By tradition, at the end of every year, I take a look back
both personally and professionally over the previous 12 months. This
year—especially with 2009 being a challenging year—was no different. Part of
this year’s review was taking a look at the tools I use on a daily basis to get
my work done to make sure I had the right mix for productivity and hadn’t
fallen into any of the latest fads or had software just idling away when I
should really decommission it and streamline my workflow.
Continue reading "The Tools of My Trade: 2009 Edition" »
Web applications play a major part in my current professional work and there are some rather than others that join my list of favorites. Starting to write for WebWorkerDaily
this year really gave me exposure to a lot of new applications and web
services. Here are some of my favorite web services for 2009:
Continue reading "My Favorite Web Apps for 2009" »
I get a lot of exposure to new
applications
writing for
WebWorkerDaily and just plain being a
technology early adopter. As 2009 is coming to a close, there are some
applications that I plan to keep an eye on in 2010 both as a writer and
future user.
Microsoft Office 2010. Through multiple
lives as a computer book technical reviewer and later a technology
writer, I've been tooling around with Microsoft Office Betas since
Office 2000 and can say the stability, speed, and usability in the
Office 2010 Technical Preview blows them all away and I look forward to seeing this latest version of the venerable Office suite go final.
Continue reading "Apps I am watching in 2010" »
The recent news conference and related buzz around the
Google Chrome OS really got me thinking about if the industry is ready for another OS especially after reading this eweek.com piece:
As the world prepares for the release of Google's Chrome OS, a Web-based operating system that Google announced earlier in 2009 and that is expected to be previewed Nov. 19, it's important for everyone to consider the implications of the release. For the first time in quite a while, a major company is jumping into the operating system space to compete with Microsoft and Apple. It will be an important launch that could have a real and meaningful impact on the market. Apple won't need to worry about the release of Chrome OS nearly as much as Microsoft will. Apple is a hardware company. Mac OS X holds a relatively small percentage of market share in the software space and it isn't competing against Windows-based netbooks. But Microsoft does need to worry about Google and its Chrome operating system. Microsoft is competing heavily in the netbook market, on which Chrome OS has its sights firmly set. Moreover, it has online services of its own, in Azure and Office Online, that underscore its desire to move to the Web. Simply put, there is a lot at stake for Microsoft when Chrome OS is released. And it needs to act quickly to stymie Chrome OS' growth. Until then, Microsoft should fear Chrome OS. Here's why:Resource Library:1. Google keeps growing
via www.eweek.com
Continue reading "My Initial Thoughts about Google Chrome OS" »
Gmail
is increasingly becoming the email provider of choice for many individuals and organizations alike. Google is well aware of that fact and
recently rolled out a new Import Mail & Contacts feature that joins
Gmail settings. I found the new feature in my Gmail account but didn't
see it in a Google Apps account I maintain under a personal domain.
The new import feature is a simple affair. Go to your Gmail settings
and open the Accounts and Import tab. Click on Import Mail &
Contacts and a new browser window appears. Enter the email address of
the email account you want to import into Gmail. Click Continue.
Continue reading "Importing Email & Contacts into Gmail" »
Social Media is becoming an increasing requirement for communications in the enterprise. Web Journal 2.0 recently had a great post on this very subject:
Social Media Inching Its Way into the Enterprise
— Social software technologies are exposing the holes in corporate communication and collaboration and at times filling them before the enterprise can fully grasp and control the flow. In a new study released this week, user-experience research firm Nielsen Norman Group found that many of the most successful social media initiatives on company intranets start as underground, grassroots efforts led by front-line workers, and which later are officially sanctioned by the enterprise.
Continue reading "Social Media, Internal Communications, and the Enterprise" »
I am still one of those
writers who uses a desktop PC. Reason being is that I like the fact I
can have a lot of hard disk, heavy duty processing power, and two large
screen monitors. While I use a MacBook Pro as my other primary writing
machine--nothing beats a large monitor for my eyes.
Continue reading "Deciding On My Next Primary Desktop PC" »
I've
been spending some of my downtime contemplating the intersection of
Social Media, Web Offices, and technical writing. These technological
and platform changes are going to overwhelm the technical writers who
have been doing their job the same day from when they fired up their
first employer's PC on day 1 of their first job out of college.
Continue reading "The Intersection of Social Media, the Web Office & Technical Writing" »
LinkedIn
is really pressing forward with the integration of third-party
applications and Web services into their platform. All in all, this is
a prudent move for LinkedIn to keep pace with social networking and to
do the best to augment their platform.
Their integration with WordPress means LinkedIn users can tie into their WordPress site and have their latest posts show up in their LinkedIn profile.
Continue reading "WordPress and LinkedIn" »
I've been in a real tinkering mode as of late. Perhaps it's because I reread my copy of the Lifehacker book at the pool over last weekend.
Continue reading "Random and Recent Projects" »
When I was writing my post about building the better corporate
instant messaging deployment I was using my MacBook Pro. A Google
search on Windows Live Messenger turned up this very Mac centric page
about Microsoft Messenger: mac and Microsoft Office Communications
Server 2007:
Continue reading "Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 showing some love to the Mac?" »
Zoho recently made a very strategic move by launching Zoho Office for SharePoint
because of SharePoint's growing dominance in the enterprise. It seems
everybody I am speaking to about potential projects these days is using
Microsoft Office SharePoint Services 2007 for secure document
collaboration inside their firewall.
Continue reading "Zoho Office for SharePoint Launches" »
I've written before on this blog about the convergence of social networking, online collaboration tools, and the Web Office.
LinkedIn,
a business-focused social networking site is jumping into that fray by
offering up integration to a free
Box.net account. This is a great
vehicle for posting writing samples (that are in the public domain) and
even Word or PDF versions of resumes to make them accessible on LinkedIn.
Continue reading "Box.net on LinkedIn" »
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