Microsoft Online Tools

Office Live Workspace offers more collaboration surrounding documents and workspaces.  Think of Office Live Workspace as a miniature, personal version of SharePoint.  You can simply share office documents or alternatively, click “Create A Workspace” and build either: Project Workspace, School Workspace, Sports Team Workspace, and so on.  Each workspace type has specific site features for that audience.  For example the Meeting workspace will facilitate a attendee list, meeting notes, minutes archive, and a to-do list.

Windows Live SkyDrive was recently bumped to 5GB from 1GB of online storage for its users.  SkyDrive is plainly a storage area on the web. Think of it as your own locker for you to keep files on.  The online storage space was thought to be a more contested market.  Google has been rumored to be offering a Gdrive (the user-created name for their online storage space).

Tired of paying for Microsoft Office try this free office suite.

OpenOffice.org is a multiplatform and multilingual office suite and an open-source project. Compatible with all other major office suites, the product is free to download, use, and distribute.

Google fans don’t forget.

Google Docs is a free, Web-based word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation application offered by Google. It allows users to create and edit documents online while collaborating in real-time with other users.

As we reported in yesterdays post Google continues its dominance over Microsoft with the Google Sites.  Makes creating a team site as easy as editing a document with Google docs.

What the heck is Zoho online?

Zoho is a suite of online applications (services) that you sign up for and access from their website. The applications are free for individuals. There vision is to provide their customers (individuals, students, educators, non-profits, small and medium sized  businesses) with the most comprehensive set of applications available anywhere; and for those applications to have enough features (depth) to make your user experience worthwhile.

As you can see there are viable and sometimes free online packages to accomplish your collaboration, word processing and spreadsheet needs.  These tools also offer much more in the way of office suite tools check them out.  Why spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars for Microsoft’s Office 2007.

Google Sites, a new offering from Google Apps, makes creating a team site as easy as editing a document. Use Google Sites to centralize all types of information — from videos to presentations — and share your site with just a few people, your entire organization, or the world.

Google acquired JotSpot a wiki company along time ago and we almost forgot about it.  Now Google finally shows why it bought the company many moons ago.

Watch for tomorrow’s Freaky Friday Link Love and I will show you other tools that do the same thing as Google Sites.  They are not the first to offer an online collaboration but will they gain momentum or just be the headline of the day?  We will have to watch and see.  In the meantime watch this video to see what Google Sites has to offer.

Google Sites

This week I ran into a lot of time wasters.  Not only things that I do myself but things that others bring upon me.  I started a collection of the most common time wasters that I encounter in a typical day.

Internet browsing

- If you find yourself randomly surfing the Internet.  This can be a huge time waster and if you find your always looking for extra time to get important stuff done consider your random Internet surfing.  Sometimes setting a timer to limit your surfing can help control this favorite time waster.

Reading email

- This topic has been blogged about a lot but it is so true.  Take a look at your email program and see how often your checking email.  If your not a time sensitive email checker then make that time above 15 minutes.  Try changing it to say 45 to 60 minutes.  You will find that the lack of notification won’t be missed and you will gain time to do other more pressing work like blog.

Outside interruptions

- I work in a cubical I get a lot of walkups.  As a support person I expect a certain amount of interruptions.  Just because I am a support person, have a cubical and an open door policy should not be an open invitation for everyone to interrupt me.  Nowadays I must put a chair in my doorway with a notice to NOT DISTURB if I want get something done.

Prevent Interruptions

• Prevent interruptions from walk-in visitors by isolating yourself. Close your door. Put up a sign. Work in a conference room. If you work in an office, take a day to work on important projects at home if necessary.
• Don’t feel obliged to have “an open door policy.” This allows people to manage your time on their terms, not on yours. “Open door” means you’re generally available for honest communication from any level. It doesn’t mean “always” available.
• If you have an assistant, establish clear guidelines as to what kinds of interruptions are appropriate, so they can screen visitors. The assistant should have the authority to schedule a subsequent meeting, or divert the inquiry to someone else.
• Block off your time for priorities. Handle larger, important projects early in the morning, before you read your e-mail and before interruptions are likely to occur. Schedule a quiet hour to create essential private time.
• Inform co-workers or subordinates that you generally like to come in at perhaps 8:00 am, and work on your own until 9:30 am. Only then do you accept meetings.
• Change the layout of your desk so that you’re not facing traffic. Otherwise, you encourage interruptions.
• If you’re storing materials or files that people have to access frequently, move them to another area.

