The Fox Gets More Fire
So after 8 million downloads in it’s first day and amidst claims of speed increases and enhanced stability am I about to make Firefox 3 my primary browser?
Lose Your Dock … Recover Your Mind
At a recent Mac club meeting one of the talking points was the differences in how Windows and OS X handle application switching. So I thought I’d consolidate some of the ensuing discussion in a blog post.
Should Apple users be worried?
Am I alone in having a deja-vu moment with the new .Mac replacement service MobileMe?
Be afraid … be very afraid 
Kudos to The Times
So the worst kept secret in technology is officially confirmed … there’s a new 3G enabled iPhone on the way in a mere matter of weeks.
Like the 5G video iPods the new iPhone comes in 2 colours - black or white.
While the official announcement was not exactly a surprise the accuracy of some of the reporting in the lead up to WWDC has been.
A week ago The Times correctly predicted the new iPhone would be available in July at a price of £100. While the time frame seemed forseeable I was skeptical about the price prediction - it seemed too good to be true.
However, I stand corrected and kudos to the Times for their spot-on prediction. I’ll be keeping a close eye on their predicitions in the future
Excel … It Doesn’t Add Up!
Disclaimer
First a disclaimer, I am not a fan of spreadsheets. There I’ve said it and I know it’s sacrilege to some.
Don’t get me wrong I use them as much as the next person but I’m always very careful in creating a spreadsheet based solution. As a veteran IT professional I’ve seen too many spreadsheets that should come with a warning slapped on them.
In the best cases they are often over complicated in construction and built without a thought as to what they may need to become in the future. However, in the worst cases they just plain don’t add up. Incorrect references and formula and the most eye straining designs you’ll ever have the misfortune to witness coupled with an obvious misunderstanding of the concept of a spreadsheet all mean too many spreadsheets are just not fit for purpose.
Be it a lack of training or a laissez faire attitude on the part of those who should know better in an organization in my experience it is a pervasive problem in organizations today.
Anyway, climbing down from my soapbox …
Sharing calendars in multiple accounts on a Single Mac
The impetus for this quick tutorial was a post on the MacBites shownotes site from Gazmaz. We’d mentioned our requirements for sharing calendars and Gazmaz wanted to know if there was a way to share calendars on the same Mac but in different user accounts.
After some pondering I gave the following a try and it works perfectly … hope you find it useful.
FREE Training Resources - Part 2
In my role as Co-Chair of the North West Institute of IT Trainers I recently gave an online presentation demonstrating just how many free resources there are available on the Internet and beyond. Originally my intent was to limit myself to free training resources but ultimately I included software and other tools as well.
It proved to be one of our most well attended online events and demand was high for a list of the resources shown. In light of the demand I thought it would be good to share these resources to a wider audience hence this four part series covering free online resources for the IT trainer and in fact the majority of the resources are just as useful if you aren’t an IT trainer.
If you missed part 1 you can find it here and without further ado here’s part 2!
Creating Global Shortcuts with Typinator
A couple of weeks ago, on the inaugural episode of MacBites, I mentioned the very useful shortcut feature in Saft and how I’d globalized my shortcuts so they work across all the browsers I have installed. I’ve had so much feedback asking how I implemented this system that I decided to detail the process here.
FREE Training Resources - Part 1
In my role as Co-Chair of the North West Institute of IT Trainers I recent gave an online presentation demonstrating just how many free resources there are available on the Internet and beyond. Originally my intent was to limit myself to free training resources but ultimately I included software and other tools as well.
It proved to be one of our most well attended online events and demand was high for a list of the resources shown. In light of the demand I thought it would be good to share these resources to a wider audience hence this four part series covering free online resources for the IT trainer and in fact the majority of the resources are just as useful if you aren’t an IT trainer.
So with that let’s get to part one!
Welcome to my blog at last!
Welcome to my blog!
I’m Elaine Giles and I’m an IT consultant based in Manchester, UK.
In my professional life I run training courses in applications for end users, develop web sites, work as a system administrator and generally undertake a myriad of other computer related tasks.
I’m also Co-Chair of the North West Institute of IT Trainers and User Group Manager of the North West Adobe Users Group we run regular meetings so if you’re in the vacinity feel free to say Hi.
I switched to a Mac in April 2006 after what proved to be a life changing visit to an Adobe event previewing Lightroom. I can assure you working with computers has never been so rewarding nor so much fun.
So that’s me and I look forward to hearing from you with your comments.