Website of the Week: Ustream.tv

What a great idea. Ustream.tv is a “live interactive video broadcast platform that enables anyone with a camera and an internet connection to quickly and easily broadcast to a global audience of unlimited size.”

In other words, if you have a webcam and an internet connection, you can have your very own live broadcast of anything you’d like.

And though it’s hard to believe, this service is 100 percent free.

What makes Ustream.tv so incredibly cool is that it actually encourages broadcast-to-viewer and viewer-to-viewer interaction!

This means that it allows viewers to personally interact directly with whoever is broadcasting.

This truly pushes online video out of the era of static, pre-recorded clips and into the world of live, interactive media.

Examples of what people have broadcast on Ustream.tv include school sporting events, conference sessions, business meetings, holiday gatherings, political debates, entertainment events, personal milestones such as birthdays and weddings, and live jam sessions.

Even if you have no interest in setting up your own interactive broadcast, you can always visit www.ustream.tv and browse the various live and upcoming broadcasts.

As I type, the featured broadcast playing Ustream.tv’s homepage is a computer-related radio talkshow where experts are answering listeners’ call-in questions.

Not the most exciting video to watch, but there are hundreds of others I could choose from if I felt like doing so.

How-To of the Week: Password Protecting PDFs

In the past month or so I’ve received several inquiries asking how to go about password-protecting PDF files — without using Adobe Acrobat.

The process of password protecting PDFs isn’t a difficult one, it just differs depending on whether you’re using a Mac or a PC.

If you own a Mac, PDFauxinfo is the program you’re looking for. (http://msyk.net/macos/pdfauxinfo/).

The wording on the site is a little confusing, but the program password-protects your PDF files like a champ.

If you use a PC, I recommend a fantastic free program called PDFCreator (http://tinyurl.com/qsp66).

PDFCreator is a little powerhouse that’ll do a substantial amount of what Adobe Acrobat does, including creating PDFs from any program that allows you to print, sending generated PDFs by e-mail, merging multiple PDFs into one file, and of course, password-protecting PDFs.

Grab Bag: Five Links of the Week

• http://oca.microsoft.com/en/ windiag.asp — A Microsoft tool that tests the RAM (memory) on your computer for errors by running a series of comprehensive checks.

• www.101cookbooks.com — A great recipe blog featuring healthy, vegetarian recipes alongside gorgeous food photos.

Heidi, the author, also includes recipes for dishes that are gluten-free, high-protein, low-carb, whole grain, vegan, and (most importantly, of course) based on chocolate.

• www.ioweyou.co.uk — This free “innovative expenses sharing system” includes features such as expense logging, instant reports, and access from any computer with an internet connection.

• http://tinyurl.com/hrf8s — Animals that clean your computer screens. (Pretty girly.)

• http://tinyurl.com/4ema7j — Ever wondered how websites actually work?

If you answered “no,” skip this link.

And that’s it for today, everyone. Have a great week, and see ya next Monday.

Based in Frisco, eRin pheiL is the primary creative force behind timeforcake.

Learn more about her Colorado website design company at www.timeforcake.com or contact her via e-mail at info@timeforcake.com.