Want to know what new features are going to be available in Internet Explorer 9? The final version of IE9 is not expected to be released till 2011, but Microsoft recently released the Beta version which has a number of interesting features.
Here’s a quick look:
A streamlined design – IE9 has been redesigned to help you focus more on websites and less on your browser. Most commands like Print and zoom can now be found under the tools button, and only the basic tools you need for surfing the web take up space on the user interface.
Pinned sites – With IE9 and windows 7 you can now pin websites directly to your taskbar. All you need to do is click on an icon to the left of the web address and drag it down to the taskbar. Then when you next want to visit that site, just click on the icon and it will open the website straight away.
Tear-off tabs – The new tear-off tabs feature allows you to drag a tab out of Internet Explorer for easy side-by-side viewing with another tab.
Search from the address bar – In IE9 you can search directly from the search bar, choosing to either see a list of results or to go straight to the top search result. You also have the option to see search suggestions as you type.
Hardware acceleration – IE9 taps into the power of your computers graphics processor to speed up graphics heavy tasks like video streaming and online gaming.
Unfortunately if you are using Windows XP you will be unable to use IE9 as it will only support later versions of Windows. If you would like to read more about Internet Explorer 9 click here.
Did you know you can connect Outlook with Social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn? The Outlook Social Connector, which is a new feature in Outlook 2010, allows you to bring both the professional and social interactions you have with your Outlook contacts into one place.
(Note:If you are using an older version of Office you can still use the Outlook Social Connector, but you need to first download this feature from here on the Microsoft site.)
You may have noticed in Outlook 2010, at the bottom of the reading pane or at the bottom of open messages, there is a new pane which displays information about the person the email is from. This is the People Pane and is where status updates from that person will appear when you are connected to a social network. If you cannot see the people pane go to the View tab, then People Pane, and click Normal.
Go to the View tab in Outlook, Click People Pane, and select Account Settings.
Now place a tick next to the social network you would like to add.
Enter your social network username and password and then click Connect.
Here is an example of what the People Pane looks like when someone is connected to both Facebook and LinkedIn. You can see a contact’s status updates, their picture, as well as emails they have sent you.
To read more about the Outlook Social Connector from the Microsoft Office website click here.
Thinking about buying an Apple iPad and want to know how satisfied users are with the device? According to ChangeWave, a US research company, most are very satisfied.
Last month ChangeWave undertook a consumer electronics survey of 3,114 consumers. In this survey they found that 72% of iPad users were very satisfied, 20% were somewhat satisfied, 0% were somewhat dissatisfied, and only 2% were very dissatisfied (the remaining participants answered Don’t Know).
These figures are almost identical to the results ChangeWave received in May immediately after the iPad launch, showing that satisfaction levels are remaining constant over time.
To visit the ChangeWave website and learn more about this consumer electronics report click here. To learn more about the Apple iPad click here. To find out about LANcom’s referral program, which could earn you a free iPad, click here.
Looking for Business Intelligence software that allows you to combine, search, visualise, and analyse all your data sources with just a few clicks? QlikView is a new kind of BI software, which we may soon be using here at LANcom. QlikView can combine multiple sources of data, easily integrates with existing systems, and brings together all your analysis and reporting into a single easy to use solution.
Here are some of the main benefits of using QlikView.
In-memory analysis – QlikView uses a unique in-memory technology, which allows users to engage with data much faster. With data loaded into memory, QlikView is able to respond to user selections instantly, making working with data much quicker.
Flexible analysis – QlikView allows thousands of dimensions to be represented and any value of a dimension can be the starting point of an analysis. Users can easily create visually-rich interactive dashboards, which are both quick to build and to modify.
Easy to use – QlikView uses a simple colour-coded point and click user interface, which makes it easy for anyone to learn how to use it.
Fast to set up – A QlikView solution does not take a long time to set up. Most QlikView customers have their solution up and running in less than 30 days and many in less than a week.
Use it anywhere – QlikView offers deployment options including mobile, cloud, laptop, and on-premise accessibility. Mobile phone platforms it supports include the Apple iPhone and the Blackberry.
Here at LANcom we are considering using QlikView for dash boarding and our customer reports. If you would like to learn more about QlikView, click here to visit the site.
Want searching the net to be even faster? Just over a week ago Google released a new feature to Google.com called Google Instant. Google Instant displays your search results as you type, meaning that in most cases you can now find what you are looking for before you even finish typing.
According to Google, people typically take around 300 milliseconds between keystrokes, but only 30 milliseconds to glance at another part of the page. This means that you can easily save yourself time in finding the right results by scanning the page while you type.
Another great benefit of this feature is that if you are not finding the results you are after, you can easily adapt your search on the fly.
Google Instant will be released to Google.co.nz sometime in the next few months, but if you would like to try it out now you can go to the Google homepage and click Go to Google.com to try it on the US site.
Back in August we started sending out short surveys at the completion of each service ticket to help us identify how we might be able to improve our service.
We have been extremely pleased with the results, finding on average our customers scored us 8.8 out of 10 for how satisfied they were with the support they received.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has taken the time to complete these surveys, and to let you know that we have already made one small change to how we manage service tickets as a result of your feedback.
If you have any feedback on a job we have done for you, we would really appreciate it if you could complete the survey. Whether the feedback is good or bad we would really like to know.
Looking for some help executing your great ideas? Here are 3 websites which might make things easier.
Action Method
Action Method is a simple online tool which allows you to organise your projects into their most basic elements. This tool has five sections:
Action steps – Is where you add all the tasks you need to complete.
References – Is where you add notes, links, files, and any other information relating to your project.
Back burners – Allows you to list all the ideas you would like to come back to.
Discussions– Lets you manage conversations with anyone who is working with you.
Events – Helps you coordinate meetings, deadlines, and milestones.
The Big Picture The Big picture is another free project management tool, but what makes it different is that it’s more of a visual tool. The Big Picture uses a mind map style interface where each project appears as a circle which you can resize and move to anywhere on the screen. You can then add tasks, to dos, and calendar items to each project with an easy to use drag and drop feature.
To visit The Big Picture website and try it out for yourself click here.
99%
If you’re interested in tips for improving your creativity or bringing your ideas to life then you might want to take a look at 99%. This is a website dedicated to helping you make your ideas happen, and is from the same makers as the Action Method site.
Want to know what new features are going to be available in Internet Explorer 9? The final version of IE9 is not expected to be released till 2011, but Microsoft recently released the Beta version which has a number of interesting features.
Thinking about buying an Apple iPad and want to know how satisfied users are with the device? According to ChangeWave, a US research company, most are very satisfied.
Looking for Business Intelligence software that allows you to combine, search, visualise, and analyse all your data sources with just a few clicks? QlikView is a new kind of BI software, which we may soon be using here at LANcom. QlikView can combine multiple sources of data, easily integrates with existing systems, and brings together all your analysis and reporting into a single easy to use solution.
Back in August we started sending out short surveys at the completion of each service ticket to help us identify how we might be able to improve our service.