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Cloud computing is based on the fact that, the end user of the services will not have to know where the essential computing services are coming from. This means that, while the users will get to use all that they need for their share of computing purposes in the cloud, they will not necessarily have to be bothered about the source from which these requirements are reaching them. As the contemporary usage of regular computing requirements stand, these have to be installed in the system as hardware or, software and then used. In IT cloud computing environment, such installation is not required at all which in turn, saves a lot of hassle.
What exactly is Cloud computing?
Cloud environment can be of many different types. They mainly include public or community cloud, private cloud setup and hybrid cloud setup. Each of these have individual characteristic and attributes. The cloud computing services are offered by service providers who deliver the resources through the internet network. The end users can use these cloud based services through web browsers. The essential software and data however will be stored in a server in a remote location. Using cloud computing brings down the cost of operation of organizations and institutions at large. There are far too many benefits of cloud computing and many more new technologies are still in the process of development.
There is however a darker side to cloud computing because of which it has been the recipient of criticism over the past few years. This darker aspect of cloud environment primarily relates to security and privacy of data. Being in the “cloud” the data or cloud database that is accessed, used or, stored by the users can be accessible to the service providers at will. It is not about whether the data will be misused by them for sure, however the risk of data exposure still remains. This has made the concept of cloud computing and resources dubious to many and as a result has been facing criticism from many people in Information Technology.
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The reliability of cloud computing has also been under some scrutiny. Cloud setup and database work only when there is a viable web connection. This means that the end user will have to solely depend upon the web connection for anything and everything. What if he or, she cannot avail the web for some time? One can say for sure that the work at hand will not be done.
Issues of data protection in cloud computing is among the other reasons which may be delaying its widespread adoption by companies. While the people are convinced about the scope of benefits that cloud computing can offer, they are equally doubtful about what disasters cloud computing can do to their data. There have been a few cases already where user’s data was not only misused by unauthorized persons, but was also misplaced and lost in the worst scenarios. This dark side of cloud computing is not its predominant characteristics. These happen as isolated cases that can be effectively handled. However, as the concept is still under development process, one can be assured that the security concerns will disappear sooner than expected.
Related Links to Cloud computing:
To know more about cloud computing you can go through an interesting article at
-What is Cloud computing
-Is cloud computing really a service?
-Difference between distributed and cloud computing
Neha – Seo friendly content
With her years of experience in writing different types of content, Neha also serves as a professional Content Consultant.
learning|Cloud Computing, File Sharing| 02 19th, 2012|No Comments »
What is WordPress and why use it on your site? You ask. Well WordPress is an open source blogging platform. It is used by millions of websites and bloggers worldwide. This bogging application is based on PHP and MySQL. You literally have access thousands of FREE plugins o WordPress is a great way to get started with website design and development. Here are some other compelling reasons for using WordPress on your site.
- No startup cost to setup WordPress on your site
- Thousands of plugins that can make your website powerful yet easy to use
- Zero dollars spent on website design and development
- As blogging is “Content Heavy”, this is an excellent means of getting ranked high Search Engines.
More information on WordPress can be found at these sites:
WordPress.Com – If you want to just blog
WordPress.Org – If you want WordPress to power up your site
How to setup and install WordPress on your website?
For today’s tutorial on WordPress, we will guide you on how to use WordPress as your site’s platform. Today we are going to use our domain, www.ehowis.net. It is a brand new website that we registered with icdsoft.com, the company that is hosting our website. Today we will show you how to install WordPress 3.3.1 and setup it up as your website. This will totally eliminate the need for any website design and expensive web development services that you do not need. Regarding ICDSoft, it is an excellent web hosting company with great price packages and 99.9% server uptime. Currently they are using MySQL database and PHP version 5.3 which works well with WordPress. Contact us at info@datatechnologyllc.com and we can get you domain and basic hosting package for just $4 a month!! Details on the hosting can be found on this webhosting page.
