If you’re on twitter I’m sure you’ve seen the daily inspirational quotes from @tinybuddha… today, with the following announcement, Tinybuddha moves into the blogosphere with the launch of their new website which features blog postings, photos, and of course, daily inspirational quotes to help guide you through your day.

Here’s the announcement:

Today is the launch date for tinybuddha.com! Visit the site often to:

• View the daily quotes from tiny buddha’s Twitter stream, and learn ways to apply them to your life.
• Read blog posts from other readers who are doing the same.
• Submit your own writing for inclusion on the blog.

We will be adding new levels of content as the site grows. We’d love to read your feedback, so feel free to reply at any time.

Once we receive permission from the contest winners, we will list their names on the homepage.

“When words are both true and kind, they can change our world.” ~Buddha

I love Tinybuddha’s twitter stream and I’m really excited to see them branching out into blogging, photos, etc… I’ll be watching with a curious eye as they continue to grow.

Jump on over to www.tinybuddha.com and check it out!

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In yesterday’s post I talked about converting MP3 audiobooks for your iPod/iPhone. In today’s post, I will be continuing with the Apple theme and will be talking about creating ringtones for your iPhone using nothing but iTunes.

The first thing you need to do is find a piece of music or audio that you want to use for your ringtone. Apple has in place a 30 second maximum time limit for ringtones. You can use 20 seconds, or 10 seconds, but nothing more than 30 will work. This is a limitation of the iPhone and I haven’t found a way to use more than 30 seconds. If there’s a way to use more than 30 seconds, I’d like to know.

Let’s get started.

The first thing you need to do is setup the iTunes import options. Open iTunes and do the following:

Edit > Preferences > General

In the middle of the window, click on “Import Settings”

Make sure “Import Using” is set as “AAC Encoder”.

The Bit Rate can be whatever you want; I choose to leave it at: High Quality (128 Kbps). Setting this to a higher or lower bitrate will adjust the filesize and sound quality of your ringtone.
Click “Ok” to go back to iTunes.

Now, in iTunes, browse to the song or audio file of your choice and write down the start and stop time for the 30 second block that you want to use as your ringtone. Next, right click on the song and choose “Get Info” from the menu. Click on the options tab and in the “Start Time” and “Stop Time” numbers into their respective fields. Click “Ok” to go back to the display view in iTunes.

Now “Right Click” on the song once more and choose “Create AAC Version”. Once completed you should see a duplicate copy of your song listed that is only 30 seconds long. Go ahead and remove this file from the iTunes library making sure to select “Keep Files” when prompted.

Now, in Windows, browse to “My Documents\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\Name of Band\Etc\” and find the newly created AAC file and rename it from .m4a to .m4r. Now import the .m4r file back into iTunes using “File > Add File to Library” or drag and drop. Sync your iPhone and enjoy your newly created (free) ringtone.

Photo Credit: obihirorabbit – Creative Commons By 2.0

Related posts:

1. How To Convert MP3’s into the iTunes Audiobook Format

Turning your MP3’s into iTunes Audiobooks is a really simple process.  Begin by importing your Audiobooks into iTunes by either using the “Import from CD” option or by dragging and dropping, or by using the “File > Add to Library” option.

Once your Audiobook is in your iTunes “Music” library all you need to do is do a “Get Info” on the files.  You can “Right Click” or use the “File” menu.  Click on the “Options” tab and look for where it says “Media Kind”.  Change this to “Audiobook” and the put a checkmark in the “Remember playback position” option.  Click “OK” at the bottom and your done.  Your MP3 file will be moved to the “Audiobook” section inside iTunes and you will now be able to speed up (or slow down) your Audiobook and your listening position will be remembered if you need to stop listening for a while.

Thanks goes out to Alderete for pointing out the update information above.

Related posts:

1. Create Ringtones for Your iPhone Using Only iTunes

WordPress is the most popular web blogging software because it provides ease of use. WordPress is suitable for just about anybody – from the absolute novice to the advanced programmer.  WordPress has a feature-rich interface, a rich text editor with advanced multimedia support and is endlessly expandable. WordPress’s community distributes a large number of modules for almost any popular website feature, is Open Source and is updated regularly.  In a nut-shell, WordPress is free to install, endlessly expandable with thousands of themes and plugins, has a large support community is easy to use.

