Office 2007 – is there anything it can’t do?

I was an early adopter of the Microsoft Office 2007 product. I was lucky enough to be involved in the Beta testing of the product and since its launch, I've quickly moved from Office 2003 to the latest reincarnation.

The "Ribbon" is an awesome feat of intelligent design, which changes to show you only the buttons you would want when performing certain tasks – which sure beats searching through the menus for the buttons you want. It was based upon vast research into user behaviour into what the user wanted and which features are most used. For example, the most used features in Microsoft Office Word are "cut" and "paste", which is why if you open up a Word 2007 document, you'll find those buttons predominantly placed at the top left of the screen, nice and big so you can find them easily.

Outlook 2007 adds in an extra few windows on the main screen to show you your email, calendar, to-do and task items all on the same screen. Excel remains as functional as ever, with the same intelligent "Ribbon" feature as Word. Despite the few hiccups along the way with some of the Excel calculations, it really is a flawless product that I prefer using any day over any other Office package (including the 'free' Google "Documents and Spreadsheets" online products).

The feature of Office 2007 that I've recently found (which is of no surprise), is the built-in blogging templates that not only provide you with the space to compile blog posts, but also integrate directly into your online blog and publish your posts directly onto your page. It really does make it easy.

There are no doubt a million other 'hidden' features and talents of the Microsoft Office 2007 product and I can't wait to stumble upon them and take advantage of them. Office 2007 – is there anything it can't do?

No Way on Shutdown Day

As mentioned in my post on the paperless office, there is an ever growing number of "special days" that are dedicated to a specific cause. And this post is about another one of those days – "Shutdown Day", which falls on Saturday 3^rd May. Shutdown day marks a day where everyone is encouraged to switch off their computer appliances in an attempt to live technology free.

Whilst there is no doubt that people are becoming ever more reliant upon technology, both at work and their "digital lifestyles" at home, is it really possible to shut ourselves off away from technology? The computer, the mobile phone, email, social networking, television, home entertainment consoles – it's a lot of "every day" devices or services that we simply take for granted and whilst we may be able to give a few, many of us will find it difficult to tear ourselves away from all of these.

When was the last time you failed to watch any television during a whole day and switched off your mobile phone and computer for the latest news or online feed of information? Too many of our 'essentials' are now online or digitally available and too many businesses, banks, entertainment outlets, etc are all dependant upon some information technology. Apparently 1.6 million people worldwide signed up for "Shutdown Day" last year, and more are signed up to take part this year – I for one, am not one of those people.

SkyDrive....Flying High!

Twice in the past week, I've found myself using the Microsoft SkyDrive service in order to overcome two very different tasks. First of all, for those who don't know, the "SkyDrive" service is a online storage folder which allows you to upload files and retrieve them from pretty much anywhere else (providing you can get an internet connection of course!).

The two predicaments I found myself using the SkyDrive was due to a lack of either a USB port (which is highly unusual - what devices don't have USB support now-a-days?), and a lack of a USB flash drive the second time (I'd actually forgotten my trusty keyfob when leaving the house).

Being able to upload my files directly onto my 'online space' allowed me to pick them up at a later date, without having to resort to breaking down the files into small chunks to email them to myself or zipping them to the point of ultimate compression. SkyDrive is so simple to use and offers some other interesting features.

As it falls into Microsoft's "Live" services, it integrates with my Live Messanger buddy list, which then allows me to grant those people the permission to 'share' my online files. Its a useful system, which I've under-used in the past. There are limitations of course, for example, it won't allow you to upload music to your folder (due to copyright infringements), and it also won't let you upload files above 50MB (for similar reasons). But they do give you 5GB of online space to use to your hearts content.

Online storage is useful, and will without doubt increase in popularity and use in the future, however for right now I don't see that many people moving away from their trusty physical storage devices, USB flash drives, network attached storage, in favor of the online alternative, especially whilst storage devices are so cheaply available.

Economy Vs Technology

Two news stories reported today caught my attention.

