Ross Goodman

Category: Technology

  • Stay Focussed – Stay OUT of Outlook!

    One of my main productivity “sinks” is continually monitoring Outlook to see if any mails have arrived.

    I have a rule set up that notifies me if an “important” email lands but for this to run, outlook needs to be running (minimised of course). I can’t resist the temptation to just “have a peek” outside my first thing in the morning, last thing at night email window.

    To get around this I want to be “discouraged” from opening Outlook.

    To implement this I have used Antonio Franca’s fantastic WinTrigger AutoHotkey script.

    (more…)

  • Social Media – How I Make It Work

    Social Media – there are so many sites out there all wanting my input.
    There are so many other web sites that produce content that want me to read their content.

    You can see what my plumbing looks like here.

    (more…)

  • Reading : What it means

    Notturno
    Creative Commons License photo credit: gualtiero

    A few people have asked me recently why so many of my Tweets or Facebook Updates have “Reading : ” and what it means (more…)

  • Favourite Shortcut Keys – Outlook

    Apple Keyboard (with Avid shortcuts; Letterboxed)
    Creative Commons License photo credit: laffy4k

    If you look at the left hand menu you will see the items:

    • Mail
    • Calendar
    • Contacts
    • Tasks
    • etc

    These can be quickly accessed by using the following shortcut keys:

    • (Ctrl+1) – Mail
    • (Ctrl+2) – Calendar
    • (Ctrl+3) – Contacts
    • (Ctrl+4) – Tasks

    In addition, when you use Ctrl+1 to access mail, this takes you to the folder that you were last using, if you would rather jump straight into your In-Box – use (Ctrl+Shift+I).

  • Google Spreadsheet & SQL Queries

    Learning SQL
    Creative Commons License photo credit: therefromhere
    I am a big fan of Google Spreadsheets, they give you most of the features of a desktop “office” based spreadsheet but your data is stored online, no more need to carry your data on a USB stick.
    I’m also a huge fan of databases, SQL is a fantastic tool for querying data.
    Now you can combine the best of both worlds: store your data in a spreadsheet and then summarise the data using SQL.
    (more…)

  • Dell Tech Support – Must Read The Script


    Dell: Can I confirm that your laptop has been collected.
    Me: Which one, I have had two collected in the last week.
    Dell: The one that needs the repair to the palm rest and screen.
    Me: Yes that was collected last week, a day later than was arranged.
    Dell: OK, Thank You.
    Me: Can you confirm the status of the repair?
    Dell: Yes we received the laptop last week and are waiting on the replacement parts.

    I’m glad to see that the Dell quality processes have finally kicked in and they are confirming that they are actually repairing the laptop that they have collected and that they have not mistaken my laptop with someone else’s that has the same service tag and the same fault.

    Update

    The laptop was returned all fixed today !

  • Dell Support Woes Again


    As you will have read here I previously owned a Dell Inspiron Mini 10 (1011) and had a host of issues that resulted in the laptop being returned for a full refund.
    I really liked my Dell Mini 10 so I thought I would give them another go.
    I ordered another Dell Mini 10 from the Dell UK Outlet.

    Once Bitten…

    (more…)

  • Dell Tech Support Woes


    I bought a Dell Inspiron Mini 10 in October directly from Dell via the Dell Outlet.
    After the usual few days it took to get all the service packs and fixes etc onto it I noticed that the screen resolution was incorrect. The screen has a maximum physical resolution of 1024×600. The properties only listed 1024×768.
    When you used the laptop you were missing the bottom 168 pixels worth of screen. The desktop did not scroll. It was still usable, press the start button on the keyboard and the menu appeared, you just couldn’t see the task bar.
    If I used the screen magnifier and dragged the mouse off the bottom of the screen, the magnifier showed me the area off the bottom of the screen (the missing 168 pixels worth).
    (more…)

  • Google Reader – Send To GMail

    I’m a huge fan of Google Reader.
    They recently introduced a “Send To” feature to allow you to share items with other users.
    The one that was not included by default was Send To GMail !

    Try This:
    https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&view=cm&cmid=0&fs=1&tearoff=1&to=&su=${title}&body=${url}
    Whoops, just noticed there is a big “EMail” button at the bottom of every article that does just this!

  • A Year In Retrospect

    Just a quick summary of my on-line presence this year.

    Twitter

    I have invested a lot of content to Twitter this year.
    This is primarily due to the convenience of the platform racking up almost 1200 updates in the year here.

    Flickr / Photography

    I can’t find a way to get stats for the year so here are my top five photos:
    tennis
    Car Crash Rescue 1
    Lightning 5
    Kelvingrove Heads 1
    Car Crash Rescue 2

    Web Site / Blog

    By far the most popular post on the site was the photos page here.
    Second most popular page is the “About Me” page here.
    As for the blog entries themselves they rank at:
    1 – Business Objects XI 3.0 New Features – Conditional Prompts
    2 – Crystal Xcelsius – Filtered Rows From A Filter Component
    3 – Modelling Change In Your Dimensions
    4 – Business Objects XI 3.0 New Features – Change Data Tracking
    5 – Dimensional Modelling – Facts
    As you can see here the site only really started getting traffic last January so that gives me 17300 page views.
    sitestats

    Personal Stuff

    Obviously the biggest news of the year was the passing of my daughter Emma.
    Celebrating the Life of Emma Berry Goodman
    And the year ends on another low point with the passing of another member of my extended family.
    George Miller – Footballer | 1939 – 2008