Let’s cut to the chase and jump into how to setup WordPress as your site, shall we?
1. Backup the files
As with an IT related task, it is always a good idea to the backup the database or website files before any major changes. We log into our website control panel using this address www.ehowis.net/cp.
This is what it looks like on our computer screen.
We click on Backup first. This brings a new screen where we have the ability to select Mail and Files. We do not have a database so we do not choose that selection. We click Backup Now. We get this message and then wait for a few minutes.
The backup files for “Mail” and “Files” will be created in a few minutes.
2. Download WordPress software
Next we need to install WordPress on our site. Basically we are going to download the files (WordPress-3.3.1.zip) to our computer and then upload it to the web hosting server. You can download the installation files from WordPress at this location:
http://www.WordPress.org
Here is what it looks like on our computer display.
We download WordPress version 3.3.1 it to a folder c:\WordPress on our machine
3. Upload WordPress software to your hosting
Once you have downloaded the archive that contains the WordPress installation to your site, you need to upload it on your web hosting account. You can either extract all the WordPress files or upload them to the web server, or you can upload the archive and use the web hosting Control Panel’s File Manager to extract the zip package. We decided to extract files to our computer first and then upload.
This is what the screen shot looks like on our computer monitor.
The best way to upload multiple files to a web server is via FTP (File transfer Protocol). If you are installing the WordPress application in the main folder of your domain, you may have to delete the default index.php file first. You can do this either via FTP or through your web hosting File Manager. We are going to upload to the main directory using Filezilla, an excellent free FTP software.
Here is what it looks like on our end when we upload the WordPress files to our server.
4. Configure WordPress software next using wp-config.php file
Next you need to access the URL (website address) using the browser where the extracted WordPress files are located. In our case the site URL is as follows:
http://ehowis.net/index.php
You should see the first page of the WordPress installation as listed below. Go ahead and click the “Create a Configuration File” button. This is what our computer screen looks like.
After we clicked on that option, you will get something that looks like this. It is basically asking for the MySQL database information. Remember WordPress needs MySQL database to run. We have included a screen capture from our WordPress installation here.
Follow the “Let’s go!” link. On the next screen it is going to ask you to enter the database information. Don’t worry we walk you through the steps on how to do that.
5. Create a MySQL database for WordPress software
Next you need to create a MySQL database for the WordPress software application. You can do this through your web hosting Control Panel section. In our Hosting, we click on MySQL databases. We create the database first (using name WordPress) and click Create.
We have shown what it looks like on our puter.
6. Create a specific MySQL database user for WordPress
Besides the database, you also need to create a MySQL user for WordPress. You can create it from the “MySQL Databases” section as well. Be sure to grant all privileges to this MySQL user. Following this we create the user as listed in the figure below:
Database name: ehowis_WordPress
MySQL User: ehowis_user
Password: ******
Privileges: All
Click on Add
7. Configure your database settings for WordPress
Next you need to configure your database for the following settings.
Database Name: You need to specify the MySQL database you created for your WordPress application.
User Name: You need to enter the MySQL username you created at your web hosting Control Panel
Password: You need to enter the password you assigned to your MySQL user.
Database Host: localhost
Table Prefix: You do not need to modify this setting
Here is what it looks like on our end.
Click Submit after you enter all the information. On the next screen, click on the “Run the install” button.
8. Enter information on your WordPress site
Site Title: You need to specify the name of your WordPress site. This should be a name of your choice, could be related to the content of your blog, company name, or domain name for example.
WordPress Username: Specify a username for the administration of your blog. (Save this please)
Password, twice: Fill in a password for the administration username, and repeat it.
Your E-mail for WP: You need to specify an administrative e-mail address for managing WordPress.
Check the option “Allow my site to appear in search engines like Google and Technorati.”
This is what it looks like on our computer display.
They do have a sense of humor over at WordPress development team, as we get this friendly message.
