I’ve talked about ThinkFree before, and since then have been using it pretty much exclusively over MS Office.  It rocks.  It’s light, responsive, and really has only the things you need to get the job done. I’ve been using ThinkFree Premium as an online office organizer, I put all the docs related to a project in there, even if TFP doesn’t open them (like images or music).  Why?  Because they will be synced.  I can jump to another computer and get to them.  And if I don’t have TF or MS Office or eve OpenOffice on that machine…no problem, I have the U3 version for my flash drive.  Before I get to the "good stuff" read these excerpts from TJ Kang CEO of ThinkFree’s... [Read more]

 Yeah this isn’t going to pimp your work anytime soon, but just read this: Potentially, atomic-level storage or switching could result in incredibly tiny computers. With atomic storage, you could fit a 1,000 trillion bits of information in an iPod, according to IBM estimates. (Editors’ note: This article originally had an incorrect figure for the number of bits–we were off by several zeros. The correct number is indeed 1,000 trillion.) Source: Can data be stored on single atoms? | Tech news blog – CNET News.com Yeah that’s a lot.  Is it impossible?  No.  Impractical?  Yes.  But remember so was electricity and computers at one point in time.  The first step is the dream, the second... [Read more]

Here’s one for you Mac folks: Mac user and GTDer Julian Schrader turns email messages into tasks with a keystroke, using the iGTD software: I use iGTD to store and organize my tasks — it is an amazing application and provided for free. I recommend it to any Mac user — I just hit F6 in Mail and it copies the active e-mail over into a new task created in iGTDs Inbox, a link back to the original e-mail included. Source: GTD With Email: Turn Mail.app Messages into Tasks with iGTD – Lifehacker Okay, you know I’m not a Mac user, but Julian’s 9 Tips For Better E-Mail Productivity work for everyone.  Good filters, organizations, knowing when to answer and when to wait.  All good stuff.  One thing... [Read more]

When was the last time you were in a meeting or at a conference when less than half of the people in the room had computers with them?  I, honestly, would have to go back probably seven years.  Today laptops in meetings are almost de rigueur, but does that make this a good thing?  I’ve talked a bit on my blog about laptops in the classroom (February 2007: The technology in classrooms debate never seems to end! and March 2006: No laptops in my classroom!) and some of the same discussions apply here.  I caught an article in the NYT featuring Dean Hachamovitch of the IE at MSFT: Everyone has their own way of handling the laptop question when running a meeting. When it’s me, I may sometimes glance over people’s shoulders... [Read more]

I picked up a 2 gig SanDisk U3 flash drive a while ago.  On the advice from the guy at the store I didn’t really bother to mess with U3 I just uninstalled it. Was is U3?  Pretty much it’s a Windows-only application that lets you run modified versions of several apps from the flash drive itself.  At first I thought, you know this seems like a useless thing.  Well maybe not. Marc Orchant told be about the MS Office alternative ThinkFree and I saw that in addition to their other offerings, they had a U3 version.  Hmm, interesting.  Knowing I had this U3-capable drive, I figured I would get it set up. After downloading the U3 software from SanDisk, it took me a couple tries to get it all installed. ... [Read more]