The first is that despite the slowdown in the global economy, apparently the demand for mobile phones remains high. The second story that grabed me was that the Carphone Warehouse and O2 stores have sold out of 8GB Apple iPhones (with a little thanks to a price drop).

Both of these stories suggest that people still regard the ability to communicate from anywhere is still their top priority and feel that spending their money on mobile technology is important to keep "in contact" with the world. The high-demand of the iPhone not only re-affirms the popularity of the device, but confirms that smartphones and the ability to access online data on the move is continuing to grow (bearing in mind you need to sign up for a data package with an iPhone).

The economy may be on a slow down, but technology marches on and the "Digital Lifestyle" flurishes.

The 'bucks Starts Here!

Being a coffee drinker and a fan of Starbucks coffee, its been dishearting to watch the profits of this great company in slow decline. But what could be even more alarming is that in the recent "Brandz" top 100 global brands, Starbucks reached an impressive ranking of 56, with a brand value of $12,011 million, beating other high profile brands such as Samsung (Rank 58), Yahoo! (62), T-Mobile (83), amongst others. The cause for alarm is due to the fact that "Starbucks" brand value has dropped 25% since 2007 (the only brand value to fall further than this was Motorola which dropped 30% of its brand value).

But why is Starbucks struggling so much? The answer is two-fold, first the slow down in the economy is leaving very little for consumers to spend money on high-value coffee products and the second reason is that other retailers and fast food outlets have jumped onto the coffee bandwagon and started to offer similar gormet coffee (although in my opinion no where near the quality of the Starbucks offerings), at a much cheaper price. A third reason could be that the "Friends" generation, who popularised coffee houses and grew up with the cast enjoying coffee at "Central Perk" have now forgotten or abandoned the coffee house in favour of the alternatives.

What can be done to turn Starbucks back around? One idea I had was that in Howard Schultz (CEO of Starbucks), book he suggested that Starbucks coffee houses be thought of as the "third place", between a persons work environment and their living room at home (hence the reason for the sofas found in most large Starbuck outlets). In order to accomodate students and the computer connected workers, they introduced wireless networks to allow people to use mobile and laptop devices whilst being able to enjoying their coffee and meet with colleagues, friends and family in a relaxed atmosphere, however in order to take advantage of the wireless connection, this came at a price in the form of a subscription based service.

Connecting to the internet wirelessly can done by most people in the comfort of their own home for next-to-free. My idea is that if Starbucks were to offer a voucher, which when entered into a holding page when users connect to the wireless service for the first time, offered hours free web connection for up to an hour in return for purchasing a drink, it could lure more people in and provide a place for people to work remotely in an environment similar to their home and increase the amount of coffee sold and strengthen the value of the Starbucks brand.

Just where is the "Paperless Office"?

For those who haven’t been keeping up with current events and the allocation of “special” awareness days, today was “Earth Day”, which is all about how we are looking after our planet. Last week though, I was thinking about the “paperless office”. A term that is well known yet is still pure fiction and a non-reality in today’s office spaces.

The real question is why isn’t it a reality? Why do we rely upon paper for so much? I realise that there many tasks that do require paper – printing of receipts, perhaps even quotations, books,…but most of what I see printed in the workplace is irrelevant printing and a waste – meeting minutes, reports, emails, whitepapers, etc.

In my office, at work, we’ve recently gone through an exercise to replace all of the printers throughout the building in order to improve efficiency and reduce costs. I, however, have taken this opportunity to go one step further – I’ve stopped printing entirely.

I’m lucky enough have dual screens connected to my desktop computer, so can easily read items on one screen and work on the other, my emails are displayed on screen and I’ve even started to use my phone as a method for scribbling down notes rather than use Post-It notes. Most importantly, this hasn’t affected my working practices and I’ve survived! Nothing has been a problem. Improved TFT screen technologies make it viable to read from directly and existing technologies such as networking and email makes it easy to share information digitally.

Whilst I realise that not every one has these computer resources to avoid printing, I do know that most of us hit the print button without considering if we really need to print. If I had my way, I’d remove printers from every office, unless legitimate reasons could be made to leave a printer in place. Not only would this save paper, but it would also save huge amounts of money...…and it will help do just a little bit for Earth Day.

