Useless and Total Crap Folders for your Next Important Company Meeting!
These useless and total crap folders can be had for under 10 bucks to impress your boss how much great work you have done in the last few weeks. Yes, these folders can add some real usefulness and creativity into your organization for sure.
These brazen folders add wit, color, and honesty to organization.
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Loading ...DIY - How to Make a Book using Google Docs!
I’ve been thinking of writing several books lately and I came by this great guide on making a book using Google Docs over at Hackszine.
Currently, my editor Brian Jepson and I are collaboratively writing the book (tentatively titled) Google Office Hacks by O’Reilly using Google Docs. I wanted to outline the process we came up with, and maybe it’s helpful for you too for certain needs.
The base document we’re working on is the outline. It’s a linked table of contents which helps us to organize the broad shape of the book, and also see the status of progress. I’ve bookmarked the outline in Firefox and added a keyword shortcut within the bookmark properties, so to open it I just need to type “gohacks” into the browser address bar.
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(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5) Loading ...Go Green and “Digitize” your Physical Data into Digital Documents!
![Go Green and \"Digitize\" your Physical Data into Digital Documents!](http://zedomax.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/pdf.jpg "Go Green and \\"Digitize\\" your Physical Data into Digital Documents!")
Note: This is a paid review through ReviewMe.
As a former IT technician, I can understand the importance of digital documents. A lot of businesses today still uses hundreds for file boxes for all their information, creating more paper waste and information hard to file, organize, and retreive.
What exactly are digital documents?
Basically a digital document is your physical document scanned into digital files such as PDFs, Jpegs, etc..etc… If your business does not use more than 50% of all documents as digital files, your business maybe be considered a “wasteful” company by today’s digital standards.
What are digital documents important?
Digital documents can save hundreds or even thousands of trees per year for companies that traditionally use paper invoices, order forms, etc…etc…
Companies can start digitizing all of their information and start going green. Even better, you could probably even state, “Our company uses over 90% of digitized data and save XXX number of trees per year”.
In general, companies who use digital documents are far more organized and can backtrace any old document simply browsing through their hard drive instead of searching through boxes of physical files, which can be a costly in terms of both man power and physical storage space.
Of course, you could get a nice high speed scanner and digitize all your offline files yourself or you can resort to services from professional document management companies such as Digital Documents LLC, who provide full document management services and document scanning.
Most traditional companies will have hundreds of boxes of physical files that consist of accounting papers and other important documents such as patent files. By having all the information “digitized” into PDF files, you no longer need a physical space for your files nor do you have to worry about once-in-a-lifetime fire that could destory all your important information overnight.
Try visualizing all your stacked boxes full of files that are stuck in a corner of a warehouse all digitized and fitted into a portable 30GB harddrive you can carry with you anywhere in the world. Next time your client asks for proprietary information about your company, skip the IT guy and show it to him directly from your laptop.
Even better, you can “encypt” your information once it has been digitized unlike physical files.
If you are interested in turning your business green by digitizing all your paper data, you can check out the ten step process that Digital Documents LLC provides:
Digital Documents, LLC is a document scanning leader. We provide ISO 32000 compliant document conversion services that enable our Clients to successfully unlock the true value of the information contained in their files. The benefits gained from our scanning services result in increased productivity, performance and profits. Our Clients realize tangible benefits that reduce their total document management expense while increasing profits by optimizing their business processes.
Ten Stage Document Scanning Services Approach
Stage 1: Document Scanning Project Requirements
In this stage, your organization’s project requirements are defined utilizing the Project Tools. These requirements become the basis of the tailored solution we will develop to convert your files into Digital Assets. In addition, as a courtesy service, we schedule a time to process a set of sample documents for your Team’s review.
Stage 2: Documents Received
In this stage, we receive the project files and perform an inventory process to log and label these materials. These processes allow us to quickly retrieve any materials you may need while your files are in Our Care. Our goal is to serve your information access needs, minimizing the impact of this project on your business.
Stage 3: Document Preparation & Quality Review
In this stage, your files are prepared for scanning. The document preparation processes we utilize ensure that the natural order of each file is maintained and that the files are prepared to enable the best possible scanning results. The Preparation Team focuses on general project requirements (such as staple removal, binding removal, document repair and page orientation) and specific project requirements (such as special handling of Post-It Notes, color images and media). The Preparation Quality Lead performs our proprietary three-stage dDQualityActions© review of the prepared files. This entails a thorough review of the prepared files to ensure that all project requirements are met and that no variation is introduced into the process. Our experience with large-scale file conversion projects has shown that this unique approach minimizes any impact on quality.
