SuperScript

If you've been thinking about switching to Apple, this could be the time

noreply@blogger.com (Yvonne Adele) — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 22:16:00 +0000

Apple's back to school offer for 2008:

"School isn't the same without a Mac and an iPod...

They make the tough stuff like reports, presentations and research a little easier. And the things like music, photography and movies a lot more fun. So whether you’re a new or returning student, a lecturer or a member of staff, you can kick-start the year in style.

Buy a qualifying Mac (MacBook, MacBook Pro, iMac and MacPro) and an iPod before 18 April 2008 and receive the price of the 4GB iPod nano after postal rebate.

FAST FACTS:
- What: Apple back to school offer
- Who: Any Australian K-to-12 or Tertiary customer who qualifies for the education discount.
- When: 23 January 2008 - 18 April 2008
- How to buy: www.apple.com/au or 133622- Web information: http://www.apple.com/au/education/offer/"

Flying tomorrow? Self check-in is the way to go..

noreply@blogger.com (Yvonne Adele) — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 07:25:00 +0000

You may realise by now that I'm a big fan of automation. One thing I've been loving recently is the online checkin you can now do with Australian airlines.

Just jump on to the VirginBlue or Qantas (or JetStar if you.. for some ungodly reason choose to fly with them!) and choose the online checkin option. Type in your confirmation code or booking number at the online checkin area:

- at the virginblue site you'll find it along the left about half way down - Self Check-In
- at the Qantas site you'll find it by hovering over Bookings along the top and then across to Online checkin.

You get to choose your seat, print your boarding pass and then you get to go directly to the Bag Drop counter to drop your bag when you get to the airport. No messing around with those touch screens. Or, even better still, if you only have carry on luggage you get to go straight to the departure gate.

Love it! Wonder when they'll have self-bag-drop?

The world gets smarter - ParkAssist

noreply@blogger.com (Yvonne Adele) — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 07:08:00 +0000

Every now and then I come across a technology that absolutely blows me away. And it is usually something that makes my life easier....

I visited Sydney last week for 3 days and hired a car. I had 3-4 appointments visiting clients each day and did not have much time to navigate to each destination, let alone find somewhere to park.

The 2nd appt was in Chatswood and I was coming from the city.. stopping at Chatswood for a client meeting on the way to another appointment on the Northern Beaches. I knew there was a big carpark behind Westfield, so I headed in that direction.

On approach, I noticed a sign that said there were 32 car parking spaces available in the multi level carpark. I instantly assumed this was a measure of how many cars had gone in and out of the car park boom gates and thought "how on earth am I going to find one of these 32 spots!"

I entered the car park, crossing my fingers and hoping for a 'rock-star' instant empty spot and discovered more of what I learned was the ParkAssist system. Digital arrows dropped down from the ceiling, instructing me whether to turn left, right or go straight in order to find an empty spot. The number of empty spots kept changing from 32, 35, 31, 37.. and I started to wonder how on earth the system could tell where the cars were leaving their spots.

As I turned right down the first aisle the system directed me to I discovered that above every single car space was a little round light. Red if a car was in the spot, green if not. As a car pulled into a free spot, the light changed from green to red and the number of available car spaces in that aisle changed to minus 1.

I was quickly able to scan the ceiling for a lone green light amongst all the red, head straight for it and park the car - on my way within 2 minute of entering the car park.

Now that's PROGRESS!

And when I was looking for info online, I found another interesting parking-related site - FindACarPark. If you're looking for a car park for rent, it's the place to find one. (or perhaps you've got one for sale!)

The world gets smarter - SmartBus

noreply@blogger.com (Yvonne Adele) — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 06:54:00 +0000

Whether you use public transport or not, you've probably noticed an update to the boring old bus stop in your metropolitan area? Digital signage which dynamically displays the arrival time of the next bus? You might think this is quite a simple thing to do, but take into account the accuracy provided... here's how they do it:

If a bus is running late, a GPS (global positioning system) communicates the location of the bus to the SmartBus control centre who will then link into the VicRoads traffic control system and request priority. The green light stays green for longer, letting the bus through - which means it gets to you on time.