Memory Comfort

After years of computer use and sitting behind desks, I have often suffered from neck pain, despite attending ergonomic classes and discussions, as well as purchasing where appropriate items that help reduced the risk of prolonged usage of a computer.

In the past I have purchased a wireless mouse that is practically molded to the shape of my hand by mouse designers Logitech, and I spent a lot of money on a Microsoft ‘Gull-Wing’ split key ergonomic keyboard (which my new employer will not allow me to use in the office!). And I concluded that as well as being great products, they are extremely effective for long periods of use and brilliantly designed in my opinion.

More recently, to solve the problem of the neck pain, I put a lot of research into memory foam pillows and eventually decided upon the 'Original Tempur' pillow as being the best option to chose to alleviate this problem. It provides the most comfort for your neck, thanks in large to the ridge at the bottom of the pillow which elevates your neck and spine to stay straight when lying on your side. As an added bonus the pillow also moulds around your head and shoulder to provide comfort and stability.

It’s a fantastic design and extremely effective - I never thought I would have this much praise for a pillow, but when its designed and endorsed by NASA you come to realise that it is very special indeed and more than just a pillow.

Include the Player...Not the Game

Nintendo are about to do it again. In 1989, they launch the Nintendo Game Boy and it took the world by storm as the first handheld computer console – the first portable, mobile gaming device. Fast forward to today and Nintendo have done it again and dominated the console market with the Nintendo Wii. The first console to provide an innovative wireless controller that immersed the player directly into the game.

The Wii is impressively simple (in its use and game play-ability), yet extremely complex in the way it manages to understand and translate your every move into the game. Nintendo, though, are about to do it again – the Wii Balance Board is about to be released, along with Wii Fit (a fitness game designed to get you out of your chair).

The Balance Board will sell massively – people will buy it – not because of how complex the technology is or how simple it is to use, but because it’s a gadget, and a clever gadget at that works with the clever console. I urge you to check out the videos of the board in action on YouTube, the application of the hardware is far reaching into fitness, snow-boarding, balancing, football simulations, etc.

Nintendo have proved that console manufactures don’t need to invest in creating graphic heavy 3D games – they have proved that simple graphics with the ability to “include” the player into the game is far more appealing to the mass game playing audience.

Online SuperMarkets

The might of the supermarket is undeniable. Just look at Tesco, they have almost taken over the UK, giving the average consumer few options for the purchase of groceries at the cheapest of prices. Sure they are other supermarkets out there, but Tesco have taken the lead in terms of profitability and squeezed their competition.

After conquering the world of groceries, Tesco expanded their line of goods for sale further by offering consumer electronics, which was then expanded further to home ware, computers, mobile phones, banking, insurance services and beyond. You can get practically anything in any of the larger Tesco stores, at any hour of the day or night. They have taken over the high street, forcing the independent shop owners out. More recently Tesco have expanded their empire further and are trying to strengthen their online market in the guise of the “catalogue” service, which copies the successful Argos-warehouse catalogue shopping model.

But will it work? Will Tesco be able to dominate the online space in the same way they have dominated the high street? My feeling is that unless they can offer a unique service and beat others on price, it will be a difficult market to crack and obtain the same dominance they are used to – there are already too many well established companies that do online shopping well, such as Amazon and Play – as well as Argos themselves.

These online giants however don’t offer a grocery service, and that’s a difficult market to get right on the online, internet space. There will come a time when Tesco stores are no more, and supermarkets are wiped out – the question is, who will become the “online supermarket” of choice – Google?

Music to my Ears!

Way back when, MP3 players were thought of as “geek toys”, used by only the minority. At that point, no one would have predicted just how mainstream they would become….except for one man that is – Steve Jobs, of Apple. The iPod revolutionised the MP3 player with its simple to use click dial that made navigation through tracks as simple as spinning a CD!

