Rumor Starter: SUN to Kill MySQL?

So, with Sun spending $1 billion to by MySQL, you have to wonder why they did it. Is an open source software company that reported $60 million dollars in earnings recently really worth $1 billion? I have a hard time buying the idea that Sun is buying MySQL to expand the open source community.

Instead, I do think that this could be a back door move to benefit Oracle. Afterall, Oracle hates the competition from MySQL and have always been friendly with SUN. So, what if Oracle simply slipped the $1 billion to Sun to buy MySQL and in return simply asked them to bury the product. This would give Sun some technology to build on and help their friend Oracle in the market place.

With all of that said, this is simply me thinking out loud, and there is no evidence to support it. I just think it would be an interesting move for Oracle and Sun that would benefit each.

For a Productivity Boost, Try gOS

The (relatively) new gOS has been written and talked about for it’s simplicity, ease of use, and low system requirements, but it’s ability to improve productivity has been completely overlooked.

I downloaded the gOS a couple of weeks ago to run on an older machine in my home, and to see what the fuss was about. After running it both in the live CD form and natively as a dual boot with Windows Vista, I was amazed at the speed of this OS. However, after playing around with it for a while, I realized that there was a hidden benefit to the stripped down, high speed, easy to use gOS: improved productivity.

The mere fact that gOS lacks the usual games, desktop sidebar, and other annoyances of Windows is the first asset to it’s use as a productivity booster. Being able to sit down to a clean screen without the usual distractions puts you one step ahead.

Also, the fact that there is what amounts to a shortcut on the desktop to Google, gMail, Blogger, Facebook, and Wikipedia makes it easy to jump on, get where you need to go and eliminate the use of other bookmarks. This allows for reduced time on the net, which can lead to distraction.

When I want to sit down and do some research, write a blog post, catch up on email, or anything else and not be distracted, I simply boot into gOS, get my work done, and boot back to Windows. It’s that easy.

So, if you want a simple way to boost your productivity by eliminating distractions and having just what you need, give gOS a try. Then, pop back here and let me know what you think.

How To: Listen LESS and Learn MORE

In this day and time of ever-increasing amounts of information, it can be hard to keep up. If you’re like me, you may have started supplementing your reading with audio books or podcasts. However, with the large amount of audio available, how do you ever listen to it all AND retain any of it?

Well, my solution to one accidentally presented a solution to the other. It all began when I bought my mp3 player last December. I started downloading different podcasts to listen to on my way to and from work and on my lunch break. Soon, I found several that I really liked and was going back and getting new ones from the same source each week. It wasn’t long before I found that I had more audio to listen to than I had time to listen. So, while I was playing around some of the menus one day, I found the setting that allows for me to speed up or slow down the audio that I am playing. The scale on my player goes from -8 to +8. Using the +8 setting increases the speed of the audio approximately 20% over the original recording speed. Doing this allowed me to speed up my audio (without any noticable change in pitch or quality) and allow me to listen to more in less time.

At the same time, I found that I was having to pay closer attention to what I was listening to, simply because everyone was talking faster than I was used to. So, as I began to get used to the speed of the audio, I found that I was actually able to remember more about what I had just heard than I was when I was listening to the audio at normal speed. Now, I don’t know why this is, I just know that it works for me. I’m sure there is some theory or psychological explanation for it, but, frankly, I don’t care why it works, just that it does.

So, if you want to pack more listening and learning into your day and not sacrifice time, try speeding up you audio.

WARNING: I have found that once I’ve gotten used to the higher speed audio, I want to speed it up even more, which I can do on my mp3 player. Also, if you get used to the faster speed of the audio, listening to the same program at normal speed can be dangerous to your sanity. It just seems like everyone is talking sooooo sloooooowww.

Excel Tip: Create a Hidden Workbook to Save All Your Macros, Scripts, and Formulas

If you’re like me, you use MS Excel quite a bit.  I love Excel.  I personally think that it is the greatest piece of software ever created.  In my position with my company I get a chance to use it quite a bit, and often find myself reusing the same bit of VBA script or the same formula for many different projects.  I get really tired of rewriting the same script, recording the same macro, or trying to remember exactly how I built that last formula before I can use it again.  If this ever happens to you, you will understand the frustration.

Well, a couple of years ago I stumbled upon a great tip that has saved me considerable time and frustration, and has even made me look like a hero several times.  The magic lies in a small, somewhat hidden folder within the Microsoft Office installation folder called “XLStart”. 

“What’s so magical about this folder,” you may ask.

Well, that’s what I am about to show you.

First, let’s focus on those often used macros, scripts, and formulas that you have saved in many other Excel workbooks, text files, Post-It Notes, and other divers sources.  Round all of the little nuggets up and save them to one work book.  Make sure that your macros and scripts do not make references to specifically named sheets in the original source.  If they do, I have found that it is best to either change them to the generic “Sheet#” naming that Excel uses by default.  You can also have the script prompt you for the desired sheet name if you like.

