Archive for the ‘Tips’ Category

Picture the scene… you’re about to set off for a meeting… you’re doing your preparation and you realise that you need a replacement notepad for your shiny corporate portfolio. You head off to the stationery cupboard, only to discover that those cheeky devils in {delete as appropriate} Accounts/Sales/Marketing/Operations took the last one, and didn’t bother re-ordering any!

You could of course quickly swipe some plain copier paper from the nearest printer… or you could instead head over to Printable Paper where you can choose from a selection of printable templates. Take your pick from lined paper, graph paper, dot paper, music paper, and oh so much more (in fact we didn’t know that there were so many different types of paper!). Bear in mind the site has a global audience, so if you’re in the UK, you will most likely want to head straight to the A4 section. The templates can be downloaded as a PDF or in Microsoft Word format. They are completely free (but then we would hope so given that you have to use your own paper and printer!).

As well as offering printable paper templates, you can also download 2009 calendars and cash receipts forms. Ok, so some of the designs leave ‘a little to be desired’, but if you’re simply looking for something functional then they will certainly do the job… at the very least helping you out until the replacement stationery order arrives!

If you currently spend any time working from home (or are perhaps considering doing so in the future) then you might find this post by Treehugger interesting. As well as offering suggestions on how to keep your office healthier, there are also some other handy tips, such as choosing the right desk and chair.

Image by Veo

We’re big fans of keyboard shortcuts here. OK, so it can take a little while to learn some commands, but used often enough, they tend to become second nature (many Windows users will be only too familiar with ‘Ctrl-Alt-Delete’ for example). Keyboard shortcuts  (also known as ‘hot keys’) are especially useful when typing (alleviating the need to move your hand from the keyboard to the mouse).

‘Smashing Magazine’ has a nice summary of over 200 ‘hot keys’. Although aimed at web developers, they include commands for commonly used applications such as Internet Explorer, and Microsoft Outlook.

For example, if you use internet explorer, try pressing the F11 key, and the display should switch to full screen. Press F11 again, and the display will revert to normal… much quicker than using a mouse!

Smashing Magazine

Image by visualdensity

Hardly a day seems to go by without the media commenting on the increasing price of oil. Times online has a nice article on how to cut down your vehicles fuel consumption… from changing the computer chip, to buying vegetable oil that chips can be cooked in!

How to save money on petrol

Image via soctech

Microsoft Word… it’s one of those programs that you either love or hate (and sometimes both!). If you find yourself using the program on a regular basis, then you might find the following site useful. We don’t know who Alan Wyatt is, but we think it’s mighty nice of him to go to the effort to post this information at no cost to others.

Vitalnews

If you only really use your broadband connection to surf a few basic web pages, then connection speed probably isn’t all that important. If on the otherhand, you send and receive hundreds of e-mails and regularly need to upload or download large files etc… it’s absolutely essential (especially when you have multiple users sharing a connection).

As you may have read recently, many broadband suppliers (also known as ‘ISPs or ‘internet service providers’) advertise connection speeds of up to 8mbps (mega bits per second) yet often customers do not actually get this level of service. To us, that’s a bit like advertising a sports car that does up to 100mph when in fact, on most drives, it won’t top 60!

If you’re about to come to the end of your broadband contract (or you’re simply curious about the actual speed of your connection) then you might want to head over to www.speedtest.net

Once you’re at the site, simply click on the yellow pyramid nearest to your geographical location, and watch the large ’speedometer’ calculate your speed (you may want to try this at different times of day to see if it varies). If you are on an network within an office, then remember that the results may also vary according to internet usage by your colleagues.

Once you have your result, you can compare this against other broadband providers in your region, town, county etc.

We use a company called Newnet, which is both reasonably priced, and (in our experience) reliable too. Perhaps most importantly, we actually get the close to the speed advertised (on our case, about 7kbps verses an advertised speed of 8kbps).

Although we’re based in Surrey, we often need to travel to London to meet clients etc. Whilst we prefer to take the train, there are some instances when we simply have to jump in a car. Off peak, the journey normally takes around an hour but (as anyone local will know) it only takes a minor incident (such as a broken down vehicle) to significantly delay the journey.

