tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29141483384332031772024-02-07T18:41:34.624-08:00Frugal GuidanceA Frugal Guide to free and cheap software, job hunting,<br>the web, nonprofits, and a frugal lifeAndrew Brandthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04129551909689974821noreply@blogger.comBlogger40125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914148338433203177.post-22774375208872625222012-10-01T17:38:00.000-07:002012-10-01T17:38:50.790-07:00We've Moved!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
Welcome to Frugal Guidance. This blog is no longer being expanded. But feel free to visit us at <a href="http://andybrandt531.com/" target="_blank">Frugal Guidance 2.</a>. The new blog is a self-hosted Wordpress blog and will be expanding with new material, email lists, and even marketing a new version of Andrew Brandt's book about job hunting on LinkedIn. We'll also be updating some of the material we presented here, too.<br />
<br />
You may still browse our older posts, but please visit us for new material about technology, social media, job hunting and their intersection with frugality.<br />
<br />
Our first new posts:<br />
<br />
<br />
<div>
<span style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i><a href="http://wp.me/p2MaLZ-v" target="_blank">11 Job Hunting Tips, Gangnam Style</a></i></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i><a href="http://wp.me/p2MaLZ-1" target="_blank">LinkedIn Endorsements, Cool Feature or a Really Bad Idea?</a></i></span></span></div>
<div>
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Thanks to all who have visited us here, and we look forward to seeing you at the new site. Leave a comment and let us know that you stopped by.<br />
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And thanks to Google and Blogger for hosting this site.<br />
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<a href="http://andybrandt531.com/" target="_blank">Frugal Guidance 2</a>.<br />
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Questions? Email <a href="mailto:blogger@andybrandt531.com" target="_blank">me</a>.<br />
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Andy<br />
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<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Packing boxes graphic courtesy of <span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">Salvatore Vuono at </span><a href="http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/">http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/</a></span></div>
Andrew Brandthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04129551909689974821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914148338433203177.post-56723240735443008612012-08-24T18:04:00.000-07:002012-08-24T19:24:25.169-07:00<br />
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Linked In-terface Issues</span></b></h2>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">During the past week, LinkedIn has been rolling out a new interface for its member profiles. In the usual LinkedIn fashion, they neither announced the change, nor offer any explanations to help users cope with the new interface, nor do they say why they made the changes. This is, unfortunately, LinkedIn's normal operating procedure. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The same attitude is reflected in the actual changes made. Most LinkedIn bloggers and users agree the new appearance is nicer. The user photo is a bit larger. There's more white space and the upper part of the profile (what media people call "above the fold") is cleaner and simpler. But therein lies the problem. In exchange for good looks, LinkedIn has sacrificed the user's abilty to quickly "push" info out to the reader. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This is hard to explain to anybody who may not have actually seen the new interface. (If you haven't, you are excused for a few minutes to take a look at your or your friends' profiles and see what I'm talking about.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Yes, most of the same info is available, but hidden. If you haven't already done so, be sure to click on the down arrow next to the<b> Send a message</b> button of somebody you are connected to. Here you will find a menu that let's you:</span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Suggest a Profile</b> <b>Update </b>(a rather cheeky suggestion to start the list with),</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Recommend</b>, (a non-cheeky and very nice thing to do), </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Find References</b> (useful to HR and other people), </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Share</b>, </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Export to PDF</b>, </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Save </b>(Which works IF you have a paid LinkedIn account. If you don't, it sends you to a LinkedIn ad page which suggests that you pay for the service.)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Flag</b> (useful if you run across an obviously fake LinkedIn profile).</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Question to LinkedIn interface engineers, why would a user automatically connect all these functions to sending messages?</i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">However, if the profile you are looking at is for a 2nd degree connection, you see a "Send InMail" button with an attached arrow with a shorter menu:</span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Get introduced</b>,</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Find references</b>,</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Share</b>,</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Export to PDF</b>,</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Save</b>.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If you aren't connected to the person, you have even fewer choices:</span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">-<b>Find references</b>, and</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">-<b>Save</b>.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The choices might be different for those who have a paid LinkedIn account. I wouldn't know.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Click on the Rolodex-card looking button, you can also see contact info for the owner if they supply it: email address, snailmail address, blog and other links, and phone number. The one thing they don't include, which really ticks me off, is the vCard download button (which is what you <i>used </i>to get if you clicked on the Rolodex-card-button. (More on that in a sec.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So, there's a lot of information available here, but much of it is tucked away behind buttons and clicks. To find some info, like the name of one more employer, or your most recent Status Update, the reader has to scroll down. Other info or tasks are behind a tab or button. The layout of the contact info *is* nicer and it is nice to see it in one place.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">However, if you work in HR, recruiting, or sales, you don't see much of the info you're used to without resorting to an extra click or two or three or four. If you believe that extra clicks mean less productivity, then that is a problem. Previously, at a glance, you could see the usual info plus a status update, look at the blog or internet links, and see up to three recent employers. That may have been enough for the reader to decide whether to look further.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The information was pushed out to the reader better in the older view. If you're a job hunter, the change is particularly important, because it makes the people looking for you a little bit less efficient and makes you easier to pass over. (It also puts an exclamation point over the need for a good, professional photo and keywords in your headline.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">OK, now to that vCard link. Most LinkedIn users probably didn't know it was there and won't miss it, that's true. However, those of us who use Outlook or another contact manager on our computer often clicked it. I, for one, liked to add a new contact's photo and contact info to Outlook, along with the date that I connected, and a few relevant comments. (Whether I actually follow up and USE that info is another matter, and might be the subject of an "I really should do this..."-type blog post.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Yes, that functionality is still available IF you see your new contact's photo pop up in your home stream. (Click on their name and, when the little popup window, well, pops up, you still see the vCard button -- which also means that LinkedIn is using the same icon for two different functions.) But having somebody show up on your stream is a bit random. Also, that popup screen doesn't pop up if you're viewing from an iPad.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You can also see the same thing in Groups if somebody's post comes up in the discussion list. That's also pretty random.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And, yes, you can download a vCard file of ALL your contacts from your contacts list, but that's like using a machine gun to get rid of crabgrass. It's overkill and unusable for adding one or two contacts.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And, yes, you can copy the info onto your clipboard, then paste it into the notes section of a new Outlook form, and then parse, copy, and paste the info into the correct fields, but that was what the vCard was supposed to automate in the first place.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So, I give LinkedIn a definite <b>Thumbs Down</b> on vCard usage. (And I suspect they will be getting rid of the vCard option on those popups when they get around to it.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Yes, I agree the new profile look is prettier. No doubt about it. But I don't recall ever hearing a LinkedIn user say, "I'd be so much more effective on LinkedIn if only they had a prettier interface that looks more like Google+!"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So on appearance, I grade the new interface a B-plus. On improved usability, I'd grade it D-minus. On helping users learn how to use the new interface, I'll give LinkedIn the usual F. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If you are a job hunter on LinkedIn, you better check and make sure that your photo looks professional and that your headline includes the key words for the job you want. And, of course, you need to also do many other things on your profile to make a professional impression.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And if anybody knows of a third-party software solution to add a vCard to my profile, please let me know. It won't help me download any info, but I can at least show LinkedIn that I miss it.</span>Andrew Brandthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04129551909689974821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914148338433203177.post-73735321180119800872012-02-16T17:37:00.000-08:002012-02-16T17:37:10.355-08:00Discovering Full Names on Linkedin<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.45pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Part 2 of Guerilla Search Techniques on LinkedIn</span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.45pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As discussed in our previous post, if
you do a <b>People</b> search on LinkedIn and get
results with only last initials (or no name at all), don't despair. You just
need to do some more work. Find a partial name you think will be a useful contact.
Click on it and look at their profile. There may be several ways to find their
full name:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.45pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.45pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1.
Check their profile. They may have their full name elsewhere in the profile,
along with their email address. (If they entered their full name in their Professional
"Headline," as described in the earlier part of this series, you
already see it.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.45pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.45pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2.
If they have links to a Twitter account, a blog, or an online résumé, click on
the link the find their full name. (On most browsers, use the right-click
button to open the link in a new window or tab.) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.45pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.45pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3.
Also check their business name. If Alfred B. is owner of Baumann’s Flowers,
there’s a pretty good chance that his last name is Baumann.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.45pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">4. See if you already share a group
with the prospect. If you do, click on the link to the group and use the
group's<b> Members </b>search tools with the first name and initial. If
necessary, copy the first few words of their <b>Headline</b>, too. You should be able to find the full name for the
fellow group member. Click on that search result, and now you may see the
profile with the full name. (You could conceivably join a group just to search
for that contact, if all else fails.) This technique might not work with the
newer open groups, though, and LinkedIn is getting better at hiding some people’s
last names in groups, too. (For the life of me, I can’t figure out why they
would want to.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.45pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">5.
Here’s my favorite trick and it works
almost every time. Look at your prospect's <b>Recommendations</b>,
both given and received.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.45pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If
your prospect has a recommendation, see if the person entered the full name of
your prospect when writing the recommendation. If not, click on the recommender's
name to go to their profile. Even if you can't see the recommender's full name,
look on the right column for <b><i>Firstname</i> Recommends</b>. Click on the
link to <b>See all Recommendations</b>.
There, you should find the partial name of your prospect. When you click on the
partial name, you go back to the original profile and now see the full name. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.45pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.45pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The
same technique usually works for recommendations written <i>by</i> your prospect. Go to the Recommendee's profile and search for
who gave that recommendation (located at the bottom of each recommendation).
This will only work, of course, if the the recommendee approved the
recommendation for viewing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.45pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.45pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">6.
If all else fails, check the names of others who have looked at that profile.
If you find one from the same company who is also a connection to you, click on
that profile and check their contacts. They might already connect with your
prospect and you can see the full name. You may need to check several profiles
for success with this technique.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.45pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.45pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If
none of these techniques work, then it’s time to ratchet up the search to include
Google or Bing. The next part of this series will show how you can do advanced
searched for LinkedIn using the search engines.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Keywords: LinkedIn, search, names, members, guerilla,
recommendations</span></div>Andrew Brandthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04129551909689974821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914148338433203177.post-56379571647211187312012-02-15T19:56:00.000-08:002012-02-15T19:56:00.175-08:00Making Yourself More Visible to Others on LinkedIn<br />
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.45pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Part 1 of <i>Guerilla Search Tactics on LinkedIn</i></span></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPscMKp_zWLM_sefqbmZDk6SEVUHe4Byn6k3i03bAw5ZUpb1HRbiw-t32hZZ3XJbgL3YNWY0c3x_2V0qt88sGWl7VUvngCIGVAvSdkkh_Kkoz_TQZkFXrxQXFeqlmtqPDGHfq-H7fbHLO-/s1600/Guerilla+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPscMKp_zWLM_sefqbmZDk6SEVUHe4Byn6k3i03bAw5ZUpb1HRbiw-t32hZZ3XJbgL3YNWY0c3x_2V0qt88sGWl7VUvngCIGVAvSdkkh_Kkoz_TQZkFXrxQXFeqlmtqPDGHfq-H7fbHLO-/s400/Guerilla+1.png" width="386" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwClEBrX2kZjxsK0og1QTgWq7DHF6TruVb-PPobXAdtZYCQUjrl_NLKN8YupVEtodv2pN5raBA38IowBeDtsDOs0rYKbVgNwknPLS3buFCJ07yuxuOpg2cp3yRNc8m59jQd5CIVZW_KMGm/s1600/Sphinx.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwClEBrX2kZjxsK0og1QTgWq7DHF6TruVb-PPobXAdtZYCQUjrl_NLKN8YupVEtodv2pN5raBA38IowBeDtsDOs0rYKbVgNwknPLS3buFCJ07yuxuOpg2cp3yRNc8m59jQd5CIVZW_KMGm/s200/Sphinx.png" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt;">LinkedIn is The Sphinx of the social media
networks. The (mostly anonymous) people running it tend to make major changes
in the interface and features without any announcement, explanation or even instructions.
Often, the changes are useful to the average user (improved interface, the
ability to follow companies, job search tools, etc.), but sometimes they do
something that's obviously designed to make more money, the users be damned.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">That's what LinkedIn did October, 2010. In the
good ole days (say, the previous September), when you did a <b>People</b> search on LinkedIn, your search
results could include 1st level connections, 2nd level connections, 3rd level
connections, members of your groups, and either the first name of non-connected
people or just their title. For your 1st, 2nd, 3rd level and group connections,
you would see their full name and could click on their link and see their full
profile. You could search all your groups at once (handy if you belonged to a
lot of groups), search for new LinkedIn members, and use other criteria.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Then, without any warning or explanation,
LinkedIn began changing search results. 1st and 2nd level connections show up
as before, but 3rd level connections and even fellow members of groups often show
up with only their first name and last initial. Click on the link to their
profile and you still don't see their last name. If you click on the link that
says "See Full Name," you get a window which says, in effect, "Either
get more connections or cough up <i>$99.95
per month</i>, sucker." LinkedIn also now requires a subscription to
search for people using the categories: <b>Groups</b>,
<b>Years of Experience</b>, <b>Interested In</b>, <b>Company Size</b>, <b>Fortune 1000</b>,
and <b>Recently Joined</b>. (<b>Function</b> and <b>Seniority Level</b> are new paid search categories, too.) So, LinkedIn
now has the dubious distinction of being the only social media site that makes
it HARDER (or more expensive) to search for other people on their network.
(Don't get me started on their pricing policies.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">You might respond, "So what? I don't use the
People search that often. I don't try to convert 3rd degree connections into
1st degree connections, either." This may be true, <u>but if you're job
hunting, you want hiring managers, freelance HR people, and even old friends TO
BE ABLE TO FIND YOU!</u><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">That's where these changes really bite you in the
ankle. Sure, HR professionals who regularly search on LinkedIn for potential
employees will cough up the higher fees to get better search results. But what about hiring managers who only do
occasional searches, small business owners, consultants, freelancers, or people
who are unemployed and looking for work?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Fortunately, there are several things you can to
do make it easier for others to find and contact you. There are also ways you
can search for these missing names, both on LinkedIn and off. In this post
we’ll show how you can make yourself more visible on LinkedIn. Then we’ll look
at some guerilla techniques for finding other people on LinkedIn.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Make Yourself Easier to Find –
Even When LinkedIn is Trying to Hide Your Name<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">First, make a simple change on your profile. On
the LinkedIn menu bar, point at <b>Profile</b> and click on <b>Edit Profile</b>.
Then, click on <b>Edit</b>, next to
your name. Below your name, you'll see a block for entering your <b>Professional
"Headline"</b>.<b> </b>All
you need to do is repeat your name in this block. Instead of just entering your
job title, write something like, "Andrew Brandt writes frequently about
his love/hate relationship with LinkedIn." (Better yet, write something
appropriate to <i>your</i> profile.) You decide whether to use first or third
person in the headline, just be consistent.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Some people do put their email address here, too,
although that might be a technical violation of the LinkedIn terms of agreement.
I suggest you make your email address prominent somewhere else in your profile.
(NOT in your name field, though!) Hiring professionals often like to see email
addresses rather than go through LinkedIn with expensive InMails.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">After this, go to <b>Settings</b> (on the top
right of the page). Under <b>Profile Settings</b>, click on <b>Public Profile</b>.
There, select the <b>Full View</b> option (or think carefully if you still want
to restrict info on your public profile). You should already have customized
your LinkedIn URL to add your name. If not, do it now. Save your changes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.45pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Another way to make sure your full name always
shows on your profile is to ask people who are writing recommendations for you
on LinkedIn to include your full name in your recommendation. (Most people only
use first names.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">(You used to be able to customize the link title
to your blog and internet connections with your name, too. LinkedIn, playing
cat and mouse with its users, no longer lets you do that.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">If you belong to groups, check your group
settings to see if the group name and logo shows up on your LinkedIn profile
page. (In the group menu—<i>not</i> the top-of-the-page
menu—point at <b>More... </b> and click on<b> My Settings</b>.) If you want others from the group to be able to find
you more easily, click on<b> Display the
group logo on my profile</b>. If you belong to 10 different job hunting groups,
though, you might not want to show all of them, especially if you're still
working. (Your boss might read your profile and not like the idea that you're
trying to jump ship!) There might also be a few groups you want to keep private,
like that <b>Cat Lovers Who Knit </b>group that doesn't exactly fit your
Construction Foreman professional title.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Of course, the best way to make it easier for
others to find you on LinkedIn is to have more connections so you show up more
frequently as a 1st and 2nd level connection. You don't have to become a LION
(LinkedIn Open Networker) who accepts any invitation on LinkedIn. (You can bet
that open networkers are feeling vindicated nowadays, though, after taking so
much heat from LinkedIn.) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">If you belong to a group and send an invitation
to a even just a couple of LIONs in that group, you'll make it a lot easier for
all your group members to find you. (Invite other group members and friends,
too.) You should do this, at least, for your professional groups related to
your job hunt.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.45pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Another way to help HR
people find you (especially if you are in a job hunt) is to add the Skills
application to your profile. Go to the <b>More</b> menu and select <b>Skills <i><span style="color: #e36c0a;">beta</span></i></b>.