Second, try to find a way to organize all of the formulas and macros in a way that you will be able to easily find them.  I find it very useful to put the name of the formula and/or a small explanation of it just above the cell you are saving the formula in.  You should also have some sample data for the formula to use, just so you can remember exactly what it does, just in case you don’t use it for a long time.

Next, save the workbook you have just populated to the “XLStart” folder.  If you used the default installation, the folder should be located using the following path:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\XLSTART
Just remember to name this something beside Book1.  I named mine “MacroBook”, just to make things obvious for me.

The last and my favorite part of this is to hide the workbook so that it doesn’t get in your way every time you open Excel. To do this, just go to the menu bar and click “Window” and the “Hide” and select the workbook you saved.  Now, close Excel.  It will ask if you want to save the changes you made to your workbook.  Click “Yes”. 

Now, every time you open Excel, this new workbook with your great macros and formulas will be opened in the background and ready for use.  To use a macro, simple click on the macro button like you would to run a macro as if you just made it in your current workbook.  The macro selection box will pop up and you will see all of the macros listed for all open workbooks.  They will show up in the format WorkbookName.xls!Macroname.  Simply select it an run it.  To use your formulas, simply go to the toolbar, click “Window” and then “Unhide”, select your hidden workbook and it will appear.  Then, simply copy and paste the formula you would like to use into the workbook you are working on.  When done, simply re-hide the book you had hidden.

This may seem like a long way to go save some simple formulas, but trust me, if you have any complicated formulas or macros that you find yourself re-creating very often, you will quickly come to love this little tip.  So, give it a try and let me know how you like it.

Effective Time Saver Series, Part 1

In the two jobs I worked at before my current job I worked close enough to home that I could go home everyday for lunch. Besides being a great way to get away from work and relax, it was also a great time saver for me. The reason this is true is because I love television. I could sit and watch from sunrise to sunset if given the opportunity. However, with a job, a wife, and a young child I don’t really get that opportunity very often, so I need to maximize the time I do get. That’s where my beloved VCR (no, I don’t have TiVo, yet) comes into play.

Here’s what I did. Whenever something was coming on that I really wanted to watch without interuption, or was in the same time slot as something my wife wanted to watch, I simply taped it. Then, when I went home for lunch, I just watched the show I taped, fast-forwarding through the commercials. I could usually watch an hour show in about 35 to 40 minutes. Saving me time and arguments with my wife about what to watch if our shows were in competition.

You might be asking, how does this help me save time? Well, imagine you really like TV, but you are really busy. If you have a show that comes on at 7pm and 8pm but you are too busy to watch, simply tape them and take care of the other business you have. After that, you can watch your taped programs without the commercials in less time that if you had stopped what you were doing and watched the shows. Let’s face it, there’s no way to be productive during commercials.

Freeware PC: Antivirus

OK, so you have your PC up-and-running and now you need to protect it from the viruses that you have to come to expect in email and on the internet. Well, I have tried a couple of different free antiviruses, but my favorite has to be AVG Free. Currently in version 7.5, AVG Free, is a full-featured, yet easy-to-use program.

Beginning with an easy to use console, you will find that AVG Free gives you the ability to do not only full system scans, but also scans of selected files, folders, or entire drives. Also, once installed, you can simply right click on a file and select the “Scan with AVG Free” option and scan your newly downloaded files to ensure that they are safe to open and run.

AVG Free also allows for automatic updating and scheduled scanning, making very easy to keep up-to-date on the latest threats, knowing that you will be protected.

Last, but not least, AVG also allows for real-time protection. So, if you are downloading programs, music, movies, etc. from web sites that are off the beaten path, AVG will catch any of the downloads that have viruses in them.

Overall, AVG Free is a great product that is easy to find, easy to use, and actually works as good as it says it will. If you don’t already have an antivirus running, hurry up and get AVG Free and make sure that you are protected.

The Freeware PC

OK, so I’m a geek. I admit it. Heck, I wear it like a badge of honor. With that said, I don’t have the money to purchase all of the software to do all of the fun things I want to do with the little free time that I have to play around on my home PC. So, as so many do I turned to alternate (cough peer-to-peer cough) sources of software. I was able to locate and install just about any software that I wanted. However, things like viruses, spy-ware, and subscriptions became a bit of a hassle.

Search, download, install, curse the lack of working serials, uninstall, search some more.

It was such a frustrating circle that I have decided to exit the loop. No more searching for the latest, greatest software in the backrooms of the internet hoping I didn’t get busted for pirating. I’ve decided to go legit. What I have decided to do is to create a fully-functioning PC that runs only cost-free, spy-ware-free, virus-free software. The only exception to this rule being the operating system. I don’t really have the time or desire to become proficient enough in Linux to replace my home PC. At least not yet.

Along with the search for the best freeware tools I am going to blog each step of the way. I hope to have a good review of each product I decide to include in the mix along with the links so that you can download it yourself. At the same time, I hope that you will suggest some tools that I may not have run across on my own.

Well, happy reading and I look forward to your comments.