Success!
WordPress has been installed. Were you expecting more steps? Sorry to disappoint.
9. Log into your WordPress site
Click on the Login button and use the credentials that you had just setup earlier. Bingo!!
Here is what it looks like on our binary machine.
10. How to Add a new WordPress post?
Let’s go ahead and create a test post. Click on Posts in the left Navigation Bar and then select Add New. Go ahead and create a title for the post, add some text in the body and click Publish. Congrats, your blog is active just like that.
Here is a screen shot of what we see.
The blog post is now active. If you want to check it just open up a new web browser window and type in the URL address. For us it is our website address:
www.ehowis.net
Notice that now WordPress is running our site, no more web development or web developers needed! Woohoo!!
This is how it looks like on our computer window.
Related Links on setting up WordPress on your website:
-Installing and setting up WP on your site
-Step by step approach to getting WordPress set up
learning|Blogging, Internet Marketing, Website Design| 02 15th, 2012|No Comments »
Social networking continues to grow and Facebook continues to define lives of many people. Facebook Like Button these days is considered to be an integral part of every webpage and Facebook marketing is perhaps the prime form of internet marketing. The Facebook page is the dire need of every business and page comments provide the best feedback. However, this form of e-marketing implementation sometimes gets harder than you may think and also is the cause of problems. For example, the straightforward method of implementing the Facebook ‘like’ button involves iFrame which have caused many users to experience security flashes while they tried opening the page.
The use of JavaScript SDK is, thus essential to make sure that Facebook plug-ins such as the Like Button or Like Box is compatible and usable with secure HTTPS pages. Begin with creating a PHP page which will run the JaveScript SDK on an HTTP pag. One of the most commonly used Facebook social plug-ins is the Like Button. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work perfectly in an HTTPS environment, without the use of JavaScript SDK.
Once this is working, you will have to go to the following page:
https://developers.Facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like/
Here you can configure your own Facebook Like Button code. Then, you will have to get the XFBML version of the button which will be again in the form of a code. After alterations as you may like, embed/ paste the button code within the PHP version. Then, try saving the script, and then upload it on web server and then, open it in the browser as follows:
https://www.yoursecuredomain.com/(savedfilename).
This will remove any warnings that you may have seen before, when you were using conventional iFrame method. You can then move on and integrate it in any CMS such as WordPress or Joomla. After this implementation, the code in your single.php, page.php or in any other templates will make the button appear on the web page. Remember to save any changes that you make!
To make use of Facebook Comments in HTTPS websites, you can again use the JaveScript SDK. Begin with logging into the CMS administrator panel and then decide the position of your comments plug-in. Then, add the comments code (XFMBL version). You can generate one here:
https://developers.Facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/comments/
Save the template and add meta property. Then you can move on to configuring the Facebook comments. Here is a site that is helpful in this regard:
http://www.devshed.com/c/a/PHP/How-to-Add-Facebook-Comment-Boxes-with-PHP/2/
Soon the installation of your plug-in will be completed.
learning|Facebook, Internet Marketing, Social Media, Website Design| 02 2nd, 2012|No Comments »
HTC smart phones have become extremely popular, extremely among the youth. The combination of the impressive Android platform, and sleek and smart looks is what has made HTC gain market share in the highly competitive mobile phone market. However there has been recent news that might be a cause of concern for the HTC smart phone users. Apparently a security team has claimed to have discovered a serious security flaw in HTC Android devices, which basically allows applications to get access to private data of the users, including confidential information such as email addresses, phone numbers etc.
According to the security team that exposed this vulnerability, the issue is with those phones running HTC’s latest software version, which includes the EVO 3D, the EVO 4G and the Thunderbolt in particular. Basically HTC had made some recent modification to the Android OS, and a result of that a number of tools can now collect loads of information about the user. Not only that, but this private information can also easily be made available on the web.