(The beta, or test, indication may come off soon, since it’s been around for some
time, now.) Add keyword skills to create a list on your profile. With this list
it will be easier for HR people and others to find you based on a search of
keywords.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">If you want to add optimized
search words to your profile (actually, repeating certain keywords in your
profile so you show up higher in LinkedIn’s search ranks) you need to first
find out which words you should emphasize. Here’s one way to do this:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">1. First, find 3 or 4
detailed job descriptions for positions you think would be perfect for you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">2. Copy and paste these
descriptions into a single text file. (If you use Word, save the document as a
text only file.) Copy this entire file onto your clipboard.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">3. Go to the website </span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><a href="http://www.wordle.net/create" target="_blank">http://www.wordle.net/create</a>.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.45pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">4. In the
box below where it says, “Paste in a bunch of text:” paste in those job
descriptions from your clipboard and press the Go button.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">5. This
creates a word map, where the most frequently used words (other than “a,”
“the,” and the like) are presented most prominently. This gives you a pretty
good idea of which keywords are most important in your dream job. Make a list.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.45pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">6. Make sure
those keywords are used frequently in your LinkedIn profile. The top one or two
probably should be in your headline. Repeat those and others in your summary
and make sure they also show in your Skills section that we described earlier.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">7. Do a
search for those top job skills with LinkedIn’s Advanced Search tool. If you
still don’t show up on the first page, look at profile for the person on the
top of the list and count how many times they use the top search terms. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">The
important thing is NOT to make it look like you’re trying to load up your
profile with lots of search terms. Writing style and communication are more
important. But this might make it easier for hiring managers to find you on
LinkedIn.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.45pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Next: Finding Full Names on LinkedIn,
even when LinkedIn is hiding them<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Keywords: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">LinkedIn, search, jobhunting, HR, guerilla,
keywords, SEO</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>Andrew Brandthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04129551909689974821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914148338433203177.post-65528556740173511012012-02-06T18:45:00.000-08:002012-02-06T18:45:54.813-08:00New Link-Fest for all things LinkedIn<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Have you ever wished it was easier to find information about LinkedIn from all the different resources on web? Well, as of today, it IS a bit easier.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Nathan Kievman, the founder of LinkedStrategies and a frequent speaker, trainer, blogger and writer about all things LinkedIn, has just created a wonderful new central resource of links for finding all kinds of information about LinkedIn.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.linkedstrategies.com/about-linkedin/">http://www.linkedstrategies.com/about-linkedin/</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The list includes sections on:</span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">LinkedIn Facts (historical and current)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Official LinkedIn Resources</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Official Groups for LinkedIn (including some for employees only)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Statistics on LinkedIn Membership Worldwide</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A list of almost every published book written about LinkedIn with links</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A collection of LinkedIn Profile SEO optimization guides, including videos</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Articles on Career Management and Job Search using LinkedIn</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And, naturally, a collection of articles and resources on how to network on LinkedIn</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There's also a short list of links to some of LinkedIn's best known consultants and writers</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As you would expect from a LinkedIn consultant, the site appears to be well tagged and SEO optimized for easy finding through the usual search engines, too.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This is also a good place to start your own research about LinkedIn. Be sure to look around the rest of Nate's site, too, for blog posts, books and more.</span><br />
<br />
Tags: LinkedIn, Nathan Kievman, blogs, consultants, LinkedIn facts, social media<br />Andrew Brandthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04129551909689974821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914148338433203177.post-64662735494694232362012-02-05T06:16:00.000-08:002012-02-05T06:16:04.472-08:00Planned Parenthood vs. Komen, Part 2<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">or</span></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Social
Media Planning is Important. Yes It Really Is!</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Years ago,
when still working as a professional bassoonist in Shreveport, Louisiana, I was
hired to perform in an orchestra and accompany a community chorus in Texarkana
as part of a fundraising event for the Susan B. Komen Race for the Cure. The
Komen Foundation was prominently mentioned in the musical parts that we
performed from as well as in the programs. It was actually a fun gig. The
chorus was enthusiastic and so was the audience. What I noticed then and later
was that the people supporting Komen, in concerts, in runs, and even corporate
sponsors, were all doing so because of the cause. Their volunteers included
people all along the political spectrum.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This week,
when AP broke the news that Komen was withdrawing funding from Planned
Parenthood, you could practically hear that bipartisanship cracking, falling
and crashing all around the nation, almost as if it were a massively loud challenge-level
of Angry Birds.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The
defunded organization, Planned Parenthood, will likely be noted in future
textbooks on social media on the adroit way they responded to the news. (After
all, they had had over a month to plan.) They deplored the politicization of
the granting process by the world's largest breast cancer foundation and also
announced a fund-drive to replace that money along with a lead gift from a
previously little known foundation. All of sudden the social media were alive
with the debate. People began raising money on Twitter, Facebook and elsewhere.
News organizations reported on grass roots efforts to raise money, which climaxed
in a $250,000 pledge from Mayor Bloomberg of New York City, who announced that
funding for breast cancer should not be political.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Komen
Foundation was silent for nearly two days, after which the group's founder and
CEO, former Ambassador Nancy G. Brinker was seen, alone and looking unhappy, on
her website's video, and later in news interviews. First she was saying that
Planned Parenthood didn't meet their criteria because they were involved in a
Congressional investigation. Later that story changed somewhat and it was a
decision based on metrics and proving outcomes based on the amount of money
given and patients served. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But Ms.
Brinker wasn't served well by former supporters, nor by former critics.
Anti-abortion groups were quick to crow about the apparent defunding of Planned
Parenthood. Early in the week, Americans United for Life President and CEO, Dr.
Charmaine Yoest, (who in her press releases and news interviews showed she
cannot say the words "Planned Parenthood" in any sentence without
adding the words "abortion," "death" or
"killing") was one of the first to crow about the decision. There was
no doubt of moral victory on her part, even when Ms. Brinker was trying to convince
others it was merely a matter of funding criteria.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Clearly,
Ms. Brinker and her foundation were surprised by the public and media reaction.
Even though they repeatedly stated that uterine politics were not involved,
other evidence was piling up to suggest otherwise. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We also
learned, from postings on another pro-life website, LifeNews.com, that Komen
had blocked funding to five cancer research centers last November because of
their support of embryonic stem cell research. The defunding was in the amounts
of $3.75 million to Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, $4.5 million
to the University of Kansas Medical Center, $1 million to the U.S. National Cancer
Institute, $1 million to the Society for Women’s Health Research, and $600,000
to Yale University. These were amounts far higher than Planned Parenthood's
gifts, but had barely, if ever, been mentioned by the media. However, other
schools (including Penn State, which is now definitely under investigation,
although not for its cancer research) retained their funding. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We also
learned that Komen had, last April, hired Karen Handel as senior vice president
for public policy. Previously, Ms. Handel had run for the Republican nomination
for Governor of Georgia on a pro-life platform and had then announced she was
against any government funding of Planned Parenthood. Ms. Brinker later stated
that Ms. Handel had no involvement in the decision, but it's pretty clear that
she must certainly now be involved in the culture at Komen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Also, the
Think Progress website, <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/"><span style="color: blue; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">http://thinkprogress.org</span></a>, announced
that former press secretary and prominent right-wing writer and speaker, Ari Fleischer
"was secretly involved in the Komen Foundation’s strategy regarding
Planned Parenthood. Fleischer personally interviewed candidates for the
position of 'Senior Vice President for Communications and External Relations'
at Komen last December." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">With all
due respect to Think Progess's scoop, to anybody who knows Dallas's
philanthropic and business community, the fact that a former Bush White House
conservative is involved with a Dallas-based charity is pretty much a non-news
item. What <i>would</i> have been controversial is if a liberal Democratic
Yankee had been hired to do the same thing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the
meantime, the comments on Komen's web pages, their Facebook pages, on Twitter,
and in the media kept coming in, including people who were Komen activists (and
apparently at least one or two directors of Komen chapter offices),
passionately disagreeing with the foundation's actions. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Finally,
Ms. Brinker threw in a towel of sorts. She announced that they will revise the
criteria under which Planned Parenthood chapters were denied funding to include
only real, legal investigations (rather than those apparently fake, political
Congressional ones). The news media announced that it was a reversal of their
earlier stance, although it probably, really wasn't. No funding was restored.
The change is only that the same people who had applied before can still apply
again. Of course, Planned Parenthood hardly needed the money now. As the result
of their campaign, they had raised over $3 million in three days. That was more
than four years worth of Komen Foundation donations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">That this
decision would please nobody was immediately apparent. Liberals and moderates,
who felt Komen was bowing to political pressures from the Right to Life
community were hardly mollified. Those who opposed Planned Parenthood and
abortions felt betrayed or just blamed the liberals.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">An <i>AP/Wall Street Journal</i> article quoted
Tony Lauinger, state chairman for Oklahomans For Life, "We were very happy
to see (Komen) discontinue funding to Planned Parenthood."…. "For an entity ... that's trying to
prevent breast cancer across the world, it's directly counterproductive that
the organization would be giving funds to Planned Parenthood, which is the
largest provider of abortions in the country."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Eric
Scheidler, executive director of the Chicago-based Pro-Life Action League, sent
out emails and social media messages Friday aimed at "tens of
thousands" of abortion foes, urging them to withhold donations to Komen. Days
earlier, when the original decision was reported, he'd urged people to donate
to Komen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Americans
United for Life’s Charmaine Yoest grudgingly admitted that Planned Parenthood
had done a better job with social and press media, saying that it was “unfortunate
that the Komen Foundation had come under vicious attack from Planned Parenthood
as part of a media-savvy campaign.” In her own release, she continued,
"This week we have all been witness to highly partisan attacks from
pro-abortion advocates and an ugly and disgraceful shakedown that highlights
Planned Parenthood’s willingness to pursue a scorched-earth strategy to force
compliance with their pro-abortion agenda." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Clearly,
lest there be any doubt, Dr. Yoest does not like Planned Parenthood.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In contrast,
the most gracious language appeared to come from Planned Parenthood's own
Cecile Richards, who thanked Komen for their "reversal" and hoped the
two organizations will continue to work together in the future. Of course, it's
much easier to be conciliatory when you've won the public debate and also
raised $3 million in a few days.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The fact
that media emphasized many of the good things that Planned Parenthood has done,
and that the various other health services that they provide are worthwhile and
supported by millions of women, and the fact that they raised so much money,
will stick in the craw of many pro-life organizations' supporters.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There's one
other aspect of Planned Parenthood's media blitz that will continue to gnaw at
and anger pro-life groups, like Dr. Yoest's supporters. When Planned Parenthood
complained that the breast cancer research was being politicized, they committed
the unforgivable sin of being right. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If there is
a somewhat sympathetic figure in this whole tempest, it might be Nancy Brinker
of Komen. She founded the organization in 1982, after the death of her sister
by breast cancer. It's easy to assume that her quest to cure breast cancer is personal,
passionate, sincere, a life-long pursuit, and above politics. For thirty years,
the foundation became famous for its ability to mobilize people and grew into
one of the largest and most visible cancer groups in the world. Whether she
became the victim of the anti-abortion crowd surrounding her, or whether she
lead the change is unknown and may never be known.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Meanwhile,
the Komen Foundation staff and board may need to go to some clinic (other than
Planned Parenthood) and have their ears checked. Their lack of anticipation of
how their policy changes would be seen in the social media, and their tone-deaf
non-response for a long time after the issue became public, was truly unprofessional
and inexcusable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What is
likely, though, is that Komen's future races might be more lightly attended,
the pink ribbons a little less prominent, some corporate sponsors may be a bit
harder to find, and donations from long-time supporters may decline. If they
are made up by new donations of pro-life groups, that may be small consolation
for a group that used to be seen as above politics and focused only, solely, on
a mission to defeat a deadly disease.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">That is
indeed sad.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Tags: Komen, Planned Parenthood, cancer, politics, abortion, pro-life, pro-choice</span></div>Andrew Brandthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04129551909689974821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914148338433203177.post-23050258546346854442012-02-02T14:56:00.000-08:002012-02-02T19:03:51.067-08:00Hell Hath No Fury Like a Women’s Health Organization Scorned<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Dispute Surprisingly Shows Which Organization is More Adept at Social Media and PR </span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />This week has seen a social media and press explosion between two of the country’s largest and well-known health agencies: The Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast cancer organization and Planned Parenthood. <br /><br />Regardless of how you feel about the news or the organizations, a fascinating part of the media event is how the two organizations have or have not used social media and the press to present their views on the program. The sad part is that, on initial impression, the Komen Foundation might have permanently damaged their ability to unite women across the political spectrum to their cause. <br /><br />The facts in brief: <br /><br />Just before Christmas, the board of the Komen Foundation decided to remove grant funding for any organization that is under congressional investigation. Unfortunately, that was a rather narrowly defined decision because it was also decided only one organization that received grants from Komen was under investigation, Planned Parenthood. The investigation? One by a single pro-life Congressman, Representative Cliff Stearns, Republican of Florida. This decision ended five years of funding of several Planned Parenthood clinics by the Komen Foundation, funding which had been criticized by various anti-abortion/pro-life groups. <br /><br />After learning of the decision, Planned Parenthood was rebuffed in its efforts to discuss the matter with Komen leaders. It took a long time, at least a month, before the decision was reported in the press on January 31, 2012. However, Planned Parenthood clearly had done a better job preparing for the social media and the press than Komen. In fact, Komen appears to have been surprised by the reaction and unable to respond for nearly three days – which may have made all the difference in the debate. <br /><br />Kivi Leroux Miller, author of Kivi’s Nonprofit Communications Blog, yesterday did a <a href="http://www.nonprofitmarketingguide.com/blog/2012/02/01/the-accidental-rebranding-of-komen-for-the-cure/" target="_blank">communications analysis</a> of the two organizations, and finds that Komen was unable to even post a tweet about the issue, while online activists were suddenly mobilizing against them. <br /><br />Let’s compare media exchange between the two organizations. <br /><br />When the news of Komen’s decision was broken by AP on Monday (Jan. 31st), the initial public reaction was entirely from Planned Parenthood. <br /><br />Planned Parenthood's national website offered a press release, clearly posing the defunding as a political act, stating: "Anti-choice groups in America have repeatedly threatened the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation for partnering with Planned Parenthood to provide these lifesaving cancer screenings and news articles suggest that the Komen Foundation ultimately succumbed to these pressures." Then, in boldface quotes: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>“We are alarmed and saddened that the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation appears to have succumbed to political pressure. Our greatest desire is for Komen to reconsider this policy and recommit to the partnership on which so many women count,” said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America." </b></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />Planned Parenthood, in the same press release announced the creation of a new “Breast Health Emergency Fund” to restore the funding for those screening exams, and announced the lead gift of $250,000 from the Amy and Lee Fikes’ foundation. <br /><br />Curiously, the Amy and Lee Fikes’ Foundation is unknown on the web except from this press announcement. GuideStar.com has no record of it, although there is a legitimate Leland Fikes Foundation. This suggests the foundation may have have been founded to deal with the Planned Parenthood controversy, which is fine. But it points to a possible aspect of Planned Parenthood’s preparation which may be another story remaining to be written. <br /><br />This press announcement was followed by online campaigns by a variety of individuals on Twitter, Google+ and Facebook, as well as political groups like MoveOn.org, to raise money for the Emergency Fund. In fact, if early reports are accurate, online pledges have already replaced a good part of the lost funding from Komen with over $400,000 already pledged. <br /><br />According to Planned Parenthood, the Komen foundation funded 170,000 breast cancer screening exams over five years, out of 4 million exams performed over the same period. Putting this in perspective, 170,000 clinical exams is a lot, but it appears (if we’re really comparing apples to apples here) that Komen funded 4.25% of Planned Parenthood’s breast screening exams. This is far from insignificant, but certainly not a major hit to the overall funding of the program. Seeing that Komen’s funding went to just 19 of the Planned Parenthood’s 800 health centers, though, those individual centers would probably be affected severely. <br /><br />One activist, Alison Fine, co-author of <i>The Networked Nonprofit</i>, quickly set up a web page called “Komen Kan Kiss My Mammogram!” announcing the goal of raising $1 million for Planned Parenthood. As of 4:55 pm on Feb. 2nd, they claim to have raised $3555 from 809 people. Perhaps this is a drop in the financial bucket, but it may be representative of many of the suddenly mobilized activists. <br /><br />A distributed cartoon has been making the rounds</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4GlTpmSBKMkcg23JPtM-BOfGxlshV-RNfoOL2LOJisWj7t-amOVKttMbxGfiEJsQvHGet_6qpLNZ0Y7d31cOVjyUpDEAGWh9tnpItDTudR2ITz8j6ho2bLr_ppixDecRk19ujnePbkQ36/s1600/Things+that+cannot+cure+cancer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4GlTpmSBKMkcg23JPtM-BOfGxlshV-RNfoOL2LOJisWj7t-amOVKttMbxGfiEJsQvHGet_6qpLNZ0Y7d31cOVjyUpDEAGWh9tnpItDTudR2ITz8j6ho2bLr_ppixDecRk19ujnePbkQ36/s400/Things+that+cannot+cure+cancer.jpg" width="375" /></a> <span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Komen seems to have been surprised by the controversy. For three days there was nary a tweet or a Facebook update concerning the issue, let alone a press release on their web site. <br /><br />Finally, late Wednesday or early Thursday, Komen’s website posted a video from their founder and CEO, Nancy Brinker. In brief, she stated that the defunding is a result of a long review on funding priorities and never mentions Planned Parenthood by name. She also restated her organization's pledge to serve all women who need breast cancer screenings. <br /><br />It seems reasonable to think that Ms. Brinker, as a former Ambassador and CEO of one of the nation's best-known charities, has some experience with media. Unfortunately, her video demeanor shows her as not only serious, but worried. Also, apparently reading from notes just off camera, she keeps her eyes glued to the script and not quite on the camera. This has the unfortunate side-effect of not making eye contact with the viewer. Reading some of the early comments under the video, this has produced a flurry of negative comments, some of them going far beyond political to the personal. <br /> <br /> Although the Komen organization claims that the decision to defund was not political, the response of at least one anti-abortion group was almost gloating, according to <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/01/31/komen-foundation-ends-partnership-with-planned-parenthood/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+foxnews%2Fpolitics+%28Internal+-+Politics+-+Text%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher" target="_blank">Fox News</a>: </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"As a breast cancer survivor, I applaud the decision made by the Komen Foundation to discontinue their partnership with the billion-dollar, abortion mega-provider, Planned Parenthood," Americans United for Life President and CEO Dr. Charmaine Yoest said. "The work of the Komen Foundation has life-saving potential and should not be intertwined with an industry dealing in death." </span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />Sadly, even Presidential politics are being dragged into the affair, “About 250,000 people have signed a petition on the website MoveOn.org,<i> a political supporter of President Barack Obama,</i> calling on Komen to reverse its decision, Sarah Lane, a spokeswoman, said in an e-mail.” Italics mine. Quote from NewsMax.com. <br /><br />The fact that MoveOn.org supports Pres. Obama wouldn’t appear to have anything to do with their decision to create a petition. Chances are MoveOn would do the same thing no matter who was president. However, if the Komen group wanted to keep left vs. right wing politics separate from their funding decision, it now appears that it is out of their hands. <br /><br />Even the satirical e-card site Someecards has weighed in on the controversy: <br /><br /><br /> </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOw3XySGBJCXUQsK3Ed4Pb8eZS9EwkIzWlb8dys-B6cxbpq37ImP2Ea8SUzHkxWI9ws7-IVRj5q5x7N1qFS0rYXDPdOhX7rcSyI68Ms4lGppyulU3KA935awq17lwW_6lQYWt2Jc-zgOAZ/s1600/ThankYouforCutting-someecards.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOw3XySGBJCXUQsK3Ed4Pb8eZS9EwkIzWlb8dys-B6cxbpq37ImP2Ea8SUzHkxWI9ws7-IVRj5q5x7N1qFS0rYXDPdOhX7rcSyI68Ms4lGppyulU3KA935awq17lwW_6lQYWt2Jc-zgOAZ/s320/ThankYouforCutting-someecards.png" width="320" /></a> <span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /><br /><b>So, what will be the fallout from the controversy? </b><br /><br />The Susan B. Komen Foundation, which has had a wonderful national reputation for its fight against breast cancer, may have permanently stained its pink ribbon campaign, which up to now was seen as apolitical. According to <a href="http://www.nonprofitmarketingguide.com/" target="_blank">yesterday’s blog post</a> on Kivi’s Nonprofit Communications Blog), ”Komen for the Cure, it seems, is no longer a breast cancer charity, but a pro-life breast cancer charity.” <br /><br />Although there have been tweets and comments around social media from women saying they will no longer support Komen, there is a possibility that there will also be increased funding from conservative, anti-abortion groups which have boycotted the Komen Foundation because of its support of some Planned Parenthood clinics. <br /><br />Planned Parenthood, no stranger to controversy or to Congressional and other investigations, appears to have had the more nimble response. By being the first to comment publicly, they have framed the defunding as clearly a political move. It has mobilized its own funding campaign, and has been joined by other social and political groups. They may be able to recoup the lost money in a few days’ campaign, no mean feat. <br /><br />Permanently damaged is the good done by cooperation between the two associations and the appearance that breast cancer is a cause that unites all women and should be above mere politics. <br /><br />Both organizations may lose some of their reputation by the dispute. Oddly, they may both increase funding as the issue becomes politicized, at least in the short term. It’s hard to see how the Komen Foundation is not the more injured party in the long term, but we will see. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.plannedparenthood.org/">http://www.plannedparenthood.org</a> <br /><br /><a href="http://ww5.komen.org/">http://ww5.komen.org/</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<i>Since this article was first published, I found a news post published last night (2-1-12) from the pro-life web site LifeNews.com announcing that the Komen Foundation has also removed funding from several cancer research groups which also do research with live stem-cells. The organizations which are no longer funded, according to the <a href="http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/01/komen-also-stops-funding-embryonic-stem-cell-research-centers/">report</a>, are Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, the University of Kansas Medical Center, the U.S. National Cancer Institute, the Society for Women’s Health Research and Yale University. - AB</i><br />
