Tag Archives: Applications
Digital, Physical or both?
Posted on 23. Sep, 2010 by Kenny.
So I have a question for you that I really need an answer to. Really, I need best practices. When it comes to your volunteer applications, how do you store them? Digitally, physically or both?
We use Fellowhship One and so we scan applications and attach them to a volunteers profile via requirements. Since we also run our background checks through F1, that report shows up in F1 as well. It’s nice an convenient to have it all right there in F1. However, we’re still keeping a physical copy of the actual application. My question is this: do I still need a physical copy anymore? I mean, I’m already relying of F1 to store the only copy of my background check and I know that my data is backed up, so if F1 crashed, my data is still going to be there. I probably have a better chance of losing my original files by fire than I do losing them to complete and total data failure.
So, what do you think? What do you do?
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App of the week: Google Docs
Posted on 28. Mar, 2010 by Kenny.
You should have expected this from me, right? At times I’m still puzzled when I encounter people who haven’t yet used Google docs. I know it’s not the only or the first online/collaborative tool for documents, but its probably the most pervasive.
First of all, you don’t have to have gmail to use Google Docs. That’s a misnomer. Literally you can go to docs.google.com and set up an account using any of your email addresses to create an account. From this account you’ll have access to spreadsheets, documents and presentations which all come with Google Docs. If you already have a gmail account, you won’t need to register for Docs, you can simply log in with your gmail credentials and have full access to docs. If at some point you decide that you want to make the move toward a gmail address, you can convert your account to gmail. That means you can log in at yourname@gmail.com instead of yourname@otheremail.com. This way you can access all Google services from one account. Brilliant.
I know some people really don’t like Google Docs. You say, “why would I use Google Docs when I’ve got Microsoft Office?” Or you say, “Google Docs doesn’t have all the features I have in word or excel.” Those are really good points. At this point, I wouldn’t be satisfied with Google Docs as an office replacement. It’s not as feature rich as Microsoft. There are things that I do in excel and word that I can’t do in Google. So, I still use excel and word. However, every time I’m working on a project, spreadsheet or document that multiple people will have input with, I use Google Docs and share it. It may have started off as a word or excel document or it may end up as a word or excel document, but while it’s in the collaborative stage, it lives in Google Docs. Edits happen in real time, revision history is kept and it saves so much TIME!
I’d say that Google’s openness is what makes this work. I can easily import my word or excel files into Google Docs. When I’m done with the collaborative part, I can export very easily as well. If Google tried to lock everything down into a Google proprietary format, this wouldn’t have worked.
So, if you haven’t really played much with Google Docs, log in and play around with it. Unlike gmail, you can actually put things in folders. Organize away and know that every word in every document is easy accessible through a Google search (don’t worry, others can’t search and find our documents). The applications are endless. I use them with my staff and volutneer teams all the time, especially since my volunteer teams don’t have access to files that may reside on the server. I have a spreadsheet that tracks my weight loss (it even has all the formulas to calculate percentages), I have a word doc for my bucket list, Sara and I have a simple budget in a Google spreadsheet and I sometimes draft blog posts or articles in google docs so they’re always accessible.
This week I’m going to share a few tricks with Google Docs that have made my life better. If your not already using them, perhaps you will after this week.
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Windows Apps to OS X Apps
Posted on 25. Jul, 2008 by Kenny.
Okay, before I spend hours and hours looking, maybe you could help me specifically. I have these applications that I use on a regular basis. I need to know if there is something similar (or better) on the Mac. Most of what I suggest here are free.
- VSO image resizer – I right-click on an image on my desktop and it opens VSO and with one click it will create a copy of the image in any size I specify. Very handy for adding images to the blog. I use it all the time!
- Hoversnap – It runs in my task tray. I hit print screen and it creates a jpeg of my desktop. I hit alt-print screen and it creates a jpeg of my active window. I hit control-print screen and it creates a marque drawing tool that I can highlight any space on my desktop and it makes that into a jpeg. Again, it’s handy for blogging and I use it all the time.
- Windows Live Writer – I use it to blog and I love it. It’s better than using a web application. What is good for the Mac?
- DVDFab Decrypter – I use this to rip a DVD to my computer. I then use handbrake (which was originally Mac) to export video tracks to MOV, MP4 or whatever other file I need. I know handbrake can rip the DVD, but it won’t rip some copy protected DVDs. DVDFab always does. Anyone have any ideas on what I can use to rip DVDs without the copy protection getting in the way.
Well, those are a few. Here’s the real deal. I’ve got XP running on the machine and I could easily install all of this on the XP OS… but that isn’t the point of having a MacBook Pro, is it?
Thanks for your help. Oh and please do make suggestions of things I don’t know about that you absolutely love. I do have Adobe Creative Suite 3 as well as all the Office Suite, so I’m good with all of that… but I need more!
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