Watching TV

- This is one that I still have problems with.  When I get off work and get home I find myself sitting in front of the TV and not working on other activities like my blogging.  I may sit there with my laptop surfing the Internet and wonder why I can not find time to blog.

Can you find the time wasters?

Let’s take a look at a typical day for a computer support person and family man. 

0600
Get up watch the news (TV) and get around to head out the door by 0700 or earlier.

15 to 25 minutes commute to work.  I don’t read anything or type anything during my commute for obvious reasons.  I have thought about getting some books on CD for listening to during this time.  Anyone have some recommendations please leave me a comment.

Work 8 plus hours during the time frame of 0700 to 1800 with a minimum of 30 minute lunch.

In a typical 8 hour day I get interrupted what amounts to over 2 hours of unproductive time.  This is not normally something I initiate it is from others about random idle chit chat. 

I won’t incriminate myself in the amount of time I might spend surfing the Internet.  I do check mail regularly due to my support position.  This is how I get notified I need to contact a user to help them.  I have tried to change my email checking to 30 minutes or longer but my Blackberry goes off which makes me hit the send and receive button if I don’t have it automatically check sooner.

15 to 25 minute commute home.  I do not listen to music for the first half of my commute home.  This allows me to reflect on the day and make a plan for the next day.  I then use the last half of the commute to unwind by listening to music.  Some days I may listen to rock, country, jazz, blues, and some days I will listen to talk radio (depends on my mood).  When I get home I try to not do any work for the first 2-3 hours.  I like to spend a little time with the family and clear my mind.  Now this is where watching TV works it’s ugly head into the mix.  I will sit down with the family and watch TV the rest of the night.  Go to bed by 2200 to start it all over again.

I have been working on making a change.  It may be ever so slightly but still trying to do the following.  At work trying to set aside 1-2 hours for me to do what I need to get done what I want not what everyone else thinks I need to do for them.  At home I am trying to use my DVR system a lot more and record the shows I think I need or want to watch.  I need to be doing more with the family at least 2-4 hours with them and then using the last 2-3 hours for my personal time.  Things like blogging, web design, and planning for the next day.

It’s time for all of us to reclaim our lives.  If you ever say I don’t have enough time in the day.  You need to take a look at these four most common time wasters and make adjustments.

How do you eliminate these time wasters?
What time wasters do you encounter in your normal day?

This is an exciting interview for me.  Not just because it is my first interview although that is cool in itself.  I had the pleasure of getting in contact with an ole school friend for my first interview.  I hope you enjoy this and look forward to your comments.

Who is Tiffany the Lass and what is a PiratePod?

Your Name:
Tiffany “the LASS” Fulgoni

JB: Tiffany’s Myspace site 

What is ‘the LASS’?
Everyone was coming up with pirate names, so I just added lass to my name, because pirates say, ‘Come here lass’.

JB: the LASS in pirate lingo means THE WOMAN

Occupation:
Wife, Mom, part-time Administrative Assistant @ UCSD, and podcaster.

How do we know each other?  
From our kiddie days in Corning.

What is PiratePods?
Piratepods.com is a webzine dedicated to interviewing artists, musicians,
filmmakers, actors, and activists from all backgrounds and genres.

From PiratePods.com: for those of you tired of reading and hearing about the same ten people being asked the same five questions, your ship has arrived.  The piratepod goal is to have a conversation with creative minds in today’s culture… wherever they’re found.

What do you do for PiratePods?
I’m a podcast journalist for piratepods.com.  I also help set up interviews and keep the website updated (with the help of Pirate Nick).

What kind of people do you interview?
Creative people of all sorts.  We all have to work in life and I like to chat with people whose work intrigues or moves me in some way (good or bad).  As of now I have only spoken with people who would fall on the good side, but I wouldn’t mind talking with people whose work annoys me.

What is your most memorable interview?
Ziggy Marley was pretty exciting (he was a lot shyer than I thought he would be).

What are you passionate about and why?
I’m passionate about having fun — not 100% partying all the time, but just sitting around and finding the humor and fun in my surroundings.  I love to listen to my kids and their friends while they are playing
and talking about their day.  It’s interesting what’s important or stands out to them.