The electronic display at the bus stop will update, letting you know exactly how many minutes until the bus arrives and vision impaired passengers can press a button for an audio message.

And still on public transport, check out the new ticketing system soon to arrive in Victoria - called MYKI. A cross between an eTag and a credit card, you purchase a MYKI (looks just like a plastic credit card) and load it up with dollars. As you get on public transport, you scan it. Then scan again as you get off. MYKI calculates the best fare for you based on your start and end points and the fare is deducted from your card.

MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn

noreply@blogger.com (Yvonne Adele) — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 00:33:00 +0000

There's been much interest lately in the social networking sites MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn. I've been asked to comment on radio, TV and in major newspapers about them.

Although they all come under the heading of networking and community sites, there are vast differences between them. You create your own 'page' on the site which is like your own little home on the web. You invite your own direct friends/colleagues to join you and you can view your friend's contacts in case there's someone you'd like to connect with and you can ask for an introduction.

Firstly, MySpace and Facebook are used for social networking. I find MySpace almost impossible to use and I guess I'm showing my age - but I find it slow to load, clunky to navigate and never seem to be able to find anyone or anything using the Search facility. It does seem to be the best place for groups of all kinds to gather - like music bands, book clubs and the like.

Facebook on the other hand is much neater, easier to navigate, quick to search and much more fun! There are great little applications you can add to your community page to make it really fun.. like 'places I've travelled' which is like a little push pin map of the world.

LinkedIn on other other hand is more of a business tool - it doesnt have all the fun toys or photo albums and it really is aimed at connecting like minded business people through their own existing contacts.

What do you think - have you used any of them, and what makes one your favourite?

Future Trends

noreply@blogger.com (Yvonne Adele) — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 06:21:00 +0000

I heard Craig Rispin, business futurist speak on Monday evening. Wow - amazing stats... he made me think of Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth actually. Craig outlined that 98% of jobs will be obsolete in the coming years and also that we're going to have a massive worker shortage. Because the jobs that will need filling are jobs that traditional Australian workers won't be able to fill.. that's why there's such a shift to outsourcing overseas.

It was great to hear the hot topics for the coming couple of years are Innovation and Creative Thinking.. I'm about to finish my brand new talk on just that. Hot off the press.

Red Hot Chili Peppers fans

noreply@blogger.com (Yvonne Adele) — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 02:21:00 +0000

I went to the gig on Tuesday night and absolutely loved it. Even more so because we've been following a blog written by the RHCP roadies for the past few months. They started the blog at the beginning of this world tour for Stadium Arcadium.. if you want the inside word, it's here. One thing missing: Who the HELL is Josh Klingenhoffer!? He appears to be the 5th RHCP for this tour, and there's hardly any info on him online at all.... its a mystery.

Imagine Cup for Students

noreply@blogger.com (Yvonne Adele) — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 02:18:00 +0000

Know a student who's quick with technology and likes creating gadgets and software? Get them to enter the 5th http://www.doccenterinc.com, employs 27 people and has three core products on the market.

Websites you wish you'd thought of..

noreply@blogger.com (Yvonne Adele) — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 02:13:00 +0000

I love these two new websites I've come across:

www.findababysitter.com.au - what a great idea! Parents pay an access fee of 3mths ($49), 6mths or a year, and they have access to do a search for babysitters in their local area! They have over 3000 carers registered, and you can narrow down your search to include only people with police checks, references, first aid certificates, hourly rate. Perfect!

www.mytickets.com.au - a solution for the frustration of trying to find tickets to an event, and not knowing which promoter is selling them. I have this trouble when I want basketball tickets - you can never be sure whether it's Ticketmaster or Ticketek because it changes based on the venue. At My Tickets, you just do a quick simple search for the event and location and all the info is presented at your fingertips. If you want to purchase, you get sent through to the right spot. Love it!

ABC Queensland tech support calls

noreply@blogger.com (Yvonne Adele) — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 05:55:00 +0000

Hi there - thanks for listening today! There was an outstanding problem from the calls today - I think it was Allan who asked it. The Run command is missing from the Start menu. Here's how to fix it.