The security team that exposed this flaw has contacted HTC, and though there has been no official word from HTC regarding this, there is little doubt that they are working around the clock to rectify the issue.
With this issue being exposed, the debate between open source software, such as Android versus the closed source software, such as Apple has once again risen to the surface. There is no doubt that an open system allows users to download numerous apps from a variety of third party developers, giving the users a lot of flexibility; however this issue has just highlighted that the flexibility can indeed come at a cost. For the time being, closed system users must be sniggering and saying ‘We told you so’. But even after HTC manages to fix the issue, there is little doubt that the debate will ever be put to bed.
Also, since HTC has been notified of this flaw, users are hoping that HTC will release an update of the OS to solve the situation soon. Till then if users want their private information to be safe, rooting the device is the only option. But that could mean your warranty will be void. Hence HTC users are certainly left in a tizzy for the time being, and hopefully HTC will respond the soonest possible to fix this pressing issue.
Aakshey Talwar
Technical Writer
learning|Mobile Media| 01 30th, 2012|No Comments »
In Microsoft Access 2010, the building block of the database is a table. This is where all the information relating to your database will be stored. As you work with a relational database like MS Access, you will have a number of tables, each of which contain info on a particular subject. After a database is designed, it becomes quite cumbersome to modify existing table design and fields. As such, you should pay attention in the beginning when you are designing your database, queries, tables, forms and reports.
Database design consideration
There are a number of considerations to keep in mind when creating an Access 2010 database, here are some of the important ones.
- What type of information is going to be stored into the database? This data will ultimately become the new tables in MS Access. For example if you are creating a hospital database, you could have tables like doctors, patients, procedures etc.
- How will the data be entered into Microsoft 2010 Access database? A good place to start is to use any kind of existing forms (paper or electronic) that are currently being used to gather the data. These items will become Input Forms in Access Microsoft database.
- What is the data output from the database going to look like? These usually translate into Output Reports which Access 2010 is also capable of generating.
Keeping these things in mind, let us go ahead and create an Access 2010 database with Employee information in it. If you have Microsoft Access 2010 installed already, you can go ahead and launch it by doing the following. If not you should be able to download it from this Microsoft site. todo
Start > Programs > Microsoft Office > Microsoft Access 2010
This will launch the MS Access 2010 application. In order to create a new database in MS Office Access , take the following steps:
File Menu > New > Blank database
Enter the name of the access database under File Name and click on Create button. We used “Employee” as the database name. Here is what the screen shot looks like on our computer.
After that, Access will create a new table named Table1 as a starting point. This is shown in the figure below. Notice under All Access Object, you can see Table1. Let us go ahead and create the table using Design View. In order to invoke this view, you need to right click on the table and select Design View.
When we did that, we received a dialog box titled Save As. We entered the name of Access 2010 table as Employee and clicked OK. Next we were given the opportunity to enter Field Name and Data Type information. We entered EmployeeID for field and AutoNumber for data type.
Here is the screenshot on this step.
Notice you have additional field properties in the bottom left pane. We enter additional table fields like LastName, FirstName, DOB etc. Under the Data Type column you will get a drop down where you can select the proper data type for the field. As an example for field DateHired, we select Date/Time field shown in the screen capture from our monitor.
Next we would like to enter data into the MS 2010 Access table. You can do that by selecting:
View > Datasheet View.
When we did that, it asked us to save the table. We clicked on Yes. It takes us to the Data Editing view which looks like a spreadsheet. We enter the information for two records. The following screenshot shows the data in our table.
After you enter all the data, you can close the table by clicking on x in the upper right corner. When you do that you will see a dialog box. Go ahead and click on Yes. At this point you have created a database, created a table and entered some Employee data. Under All Access Objects, you can see the table Employee.
Here is the screen shot looks like on our machine.
This completes the post on How to create database in MS Access 2010. If you would want to learn more about Microsoft Access, please visit our Microsoft Access 2010 tutorial page.