<i><br /></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>This media situation continues to develop at a frenetic pace. Just this afternoon Republican New York City Mayor announced his own donation of $250,000 to Planned Parenthood to help make up for the lost funding from Komen, according to <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/bloomberg-donate-250k-planned-parenthood-article-1.1016157?localLinksEnabled=false">The Daily News</a>, saying “Politics have no place in health care,” Bloomberg said in a statement on Thursday. “Breast cancer screening saves lives and hundreds of thousands of women rely on Planned Parenthood for access to care. We should be helping women access that care, not placing barriers in their way.”</i></span></div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Tags: nonprofits, funding, fundraising, social media, press, Planned Parenthood, Komen</span></div>
</div>Andrew Brandthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04129551909689974821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914148338433203177.post-48656279095630150042012-02-01T14:30:00.000-08:002012-02-01T14:30:47.041-08:00February Almanac of Holidays<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><b>Strange, Funny, Little Known & Religious Holidays for February, 2012</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">February's Celebrations (mostly USA):</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Full-Month Celebrations</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">American Heart Month</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">An Affair to Remember Month</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Black History Month</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Canned Food Month</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Creative Romance Month</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Great American Pie Month</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">National Cherry Month</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">National Children’s Dental Health Month</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">National Grapefruit Month</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">National Weddings Month</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>February Weekly Celebrations</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3rd Week International Flirting Week</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Daily Holidays</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>National Freedom Day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Ground Hog Day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Candlemas</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2-Feb National Change your Windshield Wipers Day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The Day the Music Died - Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3-Feb Patient Recognition Day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">4-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Create a Vacuum Day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">4-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Thank a Mailman Day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">5-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>National Weatherman's Day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">6-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Lame Duck Day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">7-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Wave All you Fingers at Your Neighbor Day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">7-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Send a Card to a Friend Day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">7-Feb National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">8-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Boy Scout Day - celebrates the birthday of scouting</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">8-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Kite Flying Day - in the middle of winter!?!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">9-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Toothache Day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">10-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Umbrella Day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">11-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Don't Cry over Spilled Milk Day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">11-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Make a Friend Day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">11-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>White T-Shirt Day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">12-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Abraham Lincoln's Birthday</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">12-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Plum Pudding Day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">13-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Clean out Your Computer Day - second Monday of Month</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">13-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Get a Different Name Day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">14-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Ferris Wheel Day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">14-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>National Organ Donor Day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">14-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Valentine's Day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">15-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Candlemas - on the Julian Calendar</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">15-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>National Gum Drop Day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">15-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Singles Awareness Day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">16-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Do a Grouch a Favor Day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">17-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Random Acts of Kindness Day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">17-Feb </span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">National Public Science Day</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">18-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>National Battery Day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">19-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>National Chocolate Mint Day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">20-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Cherry Pie Day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">20-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Hoodie Hoo Day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">20-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Love Your Pet Day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">20-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>President's Day - third Monday of month</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">21-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Card Reading Day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">21-Feb Mardi Gras / Fat Tuesday / Shrove Tuesday</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">22-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>George Washington's Birthday</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">22-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Be Humble Day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">22-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Walking the Dog Day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">22-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>International World Thinking Day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">23-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>International Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">23-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Tennis Day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">24-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>National Tortilla Chip Day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">25-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Pistol Patent Day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">26-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Carnival Day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">26-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>National Pistachio Day - it's a nutty day!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">26-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Tell a Fairy Tale Day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">27-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Polar Bear Day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">27-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>No Brainer Day - this day is for me!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">28-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Floral Design Day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">28-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Public Sleeping Day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">28-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>National Tooth Fairy Day - and/or August 22</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">29-Feb<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Leap Day - 2012, once every four years; also Sadie Hawkins Day (if I remember correctly)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><i>Some Religious Celebrations</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: left;">Anglican/Episcopal
Celebrations and Remembrances</b><br />
(Names in brackets indicate for trial use)<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>February</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 Brigid (Bride), 523<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2 The Presentation of Our Lord Jesus Christ in
the Temple<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3 [The Dorchester Chaplains: Lieutenant George
Fox, Lieutenant Alexander D.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Goode,
Lieutenant Clark V. Poling and Lieutenant John P. Washington, 1943]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">4 Anskar, Archbishop of Hamburg, Missionary to
Denmark and Sweden, 865 (new date)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">5 [Roger Williams, 1683, and Anne Hutchinson,
1643, Prophetic Witnesses]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">6 The Martyrs of Japan, 1597 (new date)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">7 Cornelius the Centurion (new date)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">11 [Frances Jane (Fanny) Van Alstyne Crosby,
Hymnwriter, 1915]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">12 [Charles Freer Andrews, Priest and “Friend of
the Poor” in India, 1940]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">13 Absalom Jones, Priest, 1818<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">14 Cyril, Monk, and Methodius, Bishop,
Missionaries to the Slavs, 869, 885<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">15 Thomas Bray, Priest and Missionary, 1730<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">16 [Charles Todd Quintard, Bishop of Tennessee,
1898]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">17 Janani Luwum, Archbishop of Uganda &
Martyr, 1977<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">18 Martin Luther, 1546<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">20 [Frederick Douglass, Prophetic Witness, 1895]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">21 [John Henry Newman, Priest and Theologian,
1890]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">22 [Eric Liddell, Missionary to China, 1945] Ash Wednesday<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">23 Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr of Smyrna, 156<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">24 Saint Matthias the Apostle<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">25 [John Roberts, Priest, 1949]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">26 [Emily Malbone Morgan, Prophetic Witness,
1937]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">27 George Herbert, Priest, 1633<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">28 [Anna Julia Haywood Cooper, 1964, and
Elizabeth Evelyn Wright, 1904,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Educators]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">29 [John Cassian, Abbot at Marseilles, 433]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<o:p><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Catholic Calendar</span></b></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">February 2012<br />2: Feast of <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2914148338433203177">Presentation of the Lord</a>.<br />3: Optional memorial of <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2914148338433203177">Blase, bishop and martyr</a>. Optional memorial of <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2914148338433203177">Ansgar, bishop</a>.<br />5: Psalter I, Ordinary Time Week 5. (Memorial of <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2914148338433203177">Agatha, virgin and martyr</a>.)<br />6: Memorial of <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2914148338433203177">Paul Miki and companions, martyrs</a>.<br />8: Optional memorial of <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2914148338433203177">Jerome Emiliani</a>.<br />10: Memorial of <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2914148338433203177">Scholastica, virgin</a>.<br />11: Optional memorial of <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2914148338433203177">Our Lady of Lourdes</a>.<br />12: Psalter II, Ordinary Time Week 6.<br />14: Optional memorial of <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2914148338433203177">Cyril, monk, and Methodius, bishop</a>.<br />17: Optional memorial of <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2914148338433203177">Seven founders of the order of Servites</a>.<br />19: Psalter III, Ordinary Time Week 7.<br />21: Optional memorial of <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2914148338433203177">Peter Damian, bishop and doctor</a>.<br />22: <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2914148338433203177">Ash Wednesday; Beginning of Lent</a>. Feast of <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2914148338433203177">Chair of St. Peter, apostle</a>.<br />23: (Memorial of <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2914148338433203177">Polycarp, bishop and martyr</a>.)<br />26: Psalter I, Lent Week 1.</span><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></b><br />
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<span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: separate;"><span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; text-align: -webkit-right;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Hebrew</b></span></span></span><br />
<span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: separate;"><span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; text-align: -webkit-right;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Feb 08, 2012 Tu B'Shevat</span></span></span><br />
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<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Islamic Holidays</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Feb 05, 2012 Sunday Milad Un Nabi (birthday Of The Prophet
Muhammad)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Feb 09, 2012 Thursday Milad Un Nabi (shia)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Hindu Holiday</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Feb 20, 2012 Maha Shivaratri</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Buddhist Holiday</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">15 Feb Parinirvana
(Mahayana)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Celtic Holiday</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">01 Feb Imbolic (or
Oimelc)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Shinto Holiday</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">03 Feb Setsubun</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Other Holidays</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Feb 06 Waitangi Day
(New Zealand) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Feb 11 National
Foundation Day (Japan) </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Feb 14 Flag Day
(Canada) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Feb 18 Carnival
(Brazil) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;">Feb 21 Mardi Gras (Louisiana)</span></div>
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Tags: Holidays, Almanac, USA, International, Religious, Secular</div>Andrew Brandthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04129551909689974821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914148338433203177.post-34517484320039406772012-01-29T20:19:00.000-08:002013-04-28T21:31:52.629-07:00Notebook Alternatives to Moleskines<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Thanks for coming to Read "Notebook Alternatives to Moleskines." This article has been updated, rewritten, and posted on the newer Frugal Guidance 2 blog. You can read it by clicking <a href="http://andybrandt531.com/2012/12/notebook-alternatives-to-moleskines/" target="_blank">here</a>. We look forward to seeing you there and invite your friends, too.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">You can also copy and paste the link:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">http://andybrandt531.com/2012/12/notebook-alternatives-to-moleskines/</span>Andrew Brandthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04129551909689974821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914148338433203177.post-1043761979370373632012-01-27T20:57:00.000-08:002013-02-20T18:35:28.779-08:00Taming the Wild Moleskine, Pt 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
This <span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">post has been updated, rewritten and moved to our new site, http://andybrandt531.com</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You can read part 1 of this article at </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://andybrandt531.com/2012/12/taming-the-wild-moleskine-part-1/">http://andybrandt531.com/2012/12/taming-the-wild-moleskine-part-1/</a> and then continue to parts 2 and 3, with more info about using Moleskine-style notebooks than ever before.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We look forward to seeing you there.</span></div>
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Andrew Brandthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04129551909689974821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914148338433203177.post-42842734149285199602012-01-26T21:01:00.000-08:002013-02-20T18:36:11.522-08:00Taming the Wild Moleskine<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">This post has been updated, rewritten and moved to our new site, http://andybrandt531.com</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">You can read this specific article at </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://andybrandt531.com/2012/12/taming-the-wild-moleskine-part-1/">http://andybrandt531.com/2012/12/taming-the-wild-moleskine-part-1/</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">We look forward to seeing you there.</span></div>
Andrew Brandthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04129551909689974821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914148338433203177.post-7235234474230794872012-01-25T19:57:00.000-08:002013-02-20T18:37:01.626-08:00Using a Moleskine (or a Moleskine Clone) Notebook<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
This <span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">post has been updated, rewritten, retitled, and moved to our new site, Frugal Guidance 2 at </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">http://wp.me/p2MaLZ-7J</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> with more info about using Moleskine-style notebooks than ever before.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We look forward to seeing you there.</span></div>
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</div>
Andrew Brandthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04129551909689974821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914148338433203177.post-22459112407838414922012-01-23T22:24:00.000-08:002012-01-23T22:24:55.980-08:00Focusing Your LinkedIn Profile for Multiple Careers, Interests, and Job Hunting<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;"><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">Dealing with LinkedIn Multiple
Personalities</span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Four Solutions</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />Life is complicated and so are people and careers. You can argue that it was simpler when one worked for one company all week for 40 years and then retired at 65. You got a gold watch and a pension. Life was good. (Maybe.)<br /><br />Today, when the social contract between workers and employers has been shredded, stomped-on and burned to ashes, when pensions are replaced by 401(k)’s (or 403(b)’s) or retirement plans just don’t exist, and when most employees stay with an employer for 2 to 3 years and when most employers are looking for temps and part-time workers, things ARE more complicated. As a result, many people now like to advertise their multiple careers, career changes, hobbies turned businesses, consulting gigs, blogs, freelance work and, when necessary, they may be looking for multiple jobs. (This doesn’t even touch on those of us with multiple personality disorder.)<br /><br />But LinkedIn, bless their networked hearts, insists in their User Agreement, that you can have one profile and one profile only. And this is one of the rules that they actually enforce!<br /><br />Very recently, Viveka von Rosen, CEO of Linked Into Business, and known on Twitter by the handle @LinkedInExpert wrote a great blog post on the subject, “<a href="http://linkedintobusiness.com/can-i-have-more-than-one-account-on-linkedin/">7 Ways to Deal with Multiple Businesses on LinkedIn</a>.” (Yes, you should read it!)</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Viveka also hosted a session of #LinkedInChat (on 1/17/2012) where the same issue was the main part of the discussion. <br /><br />So how do people balancing multiple careers, new careers, encore careers, consulting businesses, flea market sales, dog sitting sidelines, freelancers and job hunters all fit everything into a single profile?</span><div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>(This is
entirely separate from the issue of people who, intentionally or by accident,
set up more than one profile. Almost any day of the year, there’s somebody
asking the question, “How can I consolidate two – or more – profiles into one.