In the meantime, why not sign up for my very fabulous and handy free newsletter, FingerTips?

1. Open gpedit by double clicking on 'gpedit.msc' (C:\WINNT\system32\gpedit.msc)
2. Open 'User configuration' -> 'Administrative Templates' ->'Start Menu & Toolbar'
3. In the right pane find 'Remove Run from start menu' and double click on it
4. Chose 'Disable' and push OK button
5. This will sove your problem

Questions with listeners of ABC Radio QLD

noreply@blogger.com (Yvonne Adele) — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 05:38:00 +0000

Q: Monitor is faded, it's about 7 years old
Mega's Answer: Get a friend to bring their monitor over next time you have a visitor and see if their's works well on your computer. Or take your monitor to a friend's place and plug it in to their computer. That will tell you whether it's a monitor problem or a computer problem.

Q: Uninstalled some HP software and now can't run AVG anti-virus.
Mega's Answer: Go in to Start, Control Panel, Add/Remove programs and remove AVG then go back and reinstall it from scratch. You'll find the free version at http://free.grisoft.com/doc/5390/lng/us/tpl/v5#avg-anti-virus-free

Q: Having trouble with Red Hat
Mega's Answer: Red Hat is a version of Linux and I'm not up to speed enough to help out sorry! Jump online to a Linux message board and they'll help you out.

Q: Having trouble with Naturally Speaking but has lots of errors and issues
Mega's Answer: It is likely to be the hardware thats the issue because the voice recognition software is quite heavy duty. Try it out on another computer if you can, then you'll know whether its the software or hardware.

Q: Every time I try to open a particular email, Outlook shuts down
Answer: Check your anti-virus software. I bet it's not up to date.

Q: Trying to find the music I've been listening to on a retro music site. Where are they on my computer?
Answer: Those files are 'streaming' to your computer, which means they are playing directly from the source. They are not being downloaded to your computer, which is why you can't find them.. and you can't download them.

Q: Trying to install a Lexmark printer driver under Windows XP.
Answer: Right mouse click on the setup file for the Lexmark printer and Properties. Choose to run it as a Windows 98 or Windows XP file.

Sign up for my free newsletter full of hints and tips!

Visit my free helpdesk to ask more questions.

My new best friend! Sony Ericsson Walkman W880i

noreply@blogger.com (Yvonne Adele) — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 06:14:00 +0000

If I can prevent it getting lost in my bag, I’d be totally in love with this phone. It’s the thinnest I’ve played with (9.4mm) and it only weighs 70 grams (yes, battery included), so you can understand how it could get mixed up with my business card holder when I’m fishing around for it!

Listening to the radio in the car and want to know the name of a song? Use the phone’s TrackID feature – it listens to a song snippet and magically gives you the track, artist and album name (I got this to work with John The Fisherman/Primus, Barbie Girl/Aqua and Every Breath You Take/The Police). Subscribe to Planet 3’s music club for access to half price music and video ($1.50), Rage Mobile TV; Triple M’s Gig Guide; MTV and more.

Not enough? Set up push email; quick internet access; get awesome battery time including 6.5hrs talk time and 18hrs music playback in Flight Mode plus some snazzy accessories like portable speakers and a hi-fi music cradle.

This Bluetooth phone comes standard with 16MB phone memory and a 1GB memory card which will store around 900 tracks. The 2 megapixel camera on the back takes great pics which can be loaded instantly to your blog. The front camera can be used for video calling. The large screen is fantastic, as is the navigation system – slick and futuristic.

Big-fingered blokes might find the keypad a bit fiddly, but what better reason to grow your nails guys!?

Verdict? This phone not only has the wow-factor that has people taking it out of your hands for a look, it’s fully featured and truly allows you to combine your phone and music player in one device.

Issues? I had trouble setting up the Disk2Phone file transfer program on Windows Vista but it worked perfectly on Windows XP. Lack of an FM receiver is a bummer.

$899 (or $22 /mth on a $29 cap over 24 mths with 3 mobile)
Check it out at the Sony Ericsson site.