There are several major routes we can take into the city (A316, A3, M4 etc) so it’s handy to know if there is a problem in advance (so we can add journey time or choose an alternative route). Before we set off, we like to check out the route using live traffic webcams. This may sound like a time consuming process, but in fact, it takes nothing more than a couple of mouse clicks.

In addition, we can also check road conditions for colleagues or clients on the road. If they call to advise us that they’re “stuck in a jam”, we can look at other routes, and suggest those that are less congested.

The two main webcam sites for London are Transport For London (which is navigated using a user friendly map) and BBC London Jam Cams (where camera locations are listed alphabetically). Both sites use the same cameras, and display a still image taken usually within the last 5-15 minutes. In our experience, the TFL site is the easiest to use, and seems to be updated more frequently.

Whilst we’ve focussed on London in the above example, there are also many other other areas with live traffic cameras. KeepMoving.co.uk shows a map of England, split by region, and shows both city and motorway cameras. The BBC also has good coverage, and covers most major cities (including Scotland and Wales):-

BBC England webcams

BBC Scotland webcams

BBC Wales webcams

If there isn’t a camera listed for your route, then a quick Google search for “live traffic camera” (followed by the place name) should reveal what you’re looking for.

Also, as an added bonus, if you are familiar with Yahoo widgets or the Mac dashboard, you can download widgets and configure these to show cameras of your choice using a single keyboard button press. For example, the London cameras can be found at:-

London Traffic Cameras (Yahoo widget)

London Jam Cams (Mac dashboard widget)

Have you ever visited a website and been greeted with the following message “404 error – file not found”?

Congratulations! You’ve encountered what’s known as a ‘dead link‘… or a page on a site that is no longer available. Think of this as an undelivered parcel… the postman attempted to deliver your package to the address on the label, but when he got there, the building had been demolished!

So how does this relate to your ‘favorites‘ folder?

If (like us) you’ve accumulated hundreds of favorites (a.k.a. ‘bookmarks’) over the last few years, it would be nice to know which of these are still ‘alive’ and which are ‘dead’. Obviously, it would be too time consuming to trawl through the list and visit each of these sites manually (just to see if they were in fact still working). Wouldn’t it be nice then, if there were a piece of software that did this for you automatically?

Well the good news is… there is! AM Deadlink is like a spring clean for your favorites folder. It looks at all of the addresses you have saved, and highlights any ‘dead’ or ‘duplicate links’.

Not only is this a great little program, but it is also free to download and use!

AM Deadlink via PC World

Image by Canon Snapper

When was the last time you sat through a PowerPoint presentation and thought “wow, that was really interesting, informative, and easy to follow“? If you’re like us, it was probably a long time ago! The trouble with PowerPoint is not the software itself, but the fact that people attempt to overcommunicate, cramming far too much information on to each slide.

The expression “a picture paints a thousand words” is never more true here. A good presenter will often be able to inspire us simply by talking around a few striking images. This in turn makes the presentation more fluid, more engaging, and more memorable.

If you’re seeking a little inspiration, then head on over to SlideShare, a website where you can view other peoples presentations (and even upload one of your own).

In the meantime, here’s one which illustrates exactly what we mean:-

| View | Upload your own

Image by Shermeee

We’d like to think that we’re pretty good typists, but the truth of the matter is that we never learnt to ‘touch type‘. As such we still find ourselves hunting around the keyboard for an ocassional letter or punctuation mark.

Whilst we’re busy looking at the keyboard, it means we’re not looking at the screen (as we should be) and sometimes we realise that we’ve aCCIDENTALLY hIT tHE cAPS lOCK kEY wHILST tYPING.

This is most annoying. Not only do we feel foolish for making a mistake, but then we have to take the extra time to correct our sILLY eRROR.

Thankfully there is an ‘accessability’ feature in Windows (both XP and Vista) that comes in very handy. It’s part of an application called ‘toggle keys’ (originally designed for people with vision impairment). When activated, you will hear a beep whenever the ‘CAPS LOCK’ or NUM LOCK’ key is pressed.

Simply press and hold the ‘NUM LOCK’ key for 5 seconds to activate the feature. This method will work on most machines, but if it doesn’t work for you, there’s an alternative method detailed at the How To Geek and Microsoft sites.

Obviously, you will need your speakers to be turned on, and volume turned up to hear the beep!

