As of today, Microsoft Office 2010 has officially left Technical Preview and is now in public beta, meaning that anybody can download it and take it for a spin. I was able to get an early look at the beta and want to relay some of the changes you can expect in this upcoming release. Microsoft is really stepping up its game with this release, and even though there are scattered reports of performance issues, I am not seeing them on my Vista test machine.
We covered the release of the Office 2010 Technical Preview and the Office Web Apps Technical Preview. This beta smooths out some rough edges in the Technical Preview releases and adds some new features: Read the rest of this entry »
The successive typhoons that recently came over the Philippines gave my roof and ceiling a complete beating. I thought I could ignore the rainwater dripping into every room in the house but, when I woke up one morning and found my head completely wet thanks to a new hole, I knew I couldn’t postpone the repairs any longer.
But working from home and having your home repaired can be a chaotic mix. It tends to destroy your routine, concentration and even the quality of your work. So what can we home office workers do to prevent that from happening? Read the rest of this entry »
“Know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em, know when to walk away, and know when to run.” – Kenny Rogers, “The Gambler”
Our impulse is usually to try to do everything. Opportunities present themselves, and we think, “If I turn this away, I may not get another shot. What if there’s nothing else coming down the pike?” Read the rest of this entry »
There is never enough time in the day to keep up with the constant barrage of social media. Take Twitter, for example. Almost daily I have clients and colleagues ask me “Isn’t Twitter really a waste of time?” and “I hear Twitter is losing users faster than they’re gaining them, so why should I join?” The rest of us who are on Twitter — even those of us who have been using it for years — are still figuring out how to best fit Twitter into our overall communications toolkit.
So how do you keep from “wasting” time on Twitter? Here’s my advice on how to spend no more than 15 minutes a day on your Twitter account but still reap the rewards, particularly for your work. This is not a good tactic for everyone, but if you or someone you know is very resistant to Twitter and simply needs a manageable plan for tweeting, you can try this at work or home. Read the rest of this entry »
Even as a web worker, there are times when we need to sign paperwork. Maybe a new client is ready to sign a contract with you. Maybe an employer needs you to sign a form. No matter why you need to get your name down on a piece of paper, it can put a crimp in a web worker’s style. After all, who among us wants to have more hard copy around than is absolutely necessary? Luckily, more and more companies are accepting digitally signed documents — even the IRS will accept digital signatures on most forms. You can sign contracts, forms and other documents with just a click of your mouse. Read the rest of this entry »
As the amount of data we all use and store grows, information management is becoming an increasingly important topic. It’s often ignored until something happens, like losing a software serial number or other vital piece of information in what was once thought to be an organized email inbox or My Documents folder.
I recently reviewed Yojimbo 2.0, an excellent information organizer for the Mac that can help keep track of bits of information you might like to use later. But what if you use Windows? One option is iKnow from PpcSoft. It’s a productivity tool that targets information management and productivity. It uses notes that connect automatically to other notes within the application — sort of like your own personal World Wide Web, but residing in the safety and security of your local hard drive. I decided to take the trial version of the Standard Edition of iKnow for a spin.
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When I sit down at my computer each morning, I always have plenty of emails asking me to work on short-term projects: a connection that has to be made today, a round of revisions that needs to be made immediately, a phone call that really ought to have happened last night, etc. Because of how immediate all of these requests are, it’s easy to get lost in them and let my long-term projects fall by the wayside. Read the rest of this entry »
My previous post “6 Tips for Using Google Wave on your First Project” was really about the initial experience a client and I had with Google Wave, and some the early lessons we learned. While I would rank both of us as web-savvy early adopters, suffice it to say my wish list for Google Wave features has been growing fairly rapidly. Read the rest of this entry »
Web Work 101: How To Escape The Cubicle
