just an asterisk

Maybe you don’t know this, but when you search for something in Google, and then click on my blog (or any blog) and arrive here, I can see what you searched for to get here. It’s a bit strange and voyeuristic, but it helps us bloggers figure out what people actually want to read.  For example, I know that someone searched for “three asterisk microsoft word” and ended being disappointed on my site (he/she only stuck around for 30 seconds).  By way of apology, I offer the answer that this mystery person was probably looking for, along with some other weird word tricks.  In the future, you won’t even have to think it before I’ll write a post… :) Read more »

Published from London – yay jetlag…
Your documents are trapped. Contained within your computer or on a thumb-drive, the copies of your work quickly multiply, especially if you try to share a document or if you work in several locations. Want an example? Let’s say you write a word document on your PC (copy 1). A friend asks you to share it, so you put in a thumb drive (copy 2) and your friend copies onto their computer (copy 3). Not convinced? How about when your friend gives you back the edit (copy 4) in an email (copy 5) which you download to your computer (copy 6)? You’ve now created 6 copies of a document when there were only 2 real transactions – you asked for feedback and you received it. If you were using paper, you’d just pass the paper over and receive the feedback on the same page. Why is it so different and complicated when performed digitally?

Google (as always) feels our pain. Google Docs provides an alternative to the madness of the above scenario. This is software that you don’t have to install (if you were really paying attention it’s a thin client) and if you have a Gmail account, you’re already signed up and ready to go. Your documents are available online; everywhere you have an internet connection. There are three services available in the Docs family and each has good features worth knowing about. Read more »