We’ll have to deal with that in a different blog post.)</i><span style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Viveka herself brought up Solution No. 1: Focus on one thing at a time. Focus intensely on what you want to accomplish in the next six months: whether it’s your career, your freelance work, your consulting, or you job hunt. Then adjust your profile accordingly.</span><div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Some of things you may want to do:</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><ul>
<li>Make sure your headline reflects your choice (use your 120 characters well). You don’t have to list everything. Focus. </li>
<li>Your Summary should use your keywords for search purposes. You have 2000 characters here, so edit carefully. </li>
<li>Your Experience section (that stuff “below the fold” in your profile, if you know the newspaper reference), no longer has to be listed chronologically. So move up the sections that emphasize the things you are focusing on (a specific career, service, job search target). </li>
<li>Make sure your search terms (or SEO terms) reflect your focus. </li>
<li>Use recommendations that match that focus. (You can hide and show specific recommendations.) </li>
<li>Your LinkedIn profile does not have to be a complete résumé, nor does it have to reflect your entire life. </li>
<li>Use the new Skills section to add skills – which are actually keywords people can use to find you. </li>
<li>As Viveka says, “Use your LinkedIn Real estate!” The character counts for different sections: “Summary 2000, Specialties 500, Interests 750, Contact Me 2000.” </li>
<li>If you have Honors and Awards, there are new sections for that. If you have volunteer experience, add that, too. </li>
<li>If you are fluent in more than one language, you can have your profile in more than one language, too.</li>
</ul>
</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So if you like to train Labrador Retrievers but need to focus on finding a job as a COO, focus on the chief operating officer job search for now and retrieve the Retrievers later.
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<b><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Solution No. 2 <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">List your different careers / personalities and describe them concisely. If your different careers are somewhat related, this might be easier. For example, this might be a better solution if you are an off-Broadway actor at night and a voice-over artist by day. They are different careers, but one complements the other. </span><br />
<ul><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">
<li>Match your history to the different careers. Group related job experiences together. They do not need to be chronological. </li>
<li>Use keywords for both. </li>
<li>Use add-on tools to showcase both, either individually or together</li>
</span></ul>
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For example, use Presentations to explain your different careers, interests, history. Box.net is great for sharing work samples from within your profile. You have places for links to Twitter and three other links to blogs, online résumés, and other social media.<br /><br /><b>Solution No. 3</b></span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Use different social media for different fields.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><br />
<ul><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">
<li>Use LinkedIn for your “professional” focus. </li>
<li>Use Facebook or Google+ personal pages (or business pages) for your alternate careers or interests, say for your Flea Market Antiques sideline. </li>
<li>Create a business web page for your individualized greeting card line and Facebook for your professional oboe career (to use a real example). </li>
<li>Use links to your different online sites to refer people to your other interests.</li>
</span></ul>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There is a danger here in fragmenting your social media exposure. If you want to create a unified SM appearance, this would not be the best choice.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /><b>Solution No. 4 for Job Hunters</b><br /><br />Job hunters may need to be especially creative and careful, especially if you are looking for more than one type of job opening. Say you are doing freelance work and consulting while you are also looking for a full-time job in a similar or non-related career. Plus you are doing volunteer work and networking to find jobs and clients.<br /><br />A full-time employer doesn’t want to hire you just for a full-time 40-hour-a-week job anymore. They want to pay you for 40 hours and expect you to be available for phone calls, “paper” work, and online telecommuting for another 20 to 30 hours a week. So, if they know you’ll be working every weekend at flea markets, or training dogs, or playing jazz gigs at night, they might not consider you a good prospect for their job. This may not be fair, but if you encounter this, then you should reconsider using Solution No. 1 above.<br /><br />But even employers know life is complicated. Use your experience in multiple careers to show your ability to meet deadlines, juggle multiple tasks, and prioritize your schedule.<br /><br />For example, my previous career as an orchestral bassoonist might not seem to have a lot of relevancy with a new career in nonprofit fundraising. Yet, I can discuss the fact that my musical career involved in long periods of self-directed reed making and practice followed by rehearsals taking minutely-detailed supervision under conductor/supervisors while working smoothly with a large team of co-workers. All this while intensely focused on meeting serious deadlines. (You can’t stand up in front of an audience and say, “Sorry, I didn’t get to practice as much as I wanted this week, but if you come back on Monday night, I can give you a highly polished performance.”)<br /><br />Consider not posting résumés on your LinkedIn profile (with the Box application, or with <br />links to your online résumés). Instead, create a Marketing Statement, which might look similar to a résumé, but features a list of your 50 top employer prospects. (This might be a good place to use a task-based résumé format instead of a chronological format, too.) <br /><br />Use this marketing statement to:</span><div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Get recommendations for contacts in these specific companies.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Get introductions to leaders in that field. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Find other smaller/larger/regional employers who would complement your list, to expand your job search. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Find similar employers in alternate geographic locations.</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You can create marketing statements for more than one job area. For example, if you are an accountant with experience in corporate taxes and also serve on nonprofit boards – you could have one marketing statement (and list of target companies) for a tax accounting position, and another for a non-profit chief accounting position with experience in filling out IRS 990 forms.<br /><br />So, when life is complicated, use that varied experience creatively to stand out from other job hunters, freelancers, consultants, gurus and workers on LinkedIn and elsewhere.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Tags: LinkedIn, profiles, job hunting, hiring, life</span></div>Andrew Brandthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04129551909689974821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914148338433203177.post-91842674222563879492012-01-19T14:09:00.000-08:002012-01-19T14:09:54.325-08:00Networking Styles Part 2, for Job Hunters<br />
<h1 style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<b style="line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Finding your LinkedIn
"Style" of Networking</span></i></b></h1>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA2ufSgrf-etUay5iSJ3GJi9UqEm98NH1UtucL5tJwOA8cYmW3LBDiclb7hdugP0xlOlKWni15MQsi3MCrW3HRw95V7zms12vuV5sGEmWY6R-PKRuluXriXZfSzZYaaHPWIKqf17dghBU-/s1600/People+on+puters.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA2ufSgrf-etUay5iSJ3GJi9UqEm98NH1UtucL5tJwOA8cYmW3LBDiclb7hdugP0xlOlKWni15MQsi3MCrW3HRw95V7zms12vuV5sGEmWY6R-PKRuluXriXZfSzZYaaHPWIKqf17dghBU-/s320/People+on+puters.png" width="283" /></a></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>PART
II Your networking style if you are in a job search.</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In
our <a href="http://frugalguidance.blogspot.com/2012/01/networking-styles.html">last post</a> we discussed the different styles of online networking, from timid to
gregarious.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Your
decision on which networking style you want to use should depend on your
networking goals. Your personality and
approach to marketing <i>Me, Inc.</i>, are also factors. Some people who are
bashful in person-to-person networking (my kind of people, actually) may find
online networking more comfortable. Those who are trying to create networks in
new career fields or in other physical locations (say, Chicago, San Francisco,
Boise, Lubbock or Shreveport) may find online networking and phone networking
essential. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When
is the best time to grow your network for a job hunt? This question is similar
to the (Japanese, I believe) adage: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When
is the best time to plant a tree? Twenty years ago. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When
is the second best time to plant a tree? Today.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Likewise,
the best time to grow your network for a job hunt was three or four years ago.
The next best time is right now. (If you actually did start to network on LinkedIn,
collect recommendations, and develop your profile years ago, congratulations!
Now is a good time to get a bit more aggressive.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>If
you are job-hunting, there are practical reasons for creating a larger network.</i> Many companies are
now using employee referrals to vet potential hires. Some companies even give
bonuses to employees if those referrals result in hires. One of the current
trends in HR circles is to use employee's connections to help find new
employees instead of using expensive search services and recruiters<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">[See
<a href="http://frugalguidance.blogspot.com/2011/12/hr-predictions-for-2012-may-change-job.html">earlier blog post</a>. ]
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Therefore,
to find connections from your list of target companies, you want to use the
LinkedIn's Company listings. Look for people in your geographic area or work in
the same locations you want to. Find out what professional (or other groups)
they belong to that are of mutual interest. Join them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If
that seems too much like stalking, see if they have a Twitter or other social
media link on their profile. If so, that's an invitation to connect with them there.
Also check and see if they advertise themselves as a LION. If so, feel free to
send them a personalized invitation. Note that some LIONs get so many requests
to connect, it could be difficult to get noticed in the crowd. If they have a
blog, that's also an invitation to read it and leave a comment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Once
you get to know these people, they could be great advocates for you if the
right job opens up. (This is similar to the approach that Richard Bolles has
espoused for many years in <i>What Color Is Your Parachute?</i>, way, way
before online social networks.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When you join professional groups on LinkedIn, if you have a free account
LinkedIn may still put a few obstacles in your path to contacting 3rd degree
connections. Mainly, they may hide the last names of 3rd degree (or further)
connections and make it difficult to send them a message (unless it's one of
their $10 InMail messages.) There are many ways around these restrictions, but
one way is to connect with one or two LIONs in that group. (LION = LinkedIn
Open Network.) Do that and nearly everybody in that group, however large, will
be a 2nd degree connection. That's a good incentive to accept an invitation from
a LION in that group, too. How do you know if a person is a LION? Look at their
profile. Many LIONs actually post in their profile the term, LION, or announce
that they accept all invitations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You
can also make it easier for other people to find you when they have the same
problem of indentifying you. It’s easy. Just re-type your name in the Headline
section (just below your name, next to your photo). You do that by clicking the
Edit button next to your name when you edit your profile. This way if a group
member points at your photo in a group, they might see your first name and last
initial from the name field, but they will also see your full name in your
headline. You can also add your full name to your links to your Twitter address
and other accounts on your profile. This can make it much, much easier for
people to find and identify you for jobs and networking.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Also,
when people write you a recommendation on LinkedIn, simply ask them to use your
full name in the recommendation. If an HR person is searching recommendations
instead of entire profiles, your name will pop up there, too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You
can also be strategic in accepting invitations, especially if you get one of
those boring, canned "I'd like to invite you to join my LinkedIn
network" invitations. When you get that invitation, that could mean one of
three things: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1. The person sending the invitation doesn't know how to personalize their invitation, especially when LinkedIn gives them the option to connect with people. (That means they’re a newbie and might not be particularly helpful to you.)<br /> <br />2. The person doesn't really care enough about you to send a personalized invitation, they just want to collect connections. (Why would you want to connect with somebody who won’t even take the time to personalize an invitation?)<br /> <br />3. They assume you are an open networker and will accept most if not all invitations. (A less impersonal, but still careless error unless, of course, you actually ARE an open networker.)
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There
actually is a fourth possibility: they clicked the wrong button and sent you an
invitation by mistake. It does happen. Again, this is not usually a great way
to start a networking relationship.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If
you get one of these impersonal invitations from somebody, be strategic. Look
at their profile. If that person is in your field or one of your groups,
consider accepting the invitation and writing back, "I'm happy to connect.
