Ed's Tech Tips

OK, not exactually the "Word", "Excel" and "PowerPoint", but the ability to open, edit and create Word, Excel and PowerPoint files without deducting any money from your wallet or checking account. I just finished creating the Volunteer Resource CD for the Reunion Planning Workshop and the Alumnae Council. Most of the documents are in Word, Excel and PowerPoint format. Not certain that everyone would have Microsoft Office I included OpenOffice.org for both Windows and Macs on the CD.

OpenOffice.org is a free and open source office suite, including word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, vector drawing and database components. The mission statement of the project is:

To create, as a community, the leading international office suite that will run on all major platforms and provide access to all functionality and data through open-component based APIs and an XML-based file format.

Now into its second version, it is a tremendous application. It even has the ability to save documents in PDF or Flash format. The drawing program has many of the features of CorelDraw and the database component is very powerful. The open document format used by OpenOffice is being adopted by many state and national governments, including Massachusetts. If you are still using Microsoft or Apple Works, you should really check out OpenOffice.

Wikipedia has an excellent article providing an overview of OpenOffice, with many links to related resources.

PC Magazine offers step-by-step instructions on how to be your own web video broadcaster in their August 2006 issue, as well as, on their web site using Apple's free QuickTime Broadcaster and Darwin Streaming Server software. I did the same thing during this past Reunion and continue to offer a webcam page featuring live streaming video on the Alumnae Association's web site, however, for much less money which you can do, too.

PC Magazine purchased a brand new Apple Xserve server, but an older Power Mac G4 or G3 will do the job too if you are not expecting too much traffic. Also, you do not need Apple's $300 Remote Desktop Software when the free OSXvnc will easily allow you to operate your Mac even from a Windows PC using UltraVNC. You can use a firewire compatible digital camcorder or iSight webcam. It might be possible to use a USB webcam with the appropiate Mac compatible drivers, but I have not tried that yet.

While the QuickTime Broadcaster is relatively easy to setup and run, it is still very powerful and flexible supporting a wide variety of codecs including 3G video for mobile devices, such as, your cell phone. It is even possible to set up a wireless notebook with a video camera to stream remote live video to the server and then to the web. Look for live streaming events on the Alumnae Association web site in the future.

This is the first of my low-tech solutions in a high tech life. Expect to see more.

I like to visit 43folders.com which is about personal productivity, life hacks, and simple ways to make your life a little better. One of those simple ways to make your life better is to use a bound notebook for, guess what, taking notes! I'm not talking about a spiral bound notebook, but a hard bound book with ruled pages and a ribbon for marking your loaction that I always considered useful for personal dairies or journals. However, they are idea for taking notes. I was an avid notetaker in college and need to get back in that habit.

Notebook computers can be cumbersome even though they continue to shrink in size and those that are handhelds are difficult to type on. Laptops are not that easy to use on your lap and can get downright hot. In addition, batteries die and there is not always an outlet where you need it one.