Stage 4: Project Set-Up & Quality Review Procedures
In this stage, we tailor the Project Set-Up technical requirements based on the project requirements utilizing our dDSpeedScan® technologies. These requirements define the tailored processes and quality procedures we utilize to conduct each stage of your organization’s project. Our rigorous approach to tailoring the project specific technology requirements ensures the levels of accuracy your Team demands.
Stage 5: File Conversion & Quality Review
In this stage, your Team’s files are scanned utilizing our dDSpeedScan® technologies. Our scanning technologies and processes ensure the best possible image capture. The Scanning Team focuses on general project requirements (such as image settings, file format, page size and paper thickness), and specific project requirements (such as special processing of odd-size pages, color images and double-sided pages). The Scanning Services Quality Lead performs the dDQualityActions© review of the scanned files. This entails a thorough review of the files to ensure that all imaging requirements are met and that no variation is introduced into the process.
Stage 6: Post-Conversion Services
In this stage, the files are converted into the required file format and processed utilizing the required dDSpeedScan® image enhancement filters. If defined as a project requirement, Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is performed to enable word level search and retrieval. In this task, each letter in an image is processed utilizing our dDOptimaOCR
® technology. This advanced OCR technology ranks each character in a word to determine the best text recognition fit. Then once a word is generated, it is filtered through our proprietary dDAlgorithm© to ensure the highest quality results. Finally, the text is processed utilizing our sophisticated dDLayout© technology to accurately recreate the text layout of a page, providing the best possible search and retrieval accuracy.Stage 7: File Naming, Coding & Quality Review
In this stage, the files are named and coded to enable search and retrieval and, if OCR was performed, a secure word level search within and across the digital files. To achieve the highest quality coding results, we focus on naming and coding accuracy and validation. We accomplish this by leveraging our
dDImageCode© technology, a proprietary coding solution to capture, review and name files based on the project requirements. In addition, the Coding Quality Lead performs our proprietary three-stage dDQualityActions© review of the coded files. This entails a thorough review of the files to ensure that all coding requirements are met and that no variation is introduced into the process. Our last Coding Audit confirmed a Six-Sigma level of quality in the coding of “unstructured documents.”Stage 8: File Data Integration & Management
In this stage, the digital files and the coded fields are integrated utilizing our dDOCP© technologies and processes to ensure the best possible search and retrieval options. These “Optimally Coded Page” technologies ensure that each file and its corresponding coded fields are integrated to create a file that acts as a self-contained database. The result is files that are flexible and accessible from CDs, DVDs, PCs, Servers or your organizations Document Management System.
Stage 9: Project Deliverable & Quality Review
In this stage, your organization’s digital files are stored on Media/Posted/Hosted and a Project Status Report is prepared. We pride ourselves on our ability to provide the best possible deliverable in the time required, and have designed each stage in the conversion process with a focus on quality. As detailed in the description of the stages above, we take every measure to ensure consistency and quality while minimizing variation by continually improving our processes. This is a tenet of ISO 9000 and the Total Quality procedures to which we strive to adhere.
Stage 10: Deliverable Sent / Files Returned or Recycled
In this stage, your digital documents are shipped and the files Returned, Recycled or Certified Destroyed. Once you receive and review the digital files, we can initiate our electronic file destruction procedures, which permanently delete your files from our systems. The technology we utilize exceeds the U.S. Department of Defense’ secure file destruction requirements. This “electronic file shredder” completely removes all traces of your files and scrubs our hard drives to ensure that no file can be restored by data recovery utilities.
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...DIY - How to Make Invisible Ink!
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I’ve seen this invisible link before but here it is again! Next time you need to send that secret message, you will know how by bookmarking this post. :p
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Web2.0 Expo 2008 - SpringNote - Wiki-based Online Notes
HeeKyong Yoon from SpringNote.com, was nice enough to chat with me on their cool “wiki” product, SpringNote:
Click Here to View in Full Screen Mode
FYI, SpringNote.com is a subsidiary of NcSoft.com, the creators of legendary online game, Lineage.
Well, I tried out SpringNote, here’s a screenshot:
It’s very simple to use, just like a real notebook except you have unlimited number of pages plus you get bunch of already-made templates like Bookshelf, Monthly Plan, Recipe, and etc…etc…
What I found most interesting was that it is a “wiki” site but you don’t need to know any wiki markup language and start editing your online notes right away. You also have the option to share your notes or keep them private.
