Where You Want It

mamfranco — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 15:12:45 +0000

Here’s a good article by Eric Griffith of PC Magazine on How to Watch Netflix Anywhere. He lists how to do Netflix streaming on many different devices, including TVs, DVRs, Blu-Ray Players, WiiXbox, Sony PlayStation, Mobile devices (including iPod touch, iPhone, iPad, Android Phones, Windows 7 phones, and more). Some work better than others but it’s great to have so many choices. It’s just amazing to watch my cable TV on an iPad–it is a magical time we live in!

~mary anne
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iCloud Pricing Revealed

mamfranco — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 10:12:22 +0000

One of the intruiging features of the new Apple operating system release and other device upgrades is iCloud (the replacement for MobileMe) which is supposed to allow for easy syncing of your data across all devices: Mac computers, iPads, iPhones, etc. The pricing is listed in this ZDNet article by Zack Whittaker. Also, iCloud is now open to developers so if that is what you do, it’s time to get working!

~mary anne
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Spotify Free Legal Music

mamfranco — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 09:02:25 +0000

Last night, this article from David Pogue in The New York Times really caught my interest! “Free, legal, song-specific and convenient” music–what more could I want! In order to try it, you must receive an invite from a friend or request one from Spotify.com. I’ve requested mine and hope it comes for this weekend! I’ll let you know what I think.

~mary anne
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Ordering Food by Phone Without Words

mamfranco — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 11:57:26 +0000

In a New York Times article by Joshua Brustein, we are introduced to two apps, GrubHub and Seamless. They are available free for iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry. They allow you to order food online–easily and wordlessly. While there is little coverage for our area in Seamless and no coverage yet in GrubHub, they will most likely grow in popularity–you might want to ask your favorite delivery restaurants to sign up.

~mary anne
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AAA Apps

mamfranco — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 08:06:30 +0000

Have you seen AAA’s TripTik Mobile app? It is great for finding the lowest gas price nearest to your location. This is just great for those summer excursions! This app also offers maps and turn-by-turn directions. It also shows AAA offices, approved auto repair facilities and local events. AAA Discounts will show you AAA discounts available near your current location. Happy driving and happy summer!

~mary anne
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OS X Lion, MacBook Air and Windows 8

mamfranco — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 16:37:27 +0000

I’m very excited about Apple’s OS X Lion! I upgraded the software on my iPod Touch and iPad this past weekend in preparation for upgrading my MacBook Air from Snow Leopard to Lion. This first part of my upgrade went rather well and my portable devices are ready to sync (hopefully next weekend) when I upgrade the MacBook Air to Lion. James Kendrick of ZDNet has a good article on MacBook Air and OS X Lion synergy: A big hurdle for Windows. As much as I love my Mac, I still can’t live without my PC laptop. It’s not as fast, but the types of software I use are just not available on the Mac. And, it will be interesting to see what Microsoft has planned for Windows 8!

~mary anne
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