1. First, you need to convert the video from YouTube into a format that PowerPoint can use. Videos on YouTube are saved using the .FLV format. We need to get it into a format PowerPoint understands….AVI, WMV and MPEG.
2. Find your video on YouTube and copy the link to it from the address bar in the browser. The whole “http://whatever yourvideois” link
3. Head over to Zamzar and paste the link to your video in the “step one” box. Under the video format section of the drop down in “Step 2” select the format you want the video converted to (avi, wmv or mpeg). Enter you email address and click convert.
4. Wait about 30 minutes and you will receive an email with a link pointing you to your newly converted video. Download it and save it inside your PowerPoint project folder.
5. In PowerPoint, on the Insert tab, point to Movie, and then click Movie from File.
6. Navigate to where you saved your converted video, highlight it and then click OK. After you click OK, you' are promoted with a message asking how you want the movie to start in the slide show. You can select “play automatically” or “play when clicked” .Tips:

This isnt the only way to add video to PowerPoint but it is the easiest way. If you want to get fancy, under Developer’s tools you can add Windows Media Player capabilities.

When playing the video that is inserted in this way in the PowerPoint, it only shows the video picture, and only has two control options: play or stop. So you can't select the playing time freely.

Only video in formats of AVI, MPEG and WMV can be inserted in this way

Always put the movie in the same folder as your PowerPoint presentation.If you later move the PowerPoint presentation to another computer, copy the movie too. Keeping your movie in the same folder as your presentation ensures the link will still work. However, you should always test the movie on a new machine just to be certain. Re-insert the movie, if necessary.

Too bad. You can't download photos your friends post. You have to ask for copies. And they have to be sent to you some other way.

Well, two tools fix this problem. The first is PhotoGrabber. Simply log into your account. Choose a friend off your friends list. Then download your friend's photos. They must be tagged with your name or friends' names. You can't choose specific photos. It's an all-or-nothing affair.

FacePAD offers a little more control. It's a Firefox add-on that lets you download specific photo albums. You can grab just the photos you want.

(Photo downloading may be restricted by your friends' privacy settings. Also, Facebook photos are heavily compressed. Don't expect high-quality photos.)

So did you see this on the Best Buy sales flyer the day before Thanksgiving? 

No Happy Thanksgiving or Merry Christmas but they did wish you a Happy Eid al-Adha.

Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice, is a Muslim holiday lasting four days. The feast is based on Ibrahim's willingness to sacrifice his son to display his obedience to God. According to the Koran, a voice from heaven stopped Ibrahim, allowing him to sacrifice a ram instead.  Part of this celebration includes Muslims slaughtering camels, bulls, sheep in the streets, by cutting their throats and letting the blood run out until they die (Peta, where are you?).

Of course in the past, Best Buy has been one of those retailers that has refused to use or say the word Christmas in any of its advertisement preferring instead to use “Happy Holidays”.

I don’t have a problem with this unless of course I don’t see a “Merry Christmas” on their next sales flyer.  If not, Best Buy has seen the last of my business.