What is your favorite alcohol beverage?
Umm…Long Island Iced Tea, Champagne, Guinness and Champagne (I think it’s called a Black Velvet)

JB: It is called Black Velvet: 5oz chilled champagne, 5oz chilled Guinness, pour Guinness into a champagne flute then add champagne carefully so that it does not mix with stout and enjoy.

What is your favorite non alcoholic drink?
Hot Green Tea, Iced Tea, or water.  Coca-Cola, too.

What is your favorite place on earth (visited or not)?
That’s a hard one - Yosemite, Italy, Switzerland, San Francisco, Corning, my house or friend’s or family members homes.  I love to go on vacations and stay in people’s homes — not only saves money — but really allows you to hang out and see how other people live.

Thank you Tiffany for allowing me to interview you and introduce Piratepods to my readers.

I spent some time listening to the various interviews on PiratePods.com.  I listened to podcast interviews of Antonella Preti ‘Sharks of the Pacific Northwest‘.  I especially enjoyed Tiffany and MaryJane’s interview of Timmy Curran surfer, songwriter, and musician.  Timmy Curran offers his album ‘Word of Mouth‘ for free to download.

Happy Friday to everyone and a big rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr to all you piratepod listeners out there.

Thanks Tiffany…

Just had to share this press release about Starbucks and AT&T working together to provide Wi-Fi at Starbucks locations.  This boast to be a good thing for AT&T DSL users, such as myself. I look forward to taking my laptop into a Starbucks and connecting, for free, as part as my DSL package at home.

Press Release:

SEATTLE and SAN ANTONIO, Feb. 11, 2008
MORE THAN 12 MILLION AT&T, STARBUCKS CUSTOMERS TO GET FREE WI-FI ACCESS FOR A RICH IN-STORE EXPERIENCE

New Offering Includes Two Hours of Free Wi-Fi Service  Per Day for Starbucks Card Holders Beginning this Spring 

All 100,000 U.S.-Based Starbucks Partners to Receive Free Wi-Fi at Starbucks Stores

SEATTLE and SAN ANTONIO, Feb. 11, 2008 — AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) and Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) today announced plans to deliver AT&T Wi-FiSM service at more than 7,000 company-operated Starbucks locations across the United States. The initiative brings together two of the most recognizable global brands to create a powerful and convenient online experience for consumers and business customers. Starbucks and AT&T will offer a mix of free and paid Wi-Fi offerings at Starbucks stores to meet the needs of both frequent and occasional Starbucks Wi-Fi customers.
The initiative further expands the AT&T Wi-Fi network, already the largest in the United States, to more than 17,000 U.S. hot spots and more than 70,000 globally.
Beginning this spring, Starbucks Card holders can enjoy up to two hours of free Wi-Fi service per day at Starbucks locations offering Wi-Fi access, while more than 12 million qualifying AT&T broadband and AT&T U-verseSM Internet customers will have unlimited free access to the Wi-Fi service. In addition, more than 5 million of AT&T’s remote access services business customers will be able to access Wi-Fi service at Starbucks locations. AT&T will soon extend the benefits of Wi-Fi at Starbucks to its wireless customers.   

“People want to stay connected to their world 24/7, and Wi-Fi hot spots, broadband and wireless make that mobility possible,” said Rick Welday, AT&T chief marketing officer, Consumer. “Laptops and smartphones give us the online mobility we crave, and now millions of AT&T and Starbucks customers will get Internet access free from the comfort of their neighborhood Starbucks.”

“This is what our customers have been waiting for — free Starbucks-quality Wi-Fi,” said Chris Bruzzo, chief technology officer, Starbucks Coffee Company. “Through our new partnership with AT&T, we also welcome their millions of current customers who can now come in and enjoy free Wi-Fi as part of their daily Starbucks Experience.”

As an added benefit for the more than 100,000 Starbucks partners in the U.S., all Starbucks partners will receive free AT&T Wi-Fi accounts allowing them to use the network in Starbucks company-operated locations offering Wi-Fi access.

“Our new relationship with AT&T gives us the opportunity to expand and enhance the range of digital entertainment experiences for our customers as well as our partners, including the continued rollout of the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store at Starbucks,” said Ken Lombard, president, Starbucks Entertainment.

In addition to the free Wi-Fi access for qualifying AT&T customers and any Starbucks Card holder, customers will be able to purchase tiered access to the AT&T Wi-Fi network at Starbucks at attractive price points. For a two-hour period, customers will pay just $3.99 per session. Monthly membership will also be available for $19.99 per month, and will include access to any of AT&T’s 70,000 hot spots in 89 countries around the world.