Was there a particular reason you sent me an invitation? How can I help
you?" This could be a good way to start a conversation. If they don't
write back in a reasonable time, you can always disconnect.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If
that invitation is from a person in the HR field, they might be working
strategically to build their network for their specialty, or they may be
flailing, randomly sending out invitations to anybody they can find who is
connected. Again, if they are a specialist in your field or in your region,
consider accepting the invitation. If (as in some recent invitations I've
received) they work in an entirely different part of the country (or world)
and/or place clients in a field unrelated to yours, you can simply hit the <b>Ignore
</b>button with a clear conscience.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When
job hunting, you also need to make sure your profile is close to or at 100%
completion. Use keywords for your occupation in your job descriptions and use
those to make it easier for HR people to find you, too. There are other
techniques we'll talk about in other posts, too. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If
you are thinking of planting your tree now, start digging.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>Andrew Brandthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04129551909689974821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914148338433203177.post-34750835085269387792012-01-17T13:23:00.000-08:002012-01-17T13:23:34.560-08:00Networking Styles<br />
<br />
<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">Finding your LinkedIn "Style" of Networking</span></i></b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIj80O1TyVyKtqwXIYcQh0MKYcV6dXFBOiHzb70Zu8GUw-T4KY2O79aCupbvbihbXDzfiPSntHDTnMJg2DgOQ3l5zNafEYLwQkUUz42-52l8IPA5QRgEd3I-FjTjad_J6TVYZU6d1lQuiq/s1600/Networking.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIj80O1TyVyKtqwXIYcQh0MKYcV6dXFBOiHzb70Zu8GUw-T4KY2O79aCupbvbihbXDzfiPSntHDTnMJg2DgOQ3l5zNafEYLwQkUUz42-52l8IPA5QRgEd3I-FjTjad_J6TVYZU6d1lQuiq/s320/Networking.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
On LinkedIn, as elsewhere online, there are all kinds of networkers. Each has their own style, related to their networking goals and desires. One way to think of networking style is to think of a continuum of networking approaches ranging from a private, select group of contacts to a gregarious, recruit-everybody-into-my-personal -network style.<br />
<br />
Since the beginning of LinkedIn, there have been emotional debates arguing Quantity vs. Quality. Although LinkedIn officially recommends caution when adding people to your network, they also reward those who collect many contacts by allowing them to see more connections when they search for people and make it easier for people to find you.<br />
<br />
LinkedIn's official stance is to only invite people into your network that you know and trust. These people would include school and corporate alumni, co-workers, other academic connections, friends, and people from your live networks. We could call this the "LinkedIn is a dangerous place" approach.<br />
<br />
"Power networkers" thumb their noses at LinkedIn's warnings, arguing that you wouldn't attend a live networking meeting and only talk to people you already know. The whole purpose of networking is to find new connections and learn new things. If you find somebody on LinkedIn you would like to talk to in real life, invite them into your network. (And some people would like to talk to everybody.) This could be called the "LinkedIn is a rich place of incredible diversity and knowledge" approach.<br />
<br />
In reality, they are both right. The first approach is probably the one that LinkedIn's lawyers are comfortable with spreading. The second approach could make you vulnerable to corporate intelligence collecting, scams, people "stealing" your connections, and whatever it is that those people who create fake LinkedIn profiles do. However, it can also help you find lots of people willing to help you in your online endeavors.<br />
<br />
The Quantity vs. Quality debate ignores the vast area inbetween the two extremes. It also ignores every person's networking goals. Your goals could vary greatly, and could include such things as:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Creating a network of trusted friends.</li>
<li>Helping mentor others in your field (or about LinkedIn).</li>
<li>Become a professional Go-To person in your field.</li>
<li>Support your blog.</li>
<li>Learn about your field of endeavor from the pros.</li>
<li>Find a new job.</li>
<li>Find a new career, find a job coach, find a mentor, or change careers.</li>
<li>Read current news in your field.</li>
</ul>
<br />
You could argue that no two people are online for exactly the same thing.<br />
<br />
I think of networking style more as a continuum, ranging from a private, timid connection to a power networker. Somewhere in-between is a "Normal Networker" which could include you and me. Here are my four categories of networkers.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">THE LURKER</span></b><br />
The lurker is not a real networker. It could be somebody who just joined LinkedIn (or another service) and wants to look around and get a feel for things before proceeding. In many online discussion groups (or in many LinkedIn groups) this is not necessarily a bad approach.<br />
<br />
The lurker could also be a person who created a LinkedIn profile because somebody else (perhaps their boss) told them to. They only have 1 to 3 connections in their network, which means they're not even trying. They do not join groups. They have no recommendations. Some have not even finished filling out their profile basics. (One profile I saw only had the person's initials and no viewable information. Ironically, he listed his career as "Communications.")<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">THE NOVICE NETWORKERS</span></b><br />
They might also be referred to as Timid Connectors. Novice Networkers may network because they have to or because they are curious about all this talk of online networking, but they are not yet enthusiastic about it.<br />
<br />
They have a few people in their network, but those may be people they already network with in person.<br />
<br />
They might belong to a few discussion groups, but only participate occasionally.<br />
<br />
They may connect only once a week or a couple of times a month. They're not growing their network and they're still trying to figure out what all the fuss is about.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>THE NORMAL NETWORKER</b></span><br />
This category includes NPLYOM's (Normal People Like You or Me).<br />
<br />
These are gradually more active networkers, probably like you. You may have anywhere from 25 to 600 first level connections. Here are some strategies you can use to develop your network:<br />
<br />
Don't invite everybody into your network, but DO try to get a variety of people (alumni, co-workers, other people in your field, some creative types, and a few Power Networkers) into your network.<br />
<br />
Also join Groups so people can find you and contact you without having to use expensive InMails. Join several professional groups so you can find who the leaders are in your field, and so others in your field can find you also. There are several large groups (including some job search groups) which span many professions and are good just for connecting you to a diverse portion of LinkedIn.<br />
<br />
Your LinkedIn profile should be at least 80% complete. Make sure it includes your basic contact info (whatever you feel comfortable sharing online), your full name some place other than the name field, connections to other services (I share my Twitter and Google+ IDs, but not my Facebook one, which I use mainly for older friends). Get a few recommendations if you can.<br />
<br />
Answer questions in the appropriate user groups and collect some "Best Answer" credits and some Recommendations.<br />
<br />
Grow your network gradually and steadily. Set LinkedIn to forward InMails, Invitations and Introductions via email and respond to them promptly.<br />
<br />
Communicate with the people in your personal network from time to time, but don't pester them and NEVER send them sleazy marketing invitations.<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">POWER NETWORKERS</span></b><br />
Often called LIONs on LinkedIn, for "LinkedIn Open Networkers," this group includes many HR recruiters, sales people, politicians, and other people who feel they want to have a huge network. They may also be bloggers, writers, speakers or other freelancers and get leads for future gigs online.<br />
<br />
These people will normally allow almost anybody into their personal network. Some have thousands or tens of thousands of 1st degree contacts. They like being able to see everybody's profile on LinkedIn and to be able to find a connection with every company.<br />
<br />
Some are very generous with their time on discussion groups and may spend hours per day on LinkedIn as well as other services.<br />
<br />
Invite a couple of LIONs into your network and see your 3rd Level contacts grow while you sleep.<br />
<br />
So it is important for you to decide what style of networker you want to be. That style can change as you mature as a networker. However, as you expand your style, it is difficult to dial it back from an open networker to a more moderate style. So proceed appropriately.<br />
<br />
In the next post, we'll discuss how being in job search might be a good reason to change the way you network.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>Andrew Brandthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04129551909689974821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914148338433203177.post-25460302473048832512012-01-16T12:14:00.000-08:002012-01-16T12:14:50.354-08:00Free Kingsoft Office Pro 2012 download todayFor the next 12 hours, (until midnight, west coast time), you can download a free copy of Kingsoft Office Pro 2012, legally, from the website Giveaway of the Day <a href="http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/kingsoft-office-suite-professional-2012/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+giveawayoftheday%2Ffeed+%28Giveaway+of+the+Day%29">http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/kingsoft-office-suite-professional-2012</a><br />
<br />
The suite normally sells for $70. It is an imitation (dare we say ripoff) of Microsoft's Word, Excel, and Powerpoint..<br />
<br />
<br />
I wrote about the package in an earlier post:<br />
<br />
Chinese Kingsoft & Yozo Office sing G&S in new versions<br />
<a href="http://frugalguidance.blogspot.com/2011/12/free-and-cheap-software-for-soho-office_8850.html">frugalguidance.blogspot.com/2011/12/free-and-cheap-software-for-soho-office_8850.html</a><br />
<table class="post_link_table" id="post_link_tbl_5570761" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; background-color: white; color: #5d5d5d; font-family: sans-serif, Arial, Helvetica; font-size: 12px; height: 16px; padding-bottom: 2px; white-space: nowrap; width: 570px;"><tbody></tbody></table>Andrew Brandthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04129551909689974821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914148338433203177.post-21387972369916339452012-01-13T14:25:00.000-08:002012-01-13T14:30:21.608-08:00First LinkedIn Dating Service Launches<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvTyVi4ec0wcd2e6xtN29kSqjaGT8itU8LW8Nei1jhUdjHErXcpH12KN48i9gc9WCM1kdZazzPYjU6tmUg3jbdh3ka3Jzt2W1UCvPJ2OpMj_cnHwOqeYrjO8oiuEbqFULMIt4Fm5qdNJQU/s1600/LinkedIn+Dating+Headline.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="131" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvTyVi4ec0wcd2e6xtN29kSqjaGT8itU8LW8Nei1jhUdjHErXcpH12KN48i9gc9WCM1kdZazzPYjU6tmUg3jbdh3ka3Jzt2W1UCvPJ2OpMj_cnHwOqeYrjO8oiuEbqFULMIt4Fm5qdNJQU/s640/LinkedIn+Dating+Headline.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It had to happen, especially with LinkedIn’s demographics showing the wealthiest average membership of any of the social networks.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
<br />
LinkedIn now has a dating service. Actually, the service is Hitch.me (which, unfortunately, sounds more like a horse rental site than a dating service to me, but maybe I don’t know the current dating scene).</span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHmvR7OzhAVs886xxLjPzBTrzuBl_tHacTcDZogSEpN31ISgBQFYN-CiW3cR8UXv4Uny_dq5fRpiyYxNvRP5xq340_8uMMd0t-P5ql4QIFviNdAhoouUsqfeHEhP1gO8KUf3-MALNDwAT4/s1600/Hitch.me.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHmvR7OzhAVs886xxLjPzBTrzuBl_tHacTcDZogSEpN31ISgBQFYN-CiW3cR8UXv4Uny_dq5fRpiyYxNvRP5xq340_8uMMd0t-P5ql4QIFviNdAhoouUsqfeHEhP1gO8KUf3-MALNDwAT4/s640/Hitch.me.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Membership is free with access to your LinkedIn credentials. LinkedIn members looking for love (UnLinked Lovers? – lots of possibilities for new LinkedIn group titles here!) can join free, but you need to purchase credits to contact others. You can view LinkedIn profiles before making contact.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">No word on keyword or premium searches, or on new dating sections for your LinkedIn profile, yet. Presumably you could create a dating presentation and post on your LinkedIn profile with Google Presentations or Slideshare. And you could post photos of your sexy, premium-gym-sculpted body using the Box.net application. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Nevertheless, either this move is genius or an effort doomed to fail due to excessive geekiness and soon-to-arrive SEO marketing keyword overkill in daters’ profiles. (I hesitate to mention the fact that, even with current LinkedIn head shots, its obvious that many members haven’t been actively working out for a while.) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As Hitch.me says in its FAQ sheet, “It is safe to assume that majority of the members on the site are corporate professionals looking for love. Having said that you should take all the necessary precautionary measures of dating someone online.” (And we all know that corporate professionals never indulge in inappropriate behavior in or out of the workplace.) <Insert your own Herman Cain joke here> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And we just needed one more incentive for establishing fake LinkedIn profiles, didn’t we? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In any case, I’m sure much, much more will be written about the service, serious and tongue-in-cheek. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For Veena Bissram’s original article on Mashable, see </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://mashable.com/2012/01/12/hitch-me-linkedin-dating-site/">http://mashable.com/2012/01/12/hitch-me-linkedin-dating-site/</a><span style="color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Hitch.me is at<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"> </span><a href="http://www.hitch.me/">http://www.hitch.me/</a> <span style="color: #222222; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Kewords: LinkedIn, Love, dating, singles, hitch, SEO</span></div>Andrew Brandthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04129551909689974821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914148338433203177.post-20205922206645925582012-01-12T21:47:00.000-08:002012-01-12T21:47:38.113-08:00The Seven Types of Evernote Users<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>1. List makers</b>
create</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
</div>
<ul>
<li>To Do lists</li>
<li>shopping lists</li>
<li>gift lists (with photos and price tags)</li>
<li>packing lists (for home moves and office storage)</li>
<li>travel agendas</li>
<li>conference agendas</li>
<li>people to meet (and, sometimes, people to avoid)</li>
<li>job descriptions</li>
<li>books to read and/or books already read</li>
<li>good restaurant meals (with photos)</li>
<li>wine labels, tea tastings, coffee dealers (or other tasty
things)</li>
<li>stamps collected & photographed</li>
<li>ticket stubs</li>
<li>tweets posted or collected</li>
<li>receipts for reimbursement</li>
<li>house or apartment hunting lists</li>
<li>bucket lists </li>
</ul>
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<b>2. GTD enthusiasts</b>.
There are bloggers who will go into excruciating detail on how to use Evernote
to organize your life and <i>Get Things Done</i>
(from the book by David Allen). (There are others who will do almost anything
to avoid these sites.)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>3. Networkers</b> use Evernote to collect business cards,
photos, names, plan your next networking event, list people to meet, and track LinkedIn contacts and people to invite.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(<i>Hint:</i> if taking photos at a networking event, ask people to
hold up their name tags so you can read them in the photo, too.)</div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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<b>4. Planners</b> use
Evernote to organize: </div>
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</div>
<ul>
<li>events ranging in size from a private dinner to a half million dollar
fundraiser</li>
<li>conferences</li>
<li>job hunting</li>
<li>meetings</li>
<li>agendas</li>
<li>assigned tasks</li>
<li>instructions</li>
<li>maps</li>
<li>menus and catering info</li>
<li>price lists</li>
<li>decorators</li>
<li>volunteers and volunteer job descriptions</li>
<li>venue info with contacts</li>
<li>PR specialists and connections</li>
<li>janitorial services, and</li>
<li>temp agency contacts, among other things.</li>
</ul>
<br />
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<br /></div>
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<b>5. Creatives</b> find
new ways to use Evernote for their business, hobbies, song lyrics, poems,
drafts, blogging, photo sessions (including studio diagrams and shot notes), makeup notes, hair styles, writing and researching, repertoire lists, reviews (only good ones), press clippings and story boarding.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>6. Collaborators</b>
use Evernote with others: your personal assistant, your job search group, your
baseball team, your wiki group, your work team. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Evernote is being used by a detective agency, realtors,
lawyers, coaches, and farmers. (Of this blog's seven groups, this may be the only which
which requires a paid account for full usability.)</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>7. Home & Family Data
Collectors</b> use Evernote to keep track of</div>
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</div>
<ul>
<li>all your warrantees for anything you buy with the receipts
and date of purchase</li>
<li>scan or photograph your instruction and repair manuals and
other How-To’s</li>
<li>keep lists of your kid’s school supply requirements</li>
<li>summer reading lists</li>
<li>permission slips</li>
<li>homework assignments</li>
<li>teachers’ names and contact info</li>
<li>kids’ friends’ names and parents (<i>tip:</i> take photos of your kids’
friends with their parents – it helps you associate which parents belong to
which kids and they won’t think you're creepy photographing just kids)</li>
<li>list your kids’ friends’ food allergies (so you don’t
accidentally send them to the hospital during the birthday party)</li>
<li>lists of all your repairmen (and repairmen recommended by
friends)</li>
<li>track all your insurance policies</li>
<li>doctors’ phone numbers</li>
<li>immunizations</li>
<li>photos of science projects and awards earned</li>
<li>report cards, of course</li>
<li>photograph and file those holiday cards (after keeping them on the
fridge for a respectful period of time)</li>
<li>take-out menus from your favorite home delivery restaurants (pictures of your favorite pizzas are optional)</li>
<li>gift/wish lists for your kids and your extended family</li>
</ul>
<br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As you can see, there’s an endless list of ways to use
Evernote to track your work, your play, and your life. See <a href="http://www.evernote.com/">http://www.evernote.com/</a> to get started, or
try one of the other notebook apps described in the <i>Frugal Guidance </i>post: <a href="http://goo.gl/wLwbs">http://goo.gl/wLwbs</a>
.<br />
<br />
<i>Please add your ideas in the comments.</i></div>
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<br /></div>Andrew Brandthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04129551909689974821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914148338433203177.post-38891398896250855432012-01-11T19:11:00.000-08:002012-01-11T19:21:02.367-08:00National Letter Writing Week<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the <b>"Why didn't anybody tell me?"</b> category, I just learned today that this week (January 8th-14th) is National Letter Writing Week (in the U.S.) or Universal Letter-Writing Week according to the International Society of Friendship and Goodwill. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So whether your goal is to promote universal friendship and goodwill, or to help save the U.S. Postal Service, or just to get off your tush (actually, to get <i>on </i>your tush, but you know what I mean) and write some thank you letters for your holiday gifts, there is still time this week to get out those letters AND celebrate the week as you feel appropriate. (And if you wanted to extend the week to the 15th or later, since you had such short notice, I won't tell.)</span><br />Andrew Brandthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04129551909689974821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914148338433203177.post-51774550594017882972012-01-07T17:05:00.000-08:002012-01-07T17:05:18.719-08:00The notebook applications – online and off<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4bMpQJtzs9Li5KlCbhAn5IXCuiXvjlkSx5m3VfpELP-RcDE8xfHhtmWVp1Ko5zjn3koZRcZxHGMr5yoYZmDPf7dIhdUTrgp8RpQ1yGFGYRAZqDvwofIvnzZLlgRzmLxsDiQQe_0B9MV3i/s1600/Notebook+apps+header.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4bMpQJtzs9Li5KlCbhAn5IXCuiXvjlkSx5m3VfpELP-RcDE8xfHhtmWVp1Ko5zjn3koZRcZxHGMr5yoYZmDPf7dIhdUTrgp8RpQ1yGFGYRAZqDvwofIvnzZLlgRzmLxsDiQQe_0B9MV3i/s640/Notebook+apps+header.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">The next step in human
evolution or just a good place to park your data?</span></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">In
our previous discussion on how to organize information using outliners,
mindmaps, files and even 3x5 cards, we discussed some of the advantages of
using notebook applications which are, essentially, free-form databases. It
might be an exaggeration to say that these applications are the next
evolutionary step in human memory capacity, but they sure can be useful.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">If
you want to use a notebook application, there are some wonderful choices for
you to consider. Here is my take of the advantages and disadvantages of the
various offerings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="http://springpadit.com/" target="_blank"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Springpad</span></b></a><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> emphasizes social
networking tools rather than just collecting data. It is primarily a web
application which can also be accessed using Android and iPhones and iPads — no
downloadable PC or Mac apps, yet. Springpad has some unique features, like the
ability to scan a bar code with your phone to import the info on the product
(say, a book) directly into Springpad. It also has a digital felt board area
where you can arrange different pages in a notebook on a wall. (Unfortunately, this
feature appears only to work in Chrome and Safari so far). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">You
can create notebook pages, tasks and add things to a “Look it up” area. You can
also create both public and private RSS feeds. Presumably, other Springpad
users can look through your public RSS feeds to see what you are following.