Despite my luck with the iPod (I’ve had two breakdowns so far, but managed to repair the second one!), I’ve persevered and am still satisfied with the quality of the music, the style the device just radiates, and the practicality of taking my music collection with me everywhere. The one thing that still frustrates me however is that I’m still forced to use iTunes instead of letting me chose an alternative, such as Windows Media Player, which as a Microsoft Windows user would allow me to use the Media Centre and allow integration with other music/movie playback devices.

However, that’s not what I want to write about – what really gets me to switch on my iPod is the pair of BOSE QC3 headphones I bought (there’s a funny story attached to how I came to buy them – maybe another day).

I absolutely adore them, they noise cancel, they are comfortable, the sound quality is just stunningly superb and they actually look good! And I would recommend anyone who is serious about music (or even the not so serious, who just loves to listen), to buy a pair. The cost is high, but that will be rewarded with the enjoyment and quality you’ll get from these headphones. And unlike the iPod, your aren’t left in the position of only using them with your iTunes application, plug them into your computer, CD player, stereo, in-flight entertainment jacks on airplanes,…or just about anything else that has an audio out jack!

Everyone Lies

After catching an episode of "House, M.D." a few weeks ago and finding the whole experience quite enjoyable and entertaining, I purchased the box set of the first three series. For those of you not familiar with the show, its about a Medical Diagnostic team, headed up by the talented Dr Gregory House (played superbly by Hugh Laurie), who takes on "strange" or "interesting" medical cases in attempt to figure out what is wrong with the patient, before the end of the show and solution/treatment is found for the problem.

One of the running themes through-out the entire series to date is that "everyone lies"; the patient either fails to disclose some vital information either because it is too embarrassing to mention or they decide that it is irrelevant to their medical situation. House somehow always manages to get to the truth either via a longer testing programme or by confronting the patient at point-blank.

By strange co-incidence I've also recently been reading a blog on the Microsoft TechNet site belonging to the talented Mark Russinovich, who co-created the company "SysInternals" which was later purchased by Microsoft, with Mark becoming a Microsoft employee. SysInternals wrote a number of tools for diagnosing problems with Windows based operating systems.

Each of his blog entries is titled "The Case of..." and starts by providing an overview of the problem encountered. Using the SysInternal suite of tools (most notably the amazingly powerful "Process Explorer" tool), he tackles the problem following a logical approach with testing along the way, very similar to the "House" style diagnosis methodology.

What struck me the most is how much computers are able to lie to us (either by virtue of a virus, or an unrelated process feeding incorrect information directly to another process thus masking the underlying problem), under normal diagnose scenarios, but as you troubleshoot (in the right way), you can filter away the layers until the truth is eventually presented and the "real problem" can be solved.

This made me think back to situations in the past when I’ve been attempting to diagnose problems with computers and the user either fails to mention something (such as opening a virus laden email from an unknown source), or the installation of a application that conflicts or the change of a setting. Everybody lies.

House and Russinovich - two diagnosis experts in two very different fields, both geniuses in their own right.

On Demand Console

I remember reading about on-demand television a couple of years ago and thinking that it would take forever to become a reality, especially as I also remember reading many comments (from technical experts), that it was not possible based on the amount of network bandwidth required to make television streaming a reality. But, alas, it is here.....

On demand films and television are now available from many different places - LoveFilm allow you download films, which are encrypted to allow viewing for x number of days before expiring. Apple have made available televison programming via their iTunes platform for a download cost per episode. But more importantly the BBC launched "iPlayer".

The BBC iPlayer is on-demand television application that allows you to watch any BBC television show (I believe their online archive is fairly vast too), directly on your computer. An amazing feat. What's more significant though is the recent announcement of the launch of the iPlayer service being available directly through Nintendo's Wii console

This means that on-demand television is now available to a much bigger audience, no longer do you need to subscribe to a pay-per-view service for on-demand TV, its now freely available to anyone with a home entertainment console (iPlayer services for Microsoft Xbox and Sony PS3 are expected). There's no set up required (providing your console is connected to a network), you simply browse to the BBC website via the "Internet Channel", select your programme and click play!

Recording televison programs onto hard disks and set-top boxes such as Sky+ are the thing to have right now. Looking at the time its taken for the first generation of web based on-demand TV live, I wouldn't be surprised if these devices are replaced with ever smarter home entertainment consoles.