(this article was published in an edited form in the MX newspaper today in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane.)

This week's messages..

noreply@blogger.com (Yvonne Adele) — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 10:19:00 +0000

In addition to Triple M and KO-FM this week, I appeared on A Current Affair this evening commenting on a story relating to the privacy of captured digital images. Someone had loaded up an embarassing video of an ex girlfriend to YouTube and she was devastated, reporting him to the show. My view: if you don't want it on YouTube, don't let it be filmed!

And, as always - parents.. why don't you know what your kids are doing in their rooms each evening? Surely any responsible parent would supervise a teenager and check what they're loading up to YouTube?

Also did a segment on ABC Local Radio QLD, talking about the dreaded email Chain Letters again (see link below) and taking lots of tech-support calls from listeners. Felt like the old days at Microsoft!

March 8 is International Women's Day. Hooray for us! I'm speaking at an IBM function where staff have been invited to bring their daughters to hear me chat about the wonderful world of IT, in an effort to encourage more women into it. And just to prove the point that we really do 'have it all', before the talk I'll be dropping off kids to school, dropping off overdue library books, doing canteen duty for half a day, meeting with a magazine editor about a new column (stay tuned). Phew!

Radio interviews today

noreply@blogger.com (Yvonne Adele) — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 23:23:00 +0000

Appeared with John, Jane and Cosi this morning on TripleM Adelaide at 6:50am chatting about Viruses, then the sister station in Newcastle, KO-FM chatting about Chain letters. Click the links for the fact sheets! Did you listen? What would you like to hear about in the future?

Update on the Windows Vista experience

noreply@blogger.com (Yvonne Adele) — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 23:19:00 +0000

Loves

Slick look
Sidebars
Photo gallery - love this the most. especially the ability to tag photos
New Media Centre look
Quick load
Instant Search
Parental controls.. although this would be in my 13yr old's Hate list!

Hates

Cannot run Dreamweaver so I have lost my favourite website editing tool
Cannot recover my files from the backup I did before I wiped my PC clean and started again in order to have the best 'vista' experience
My graphics card inside the PC is not up to scratch enough to access to new flip 3d feature and a few other things

Take the tours and check it out for yourself... it seems to me that the word on the street is that people are upgrading to Office 2007 on Windows XP and they're saving the Vista upgrade for later. Sounds like great foresight to me!

Having fun with the new Walkman phone

noreply@blogger.com (Yvonne Adele) — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 21:34:00 +0000

Loving the brand new Sony Ericsson W880i (click 'try the phone'). I've got my plastic ruler out and the phone truly is only 1cm in thickness.. can you believe it? It's light as a feather. But that's not what I like the best - the screen navigation is amazing to watch - slick as a computer game!

The buttons are a bit tiny and I find myself having to press them with a fingernail, but most of what I want is able to be programmed to shortcut keys.

I can load photos to it (it's got its own 2megapixel camera on board, mind you!) and I'm supposed to be able to put my MP3 files onto it but I'm having trouble getting the Disc2Phone software working under Windows Vista. (thats not the only problem with Vista.. I can't use Dreamweaver either which is killing me).

Once I work out a way to get digital music to the phone I'll be satisfied with the whole package. I am right on the verge of buying an MP3 player but cant decide which one. This phone will do it all and I won't need to take that extra step and add another gadget to the toolbelt! It can apparently store up to 900 tracks!? Not only that, there's access to PlayNow - quick access to new ringtones... love that!

It does come loaded with some lame sample tracks, so I've tried out the sound through the standard headphones and it is fantastic.. although I'm not mad keen on the earpieces.. they are not comfortable for me.

I'm about to try the phone some brand new video on demand content and will keep you updated.

Safety for kids online

noreply@blogger.com (Yvonne Adele) — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 02:00:00 +0000

Triple M Adelaide asked me to have a chat on air this morning in an effort to teach parents a bit about what their kids are doing online these days. It has unfortunately come about because a young girl was found killed on the beach in Adelaide a few days ago and the police are actually using her MySpace page to look for clues.

