28 May 2006

20 Cool Features that make OneNote 2007 ROCK!


So here are the 20 features that makes OneNote 2007 ROCK!  Some of these are kind of repetitive in concept so I’ll boil those down to a more "main concept" post later.  So without any further adieu, here are the 20 features that make it ROCK!
  1. Live Session Sharing – Allows geographically disparate users to whiteboard together i.e. work on the same note pages at the same time.
  2. Tables – The addition of tables makes it possible to highlight tabular information more precisely than before.
  3. Calculator – Write up any calculation and end it with an = sign.  Press SPACEBAR and vuala OneNote automatically fills in the answer for you.
  4. Drawing Tools – OK, so this is why OneNote is so much more useful with a tablet PC than a laptop.  Nobody is going to be drawing with a mouse, but a pen is an entirely different story.
  5. Templates – You can now turn pages into templates so if you like to customize your starting page, you can do so.
  6. Video Recording – On top of the audio recording that you were able to do before, you can now also record video.  The indexed notes mean you can simply select a note you took during the recording to jump directly to the location in the video/audio file.
  7. Drag & Drop Page Organization – Easily rearrange your pages by simply dragging them from their current location and dropping them where you want them to be.
  8. Hyperlinks – Link to any URL.
  9. Encryption – Tab sections can be assigned password which then encrypts the content using 3DES for security.
  10. Multi Computer Sync – Edit the same workbook from multiple computers and OneNote will sync when it’s connected.
  11. Mobile – Now support for mobile devices.
  12. Quick Side Notes – Instead of launching OneNote, the system tray icon now launches a quick note window.  The quick notes are collected in a grouping in OneNote.
  13. Web to OneNote – Using Tools/Send to OneNote in IE you can send entire web pages, even just the selected text to a OneNote Quick Note.
  14. OCR – Using any image that you past into a note, right click the image and select "Copy Text from Image".  The clipboard now contains the text and it can be pasted anywhere.
  15. OneNote Printer – A special printer is added to your printer list that enables you to print anything directly to OneNote.  Once in OneNote, you can annotate and edit over the top of the printout.
  16. Send to Word - OneNote content can be sent to Word.
  17. PowerPoint Integration - You can insert PowerPoint slides into OneNote and annotate over the top.
  18. Excel Integration – The addition of tables allows you to copy any table from Excel and past it to OneNote.
  19. File Attachments – Any files can be attached and edited from a page.
  20. Lasso – This is kind of a free hand selection tool.  It allows you to select ink content and move it around the page.
Later
C

26 May 2006

SharePoint/Office 2007 Beta 2 Support


OK, so the Office 2007 Beta 2 is finally public and available.
The next question is support.
Where do you get support?
What about bugs?
Where do you report bugs?
Well, the public beta is officially unsupported by Microsoft, so newsgroups are going to be the primary vehicle to get your questions answered.
As far as bugs go… bugs are filed via BetaPlace except, BetaPlace is not public and you require credentials to get in and since only the original beta program participants have such credentials, they will be the only ones who can file bugs.
So, pass your bugs on to your nearest TAP participant or MVP.
And if you don’t know any of those, send them to me and I’ll file the bugs for you.
Later
C

25 May 2006

Why the TelCos are so rich…


Ever wondered why the Telephone Companies are so darn big and profitable?
Because they’ve been gouging their customers for years!
OK there… I’ve thrown my hat into the ring…
Some of the more famous and outspoken columnists in the business, like John C. Dvorak, have been talking about how the big telcos have been abusing their customers for years.
The U.S. is the land of opportunity, the land where monopolies are busted up… remember Standard Oil… Bell Labs…  It’s to the point where monopolies are just about illegal… that is unless you’re a Cable Company or a Telephone Company that is…
I’ve never had more than one option for a cable carrier not to even mention local phone service.  Cable has always been Comcast and local phone has always been SBC.  At least we had options when it came to long distance right?  There was AT&T, MCI and Sprint.  Well now that SBC has swallowed up AT&T, the options become even less.
I talked about how we’re going to save a bundle of $$$ with Skype by dropping our long distance from our phone bill in my previous post.  So I called SBC/AT&T today to drop long distance from my account.  The conversation went something like this…
"I’d like to remove the long distance options from my account please."
"Certainly sir.  Do you wish to change your carrier for long distance?"
"No, I want to DROP my carrier."
"Certainly sir.  Do you wish to designate a local toll* carrier?"
"NO!  I want to DROP ALL long distance carriers from my account.  I just want Local phone service."
"Certainly sir.  Be advised there is a $4.81 charge for setting your long distance carrier to None."
"WHAT?  Are you telling me that you’re going to charge me just to stop using your service!?"
"There is no charge for changing your long distance carrier."
"If there’s no charge for changing my long distance carrier, why are you charging me $4.81?"
"There is not charge for changing your long distance carrier from one carrier to another, but changing it to None incurs a charge of $4.81."
"You’ve got to be kidding me!  Fine!  Whatever!  Just do it!"
"Bla…bla…bla…and some other legal dribble…"
 .  
Amazing!  Can you believe they’re charging us to DROP their service!?
OK, so instead of saving $273.91 between now and the end of the year, we’ll only save $269.10…  I hope Skype puts SBC/AT&T out of business!  (Wishful thinking I know, but a man can dream right?)
It’s not that I want free service, even though the TelCos’ infrastructure has long since been paid for by consumers.  Instead, I believe it should work like it does with Revol.  Revol is a new wireless carrier that simply charge a flat $47 per month and gives their subscribers unlimited local calls, unlimited long distance calls, unlimited txt and unlimited pix!  Now THAT is how it is done!  Check them out at http://www.revol.us.
LONG LIVE SKYPE!!!
Later
C
*Local Toll is just another way the TelCos gouge their customers.  Even if you have Local as well as Long Distance carriers on your account and you call from one side of town to the other side they get to charge you outrageous rates.  Of course, it also provides them with yet another item they can charge you extra for on your phone bill.

WSS 3.0 public downloads


Come and get it!
Later
C

SkypeOut free to all US and Canada phones!


Skype just announced that all calls from Skype to any phone in the US and Canada will be free until the end of the year!  This is great news for some.  I have posted about my Linksys CIT 200 Skype Phone before.  I use it to save me a bundle on calls to South Africa using SkypeOut.  Now we can use it to call in the US too.  We currently spend $59.02 on our SBC, now AT&T phone bill of which only $19.89 is for local and 911 service.  The $39.13 is for long distance.  Removing that part of our service from the phone and using the Skype Phone instead for outgoing long distance calls is going to save us $273.91 by the end of the year.
Then at the end of the year, if Skype does not extend their offer, we’ll simply add long distance back to our plan with AT&T.
Thank you Skype/Ebay for saving us a bundle!!! 
Later
C

Microsoft Authentication Library (MSAL) Overview

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