Related links on MS Access 2010
-How to create a database in Microsoft Access – eHow.com
-Learn MS Access with a FREE 7-day free trial to lynda.com.
-Video on how to design and create a database table – YouTube
-Steps on how to create a database in Access – Microsoft.com
learning|Database, Microsoft Access, Office 2010| 01 22nd, 2012|No Comments »
Whether you are a webpage designer or merely a dabbling in writing web pages, having a basic understanding of HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) is a necessity. This is because HTML offers a plethora of ways to make your website both accessible to multiple users-in particular those with disabilities, as well as easy to navigate so that each guest will want to spend more time, and on sites where the goal is sales, more money while on your site.
So, how does HTML add to both accessibility and user-friendliness? By know how to use HTML, you can establish distinguishable headings (a plus in SEO), insert tables to hold a variety of data, make numbered or bulleted lists and much more. Another advantage of HTML is that you don’t need any special programs to use it for web page writing-just a basic text editor like Notepad (Windows) or TextEdit (Mac) and then save your work with an .HTML or HTM file extension.
How to get started with HTML
In this HTML Tutorial, we will show you how to use HTML. Basic components of HTML are tags < title> and elements <html>say cheese</html>. If this phrase were a heading in a document the HTML would look like this :<h1>Say Cheese</h1>. The tag without a backslash (/) is called an opening tag; the tag with a backslash is the closing tag. Any HTML coding will include these types of tags, with a specific element or direction in between. It should also be noted that with writing tags, that you should always use lowercase letters. By using various elements within the tags, you can create a custom website.
Some of the more common HTML tags are:
• <h1> a top heading
• <h2>through <h6> for various subheadings within an article
• <li> for list
• <ol> for ordered or numbered lists
• <ul> for unordered or bulleted lists
• <p> for paragraphs
• <u> underlined words/sections
• <i> for italics
• <strong> for words in bold text
• <br> breaks between sections
• <a href> specifies a link to internal or external page
• <img source> for inserting an image
There are many other tags that can be used, making web customization extremely doable.
Basic elements of HTML Structure
Every document has 4 basic elements that form their structure-<html>, <head>, <title> and <body>. These 4 tags are used for the following:
<html> is used to declare the structure of the document.
<head> used to give information such as title, meta description of the page or meta keywords that search engines can use to index the page and Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
<title> Contains the title of the page or article.
<body> is where you put the information you actually see in the main browser window. It is the content you want people to read.
HTML Example
For the next part in this HTML training, let us show you an example by using actual code in html language.
An example of HTML would be:
<html>
<head>
<title> Candid Photography</title>
<body>
<h1>Tips for Candid Photography</h1>
<br>
<p>Candid pictures are best as they are taken when the subject is unaware of the camera/photographer. This is because the candid shot captures the subject being natural rather than in a posed setting that often makes those a bit camera shy feel far too conspicuous. Tips for taking candid shots are:</p>
<ol><li>Set your camera to autofocus</li>
<li>Observe the subject.</li>
<li>Get close to the subject.</li>
<li>Whenever possible, turn of the flash.</li>
<li>Don’t say, “Say cheese!”</li>
<li>Snap the picture.</li>
</ol>
</body>
</html>
HTML in a Web Browser like Firefox
These entries will result in looking like this:
Candid Photography
Tips for Candid Photography
Candid pictures are best as they are taken when the subject is unaware of the camera/photographer. This is because the candid shot captures the subject being natural rather than in a posed setting that often makes those a bit camera shy feel far too conspicuous. Tips for taking candid shots are:
1. Set your camera to autofocus
2. Observe the subject
3. Get close to the subject
4. Whenever possible, turn of the flash
5. Don’t say, “Say cheese!”
6. Snap the picture
As you can see, with just a few tags and elements you can create a different look for the features for your website. There are many other HTML tags to explored, but these few will get you started. Visit the following links for more information about using HTML.
