As much as I love Apple and freely admit they make great products, I also have concerns with Apple’s closed-system approach. While there are some valid points to Apple’s ‘let us do the driving’ philosophy, I think users are better served when technology platforms are open. So how cool would a Google tablet be? After all, if they want to beat Windows at its own game, what better strategy than ripping off an Apple idea?
Ecofont is a font that promises to reduce the amount of ink used when printing documents. Less ink = fewer print cartridges = less cost = less stuff in landfills. And a better planet. The font is available for free download . So get a copy and be extra-green by setting your word processing program and other programs to default to this new font — instructions for changing the default fonts in Word and Excel are below. It is easy being green.
These days, with regular blog posts and in the course of a typical work week, I find myself doing a fair amount of writing. But what struck me recently is how rarely I use Microsoft Word to assist with that writing. When writing something that requires thought I normally start in a simple text editor. I find the lack of options helps me focus — and when it comes time to move it to an email, blog post, or even a Word file, it is easy to copy and paste the text. MS Word’s tendency to drag along boat-loads of non-standard formatting is such a pain I actively avoid using it for any writing destined for web delivery. Start collaborating with a tool like Google Docs and Word becomes superfluous.
Need to distribute a document? Whether you are emailing it, adding it to a course site, or putting it on a web page, you should be using the Adobe Acrobat PDF (portable document format) file type. Adobe gives their version of the viewer program for free, but charges for the full, professional version of Adobe Acrobat which allows the conversion of a document to the PDF format. This professional version has a lot of powerful features, but if all you want to do is convert Word, Excel and other documents to the PDF format, the purchase cost is a little much. One of these free alternatives may be just what you need:
Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer sees today’s technology more complex and more interconnected in user’s lives. And he cites efficiency as the goal companies need to strive for. In addition to saving money and other resources efficiency also helps focus on what’s important to getting a job done.
Here is an interesting new project dealing with creation of data visualizations. With the mountains of data we can collect, data visualizations are becoming essential to unraveling the mysteries held there within. The project at the moment isn’t quite plug-n-play, but if you are comfortable with html and don’t mind tinkering around with it you can generate some pretty cool looking visuals.
Randall Rode's online home for thoughts, notes, and experiments with a wide range of technology topics. Visit the about page for info on my recent projects and professional background. I welcome your comments!
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