The five reasons why you should be using WordPress are:

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5. WordPress is simple and easy to use once properly installed and configured.

Photo credit: Nikolay Bachiyski (flickr cc 2.0)

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On Tuesday I needed to deposit some cash into my checking account at Bank of America.  I usually do this once or twice a week and have never had any issues or problems until today when the ATM machine I was using decided to eat $726 dollars of the $1026 dollars that I was putting into my account.  After fiddling with the machine for about ten minutes I decided I should go inside and speak to a teller to see if they could help me figure out what went wrong and more importantly, help me retrieve the missing $726 dollars.

Upon walking into the bank I noticed a short line and immediately go behind the last person.  After a few minutes my turn had arrived and I walked up to the teller, a woman who I have dealt with many times before, and proceeded to explain my situation to her and showing her my the printed deposit slip that showed my deposit of $300 dollars with the words “Sorry, some of your items could not be processed or returned.  Please contact your financial institution.” Her immediate response was “I can’t help you, call the 1-800 number on your deposit slip.  Next in line please.”

“If you make customers unhappy in the physical world, they might each tell 6 friends.  If you make customers unhappy on the Internet, they can each tell 6,000 friends.” — Jeff Bezos – Chairman and CEO of Amazon.com

The comment and tone of her response irritated me and I demanded to speak to someone who could help me.  She asked me to have a seat in the “personal banking” area and said she would send someone over to talk to me.  After waiting about 10 minutes, another woman came over and asked what she could help me with.  I explained to her the situation, and again, was told “I can’t help you.” We walked over to her desk, she asked for my ATM card and drivers license, she picked up the phone and dialed some numbers and then handed me the phone saying, “we have no control over the ATM machines, you’ll need to speak to a customer service rep at the main office”.

“Customers don’t expect you to be perfect. They do expect you to fix things when they go wrong.” — Donald Porter V.P., British Airways

The man on the phone asked me a series questions….  he asked for my address, my phone number, how much money I deposited and in what denominations, etc.  He then started to end the conversation by saying that depending on the outcome of the “investigation,” it would take up to 45 days for me to receive my lost funds.  I told him that a 45 day wait was unacceptable and then he finally agreed to credit my account for the missing $726 dollars.  He then explained that if the money does not show up that I should expect charge-back at some point during the 45 days.  I wrote down the claim number and left the bank shaking my head.

After getting back to a computer, I pulled my twitter account and mentioned that I would be closing my Bank of America account because of bad customer service.  A few minutes later I received a tweet from @BofA_help asking if he could assist with my problem.  I was a little surprised to see his message pop up on my screen…  I simply told him to tell the tellers at the Ukiah branch that “I can’t help you” is not an acceptable response to a customer problem.  I’m sorry @BofA_help, not even your tweet can save this account.

For what its worth, I have been a loyal Bank of America customer for well over a decade.  I’ve never had any issues with my account or problems with overdrafts or negative balances.

What Bank of America should have done:

Shown compassion to my situation

If the teller could not have helped me with my situation, her response should have been more along the lines of “I’m really sorry about that, I can’t help you, but let me get you someone who can.”

A little reassurance goes a long way

The second person I spoke with was admittedly a nicer person, but again, not very helpful.  A customer should never hear the words “I can’t help you.”

A resolve to resolve

I understand that they would question my claim, but find it very hard to believe that it takes 45 days to find out if there is extra money inside an ATM machine.  I ended up leaving the bank not knowing if I’ll get to keep the $726 dollar credit.

I live in a small town where large corporations already have a bad reputation.  Bank of America needs to learn that If you can’t take care of your customers, someone else will.

“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” — Bill Gates, Chairman of Microsoft

Update – August 14, 2009

Lauren Tara LaCapra has mentioned my Bank of America troubles in her TheStreet.com article, Banks A-Twitter for Tweeting, thanks Lauren.

Photo credit: kevindooley (flickr cc 2.0)

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Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!  I’m moving my personal blog to a new location…  If you know me, and want it, email me and I’ll send it your way.

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