Additional Resources on HTML code
-How to use HTML – Extensive information
-HTML Tutorial – Excellent site with examples
-Learn HTML with a FREE 7-day free trial to lynda.com.
-Basics of Hyper Text Markup Language
learning|Internet Marketing, Programming, Website Design| 01 21st, 2012|1 Comment »
How to move data from MS Access to MS Excel 2010?
Microsoft Access is the database component in Microsoft Office 2010 software suite. This data is primarily in raw format and for analysis, we need to bring this data into Microsoft Excel 2010. Now there are several ways to do it. One can use the traditional Copy/Paste option i.e. the data from Microsoft Access can be copied and pasted into Excel spreadsheets, data can be exported from Microsoft Access file to spreadsheet or a data connection can be created between the data source (Microsoft Access) and data receiver (MS Excel). The choice obviously depends on how the user wants to use the data and in what format the data is in.
Copy/Paste option is perhaps the dirtiest but the fastest method of getting data. If the data is required for one time and the data is not volatile, then one can employ this method. This method, however, will not take into consideration the changes made into data once the copy/paste is done. The export data option allows you to save steps in exporting and the user can execute them again, when the data in the database (Microsoft Access) changes. Establishing a data connection is perhaps the most complete and appropriate way as it automatically updates the data when it’s modified in the original Microsoft Access source file. This is pretty useful if the user wants to analyze the latest data.
Let us look at these options one by one
A. Copying/Pasting values from Microsoft Access to MS Excel
- Open the table or query in Microsoft Access in which the data is present.
- Highlight the rows, columns or both either by dragging the cursor or using the arrow keys + Shift on the keyboard
- Press Ctrl + C on the keyboard (this is the Copy command)
- Open the MS Excel workbook where you want to paste the data
- Click on the cell in the MS Excel 2010 spreadsheet. This will be the starting point for your data
- Press Ctrl + V on the keyboard (this is the Paste command)
The data that you have copied might not be in proper format and may require formatting so that it becomes easier to sort and preserve data for further analysis.
B. Exporting data to MS Excel 2010
I like the second choice when migrating data from Access to Excel. There is also a wizard in Microsoft Access that helps you to export data to MS Excel. One can use data from any table, query, form or report in Microsoft Access to be exported. The good things about this export option are that it allows the user to retain formatting and it also allows selection of fragment of data. This means that if the user likes, he can use selective data for analysis.
The word of caution here is the fact that the user needs to close the receiving MS Excel file in order to use this Export Wizard. The user should click External Data tab and the click Export group. In the export group, he should click Excel. Here is the order:
External Data > Export > Excel
C. Creating a data connection
This is the last option to export data from MS Access 2010 to MS Excel. One should store the database (Microsoft Access) in a location that is convenient to remember and search. The word of caution here is to use regular Microsoft Access databases and not web databases (as they aren’t supported).
In MS Excel, click Data in the front tab and then point your cursor to External Data Group, click Microsoft Access (for setting up new connection) or you can click Existing Connections (if you have already setup a connection before).
Import Access into Excel – Related Links
-http://www.howtogeek.com/80118/import-microsoft-access-data-into-excel-2/
-http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/access-help/using-access-or-excel-to-manage-your-data-HA001042918.aspx
-http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=351152&u=581037&m=35335&urllink=&afftrack=
If you would like more information on Microsoft Excel, please visit our Excel 2010 tutorial page.
learning|Microsoft Access, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Office, Office 2010| 01 9th, 2012|No Comments »
With the advent of science and technology, everything seems to be in easy grasp. In the professional world, when there is a need for collaboration, SharePoint is the ultimate savior enabling the professionals to set up web sites for a host of activities like sharing information, managing documents, publishing reports and much more. Launched in 2001 by Microsoft, the SharePoint is an application in web content management and document management systems. The invention of the SharePoint allows the efficient management of various intranet portals, extra-nets, websites, social networking tools, business intelligence tooling and much more. Having various definitions associated with it like a software platform, online organizational tool, content management system with integrated search functionality and much more, this web application is capable of supporting many organizations on a single server.
