Pilgrim Notes

Reflections along the way.

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Online Software Update

July 19, 2006 / / 4 Comments

After I posted info on the various applications available online, Jeremy posted another downloadable suite called Open Office. So, I had to try it as well. Interesting, when you register the product, they ask if the reason you are using it is because you hate Microsoft. Then Boing Boing ran piece today about OpenOffice advertising on buses that go to Microsoft. That’s funny!

Anyway, I’ve tested the various apps and here’s my opinion. Open Office is pretty robust and a great downloadable option. I opened one of my Access databases in it and everything worked great. So it stays on the hard drive for when I don’t have WiFi access. But I also like the online apps because it makes it easy switching between computers.

I mainly tested the word processing and of all the apps, I liked ThinkFree. It has editing options I use like zoom, header/footer editing, etc. It runs on Java, which is a problem for some folks, and that means it runs a little slower, but the features are worth it to me. It also has a quick edit and power edit option, so for fasting editing, you can avoid the longer loading java window.

ZohoWriter and the Ajaxwriter were similar and I like them for quick edits. They run fast. I may prefer Zoho simply because it opens in another tab whereas Ajax opens a pop-up window for the document.

gOffice has a nice site but it is still a little too limited in editing options. I couldn’t figure how to change fonts.

If you haven’t tried any of these yet, you should. Open source is changing the rules and hopefully making the web what it was supposed to be. Not a place to make a few guys rich, but a place where us blokes could share our thoughts, ideas and solutions without always commodifying everything.

Unusual Art

July 18, 2006 / / 1 Comment

Mark Jenkins has posted some interesting installation pieces on streets, in nature and more. Check it out.

mark-jenkins-installation.jpg

Call Yourself Tomorrow Today

July 17, 2006 / / 0 Comments

I stumpledupon this cool site that lets you program a text message, a time to call, and even the caller id number to call from, allowing you to send your self real time voice messages: so you call yourself tomorrow today. Play with it; it’s kinda cool.

Jackson Pollock for a day

July 17, 2006 / / 0 Comments

Create stunning masterpieces like Jackson Pollock. Miltso Manetas has created a fun little create-your-own Jackson Pollock page.

Unity08

July 17, 2006 / / 0 Comments

Pajamas Media introduced its newest incarnation today, Politics Central. This brings to together blogs and podcasts with live interviews about the politics in our culture. One section of Politics Central is temporarily called X21 Central and its dedicated to folks who don’t fully identify with the current political labels in our culture. Sounds like me. I never know where I fit in.

Anyway, they introduced a new political group called Unity08 made up of folks who are interested in pushing the current landscape beyond the current polarization. I visited their site and am still not completely sure what they’re all about but could be an interesting group to watch. Anyone who is trying to encourage dialogue as opposed to competing monologues has got my attention.

Online office software

July 14, 2006 / / 2 Comments

If you haven’t been keeping up with the developments in online software, there are multiple options now available for writing documents, creating spreadsheets and even developing presentations that rival PowerPoint. I’ve played with some of these and find them pretty cool and nice alternatives to spending an enormous chunk of cash of productivity tools that come with a bunch of bells and whistles most of us don’t even need.

Here are some of the ones I came across from a simple search and checking folks like TechCrunch.
Zoho offers a whole suite of productivity tools from word processing to spreadsheets to presentation tools and more. Most are free; some have a nominal cost. I played around with the word processing and may start using it myself. It exports as a .doc and other files and has the features I use most.

gOffice offers word processing, desktop publishing, presentations, and spreadsheets.

Writely was recently purchased by Google. They’re not offering new accounts yet, so I haven’t tried it. But you can sign up for an invitation.

ThinkFree comes with a gig of free online space and offers word processing, spreadsheets and presentations. ThinkFree takes a little longer to load but appears to have a bunch of editing tools. Both the icons and toolbar emulate MS Office.

Ajaxlaunch is offering a variety of web world tools including word processing, a sketch program, a video editing program, a soon to come ajax operating system, and more. Plus it has an online forum, so it appears to be creating a little community around these developments. Looks very interesting.

Google Labs is always introducing interesting applications including spreadsheets. One tool that I’ve added to my toolbar that could be helpful for those doing research on the Internet is the Google Notebook. This allows you to capture clips of web pages with links to the page and store them in a folder that is always accessible from your toolbar.

Thumbstacks is an easy tool for building online presentations.

Empressr is also an interesting presentation tool.

If anybody has found other online office tools they like, I’d love to hear about them. Moving between several computers at different locations, I find the online apps makes it very easy for me to work on projects.

Dandelife

July 13, 2006 / / 0 Comments

Dandlife is an interesting variation on the social networking. You tell stories and build a web stories that can interconnect with other story webs. Plus, companies can purchase these stories for brand research, case studies, etc. Marshall Kirkpatrick at Tech Crunch is uncomfortable with this idea. I’m not sure what to think. But the site is interesting.
Every day another social networking development. Seems folks are scrambling to jump in this phenomenon while it’s hot. It will be interesting to see what happens in a year or two with this stuff. After the explosion of various networks I wonder if some will fade or if there will be some connections between networks or if another form of tribalism will emerge with networks becoming more and more niche specific.

Tammuz

July 13, 2006 / / 0 Comments

Israel just entered a three week period of mourning known as Tammuz. Many of their great tragedies have happened during this season. Tammuz mourns the brokenness and evil present in this world and longs for the day when good will overcome evil and Tammuz will shift from mourning to rejoicing.

I mourn for the anguish all across the Middle East. I am not a foreign policy expert, but I am a human. And I anguish over the suffering among the Jews and Arabs, and long for the day when peace will blanket the region. May both sides find wisdom in the midst of this darkening calamity.

Customer Service Award

July 13, 2006 / / 4 Comments

Last week I ran out to find a digital audio cord to connect my Airport Express to the stereo. Since CompUSA has a Mac section, I ran by there. No success. Plenty of Mac stuff. In fact, plenty of Airport Express products: no cable. Interestingly, when I asked a salesman if they carried the product: no and no offer to try and get it. Not that I would wait but it was an interesting contrast with what was to come.

Before heading home to order online, I thought I’d stop by our mall to see if the new Apple store had opened yet. Success! They were open and packed! I walked in and in just a moment found the cable near the Airport Express units. As I walked toward the checkout, an employee stopped me and said, “Are you ready to check out?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I can do it right here.”

He whipped out a little scanner, scanned the item, ran my check card across, got my email address, and told me they would email me a receipt and give me a print out in store as well if I wanted one. Maybe I’m too trusting, but I said email is good enough for me. By the time I got home, I had an email from the Apple store with a printable receipt for my order.

Kudos to the new Apple store. Anticipating a customer’s desire to avoid long lines at a register, they’ve reduced the steps to checkout buy equipping staff throughout the store with that ability.

Parallels

July 13, 2006 / / 0 Comments

Earlier this year, I switched from PC to Macbook Pro at the urging of my brother and friend Gordon. My biggest concern was use of my Bible study software. While there are some Mac programs they are not as robust as the bible research software available for PC. But I switched in hopes that there would soon be support for the new Intel chip. Last week I installed Parallels Desktop for Mac and installed Windows XP. Unlike Boot Camp, Parallels runs alongside the Mac and you can easily switch between systems.

After using my bible software for a week, I must say that I am completely delighted with Parallels. These programs run faster than they did on my old Dell. So if you’re thinking about switching and have some PC programs, I recommend Parallels!

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