This fits in with the “Friends Stuff” (which, grammatically, should be
“Friends’ Stuff”), which allows you to choose which Facebook friends to follow to
see their favorite books, movies, games, TV shows, and places. The interface
facilitates sharing info (recipes, recommended books, films, restaurants),
which makes it great for online communities. I never found Springpad a useful
place for individuals. People who value privacy probably should avoid Springpad
(and, apparently, Facebook, too). Some features may only work with Chrome
browsers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://www.springnote.com/" target="_blank">Springnote</a>.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Although the name
is similar, Springnote takes a very different approach from Springpad. When you
create a notebook you decide whether it will be private (personal, but allowing
you to share with others) or a group notebook (which is more like a <a href="http://www.techterms.com/definition/wiki" target="_blank">wiki</a> </span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">environment where all
members can view, create and add information). Since sharing information is an
important part of Springnote, you can use your RSS feed application (such as
Google Reader) to show updates to other members’ notebooks. You can add other
members to your “watch” list, and use search tools to find content you are
interested in. Once you visit another person’s notebooks, you can leave
comments. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Springnote
appears to have one of the best text editors of the notebook apps, allowing you
pretty full formatting of text, including list and paragraph styles. You can
also export a Springnote page to your blog – which might be particularly useful
if you want a group to take a wiki approach to creating blog posts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Likewise,
Springnote’s wiki approach allows you to easily create workspaces for formal
and informal work groups with other users around the world. You can allocate
different permissions for reading and editing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Among
the other features are a Dashboard, similar to what you find on project
management applications. You can easily see which pages have been updated, add
tags, organize pages into a tree structure (like an outliner), view page
histories and download HTML backups of files. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Membership
is free and you get up to 2 GB free storage. In addition to working online, you
can use iPhone and iPad applicatons, but there doesn’t appear to be an Android
app. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">If
you need fairly complete word processing tools, want to connect your notebook
to your blog, or want to create an ad hoc or permanent wiki-style work group,
Springnote might be a very attractive option if you don’t have to work off-line
or use non-iOS equipment. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://www.ubernote.com/" target="_blank"><b>übernote</b> </a>has fewer social
tools and its main use is to take actual notes. (What a radical idea!) If you don’t
need to share notes with others or create workgroups, überNote is a nice online
option. You can create check-off lists, tag information, collect web references
(with their übermark tool) or just import the entire page. There is a lightning
tag you can use for important notes and reminders. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
main application is online, but you can access it from phones and use
additional tools to collect information via browsers. UberNote includes free
and paid levels, but will be adding a more expensive premium level which will
include SSL secure connections, use of folders to collect different pages, more
and larger files, and a new voice to note utility. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://notebook.zoho.com/">Zoho Notebook</a></span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Previously, Zoho’s
notebook was a very basic and boring notebook application; it’s main attraction
was that it was part of a large application suite. Today’s Zoho Notebook (in <i>beta</i>) has grown to include many of the
features of OneNote and Evernote and beyond. It lets you store text, graphics, audio,
video, HTML, and you can also embed URLs, RSS, lists, Zoho writer docs,
spreadsheets, presentations, and files. You can also create well-formatted text
files and spreadsheets directly within the notebook with its mini-Writer and mini-Sheet
tools. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">You
can share notebooks with others and publish them, too. It does have a few features
that Evernote doesn't have: You can embed videos in Zoho Notebook. (You can
attach short videos in Evernote, but it doesn’t appear that you can watch them
within Evernote.) You can create functioning spreadsheets in Zoho, Evernote
just uses tables, and Zoho’s formatting tools are superior to Evernote.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">If
you use Zoho as your main office workspace, combining the Notebook and Zoho’s clipping
bookmark might be a nice way to centralize all your research in one location.
But there are no desktop or phone applications for Zoho Notebook as there are
for Evernote. Individuals may use all of Zoho’s applications for free.
Feature-wise, Zoho is creating an impressive multi-media data collection tool.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/onenote/">Microsoft OneNote</a></span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> is a well done
but more complicated program with PC, online, and Windows Phone and iPhone apps
(no Mac or Android versions). You must buy one of the Office 2010 suites for
the latest version, it’s not sold separately. (OneNote 2007 does not sync with
the newer online OneNote pages.) Like all Microsoft programs, it is
feature-rich and allows you to select commands in many ways (ensuring a longer
learning curve). The lack of tags is, in my opinion, a major weakness of the
program as is its search function. However, with web, installed and Sharepoint
tools, it can be a powerful information resource for teams in a business setting.
If you already own Office 2010, by all means give it a look. For me, the lack
of Android support and the necessity of buying an entire Office suite to
upgrade are fatal weaknesses.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://www.evernote.com/">Evernote</a></span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">. One of the ways that Evernote
blows its competition out of the water is its almost universal accessibility.
There are downloadable desktop versions for both </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Macintosh OS X and
Windows; apps for iPhone, iPod, iPad, Android, Blackberry, Palm, WebOS and
Windows Phone 7, and it works with Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome and other
browsers, including various clipping and reading tools. You can also submit
clips via email and send tweets to Evernote by adding “MyEN” to the tweet. (You
can set up a circle in Google+ specifically to forward any of your messages to
Evernote.) You can also share notes with your Facebook friends, and with Google
contacts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
Evernote offers universal file synchronization for plain and formatted text, images,
audio, photographs and PDFs. A great feature is its ability to search
for and index text from within images and PDF files. So, for example, you can take
a picture of a whiteboard presentation with your phone and send it to Evernote
online. Evernote will search the photo for text and index that text for easy
search. That picture and keywords will sync with your desktop app, too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
For free accounts: you can upload up to 60 megabytes/month free. (I’ve never
exceeded it.) You can share access to your notes or publish them to the web
with an URL. (Shared editing takes a paid account, however.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Paid accounts cost $5 per month or $45 per year, and allow you to
upload up to 1 GB of data per month. You can sync any file format as long as
the file size is under 25 Mb. The paid accounts also add secure SSL encryption,
priority tech support, priority image recognition (to find searchable text), and
no ads. It will also search PDFs for text and index the text. Another paid
advantage is the ability to store your complete Evernote collection on your
smart phone, so you can access your notes even when not connected to the internet.
Other premium services are collaboration capabilities and the option to allow
others to edit shared pages. There are discounted memberships for three or more
sharing an account for a workgroup.</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In the past year, the company has
begun developing additional programs to augment Evernote. Its first new app, <b>Skitch</b>, allows you to edit and draw on
photographs which you can then send to Evernote or to other applications.
Evernote <b>Clearly</b> is a browser app
which allows you to read web articles in a variety of fonts and sizes without
all the background ads and rigmarole (similar to Readability, but quicker). Clearly
also works with Evernote’s clipping tools to allow you to save selections or
entire articles in Evernote. Evernote <b>Food</b>
is designed for foodies who like to photograph and write about their culinary
experiences, so far only available for iOS. Evernote is also developing <b>Hello</b>, which is a people manager (much
like a contact manager), but your contacts can help create their own profile.
Rumors are that a new advanced To Do list manager is in the works for release
sometime soon. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There is also a huge number of
outside utilities designed to work with Evernote. One, <b>Call Trunk</b>, is an internet phone service to make phone calls,
record them, and upload the sound files to Evernote, where you can add your own
notes and even transcribe the files. It works with Android, iPhone and
Blackberry phones and even integrates with your phone’s contact manager.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There are many other tools, including
over 100 phone and tablet apps to connect info (scans, business card photos,
handwritten notes) with Evernote – mostly for iOS but also Android and others,
too. There are many other desktop and web accessible applications which connect
your info with Evernote, including webcasting and groupware applications.
Hardware manufacturers from scanners to smart pens, to Wacom tablets, to VAIO
computers include software to connect with Evernote also. It’s hard to think of
any net-based program that is better connected. You can find these apps on
Evernote’s own web store called <b><a href="http://www.evernote.com/about/trunk/">TheTrunk</a></b>. There are also free applications and notebooks to share. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Evernote Essentials</span></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> is a PDF book by Brett Kelly just on using Evernote. There
are also a wide variety of tools and guides in Japanese – it appears that the
program is well received in Japan as well as in the U.S. Like its competitors,
Evernote has its own blog and community. In addition, Evernote has its own
Ambassadors — people who create blogs, webcasts and videos on how to use
Evernote in the home and in business. Evernote is well represented on blogs and
YouTube videos.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My Evernote Wish List. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If you, the reader, haven’t already
figured it out, Evernote is my favorite of this group. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">However, even with all these
features, I do have a few quibbles with Evernote. First, its universal green
interface reminds me of some old institutional green color schemes, which is
not a great psychological boost. A choice of colors or even skins would be nice.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Its text formatting options could add
styles for characters and paragraphs as well as formatting rulers and better
tabs. (Zoho and Springnote have better text formatting tools.) Evernote’s
tables are quite limited. Evernote could really benefit from embeddable
spreadsheets to replace tables, like Zoho Notebook. (Zoho uniquely has the
advantage of actually having its own spreadsheet program to embed into its
Notebook.) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Evernote really, <i>really</i>, <i>REALLY</i> needs a good To Do / Task List manager to add to its
notebooks. I would have gladly foregone many other features for this.<i> (I’ve been waiting years for this, Evernote.)<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It would be great if Evernote
allowed you to encrypt notes for greater security online. You can encrypt text
in Evernote’s Windows and Mac clients, but not online. Since you can create
private notebooks that are not shared online, that is not a bad option, but it
limits accessibility. (None of the reviewed programs above appear to encrypt
pages online. For this reason, users need to beware putting sensitive,
personal, student data, legal, medical or proprietary info or passwords online,
no matter which notebook they use.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Finally, as an Android user, I would
like to see more programs come out in Android before iPhone and iPad, naturally.
Also, it would make life simpler if The Trunk put iOS and Android apps on
separate pages or otherwise showed which was which without clicking to read the
description.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In conclusion, your choices:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So if universal connectivity, lots
of ways to submit notes, and a galaxy of add-on apps appeal to you, <b>Evernote</b> is probably your best choice.
If you are more interested in what your Facebook and other friends are reading,
watching, cooking and listening to, <b>Springpad</b>
may be the better tool.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If you want an app with wiki
features for a workgroup, you should compare <b>Springnote</b> and <b>Evernote</b>
to see which has the features you want. (<b>Zoho</b>
also offers a wiki application plus its notebook and all its other applications,
but they are separate programs. <b>Google</b>
offers free wiki tools, but is discontinuing its notebook app.) <b>Springnote</b> and <b>Zoho Notebook</b> appear to have the best word processing features,
too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If you are a spreadsheet maven and
like or need to embed spreadsheets in your notes (say, for a blog on using
spreadsheets or for data analysis), I’d give <b>Zoho Notebook</b> a good look. It can also export its pages in XHTML to
add to a web page.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If you are a student and use your
notebook or netbook computer to take all your notes where there is a universal Internet
connection, <b>UberNote</b> might be all
you need, but frankly, I’d try <b>Evernote</b>,
too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If your office already uses
Microsoft Office and Sharepoint, <b>OneNote</b>
is probably already installed and ready for use, online and off. The problem
there is training the staff how to use the program features and how to work in
groups. Macintosh users are left out in the cold, though, and are probably
already using Evernote.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But Evernote is the über-program to
compare all others to, and it’s growing new features and apps quickly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Coming soon: <i>The Seven Types of Evernote Users</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Key words</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;">Evernote, Springpad, Springnote, UberNote, OneNote, Zoho, notebook, wiki, workgroup, notes, apps, phone</span></div>Andrew Brandthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04129551909689974821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914148338433203177.post-58012989994605203912012-01-05T17:44:00.000-08:002012-01-05T17:44:47.313-08:00Getting Organized: Storing your Life’s Data<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC7tt0TyRCn1RYpYTayNBNwQB2JqdpeDE7LjV0Q4VUeCZhNb_vw_Klj9fW8rJSIn_Me9rWgpA247wi2-JE8p2oVyu157J03VjuZBiybTvmqdPWp6cWgoHL_K0GgzFREYSJ-30Fb3qu604V/s1600/File+cabinets.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC7tt0TyRCn1RYpYTayNBNwQB2JqdpeDE7LjV0Q4VUeCZhNb_vw_Klj9fW8rJSIn_Me9rWgpA247wi2-JE8p2oVyu157J03VjuZBiybTvmqdPWp6cWgoHL_K0GgzFREYSJ-30Fb3qu604V/s320/File+cabinets.png" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Information storage: Digital Notebooks vs. Outliners vs. Mindmaps
vs. Files</span></i></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If you write, do research, plan conferences and events, blogging, or
just handle large amounts of business or family information (and who doesn’t
these days?), collecting, organizing and retrieving information is the big task
for almost any computer user. And it should be. That’s what computers are designed
to do.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In ancient times, before PCs, students were taught in school to
divide research information into small units that fit on 3x5 cards in order to write
their research papers. You could sort the cards easily (and randomize them by
simply dropping them). You kept track of bibliographic information by using
numbers or codes on the data cards. Finding the card with the exact information
you wanted was a bit more challenging. But it was fairly efficient and entire
libraries of information could be searched using those little 3x5 cards in
catalogs. (3x5 cards are not dead. People still use them to track information,
with or without <i>Getting Things Done</i> planning. See Levenger.com’s pocket
briefcases for a luxurious example.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Then, back when Macintoshes were new and all, I had a nifty outlining
program called Acta which was a terrific place to keep data (notes from phone
conversations, research, text documents and much more) and handle information –
the challenge was keeping it all together hierarchically.(That card system
experience served well in this kind of environment.) If you have the type of
mind which thinks that way, an outliner is a wonderful way to store bits of
information. Even today, I have a two terrific Windows outliners, Maple
Professional and Treepad, but I never use them. Why? Because the notebook applications
have come of age.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A notebook application lets you organize pages of information. Pages
can hold text, graphics, web pages, tables, photos, sound files, videos, and sometimes PDF
files and spreadsheets – almost any type of data. You can clip and save a web
address or the entire web page. You can paste a phone number in, or an entire directory.
Just as on a bookshelf, you can organize your information into separate notebooks
(or separate card files if you prefer that analogy). You can think
hierarchically, so you know where to look for any kind of information. Or you
can use tags to make it easier to find things, even if you just dumped all your
information into one huge notebook. OneNote has notebooks with Tabs for various
sub-divisions, and pages for each tab. Evernote has Stacks for organizing
related notebooks and tags which you can use to find things. Most notebook applications
allow you to share individual pages or entire notebooks and allow teams to work
collaboratively. Or you can publish it to the web so anybody can read it if
they have the URL. (Try <i>THAT</i> with your 3x5 card.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So in a notebook you give up some hierarchical features, but you can
save lots of other types of information. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Mindmaps are great for creating and collecting ideas and building a
more visually oriented outline. Instead of folders, you have nodes off a
central idea. You can collect different file types insert text and graphics,
enter web links, and some allow you to attach files. You can collect large
amounts of data, but finding it is much more hierarchical, and most mindmaps don’t
use tags to find individual bits of information. With Freemind, for example,
it’s easy to see the connection between a mindmap and an outline. Select the
central core node, copy it, and paste it into a Word file, and you have a
beautifully formatted outline with all your mapped information. I often use
Freemind (a free, open source mindmap program) to gather ideas creatively, to
brainstorm, or just get the creative juices going. Other people sometimes use a
mindmap as their daily organizer. But I use a notebook to collect data.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You can also use separate files (say, Word, Excel, Powerpoint, graphics
files) to capture information and store it into folders using Windows Explorer
(or the Mac desktop). But it’s harder to find the information you want. It’s a
great way to store large amounts of information and individual documents and
templates, but not a great way to access it later – or to find the connections
between different bits of data in different folders. It also takes much more
effort to collect the information and save it all into separate files.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Any computer user can use any of these systems to organize their
information. A notebook has the advantage of flexibility, allows you to combine
a lot of file types, and makes it easy to find information, whether you are a
hierarchical guy or a tagging gal (or vice versa).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When it comes to collecting and retrieving information, one data
location isn’t enough any more. Almost all of the popular notebook applications
are available on the cloud so you can access it from any computer or your phone or tablet.