A much in demand part of Microsoft’s Business Productivity Online Standard Suite and Office 365, SharePoint is a tool helping an organization to manage its data, applications and information in a convenient way, never thought before. The SharePoint intranet portal is the perfect method to enhance employee engagement, centralize process management, decreasing the costs involved in new staff training and much more. This web portal is also used to store and track electronic documents or images along with paper documentation. To know how to use SharePoint for project managements and creating a home page, you can watch a very useful video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJLUXN_2jLE&feature=related.
Another major advantage of SharePoint 2010 is the benefit of central location for storing documents, resulting in reduction of emails and duplicated work in an organization. Organizations can also enjoy the advantage of incorporating third parties into supply chains or business processes by not sharing confidential information with the help of password protected, web facing access to people not directly linked with the organization. SharePoint is characterized by the unique feature called Publishing which enables the management of larger public websites. Some other advanced features of SharePoint are the ability to integrate with SQL Server Reporting Services, ability to surface CRUD+ Query Operations, a customized design model, a Simple Object Access Protocol and more.
The various capabilities of SharePoint are classified into Sites, Composites, Insights, Communities, Content and Search. The Sites poses as a single infrastructure for all business websites aiding in sharing projects with partners and publish information to customers. ‘Composites’ is another capability which responds to immediate business needs. ‘Insights’, on the other hand, helps in easy accessibility to databases, reports and business applications. ‘Communities’ is the ideal platform to share ideas and work together on a project. SharePoint is all about Content Management where the users enjoy the benefits of automatic content sorting, retention policies and document types. Last but not the least comes the Search option, which is the perfect tool to find the correct information for getting a work done.
SharePoint is the ideal tool to help an organization achieve the much needed business growth by concentrating on various factors like changing business needs, sharing of ideas, getting in touch with the proper business contacts and much more. The solutions offered by the SharePoint are not only easy to use but are cost effective and help the companies to integrate internet, extranet and intranet sites on a single platform.
A writer by profession, Neha Agrawal has been serving Kreative Machinez (http://www.kreativemachinez.com/) over the last few years. This post by her discusses how SharePoint helps in content and website management.
learning|File Sharing, SharePoint| 12 29th, 2011|No Comments »
If you are a Microsoft Excel user and have not made the switch to Excel 2010, then what’s keeping you from making the switch? Is it the super-sized toolbar? Its mobility? Perhaps, it is the improved PivotTables? Hmmm… These MS Excel 2010 features and others have much to offer the user. So, if you are undecided as to whether upgrading to Microsoft Excel 2010 is a worthwhile expense, take a few minutes to learn about the top features of Excel 2010.
The Best Features of Microsoft Excel 2010
For frequent Microsoft Excel 2010 users, there are numerous reasons to upgrade from Microsoft Excel 2007. In fact, the many Excel 2010 features have resulted in 2010 Excel being one of the most popular Microsoft applications of recent date. So, without further ado, here are the best 8 features of Microsoft Excel 2010:
- Sparklines – This Microsoft Excel 2010 feature helps you visualize the data in a single cell. In addition, Excel 2010’s Sparklines allow one to create small charts within a cell so patterns in data can be found easily and quickly saving you time and money.
- The Slicer – Offering a fantastic visualization of PivotTable, Microsoft Excel 2010 allows one to segment and sort information so that an analysis can be made with minimal time and effort. This MS Excel 2010 feature combined with PivotChart, which displays data views, are definitely favorite features of the MS Excel 2010 package.