A Home for Creativity

Think about the place where you work.

In most cases, it’s likely to be an office of description. An open-plan office, number of desks with a computer and a phone on each of them. Its likely that you have a drinks facility nearby, either in the form of a machine or a kitchen environment. Venturing further from your office/workspace, there might be a canteen area or cafe area, perhaps even a break-out area where perhaps there is a games machine or a pool table - maybe not - and then outside, perhaps an area for smokers and a car park. A typical office/work environment.

Google learnt long ago that by providing facilities for employees on the "Googleplex campus", employees would never need to leave the workplace, and thus become more productive during a 'longer, working' day. Google provide their engineers with free laundry services, free lunches, hair dressing, television and media booths, a cinema, free food and snacks from its 'in-house' restaurants with free drinks and sweets. They even allow employees to bring their pet dogs onsite! All of this has been masterminded to keep people creative and within the workplace in an effort to keep employees happy and creative, whilst getting the most out of them. Microsoft have a similar campus-like set up and offer similar perks and services to its employees. Its little wonder these companies are voted "Best Places to Work" in global annual polls.

Its also little wonder why most people feel disenchanted with their work lives when you start to consider how out-dated most office environments are compared to those featured on popular TV series, which show bright, vibrant, clean places filled with cutting edge technology and design features.

I believe that by adopting a little of the Google/Microsoft approach and combining it with the fantasy TV set designed modern offices, the office would be a more enjoyable place to be and perhaps more people would want to be there than at home!

Drive By Wire

I was recently discussing the modernisation of the car and the computing power that has almost without being noticed made its way into modern day road vehicles.

A car used to be built and designed around mechnical and engineering constructs, but these processes are now totally dependant upon the ECU (Electronic Control Unit), and the software running within this computer device.

The ECU controls everything within the car, from engine management, to dashboard display lights, in-car electronics, etc. But within the last few years more functions and technologies have been added - such as automatic wiper blades when it rains, automatic headlights that switch on when it becomes dark, traction control, braking assist, fuel efficiency, etc., and more will be added.

In most new, modern cars integration with other devices has been 'built-in' to the cars electronic brain - iPods can be plugged in and played through the cars stereo or "entertainment unit", mobile phones connect using bluetooth to display SMS/text messages directly on the dash and incoming calls routed directly through the cars speaker systems. There's more to come, as mobile phones become smarter and more features are added, these will be integrated into the car - satellite navigation via Microsoft Live or Google Maps services, which offer the advantage of pulling in other services directly from ther internet such as the ability to find landmarks, restaurants, entertainment, and many other services, which will make them far more intelligent than stand-alone in-car sat-nav devices.

But the ECU is performing more than just these integrated and connected, intelligent services. They are changing the mechanical processes within the car - take braking for example. In a normal car you press the brake and the brake pads make contact with the brake discs and the car is slowed down. The 'improved' approach and the intelligence of the ECU changes that - when you press the brake in an 'intelligent, modern' car, that action tells the ECU to apply the pressure to the braking system and slow the car down, meanwhile sensors are monitoring the braking activity and making constant adjustments to the process in order to apply the braking in an efficient mannor in order to not lock the wheels or cause the car to slide under braking. They call it "Driving by wire", as the wire from the ECU unit does everything, the actions of the driver are less revelant.

It comes as no surprise that when the FIA put out a tender for the design of a standardised ECU within Formula One, that Microsoft answered the call (and eventually won the contract, in partnership with the McLaren F1 team). If Microsoft are able gain vast understanding and ability to write efficient engine management software for the world fastest car racing series, and combine this with their 'in-car entertainment and integration technologies' they are designing and writing for Ford Motors, its perfectly concievable that the biggest software companies in the world will not only be fighting for our desktop and mobile phone spaces, but also our vehicles too.

OK...I Give...you win.

It's finally happened....my stubbornness and tight fisted nature have given way to practicality and function. In 10 days time my SKY+ box will be fitted.

