Office Freedom

Is Linux on a warpath?

2009-10-20T21:33:00.000-07:00

Even though the release of Windows 7 has just passed, much of todays news is circulating around an old foe, Linux. A couple of years ago the operating system was still considered only usable by tech savvy individuals. It wasn't until the release of a smaller laptop crowned a "Netbook" that the distribution was widely available on a computer that was being stocked at most common retailers, such as Target, and Wal-mart. But as the saying goes, when it rains it pours. HP followed suit with a release of Linux with it's Netbook. Google has announced it's Chrome OS which will be Linux based and with Netbooks still being a very popular item it is sure to find it's way into the market. Google has also announced a Netbook being driven by Android coming soon to the market. Windows has yet to come up with a viable answer for the Netbook solution. Netbooks being sold with Windows XP have more recently found themselves on youtube video's as people show off their new fully functional Linux platform. I myself have recently tried a version of Ubuntu Linux for a Netbook and unlike the dark ages of Linux where installers would find their PC lacking functionality after trying the Operating system. Now owners of Netbooks can install from a USB flash drive and have a fully functional Linux Netbook in just a matter of minutes. I myself am very happy with the transition and ease of use found in today's Linux.

Working from home, the yard, anywhere...

2009-10-20T13:48:00.000-07:00

The growing need for companies to go paperless has had a dual effect on how most companies operate. For most companies in today's world to own a company and not expand to home based employees is probably not the wisest financial move. Considering the overhead of having a cooperate office whose only purpose is to house people, internet, and computers, which 90% of these people wake up and drive away from perfectly fine facilities which are already equipped with broadband, and a computer perfectly suitable for the work usually performed at work. Time for the most part has started to catch up to this reality. People seeking true at home employment opportunities are usually able to find some leads on the internet.
If this is your first search for at home employment opportunities here are some great links for you.
Legitimate freelance writing jobs.
Demand Studios
Suite101
Legitimate Customer Service phone jobs (usually specific about internet connection and phone type)
Arise
West

Another company offering all sorts of freelance opportunities, from CSR, freelance writing, programing etc....is oDesk

Good luck!

Getting the most, with very little.

2009-10-10T22:41:00.000-07:00

In the past two years the laptop world has made the shift from portable, but still bulky laptop designs, to the small, sleek net-books of today. Since it's introduction of the Acer net-book a lot of companies instantly noticed the need to jump on board. Some people find the lack of having a DVD drive, and gaming power is a turn-off. But a growing crowd of individuals are finding these robust little machines are the next turn in their computing arsenal. A net-book armed with a smartphone, is usually all you need to do everything from editing, creating, and scanning documents anywhere the road may take you, or just get online and browse the web, chat with friends, or watch a movie. I have a job which includes a lot of time spent in rural areas and I'm quite impressed with the amount of things I can get done in the middle of nowhere. I have also found for those of us more attached to the internet than a TV, bundling your phone with a data plan that includes tethering no only reduced my monthly bills spent on broadband and cell phone service separately. But also taking the time to find cheaper alternatives, which sometimes also come completely free to achieve my job have greatly reduced my cost on the road. Here are some tips which might help you.

1. Don't go cheap on the price of a phone. Generally spending the extra money will pay off in not having to purchase multiple devices that handle the same job as one I.E GPS, mp3 player, mobile video player, full mobile web access. Also if you are mobile be prepared to be so with car charger, or purchase a power converter for your vehicle. The camera is also important here, a high resolution mobile phone camera can do the same job as a scanner. Make sure you are in a well lit area.
2. Learn how to convert your important application CD's, DVD's to ISO formats and keep these on USB drive in case of failure.
3. Back-up to the web often. You can be sold purchasing a subscription to an online back-up plan. But free picture hosting, and using a Google documents account will do great for most paper, or digital document mediums.

At one time I was attached to my desktop, relying on it for all my work. Now I could probably walk the Appalachian trail with my entire office, and lets face it. The 3 extra pounds wouldn't kill me.

Converting Media to Windows Mobile, IPod, Smartphone for Free.