- Screenshots – Does your work require frequent screenshots? Then Microsoft Excel 2010’s improved screenshot tool will soon be your new best friend! With this new screenshot tool, you can show off what your assorted pages look like by going to Insert>Illustrations>Screenshot, where you will then have a choice of commands. You can also use the “screen clipping” option located at the bottom of the available windows.
- The ribbon – Introduced in Microsoft Excel 2007, the updated version allows you to create custom tabs and groups, and remove and change the order of the built-in tabs and groups.
- Microsoft Office Backstage views – This Microsoft Excel 2010 update found at File>Backstage, lets you create new files, open existing files, save, send, protect, preview print files and set options.
- Workbook management tools – While Microsoft Excel 2010 has made an assortment of upgrades, several were created specifically to help you mange, protect and share content. Some of these changes are the ability to recover versions of files that were closed without saving; a Protected View that allows you to make more informed decisions before exposing your PC to potential problems; and, a Trusted Documents feature, which makes opening documents and workbooks with active data safer and with fewer prompts each time you open the item.
- New icon sets – Originally introduced in Microsoft Excel 2007, the new Microsoft Excel 2010 gives you more access to icons, more variety and more sets, such as stars, triangles and boxes.
- More options for data bars – Microsoft Excel 2010 also allows you to apply solid fills or borders to the data bar, set the direction from right to left or left to right and data bars for negative values to appear on the opposite side of an axis from positive values.
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Getting Started with MS Excel 2010
If you are considering Microsoft Excel 2010, and want a closer look at the features and facets of this great Microsoft upgrade, then check out these places:
So, are you ready to make the switch to Microsoft Excel 2010? Why not take a few minutes to check out? Chances are you will soon be singing its praises.
If you would like more information on Microsoft Excel, please visit our Excel 2010 tutorial page.
learning|Microsoft Excel, New Features, Office 2010| 12 22nd, 2011|No Comments »
If you love your reading time, and would also like to experience the tablet frenzy, then the new Kindle Fire by Amazon is probably what you are looking for. While tech giants are wasting no time in jumping into the tab market, Amazon too has decided to make the most of this ever-growing and profitable sector by unveiling its impressive 7-inch sub $200 tablet. Keeping the book lovers in mind, the tablet comes with an impressive screen resolution and technology that allows wide viewing angles.
If you are interested in finding out more about the Amazon Fire, the compact guide in the following sections will surely come handy!
Design and specifications
The dimensions of the Kindle Fire are 7.5×4.7x.45 inches, and it weighs a reasonable 14.6 ounces. The display size of the tab is 7 inches, and the screen resolution is an impressive 1024 x 600 pixel, making it perfect for reading and watching other digital content.
The device comes powered with a dual core processor, and allows you to store 8GB of data. You do not have the option of being able to expand the storage space, but if you wish to you have the option of utilising the free cloud storage that Amazon offers its users.
If Amazon is to be believed, the device has an 8 hour reading battery life, which reduces to 7.5 hours when watching video. The device supports a variety of file formats, which is quite hassle-free!
Digital content library
Probably the highlight of this device by Amazon is the access it provides to a very impressive digital content library, featuring thousands of movies, TV shows, e-books and music! Book lovers can enjoy more than 17 million titles of e books, novels and magazines, which is a real treat. Additionally, the Kindle Fire also lets you download some of the popular Android apps, making it a truly complete device!
Amazon Silk
Another feature that Amazon boasts about in the tab is their Silk cloud accelerated browser. As the processing load is shared with Amazon’s EC2 servers, the browser apparently offers a much faster browsing experience.
The Kindle Fire falls under the sub $200 category, as it has been priced at $199. Expected to be available by mid November, the device will come pre registered to your Amazon account, giving you access to all functionalities the moment you open the box!
However if you wish to know much more about these functionalities right away the following link is a great place to start:
http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Fire-Amazon-Tablet/dp/B0051VVOB2
Aakshey Talwar
Technical Writer
learning|Third Party, Uncategorized| 12 12th, 2011|1 Comment »
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