AT&T business customers who subscribe to remote access services can also enjoy unlimited, flat-rate access plans at any Starbucks location offering Wi-Fi service or at other AT&T Wi-Fi hot spots.

Additionally, AT&T is providing Starbucks an enterprise-class network with increased bandwidth and redundancy. AT&T’s underlying network technologies will enable 
a wide range of business applications and help Starbucks stores operate more efficiently.

“Delivering networking capabilities to help a world-class company such as Starbucks achieve greater business velocity is what we do,” said Welday. “Our work with Starbucks is collaborative innovation at its finest.”

The availability of AT&T Wi-Fi service at Starbucks will take place on a market-by-market basis with store implementation beginning this spring and completed by the end of the year.

Note: This AT&T news release and other announcements are available as part of an RSS feed at www.att.com/rss.

Technorati Tags: AT&T, Starbucks, Wi-Fi

About AT&T
AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) is a premier communications holding company. Its subsidiaries and affiliates, AT&T operating companies, are the providers of AT&T services in the United States and around the world. Among their offerings are the world’s most advanced IP-based business communications services and the nation’s leading wireless, high speed Internet access and voice services. In domestic markets, AT&T is known for the directory publishing and advertising sales leadership of its Yellow Pages and YELLOWPAGES.COM organizations, and the AT&T brand is licensed to innovators in such fields as communications equipment. As part of its three-screen integration strategy, AT&T is expanding its TV entertainment offerings. Additional information about AT&T Inc. and the products and services provided by AT&T subsidiaries and affiliates is available at http://www.att.com.

© 2008 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. AT&T, the AT&T logo and all other AT&T marks contained herein are trademarks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies. All other marks contained herein are the property of their respective owners. For more information and detailed disclaimer information, please review this announcement in the AT&T newsroom at http://www.att.com/newsroom.

About Starbucks
Starbucks Coffee Company provides an uplifting experience that enriches people’s lives one moment, one human being, one extraordinary cup of coffee at a time.  To share in the experience, visit www.starbucks.com.

I’ve decided to get rid of all of the traditional ad spots and try the Scratchback concept. See that widget on your right that says Are You In My TopSpots? That’s the new advertising concept here on Fam5. In essence, you are paying a TINY AMOUNT ($5.00) for a nofollowed link for an unspecified amount of time. What?? Is that crazy? Well, yes it is, but it’s also pretty cool. Here’s why.

1. You “tip” me a teeny-tiny bit ($5), and you get something in return for your tip - a link.
2. This is like you scratching my back (the tip) and me scratching yours (the link).
3. This is sort of like you making a donation, but you get a nice little benefit for it.
4. You get the opportunity to display a text link, plus a custom message on mouseover.
5. I can offer this kind of advertising for such a low price because of auto-bumping.

Whoa! What is auto-bumping? Auto-bump means that every time somebody new tips me, that person moves to the top of the TopSpot list. Example: Reader A is in the #1 spot, and Reader B tips me after Reader A, so Reader B moves into the top spot, pushing Reader A one spot down. This also means that eventually, Reader A will be pushed off the list completely. So, in essence you don’t know how long your $5.00 donation is buying you a link. It could be a few minutes, or it could be forever. So far, the average link has been listed for at least a few days, some quite a bit longer than that.

Please note that these “tips” are just like real tips in that they are non-refundable. I’ve got the option set so that I have to approve listings before they are shown, and if I do not approve it, you don’t get your $5 back. Sorry, but that’s just the way the system works. Now, keep in mind that I plan to approve anything that is reasonable. I won’t approve the standard things that no one else approves (porn, etc.). But hey, if you want to show your mortgage link, or your affiliate link, or anything that I don’t consider offensive, I’ll most likely approve it.

Visitors are generally interested in technology, gadgets, reviews, and general ramblings. Your tip ad will be shown on all pages.

Found this video on About:Blank and just had to share with my readers.  I tell you what this guy giving the telemarketer hell is a great BS’er.  Me I would not be able to contain myself and would start busting up laughing. 

Not that any of us really care but could you imagine what that poor telemarketer was thinking?  Damn I hope this guy was not new, oh I can only imagine if he was.  I would hang up my phone and walk right out of the place to never return to telemarketing again.