Some, like OneNote and Evernote also have installable applications for your
computer (PCs only for OneNote; PCs and Macs for Evernote). Most, nowadays, also
have smartphone and tablet applications so you can access your data (or collect
it) even when you’re away from your computer. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The ways to capture information have also increased. Instead of just
typing in data, you can scan it, photograph it, write it, use a smart pen (such
as Livescribe’s) which can remember what you write or draw. You can record
audio files, and some software (like Google Voice) will take your phone
messages, transcribe them into text, and send to your notebook via email. Camera
phones are becoming common ways to capture such diverse things as short notes
(such as sticky notes), encyclopedia references, contracts, the location of
your parking space at the mall or airport, or the contents of that box you’re
packing for the big move. Web browsers often have dedicated clippers to
automatically save any highlighted web information (or entire pages) into your
notebook. It’s the various ways of collecting this information that make
notebooks the organizer of choice for many info junkies.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the next post, we’ll talk about the specific applications, including
my favorite, Evernote.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Keywords: notebook, application, mindmap, outline, Evernote, OneNote,
Freemind, information management</span><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>Andrew Brandthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04129551909689974821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914148338433203177.post-65576041986604942622012-01-04T19:49:00.000-08:002012-01-04T19:49:34.238-08:00Part 12 Free and Cheap Software for the SOHO Office<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Google vs.
Zoho vs. Microsoft vs. others on the Cloud</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>This list began years
ago as a comparison between Google and Zoho, grew as Microsoft began offering
its Office Web Apps, and also now includes some of the many web applications
now available. Note that Microsoft’s Office Web Apps are designed to be used
alongside their installed Office counterparts, offering some limited
functionality online. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Word Processing<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Google Writer</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Zoho Writer</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Microsoft Word <a href="" name="OLE_LINK2"></a>(Office Web Apps)</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->ThinkFree Office online <a href="http://member.thinkfree.com/member/goSignin.action">http://member.thinkfree.com/member/goSignin.action</a></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Yozo Office online <a href="http://www.yozooffice.com/products/yozo-web-office/">http://www.yozooffice.com/products/yozo-web-office/</a>
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Adobe Buzzword <a href="https://acrobat.com/">https://acrobat.com</a>
<br />
(the only online word processor using Postscript fonts)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Spreadsheet<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l10 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Google Spreadsheet</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l10 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Zoho Sheet</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l10 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Microsoft Excel (Office Web Apps)</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l10 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->ThinkFree Office online</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l10 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Yozo Office online</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Presentations /
Slideshows<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l12 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Google Presentation</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l12 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Zoho Show</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l12 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Microsoft Powerpoint (Office Web Apps)</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l12 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->ThinkFree Office online</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l12 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Yozo Office online</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l12 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->SlideShare <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/">http://www.slideshare.net/</a>
(includes online sharing community)</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l12 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->SlideRocket <a href="http://www.sliderocket.com/">http://www.sliderocket.com/</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Notebook / Web
Clipping / Research<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Google Notebook</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Zoho Notebook</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Microsoft OneNote (Office Web Apps)</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Evernote <a href="http://www.evernote.com/">http://www.evernote.com/</a>
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Springpad <a href="http://my.springpadit.com/">http://my.springpadit.com/</a>
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Springnote <a href="http://www.springnote.com/en">http://www.springnote.com/en</a>
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->UberNote: <a href="http://www.ubernote.com/" target="_blank">http://www.ubernote.com/</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Email<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l21 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Google Gmail</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l21 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Zoho Mail</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l21 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Microsoft Hotmail & Business Productivity
Online Suite</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l21 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Yahoo! Mail</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
(plus
many, many others)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Contacts<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l13 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Google Gmail</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l13 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Zoho Mail (see also Contacts portion of Zoho
CRM)</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l13 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Windows Live Hotmail</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l13 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Plaxo <a href="http://www.plaxo.com/">http://www.plaxo.com/</a>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Calendars (private and
shared)<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo7; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Google Calendar</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo7; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Zoho Calendar</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo7; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->30 Boxes <a href="http://30boxes.com/">http://30boxes.com/</a>
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo7; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Tungle <a href="http://www.tungle.com/">http://www.tungle.com/</a>
(calendar coordinator & meeting scheduler)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Chat / Internet
Messaging<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l15 level1 lfo8; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Google Talk</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l15 level1 lfo8; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Zoho Chat</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l15 level1 lfo8; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Windows Live MSN Chat</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l15 level1 lfo8; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Kool IM <a href="http://koolim.com/">http://koolim.com/</a>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Wiki<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l19 level1 lfo9; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Included in Google Sites</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l19 level1 lfo9; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Zoho Wiki</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l19 level1 lfo9; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Springnote <a href="http://www.springnote.com/en">http://www.springnote.com/en</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Database Applications<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l14 level1 lfo10; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Zoho Creator</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l14 level1 lfo10; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Microsoft SQL Server Express / </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Database Analysis<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l17 level1 lfo11; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Zoho Reports</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Project Management /
Collaboration<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l17 level1 lfo11; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Zoho Projects (can be integrated with Google Docs)</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l17 level1 lfo11; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->37 Signals' Basecamp, Highrise, Backpack,
Campfire <a href="http://37signals.com/">http://37signals.com/</a> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l17 level1 lfo11; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Huddle <a href="http://www.huddle.net/">http://www.huddle.net/</a>
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l17 level1 lfo11; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Wiggio <a href="http://www.wiggio.com/">http://www.wiggio.com/</a>
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l17 level1 lfo11; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Nozbe <a href="http://www.nozbe.com/">http://www.nozbe.com/</a>
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l17 level1 lfo11; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Cozi (Family Organizer) <a href="http://www.cozi.com/home.htm">http://www.cozi.com/home.htm</a> </div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l17 level1 lfo11; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->WizeHive
<a href="http://www.wizehive.com/">http://www.wizehive.com/</a></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l17 level1 lfo11; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->@task <a href="http://www.attask.com/">http://www.attask.com/</a></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 1in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><!--[endif]-->AjaxWorkspace <u><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.ajaxworkspace.com/">http://www.ajaxworkspace.com/</a></span></u><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 1in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><!--[endif]-->CoMINDwork <a href="http://www.comindwork.com/">http://www.comindwork.com/</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 1in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><!--[endif]-->glasscubes <a href="http://www.glasscubes.com/">http://www.glasscubes.com/</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 1in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><!--[endif]-->Liquid Planner <a href="http://www.liquidplanner.com/">http://www.liquidplanner.com/</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 1in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><!--[endif]-->ProjectOpen <a href="http://www.project-open.com/en/services/index.html">http://www.project-open.com/en/services/index.html</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 1in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><!--[endif]-->TeamBox
<a href="http://teambox.com/">http://teambox.com/</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 1in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><!--[endif]-->teamwork <a href="http://www.teamworkpm.net/">http://www.teamworkpm.net/</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 1in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Web Conferencing<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo12; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Google – Limited conferencing via Chat and Gmail
Video Chat</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo12; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Zoho Meetings</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo12; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Microsoft Office Live Meeting</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo12; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->ShowDocument<b>
</b><a href="http://www.showdocument.com/ds/main.jsf">http://www.showdocument.com/ds/main.jsf</a></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo12; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Vyew<b> </b><a href="http://vyew.com/site/index2">http://vyew.com/site/index2</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>CRM / Customer
Relationship Management<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l18 level1 lfo13; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Zoho CRM (may be used with Google Docs)</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l18 level1 lfo13; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online (Office Live Small
Business)</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l18 level1 lfo13; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->SalesForce.com <a href="http://www.salesforce.com/">http://www.salesforce.com/</a> </div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l18 level1 lfo13; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->BatchBook <a href="http://batchblue.com/">http://batchblue.com/</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Personal Organizer /
To Do Lists<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l7 level1 lfo14; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Zoho Planner</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l7 level1 lfo14; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Remember the Milk <a href="http://www.rememberthemilk.com/">http://www.rememberthemilk.com/</a><!--[if !supportNestedAnchors]--><a href="" name="OLE_LINK11"></a><a href="" name="OLE_LINK12"></a><!--[endif]--></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l7 level1 lfo14; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Ta-da <a href="http://tadalist.com/">http://tadalist.com/</a>
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l7 level1 lfo14; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->TeuxDeux <a href="http://teuxdeux.com/">http://teuxdeux.com/</a> </div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l7 level1 lfo14; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Toodledo <a href="file:///C:/Users/Andy/Documents/Blog%20-%20Frugal/www.toodledo.com/">www.toodledo.com/</a>
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l7 level1 lfo14; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Hiveminder <a href="http://hiveminder.com/">http://hiveminder.com/</a>
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l7 level1 lfo14; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->ToDoist <a href="" name="OLE_LINK16"></a><a href="" name="OLE_LINK15"></a><a href="http://todoist.com/">http://todoist.com/</a> </div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l7 level1 lfo14; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Vitalist <a href="" name="OLE_LINK20"></a><a href="" name="OLE_LINK19"></a><a href="file:///C:/Users/Andy/Documents/Blog%20-%20Frugal/www.vitalist.com/">www.vitalist.com/</a> </div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l7 level1 lfo14; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Nozbe <a href="" name="OLE_LINK23"></a><a href="file:///C:/Users/Andy/Documents/Blog%20-%20Frugal/www.nozbe.com/gtd/index">www.nozbe.com/gtd/index</a></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<i>Vitalist and Nozbe are
based on the Getting Things Done (GTD) system.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<i>Many other phone + web applications
exist, too<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Web Site Hosting<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo15; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Google Page Creator</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo15; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Microsoft Office Live Small Business</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo15; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->SnapPages <a href="http://www.snappages.com/">http://www.snappages.com/</a>
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
Many
other web site hosting solutions exist, too.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>News Feed Reader (RSS
& Atom)<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l16 level1 lfo16; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Google Reader</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l16 level1 lfo16; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Microsoft (available in Outlook and Internet
Explorer)</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
Also
available in other browsers and many downloadable programs.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Personalized Homepage<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l9 level1 lfo17; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->iGoogle</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l9 level1 lfo17; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->My Yahoo! (and many others)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>HRIS (Human Resources
Info Services) & Hiring Systems<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo18; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Zoho People (for existing staff)</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo18; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Zoho Recruit (for hiring services)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Business Suite<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo19; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Google Apps Premier Edition</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo19; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Zoho Business</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo19; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Microsoft Office Live Small Business &
SkyDrive Services</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Invoicing<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l20 level1 lfo20; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Zoho Invoice</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l20 level1 lfo20; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->FreshBooks <a href="http://www.freshbooks.com/">www.freshbooks.com/</a> </div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l20 level1 lfo20; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Ronin <a href="http://www.roninapp.com/">http://www.roninapp.com/</a> </div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l20 level1 lfo20; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->The Invoice Machine<b> </b><a href="http://invoicemachine.com/home">http://invoicemachine.com/home</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Phone & Answering
& Forwarding Services<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo21; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Google Voice</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Social Networking
Communications & Customer Services<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo21; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Zoho Discussions</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Small Business
Accounting<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo21; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Zoho Books</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo21; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->OutRight <a href="http://outright.com/">http://outright.com/</a>
(geared towards freelancers who report on Schedule C)</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo21; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->LessAccounting <a href="https://lessaccounting.com/index2.html">https://lessaccounting.com/index2.html</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Software Development
Tracking<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l11 level1 lfo22; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">ü<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Zoho BugTracker</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Conclusion:</b> This
is not an exhaustive list of online applications, but it is a good comparison
of the types of services offered by Google and Zoho with links to other
online office suites and similar independent services.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The value is in finding the applications that work best for
you. Mix and match according to your needs and work style. The Google and Zoho
applications are all free for individuals, as are many of the others. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Microsoft
applications work best when combined with their Office applications, which are
fairly pricy compared with the other options discussed in this series. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To find earlier published Frugal Guidance blog posts about these software
options, see:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Google</b> <a href="http://frugalguidance.blogspot.com/2011/12/part-9-free-and-cheap-software-for-soho.html">http://frugalguidance.blogspot.com/2011/12/part-9-free-and-cheap-software-for-soho.html</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Zoho</b> <a href="http://frugalguidance.blogspot.com/2011/12/part-10-free-and-cheap-software-for_26.html">http://frugalguidance.blogspot.com/2011/12/part-10-free-and-cheap-software-for_26.html</a>
and <a href="http://frugalguidance.blogspot.com/2011/12/part-11-free-and-cheap-software-for.html">http://frugalguidance.blogspot.com/2011/12/part-11-free-and-cheap-software-for.html</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>ThinkFree</b> <a href="http://frugalguidance.blogspot.com/2011/12/free-and-cheap-software-for-soho-office_15.html">http://frugalguidance.blogspot.com/2011/12/free-and-cheap-software-for-soho-office_15.html</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Yozo</b> <a href="http://frugalguidance.blogspot.com/2011/12/free-and-cheap-software-for-soho-office_8850.html">http://frugalguidance.blogspot.com/2011/12/free-and-cheap-software-for-soho-office_8850.html</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To read the entire series on alternatives to Microsoft Office
for the SOHO office, start with <a href="http://frugalguidance.blogspot.com/2011/12/free-and-cheap-software-for-soho-office.html">http://frugalguidance.blogspot.com/2011/12/free-and-cheap-software-for-soho-office.html</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Key words: Zoho, Google, Microsoft, applications, cloud,
SOHO, office, online</div>Andrew Brandthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04129551909689974821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914148338433203177.post-16984645886566254752011-12-30T10:54:00.001-08:002013-01-07T20:51:35.983-08:00The Black Art of Palmer<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: large;">Thanks for coming to read "The Black Art of Palmer" about learning Penmanship and handwriting. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: large;">This post has been rewritten, expanded, and posted on our successor blog, Frugal Guidance 2 at http://andybrandt531.com/2013/01/the-dark-arts-of-palmer/</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: large;">Please come and visit and comment. Thanks.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: large;">Andy</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: large;"><strike>A spiritual pilgrimage to low tech</strike></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><strike><br /></strike></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><strike>Several months ago I dove into a branch of knowledge and skill that I had ignored most of my life. It's a shadowy discipline that is scorned by most schools these days. Libraries have discarded the ancient tomes. It's more obscure than The Kabbelah. It may have fewer apostles than Zoroaster. The Rosicrucians find it too much of a black art to deal with it; even Dan Brown, of <em>The Da Vinci Code</em>, finds it too obscure to research. It's so unknown that <<em>gasp</em>> there is not a single LinkedIn group to discuss it! Nevertheless, I decided to delve into that sinister branch of knowledge known to the select as "cursive handwriting," or, to the alliteratively initiated, "Palmer penmanship." </strike></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><strike><br /></strike></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><strike>On this pilgrimage, I was confronted with questions and obstacles: Is there a place for cursive handwriting in a world of computers, wireless technology, the internet, and instantaneous communications? Is it possible to find the ancient texts that hold the secrets for the proselyte?</strike></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><strike><br /></strike></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><strike>There are people who emphatically answer, "YES!" These are not technophobes, Luddites, or hermits living in isolated cabins in rural Wyoming plotting revenge on society. These are people who see a good hand as an essential skill to personalize communications and stand out from the crowd of mail-merged, SEO'd, and instantaneously reproduced digitized communications. These communicators know that a neatly written envelope and letter stands a better chance of being opened and read than that crooked mailing-labeled or glassined business envelope. They know, also, that a well-penned Thank You note can be treasured for years while their digitized compatriots rot in the bottom of the wastebasket. </strike></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><strike>As a novitiate, I also learned, contrary to all expectations, that good handwriting actually makes it a pleasure to sit down and write an entry into a journal, or to take the time to write a letter, or just practice forming letters during commercials while watching TV. And, when you run out of things to say, traditional writing tutors will also improve your doodles! </strike></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><strike>Even for the Black (Ink) Arts, there are centers of knowledge. Ancient Egyptians had the Library of Alexandria. Medieval Pilgrims had Santiago de Compostela. The Knights Templar had the Temple of Solomon. Renaissance monks and priests looked to The Vatican. Masons have Washington, DC (at least according to Dan Brown). Penmanship scholars have IAMPETH.</strike></span><br />