Image by outlan2000

Here’s a handy way to read text more quicky:-

1. Open a document, and copy the text you would like to read.
2. Visit Spreeder.com and paste the text in the box provided.
3. Click on ‘use’, and then ‘play’.
4. The text appears in a movie clip, one word at a time.

According to the authors, regular use of this technique should help you improve your overall reading speed.

Admittedly, seeing words whizz on and off screen really quickly takes a little getting used to, but after a little practise it actually becomes second nature. To make things easier (or harder!) you can change the playback speed (and size of words etc) by clicking on ’settings’.

via Lifehacker

Image by talkingplant

Here at blue sky, we use a range of software to create, design, and edit images. When it comes to manipulating photography, we use Adobe Photoshop. It’s a fantastic tool, but it takes several months of use to become proficient (it’s also very expensive to purchase).

If you want to quickly and easily perform some basic image editing (e.g. removing ‘red eye‘ from some party snaps) then head on over to the new Adobe Photoshop Express site. You don’t need to install any expensive or complicated software, and you can get some pretty impressive results in a matter of minutes. You can even upload your photos and save them (there’s a gernerous 2gb limit). Oh, and did we mention, it’s free to use!

Naturally, we’ve given this a try, and we’re very impressed with the layout and user friendliness etc. It’s worth bearing in mind that this is a very limited tool however, and only performs a fraction of the tasks of the professional version… so if you need help with something a little more complex, then (thankfully) you will still need to give us a call!

We’re assuming that most of you currently reading this, will currently have your right arm outstretched, clutching an oval(ish) shaped piece of plastic, which is attached by a cable to your PC. Naturally there will be some of you who are ‘left handed’, and the ‘flashier’ amongst you may even have a wireless mouse… but you get the general idea.

When we first started using computers, there was no such thing as a ‘mouse’. If you wanted to ‘get something done’ in an application, you would need to learn to use a series of keyboard shortcuts (does anyone remember Word Perfect for example?). We often considered this to be a bit of a pain (you had to remember the key combinations after all).

In the last couple of years few years however, we’ve ‘gone back’ to keyboard shortcuts. Yes, they do take a little time to learn, but they can really boost your productivity. Rather like driving a car, once you learn them, they simply become second nature.

With practice you will find it much faster (and easier) to use shortcuts (e.g. ‘CTRL + C’ and ‘CTRL + V’) than remove your hands from the keyboard and mess around with the mouse (e.g. ‘Edit, copy, edit paste’).

Our recommendation is that you a learn a few shortcuts at a time, and build up your knowledge as time goes on. You can find a nice list of (over 200) shortcuts, covering a range of applications at Smashing Magazine:-

Smashing Magazine

Image by Digital Shotgun

Ok, so this article might be a bit ‘technical’ for a blog that focusses on sales and marketing, but the subject affects pretty much every PC user, so we think it’s well worth highlighting.

We’re assuming that most of our readers know what a hard drive is (and what it does) but if not, you might want to take a quick look at the Wikipedia definition here.

Hard drives are something that we rarely tend to worry about… until they go wrong that is. If you’ve ever been unlucky enough to suffer from a hard drive failure, then you will know exactly how inconvenient this can be… at best temporarily preventing you from working, and at worst, losing months (or even years) worth of work… not to mention the hours spent trying to recover data, and the enormous cost to your business.

If hard drive failure hasn’t effected you already, there’s a good chance that you know someone who has suffered from it. If you’ve ever wondered why it can happen, it might be worth taking a look at the video below (which shows the inside workings of a hard drive in action).

Scary stuff isn’t it! With extremely delicate parts moving around so quickly, it’s perhaps unsurprising that things can go wrong!

Unfortunately there’s not much you can do to prevent hard drive failure, but there are a number of steps you can take to prepare for it. The expression “prevention is better than cure” is most apt here… and the best prevention is to back up your data regularly (ideally every day, but at least once a week).

It’s also worth ‘keeping an eye out’ for potential trouble, and whilst drives can (and do) fail without warning, there are a few symptoms worth looking out for:-

Computer won’t let you save a document
Frequent computer Crashes
Slow performance
Strange Noises

You can read about these in more detail at Lifehack.org

So if you haven’t done so already, now might be the time to back up your data… we’ll be posting some tips on this in a future article.