It is our responsibility as parents to monitor and regulate all of this stuff. I have put some tips on my website.

I also mentioned Windows Vista, the brand new version of Windows - it has some awesome parental controls that allow you to block the kids from using the computer or the internet at certain times and also allows you to set minimum game ratings for each child.

Permanently delete email

noreply@blogger.com (Yvonne Adele) — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 23:23:00 +0000

You can bypass the Deleted Items folder in Outlook and Outlook Express.

First select the email to be deleted.
Hold down the Shift key and press Delete.
Let go of the Shift key!
Click Yes - you're sure you want to permanently delete the item.

To select multiple emails for deletion:

To select a group, click on the 1st one and hold the SHIFT key down while you click on the last one. Return to Step 2, above.
To select random emails, click on the 1st one and hold the CTRL key down while you click on the others. Return to Step 2, above.

Another hot tip for creating new emails - Ctrl + Enter is the shortcut for Send!

Your ewaste - technology junk

noreply@blogger.com (Yvonne Adele) — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 00:03:00 +0000

I've seen an increasing number of big old monitors and huge desktop computers out on the nature strip recently. There's even a spot at the tip for technology waste (some tips will charge $30 to dump there). Aussies have discarded 8.6 million computers you know! We buy 2.4 million new computers a year.

It's a shame, because there are many organisations in Australia dedicated to recycling this stuff and putting it to good use. Imagine a family who can't afford a new computer, a student who doesn't have one at home, a neighbourhood centre without a technology budget. All could benefit from your discarded technology.

An article in the weekend papers reminded me that in Melbourne and Sydney, Dell offer a pickup service for technology waste. For $10 flat fee plus $13 per item (or just $8.50 if you drop to them), they'll come to your door, pickup the 'junk' and recycle it. If it's less than 3 yrs old, you may even make $50 or more. Ph 1800 465 890.

The Choice website has a great list of computer recycling companies all around Australia.

First Aussie copy of Windows Vista to be sold at Harvey Norman

noreply@blogger.com (Yvonne Adele) — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 14:38:00 +0000

Did you hear? at 11:59pm on the 29th of Jan, Harvey Norman in Alexandria will be the first store in all of Australia to sell Windows Vista. In fact, Gerry Harvey himself will sell it and it's personally signed by Bill Gates. Too funny! It's a great way to get people down there. I'm going to be in Sydney that night so I might even make it there myself. (Cnr Gardeners Road & O’Riordan Street, Alexandria)

Are you buying into the hype? What have you heard about Vista.. what are you looking forward to? And how about Office 2007?

Windows Vista and Microsoft Office 2007

noreply@blogger.com (Yvonne Adele) — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 13:30:00 +0000

Finally, the release date is upon us - Jan 30 sees the launch of the brand new look Windows and also the sparkling new Office 2007.

I've been using both for many months and I'm here to tell you I'm hooked. The look and feel of the new programs is extremely slick and very comfortable. I have to say that Office 2007 takes a serious lot of getting used to. Can you imagine using Word with no menus? They are replaced by a thing called Ribbons.

Take a sneak peek at Windows Vista and Office 2007. I'll bring you little snippets and how-to's as the products are released in the coming weeks.

Are you planning to upgrade immediately, or wait?

In the meantime, you should update your Internet Explorer to the newest version, 7. It has an excellent feature called Tabbed browsing which I've outlined further in my latest newsletter (published by email tomorrow). Visit the newsletter archive. The best thing? You can use your middle mouse button (were you wondering if that would ever come in handy?!) to close browser tabs and activate them. Now i've been doing it for a few weeks, I find I'm lost on my old laptop without the middle button.

Remember when we didn't even use the RIGHT mouse button?

More on Telstra Awards - and the winner is!

noreply@blogger.com (Yvonne Adele) — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 11:53:00 +0000

Margot Spalding from Jimmy Possum Furniture won my category (business owners) and went on to win the Victorian overall business woman of the year award. And what an amazing woman. A dedicated and 'spunky to boot' husband, 7 kids, 3 grandkids, hundreds of staff, over 30 stores all around Australia. Margot was so very happy to receive the award and noted that she was doing so on behalf of her very hard working, loyal and dedicated staff.