Despite my protests of "I don't watch TV enough to justify it", the call to SKY subscriptions has been a long time coming. With new channels being launched here, there and everywhere (most of which are an exsisting channel prefixed with 2,3,4 or +1) the battle for viewing figures is as intense as ever before.

In a constant bid to justify the TV license fee or increase ad-space value, schedulers cram all their best programs into the brief window called "prime time" - so the few guilty pleasures I have all conflict and overlap.

Unless some evil genius' somewhere have created this exact problem in order to sell their high tech solution*, the new addition to my TV cabinet will be welcomed with open arms.

*which is unlikely because if you ask nicely and repeatedly, as I did, they give you the sky+ box for free! - you didn't hear that from me though

Beyond Innovation!

We've heard it all before and theres no denying it. We live in a media saturated society! Bombarded with branding where ever we look, a world run by corporate lions fighting for our attention like a slab of raw meat.

However, unlike their animal counter parts, its not the mulitnational fat cat with the biggest mane that necessarily come out on top. In the world of mass media its often the most creative, daring and cunning that turn our head.

One such example is the slice of genius and bravery from ad agency Modernista when they redesigned their website. They have taken their thinking beyond innovation and, as with only the greatest of ideas, have pushed boundaries.

Its great ... and almost as good as the Gorgeous website!!

Ideas from the Past

A couple of days ago I was asked to configure a thin terminal PC - the last time I even saw such a terminal was over five years ago, such has been the direction of IT with most work places over the years. In fact the only reason I was configuring a thin terminal five years ago was it was to be used as an internet browsing PC within the company’s café/restaurant area!

Today though the goal was very different – today’s exercise was in preparation for a much wider roll out onto the desks of a number of people based within our remote offices.

The use of thin terminals (PCs that do not contain any moving components which are used only to load a basic program that connects the user to a backend server), are not a new concept. Down the years they have been used to good effect - think back to those green screen terminals you saw in the movies from the 70s and 80s before the introduction of Microsoft Windows, which required the processing power that was normally reserved for mainframe servers to be shifted to the desktop. Of course the advancement in the micro processor and the shrinking of PCs down to a level acceptable on a workers desk helped too! Now the exact same concept is returning, the computing power is returning into the vastness of the IT Data Center and no longer on the user’s desks. Both ways have their advantages and draw backs.

What I find amazing is IT “Circle of Life”, new ideas constantly being thought up and then replaced, only for them to come back in a similar, but improved form. If you want to develop a new idea for the future, just try looking to the past first.

Power at the Tip of your Finger

For years humans have relied upon the use of five senses - hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, and feel or to put it another way - Touch!

The invention of the tablet PC was first considered in the 1980’s, with a pen input solution first appearing in 1991, and since that time the technology has been driven and developed a long way. However, it is only now that touch is starting to become a factor in our everyday lives and its application is being considered for ever expanding uses.

Take for example my computer - a HP Tablet PC, something I use every day and find more and more use for every time I pick it up. Browsing the internet for example makes it an ideal form factor as it’s the same size as an A4 notepad! I also have an Asus UMPC (ultra mobile PC), which I use for taking notes with using Microsoft OneNote and brainstorming, which aids my memory and helps me stay creative. It’s the perfect solution!

More recently even my phone has become a touch screen device - the HTC Touch has become my mobile, email composer and personal assistant all in one. Three touch screen PC devices and each of them has a specific role in my life, and I’d don’t know what I’d do without either of them.

But that’s not where it ends, Apple launched the iPhone, Microsoft launched the Surface computer, TomTom and other satelite navigation companies all use touch technology. And even Jaguar cars are getting in on the power of "Touch", the interior lights in their new XF are operated by running your finger along them depending on how bright you want it to be!

The uses of touch with computing and technology are still in its early stages - the adoption of this technology can be applied in many other areas. The laptop computer far out sells the tablet PC at the moment, in the past users have been reluctant to adopt touch screen because it was expensive, tricky to use and under developed...and whilst its uses are starting to become clear, it’s still a technology on the very verge of the explosion of adoption in the lives of the many. But it’s coming….fast!