2009-10-10T15:07:00.000-07:00

Within the last month or so RealPlayer released it's newest version Realplayer SP, and it's packed with great features you would normally have to pay for elsewhere. Now in addition to it's already great feature of being able to download flash web content such as Youtube video's and Google video to your home computer to watch offline, you can now convert these video's to your favorite mobile format. The converting is as easy as selecting your model of phone, and selecting convert. The conversion process is dependent of a lot of factors such as computer speed, ram, size of video, and video quality I.E. larger video's in higher quality will take more time to convert than video's of lower quality and size. I converted a few video's on my Acer Netbook and was still quite impressed with it's quality and speed. Realplayer SP cranked out numerous video's with zero crashes and these played quite well on my windows mobile device. You can find Realplayer at www.real.com. Enjoy

Some great links for you windows mobile owners.

2009-10-10T11:42:00.000-07:00

Here are some great links for free Applications for you smartphone, or windows mobile owners.

www.freewarepocketpc.net/
freewareppc.com
www.pocketpcfreeware.com/en/index.php

There you can find just about any application you need for your windows mobile powered device.

A Free VOIP, Home Phone, or Mobile Phone Service.

2009-10-10T10:03:00.000-07:00

Google has introduced a large array of free service, the most coveted of these would most definitely be Google Voice. Google voice is still only obtained through invitation only. You can obtain this by submitting a request through https://services.google.com/fb/forms/googlevoiceinvite/ . I'm sure it helps to already have a Gmail account setup for this. I'm sure Google is busy sending out invites as fast as they can, but don't expect this process to be instantaneous. I wouldn't know the current response rate as I requested an invite when it was announced, and waited patiently for 3 months for my Google Voice account.
Once you have received your Google voice you are almost set. You have to start with a initial forwarding number I.E. your cell phone, or home phone number. The way Google voice works is you can simply place in the number you wish to call in the form required (it's as easy as dialing the number). Then choosing the location you wish for Google to connect you, as you can have multiple locations to choose from. When you place the call, Google calls the location you requested to be connected at, and when connected to you, it will place your call for you. It is an easy way to save minuted on your mobile phone, or save yourself from a pesky home telephone service. In order to use your Google voice as a VOIP service you must download an additional program called Gizmo5 that can be found here http://gizmo5.com/pc/ . Download the PC program, and create an account using their easy to follow directions. Now that you have completed that you can simply log back onto the Gizmo5 website and locate you SIP number that is connected to your account. Then go to your Google voice home page and click settings at the top right. Now under the "Phones" tab locate "Add Another Phone" link. Place in your Gizmo5 SIP number minus the 1 at the start of the number. Once you have done this you now have a working VOIP directly to your computer or laptop. Use Google voice to place your calls, and it will connect you at your laptop where ever you may be.

Google Forms, and windows mobile.

2009-10-09T13:46:00.000-07:00

If you are wondering how, to create a way to easily access all of your goolge forms from your windows mobile device, look no further. If you are not familiar with google documents this will provide you with an easy walk-through to creating forms, and organizing your forms, and accessing these from your windows mobile device, or phone.

First lets create a form using google documents. Navigate to your google documents and select new, then forms from the drop down list.

Next Create your form, using the form editor.

Once saved you can easily navigate your way back to the form by opening the form in your google documents homepage. Navigate to the live form by selecting form from your google spreadsheet.

Once you navigate to your live form, highlight the address and copy it by either right clicking and selecting copy, or by highlighting the full address and pressing Ctrl and "C" together.

Now to create a webpage we will place on your windows mobile device that will contain the link to your google form. Navigate back to your google documents homepage and select New, and create a Document. Now click "Link" this will open a option to create a link on your new document.

Name the link for your document form. Keep in mind you can add as many links as you have forms.
Now we have created links for our forms the next step is to be able to access these from our windows mobile device. We can actually do this one of two ways. We can navigate to our document using our mobile browser. Or we can select file, and download as a html zipped file. Unzip the file, and then place the file directly on your windows mobile device using Active Sync, transferring by bluetooth, or by emailing the html page to yourself. Once on your windows mobile device you can simply open it using windows mobile file explorer. Once the page is open you can simply add it to your windows mobile browser favorites.
Now you can access all of your google document forms with you windows mobile device. Hope this helps.