As far as technology goes, I love the fact that SpringNote has incorporated a LOT of AJAX. (probably mostly AJAX)
I might start using it more real soon. The only downside I saw was that SpringNote’s servers are hosted in Korea. Although the site does fairly fast, I measured, 168ms ping times from my PC in San Francisco.
FYI, Zedomax.com get 41ms ping times, 4 times faster as servers are hosted in San Diego, California.
Although they could keep running servers from Korea, I think they can grab much larger audience in the U.S. by simply serving their pages from servers in the U.S. (Besides, it’s probably much cheaper to host it here.)
Other than that, I find SpringNote as the next generation online note web app. I will have to dump my MS Outlook all together and start using SpringNotes, way simpler and easier for mass collaboration.
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Office Printing DIY - How to save time and money on printing and get your mail delivered faster!
Today, we will cover several ways that can help you to reduce cost of your printing, whether you are running a home business or a company with 1000 employees.
Make sure to Preview your documents before printing:
A lot of people might think this is something they do all the time but the truth is that most people waste a lot of paper printing out the wrong portion of their content, including myself.
Use that “Preview” button to preview what you are printing. Almost all applications including Firefox, Internet Explorer, Photoshop, and MS Word have this feature.
At least think about how many million trees would be saved if “everyone” used the Preview button?
Here’s an example of print preview on Firefox: (Yes, it’s so simple, isn’t it? Your actions can save a tree.)
Use Draft mode and Black and White mode for Drafts:
You can save additional time and ink if you are still working on your draft versions by using the draft mode.
Simply click on “Properties” and you should be able to set your printer to “Draft” or “Fast Draft” mode as shown here:
Save even more ink by printing in Grayscale:
Scan all documents “digitally” into CD or DVDs
Have you thought about all the stuff that could be digitized into a Jpeg or PDF file into a single CD or a DVD?
A lot of times, people will ask you to fax some important documents in order to verify your information when doing business.
By having all documents “digitized” and accessible from a single CD or DVD (or even your G-mail), you no longer have to remember where you left that Social Security card, passport, Business License, etc…etc… Although it is good idea to keep the original copies, I find it easier to e-mail my digital copies straight from G-mail.
I could be anywhere in the world and have access to all my important documents with just 1 CD or DVD instead of lugging all your documents everywhere with you, especially going over-seas.
Best ways to digitize your documents?
Get a good office scanner. I use an HP Deskjet F380, which cost me about $70 to do printing, scanning, and copying all-in-one. Although it’s slower than a laserjet, I can do most office work using it and it scans reasonably fast. I use it to scan all my invoices, receipts, and anything that can be scanned.
If you can afford it, there are some really nice laser version of the Deskjet, LaserJet M5025, which can scan hundreds of documents at a time and send them to your e-mail when its done via a single PDF file. This can prove to be very handy for all those POs and Invoices you have stacked up in huge boxes. I remember on one of my first jobs, I digitized about 20 boxes of POs (around 100,000 letter sized papers) from Wal-mart. (Think of how many trees I saved for their future POs!)
Nowdays, that company can simply access every one of their POs via a DVD-ROM.
Buy ink cartridges online from 3rd party suppliers
Buy cheap ink cartridges from 3rd party suppliers like DataBazaar.com. I find that their prices are much cheaper even if you are buying an OEM brand.
CD and DVD Labels
Now, just make sure to label them right using good CD labels, especially if you do have a lot of data to digitize. You can download free CD templates over here. These templates are great if you actually want to organize your digitized documents. You can even get some really good discounts on CD/DVD labels here.
Label Printers
If you like to spend more money, you can always get a label printer too. I have tried Dymo label printers before and these work really good with address labels or CD/DVD labels.
Print Labels and get your mail delivered faster!
Instead of spending time writing the addresses, I use my printer to print out labels so I save time on my frequent mailings and my mail gets there faster.
(Did you know that US Postal Service actually uses a scanner to process mail? If you have handwritten addresses, your mail will could actually take 1-2 days more due to manual scan by human workers. I did learn this through an executive manager I talked to at Pitney Bowes.)
By using labels instead of handwriting, you will save yourself hassle of writing and your mail will get to your destination faster. (You can even print out the US Postal Service address bar code on the envelope itself to ensure super fast delivery.)
You can also save some money by ordering labels from online label shops such as WorldLabel.com, which I have used before and found 40-50% cheaper than retailers. They even have popular “size-compatible” Avery labels, much cheaper than buying the branded ones.
Now, if you think this blog post will “change” printing behaviors of our readers, please leave a comment on how many trees you think we saved today.