Image by a11sus

Image by Kate A

Here’s a great little site that ‘does exactly what it says on the tin’. Simply copy and paste a list into the ‘Alphabetizer’ and it will arrange this alphabetically. You can arrange lists in ascending or descending order, change cases, and even remove duplicates entries.

The Alphabetizer

For large longer lists or databases, you may want to use Microsoft Excel. If you don’t know how to do this, then here’s a quick video tutorial.

You can hardly switch on the TV nowadays without being confronted with images of melting icebergs, followed by gloomy predictions about the world’s climate… so it’s pretty unlikely that the term ‘carbon footprint’ has escaped your attention.

So what role does this play in marketing? Put simply, attempting to reduce (or even neutralise) Co2 emissions offers businesses an opportunity to differentiate themselves from their competitors.

As well as demonstrating that your organisation is forward thinking, this would also send out a positive message to customers, and might even represent a strong PR opportunity.

Not only would you get a ‘warm fuzzy feeling’ from helping to save the planet, but you might actually save money on electricity bills too (freeing up more funding for marketing!). For example, switching just one electricity bulb to the low energy type, could save up to £12 a year. Multiply this several times, and the savings could really start to add up!

Being ‘ahead of the curve’ will also stand your business well for the future, as it is highly likely that environmental legislation will become tougher over the next few years.

Knowing where to start can be difficult though. How exactly do you calculate your carbon footprint?… and where exactly should you focus your attention?

The answer to these and other questions can be found at the government’s dedicated websites:-

Individuals should head to:- Act on Co2
Businesses & organisations should visit:- Carbon Trust

Of particular interest is the Carbon Trust, which is currently offering interest free loans of up to £100,000 for businesses to upgrade their equipment… that is certainly worth investigating, given today’s financial climate.

Finally, you might also find this Wikipedia article useful… it gives a nice introduction to the subject:- Wikipedia

Photo by crrazychaz

Microsoft has a handy little website that allows you to test the strength of your passwords, ranking the results as ‘weak’, ‘medium’, ’strong’, and ‘best’. The most secure passwords use a mix of letters (upper and lower case), numbers, and symbols.

“A strong password should appear to be a random string of characters to an attacker. It should be 14 characters or longer, (eight characters or longer at a minimum). It should include a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols”.

Microsoft Password Checker

via lifehacker

Image by Chris Lopez

“People get dozens, hundreds, even thousands of emails each day, so it’s only natural for them to gravitate toward the messages that are well thought-out and that clearly respect their time and attention. Careless emails do not invite careful responses”.

Let’s face it, we’ve all opened up our in-box at some time or other to face a multitude of long-winded, or poorly written e-mails… and to be fair, we’re probably guilty of sending out a few that fit into this category. We’re not so bold as to patronise our readers by telling them how to write an e-mail (just like making a presentation, everyone has their own style)… but we would like to highlight this article which we think is worth a read.

43 folders

Image by Elizabeth Salib

If (like us) you ever need to meet people outside of your office environment, you may have found yourself in the following situation.

The scenario

• You need to meet a client, colleague, or friend… and you happen to live 100 miles apart.
• You spend 10 minutes over the phone, studying your AA road atlas, trying to work out (and agree) a ‘half way’ point to meet.
• Several hours later, you find yourself at a grotty ‘lay-by’ wondering why on earth you agreed to meet at junction 15.
• You spend the next 20 minutes trying to find a venue that serves a decent cup of coffee.
• You find yourself wishing there had been an easier way to determine somewhere suitable to meet (sigh).

What you should have done

• Visited meethalfway.com
• Easily located a suitable venue.
• Downloaded directions and sent these to the person you are meeting by e-mail.

Photo by yummytofu

Whether it be conducting research, planning trips abroad, or simply looking to purchase items from eBay… we occasionally find ourselves visiting international websites. Sadly, our grasp of foreign languages is pretty limited…so we tend to use an ‘on-line’ translator instead.

We’ve tried a few different options (including the facility built in to Google) but the site we keep going back to is ‘Babel Fish’. Results are not always 100% accurate, but they are usually good enough to get a good overview of what is being said.

Babel Fish

So whether you need to translate a few words or an entire webpage, you might want to bookmark the site, or save it to your ‘favorites’ folder.

Meanwhile, if you’re reading this during your lunch break, and have a few minutes to spare, here’s a classic comedy clip from Eddie Izzard, called ‘learning French’ (NB. contains strong language).