It was a most amazing day - held at the Crown Palladium ballroom and decorated in the most glorious way. Anne Fulward was MC for the day and she did an amazing job.

I was first out of the 30 or so finalists to be called to the stage to accept my certificate... (that's what you get for having a last name starting with 'A'!) and wasn't that walk a huge amount of pressure! Where are the stairs? how many are there? how steep are they? Where do I stand, who do I walk to? Don't trip! eek! But loved every minute of it.

At the end of the day, Diana Williams from Fernwood (last year's state AND national winner) told me that she was giving me the honorary SHOE award for the most gorgeous shoes.. you can seek a peek of them at the bottom of this pic.. they were gorgeous girly shoes with fat red ribbons attached. (pic: Katherine Sampson of Healthy Habits, me, Glenyce Johnson of Peregrine Adventure Travel)

My new mate Glenyce won her category (private sector) and I totally lost it - was screaming and crying and was just so very excited and happy for her.

(I am wearing a most delicious wrap dress with matching japanese-style OBI belt from designer Sophie Lui).

I learnt so much that I'm dying to do it all again next year.... the submission will be bigger and better and I hope to do the awards proud again! If for nothing else, it was just an honour to become a finalist and to have 23 of my woo-hoo team there cheering me on. Proud as punch I was!

...so - it's back to business. Or ALMOST.. we're jetting off on our first real family holiday - all 5 of us. Back v. soon.

More on Telstra Awards - the Eve

noreply@blogger.com (Yvonne Adele) — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 05:21:00 +0000

it is the day before. people keep asking me if I'm excited which is making me very excited! people keep asking me if I'm going to win which is making me wonder if I will! I dare not believe it before, but I truly think there are 3 people in my category who could win and I am the last one of those... so there you go! Maybe because I don't know enough about the others... ?

I've written the speech. A very surreal experience.. pretending I've won and wondering what I would say!? Fun though!

I haven't spent this much time getting ready for something since I got married! Hair, nails, shoes, outfit, waxing, tanning, accessories... sheesh!

Tonight is the 'leadership forum' and I'm going alone - I had invited a colleague but she can't get there in time so I'm solo. Which is strange because I have no idea what kind of night it will be. Not a clue! Except that there will be speakers and I will again get to say hi to the other gals I know who are part of the awards.

I'm starting to hear from people I've invited who can't make it. They have meetings, they'll be late, they are sick.. so it will be interesting to see how many of the 23 get there.

The excitement builds! God I hope there will be some major sleep tonight though - the little boy was up at 4am this morning wanting toast, yoghurt, playtime, books - so I've missed out on some much needed beauty sleep!

Bought a laptop from eBay

noreply@blogger.com (Yvonne Adele) — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 01:48:00 +0000

Yep! I walked the talk.

- I'm always going on about how easy and safe eBay is to use.
- We needed a new computer for the office here and I wanted a laptop so it can double as a study computer for my teenager.
- Jumped on to eBay and searched for used and refurbished laptops within a 50km radius of my postcode.
- Needed it within 2 days and didn't want to get into a bidding war so narrowed down my search to items that included the Buy It Now option. (this option allows you to close the auction immediately and buy the item at the specified price).
- Set the search criteria to what I wanted (at least: 512mb ram; 40gb hard drive; 14" screen; windows xp pro)

And I found just what I wanted, clicked Buy it Now, clicked to say yes to 'Are you sure.. click here to commit to purchase', paid via direct debit and picked the laptop up the next day.

While I was there, I did a quick search for Size 1 baby boy pants and trousers because my little Miles (17mths) is in need! Found a great lot of 4 pairs for $12 starting price which was finishing in just 5 hrs, so I jumped on to esnipe and set my highest price at $21. Just before the auction finished, esnipe logged into eBay for me to start proxy bidding and as there had been no other bids, I got the pants for $12 plus postage! Hooray. Love esnipe.

Check out my quick eBay tutorial if you agree it's time you took the next step!