Feb
28
Google Docs Looking More Like Microsoft Office
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It may be a case of more style over substance, but for people switching from Microsoft Office to Google Docs, the change to the editing tool bar will help smooth the transition. No major new features have been added in the update (at least none that I’ve noticed), but the new tool bar does feel more comfortable, and brings the task of editing text in Google Documents closer to what I’m used to when editing blog posts, and posting on modern bulletin boards.
This follows an update last week that allows you to crate a form to fill out to enter data into a spread sheet rather than entering it in field by field. Google has a long way to go to match the feature set that Microsoft Office offers, but they are slowly adding the features that most people use. It won’t belong before average people will be able to move to Google Docs and not miss much of anything… and gain collaboration features that you don’t get with Office, unless you have an enterprise IT department behind you.
Feb
21
Being the father of five children under the age of 13 years old, and having 4 computers in our home, I’ve been experimenting with software over the past few years to try make my children’s’ experience on the internet wholesome… or at the very least porn free. After trying some commercial software for content filtering, that ended up slowing down our 4 year old computer, I have finally found something that doesn’t kill our computer, and as an added bonus is FREE. The software is called, K9 Web Protection. As I mentioned, it works well on the old windows computer in our kitchen, but K9 will not run on Mac OSX or Linux (both of which we have in our house).
I had given up hope of finding something that would run on all our computers until I heard about OpenDNS last week. OpenDNS allows you to filter web content and block adult websites on the internet by simply changing the DNS servers that your computer or router uses. It works very well. The service is free, and after you’ve setup and account you can specify the kinds of web sites you want to block or allow. You can also specifically allow web sites that may be grouped in a category you have blocked. You have all the control that you could ask for.
If you want, you can also enable logging so that you can keep track of the websites computers in your house are visiting. This all happens transparently, without having to install any software on your computer. If you have an internet router, you can manually change the DNS servers that your router uses to the two OpenDNS servers, and all the comptuers in hour home will automatically be protected from the kinds of web sites you specify, log the sites they visit (you have to turn the logging on, it is off by default). If you want to change your DNS settings now just use the following:
- 208.67.222.222
- 208.67.220.220
OpenDNS along with Mozy Backup and two services that every home should seriously consider using. OpenDNS is completely free, and Mozy Backup is free up to 2GB of data backed up, and $5 per month for unlimited backups. Enjoy!
Feb
7
Google has released a new version of Google Apps called “Team Edition” that at a functional level, is essentially the same as the Basic version of Google Apps. The same word processor, spreadsheet, instant messaging, calendaring, and start page, but no email. What is different is that the “Team Edition” allows people in organizations that have not adopted Google Mail for their enterprise or organizational email system, to use the other Google Applications collaboratively. Not only that, but individuals in the organization can sign up one by one without central IT’s blessing or support. This makes it much easier for ad-hoc groups to use Google Applications without jumping through organizational hoops and bureaucracy.
All users need to do is go to the Google Apps “Team Edition” page, and sign up with their corporate email address. A confirmation email is then sent back to the person’s email address and then they are on the system. Once registered you can see who else from the organization has signed up, and you can begin collaborating right away (apparently I am the first UVic.ca individual to sign up). It looks like Google is hoping that pressure from users will encourage organizations to adopt Google Apps officially, and from Google’s perspective, hopefully adopt the premium paid version.
This Google screen cast gives a few more details.