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<strike><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;">What is IAMPETH? It is an obscure group of penmen and penwomen (it's too awkward to say penpersons), who belong to the gloriously and ornately titled:<em> The International Association of Master Penmen, Engrossers and Teachers of Handwriting</em>. The cathedral to their branch of knowledge is found at: </span><a href="http://www.iampeth.com/"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;">http://www.iampeth.com/</span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;">. </span></strike><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><strike><br /></strike></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><strike>Once you click on the link, you find a website unlike any you have ever seen. To find the tutorials, click on "Lessons" from the small-printed menus at the top of the opening page.</strike></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><strike><br /></strike></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><strike>In the following Table of Contents, select "Cursive Handwriting."</strike></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><strike><br /></strike></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><strike>The most complete method is the PDF file of <em>Palmer's Penmanship Budget</em> by Austin Norman Palmer, printed in 1919 when he was nearly sixty years old--a summation of his teaching career. The Palmer Method, which is probably the most famous of the handwriting tutors, is no quick-fix method. If you were to begin in a class, you would spend weeks just drawing circles and lines before working on letters. (If you're like me, though, you can dive right in to the letters, but expect to practice for a long time.) One of the nice things about this book is the extensive use of handwriting samples by other writers, with alternate, creative letter forms that Palmer, himself, must have admired or, at least, tolerated.</strike></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><strike><br /></strike></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><strike>If the Palmer Method seems too massive a mountain to scale, a bit simpler, and a bit plainer style is found in the "Champion Method of Practical Business Writing" by Mary L. Champion, which might be a good start before diving into the full Palmer Method.</strike></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><strike>If you want an alternative, you might also look at "A Complete Compendium of Plain Practical Penmanship" by L. M. Kelchner.</strike></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><strike>Of course, you should browse around all the other books and samples in the section, too. </strike></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><strike>If you want specially designed printed sheets to practice on, go to the "Guide Sheets" section.</strike></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><strike> </strike></span><br />
<hr />
<strike><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"> </span> </strike><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><strike><br /></strike></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><strike>Modern cursive was originally designed for business handwriting before typewriters and computers took over. Cursive style is probably the most adaptable to modern ballpoint and gel pens and pencils. For real calligraphy and older letter styles, you'll need to purchase the proper pens, nibs and inks to practice. It wouldn't hurt to own a paper company, too.</strike></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><strike><br /></strike></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><strike>For a more florid and older American style, you might want to try your hand at Spencerian Script, and there's even a separate IAMPETH section for the even more ornate "Spencerian Ladies Hand."</strike></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><strike><br /></strike></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><strike>Others might like to try their hand at the decorative but highly legible Copperplate/Engrossers Script. </strike></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><strike><br /></strike></span>
<strike><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;">For a more modern (and more expensive) look at handwriting, the Zaner-Bloser company still leads the charge for handwriting teachers with instructional aids. These are methods for teachers and classes, not so much for self-instruction, unfortunately. Check out </span><a href="http://www.zaner-bloser.com/"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;">http://www.zaner-bloser.com/</span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;">.</span></strike><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><strike><br /></strike></span>
<strike><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;">Another fascinating site for ornamental penmanship is </span><a href="http://www.zanerian.com/"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;">http://www.zanerian.com/</span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;">. </span></strike><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><strike><br /></strike></span>
<strike><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;">For more handwriting and notebook paper templates (mainly for younger students), go to </span><a href="http://donnayoung.org/penmanship/paper.htm"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;">http://donnayoung.org/penmanship/paper.htm</span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;">.</span></strike><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><strike><br /></strike></span>
<strike><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;">For a historic look at a few styles of lettering and calligraphy </span><a href="http://blog.europeanpaper.com/2011/12/01/penmanship-calligraphy-a-look-at-several-calligraphic-styles/"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;">http://blog.europeanpaper.com/2011/12/01/penmanship-calligraphy-a-look-at-several-calligraphic-styles/</span></a></strike><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><strike><br /></strike></span>
<strike><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;">A special blog post with Tips and Resources on Penmanship & Calligraphy </span><a href="http://blog.europeanpaper.com/2011/12/29/penmanship-calligraphy-tips-resources/"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;">http://blog.europeanpaper.com/2011/12/29/penmanship-calligraphy-tips-resources/</span></a></strike><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><strike><br /></strike></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><strike>As you venture on the spiritual journey, you may suddenly have an urge to delve into even more obscure branches of knowledge about pens, paper, notebooks, note-taking, ink and related technology. </strike></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><strike><br /></strike></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><strike>Fortunately, there are oodles of websites to learn about these topics, but it can easily grow into an obsession. </strike></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><strike>And then you may want to practice using those pens and papers in a journal, or start sending letters to people... and all of a sudden you're networking!</strike></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><strike>Finally, here are two commercial sites which have extensive blog lists for everything from writing to paper, journaling, ink and creativity:</strike></span><br />
<strike><br /></strike>
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><a href="http://rhodiadrive.com/cat/blogroll/"><strike>http://rhodiadrive.com/cat/blogroll/</strike></a></span><br />
<strike><br /></strike>
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><a href="http://quovadisblog.com/"><strike>http://quovadisblog.com/</strike></a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><strike><br /></strike></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><strike>You do not have to eschew your computer and digital technology to be a penman. There are ways to import your handwritten notes, lists, To Do's, and other ephemera into your computer. In fact, modern cell phones and their cameras make it a snap to import your notes (and all those Post-Its you had all over your computer monitor) into an organized file system, such as Evernote. But that's another post for another time.</strike></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><strike>Tags: cursive, Palmer, method, handwriting, penmanship, IAMPETH, Champion, writing</strike></span>Andrew Brandthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04129551909689974821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914148338433203177.post-75103360580615038832011-12-29T08:17:00.001-08:002011-12-29T08:50:37.730-08:00Time for a LinkedIn Tune-up?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQacINnvb9ek45ksUdI3lqv92U3XYgZh4NnJFtNU5bHZNlsNOz8XXWwDJmGBfHKxsljEWP4ZJh4uclJP6kXAKm2IX8vaD_Yoz9V97ga3snvqZ6fLPauPy9DuRW0p9CkOCtwfS1wWtxnxLU/s1600/Tune-up+machine.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQacINnvb9ek45ksUdI3lqv92U3XYgZh4NnJFtNU5bHZNlsNOz8XXWwDJmGBfHKxsljEWP4ZJh4uclJP6kXAKm2IX8vaD_Yoz9V97ga3snvqZ6fLPauPy9DuRW0p9CkOCtwfS1wWtxnxLU/s1600/Tune-up+machine.png" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;">If you've been using LinkedIn for a while and you rely on it for your job search, to build your business, or just to build your network -- the end of December and early January might be a good time to give your profile its annual tune-up. (Thanks to members of the Twitter-based #LinkedInChat for several of these ideas. Join us on Tuesdays at 8:00 pm EST.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;"><strong>Update your profile:</strong></span></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia;">If you haven't already done it, add the new skills tool.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;">If you learned new skills this year, be sure to add them.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;">Also add any training you received, awards or commendations.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;">Update the links on your profile. If you haven't done it recently, check to make sure all your links work.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;">If you are working and have changed roles, update your headlines accordingly.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;">If you are looking for work, make sure your headlines reflect what you are currently looking for.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;">Rearrange the parts of your profile to emphasize what's important to you and your goals.</span></span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><strong>Other tune-up ideas:</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><strong><br /></strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;">Review your groups. Are they providing you with leads or information, expanding your reach, or providing inspiration (or fun)? If not, drop those and add better ones. With a rumored 1million groups on LinkedIn, you should find some good ones for you.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Take some free time and add tags to your connections. (In </span><em style="font-family: Georgia;">Contacts</em><span style="font-family: Georgia;">, in the left column, find "Tags" and click on "Manage."</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Add an app to show off your work samples:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Box.net provides links to your uploaded sample files.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;">Google Presentations and Slideshare can be used to show off whatever you do. It can be as simple as one-page with your business card or as sophisticated as embedding a video of yourself.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;">If you blog, use the BlogLink or WordPress tool to show off your new blog posts.</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;">If you already use Box.net or another site to share work samples, make sure your documents are up-to-date. You don't want stale material on your profile.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;">Check with your contacts and see if there is anyway you can help them.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;">If anybody on LinkedIn did you a good turn or gave you good service this past year, write them a recommendation.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;">If you are a veteran, go to the <a href="http://www.linkedinlabs.com/" target="_blank">LinkedInlabs</a> site and check out the new veterans apps.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;">If you are not a veteran, go to the <a href="http://www.linkedinlabs.com/" target="_blank">LinkedInlabs</a> site and check out the other experimental apps.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;">Consider writing one recommendation a week. It's a great way to pay it forward and you may get a few good recommendations back, too.</span><br />
<em style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /></em><br />
<em style="font-family: Georgia;">If you have other ideas for an annual check-up for your LinkedIn profile, please leave a comment describing it.</em><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Now, please excuse me, I have to go to LinkedIn and start a tune-up.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;">Tags: LinkedIn, tune-up, profile, networking, job hunting</span>Andrew Brandthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04129551909689974821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914148338433203177.post-47902110126206918042011-12-28T07:29:00.001-08:002011-12-28T08:04:32.326-08:00Part 11, Free and Cheap Software for the SOHO Office<h2>
Zeal for Zoho for SOHO</h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Part B - Looking at the basic applications</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In Part A we examined the extensive list of Zoho applications and how Zoho can coordinate with Google apps. Now we review some of Zoho's specific applications for individual, small office, nonprofit and frugal workers. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><strong><em>Zoho Writer</em></strong> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Although Zoho’s Writer has been around for years, the newest version is still in beta testing , so it has more features, but they might not all be well documented. One apparent bug is that the Zoho menus on top of the page disappear when opening an older document, but reappear when you select a new document (at least in Chrome). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">One of my favorite features in Writer is that the interface combines both icon-based ribbons (similar to those in Microsoft Office since 2007) plus the option of accessing the same features from a drop-down menu. This is something many users wish Microsoft had done when they rolled out their 2007 apps. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Another distinction from Google's Writer, is a bottom-of-the-screen bar which tells you the number of pages (and which page you are on), the version number, the author, how long since last modified, creation date, word and character counts, all updated whenever the document is saved (which is automatic or manual). This could make it easier to track versions to revert to an earlier one. The bar also has three icons: click on the cloud and it lists your collaborators and offers a chat box; another for contextual comments, and a third for tags. Zoho allows you to sort documents into folders (like Microsoft) and by assigning tags (like Google). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There's also a small chat bar available, if you want.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Writer offers 27 English language fonts plus the graphical Webdings, equations, headers/footers, footnotes. You can directly insert HTML or view the entire document as HTML (which you can't do now on Google); you can also import or create HTML CSS stylesheets. Watermarks are a nice new feature, and you can select emoticons, which seems a little odd for a service geared towards business. Like Google, you can email the file directly if you don’t want to use the email app. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">One of the few features Zoho doesn't include is a paragraph (or character) style sheet (which MS Word and Google Docs have). This may be an issue if you regularly work on long, heavily formatted documents. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The REVIEW menu includes spell check, a custom dictionary, word count, and a thesaurus, and accesses your history, too. (There is no grammar checker.) The SHARE options include a Post to Blog command. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You can publish any document so anybody on the internet can access it, or invite selected users to read and/or edit it. (They don’t have to register with Zoho to read a document, but they must register to edit it.) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Doc Roll creates a embeddable link so you can post a link on your blog or website for a published document. There is a facility for Digital Signatures, and a separate Lock command so nobody else can work on your doc until you say its OK. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">VIEWS includes options for viewing the HTML code. The Page Format option lets you also assign some font and paragraph level spacing for the entire document. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Mailings lets you create mailmerge (or other merge) documents. Individuals are limited to sending 500 email documents per day. Enterprise accounts are unlimited. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There is a shared templates area, but there's not even a fraction of what you’ll find in Google or Microsoft. (But you should be able to open a template in Google Apps or Microsoft, save it, and import it into Zoho!) There are no graphic art search options as there are in Google or Microsoft and no word art (as in Microsoft -- but I find most of Microsoft's word art styles to be ugly). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You can export the documents from Zoho Writer to the following formats:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Microsoft Word - both .doc and .docx files </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">OpenOffice Writer files </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">RTF (Rich Text Format) files, which you should be able to open in virtually any other word processor </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Text only files </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">HTML (including links to your blog) </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">PDF creation (but not editing of imported PDFs)</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You can import all the same formats plus graphics, up to 10 MB in size. Modern MS Word documents import fine, but some of the graphics may shift position. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There is a bookmarklet you can add to your browser toolbar to take any text you find online and clip it to your Zoho Writer account. This appears to work similarly to Evernote's bookmarklet. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Currently, you cannot use Right to Left languages in Zoho Writer, but they say it is part of their road map for the future. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><strong><em>Other Zoho applications</em></strong> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In other Zoho apps, their Spreadsheet has a decidedly different interface than Google’s although (with a cursory look) it appears to support most of the same features. There is one toolbar for basic functions plus menus for publishing, sharing, and other tasks. It also let you embed a link in your blog or website to access a published spreadsheet. You can create Macros and use VBA editing, too. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Zoho Mail is a good email hosting site. It’s main advantage over Gmail and Outlook is that it let’s you assign emails to folders, like Outlook, and also assign tags (like Gmail), so it’s very flexible. You can create rules for sorting, filing and responding to email. I like the fact that, when sending an email from Zoho, you can attach any document from Zoho Docs, your own hard drive, and even from Google Docs! (I wish Gmail would let you do that.) Another nice feature is that you have links to all your available Zoho applications on the left hand side of the page, so you can switch back and forth easily. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Zoho Notebook has grown to include many of the features of OneNote or Evernote. It lets you store text, audio, video, HTML, and embed URLs, RSS, lists, Zoho writer docs, spreadsheets, and presentations, and files. You can also create text files and spreadsheets directly within the notebook with a mini-Writer or -Sheet interface. You can share notebooks with others and publish them, too. If you already use Evernote, you might not need Zoho Notebook, but it does have a few features that Evernote doesn't have: You can embed video in the free Zoho Notebook -- you need the paid version of Evernote to do that. You can create real spreadsheets in Zoho, Evernote just uses tables. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If you use Zoho as your main workspace, combining the Notebook and the Writer clipping bookmark might be a nice way to centralize all your research in one location. But there are no desktop or phone applications for Zoho Notebook as there are for Evernote. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Zoho just recently updated its CRM application, which you could use free as a contact manager on steroids. The new version includes the ability to import data from your LinkedIn contacts. I haven't had time to experiment with it, but it would be interesting to see if you could use the free individual version of CRM as an alternate LinkedIn database. (If any readers try it, please let me know how it works.) You can import and attach Google docs to Zoho's CRM records as well. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Freelancers might like the Invoice application. Freelance HR professionals might want to take a look at Zoho'sRecruit and People applications if you're not already committed to another system. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><strong><em>Conclusion</em></strong> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If you are ready to take all your creative and business activity to the Cloud, Zoho has a lot to recommend it. If you prefer some of Google's applications (say, perhaps, its spreadsheet or Gmail), there's no reason not to have a Google application in one browser tab and Zoho apps in others. You can try all of Zoho's apps for free, and most stay free for up to three users. Some of the workgroup and internet communications features may not be feasible for that small a group, but Zoho's rates should be reasonable. Zoho also offers discounted rates for nonprofit corporations. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If I was forced to select only one web app site for my online work, I'd probably chose Zoho, although the ability to mix and match other apps is great. With Google, Zoho, and many other software and specialized online applications available, corporations, web workers, telecommuters, and small and home office entrepreneurs have many more usable choices than ever before. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Keywords: Zoho, Writer, apps, office, SOHO, collaboration, business</span>Andrew Brandthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04129551909689974821noreply@blogger.com