Category: Software

Microsoft Removed Desktop Office Apps From Its Free Nonprofit Grant – and That is Disappointing

Business / Microsoft / Software / Technology

For years, Microsoft’s nonprofit program gave a wonderful benefit – free Microsoft Office licenses for up to 10 users. For the nonprofits I help, it’s been a huge benefit to give volunteers and employees access to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and the other Microsoft Office applications. (Although Google Workplace is superior, it’s hard to break people’s old habits of using Microsoft.) Sadly, Microsoft discontinued the license grant for nonprofits to get free licenses for Microsoft Office. Nonprofits can still receive the “Microsoft 365 Business Basic” for free, but …

WordPress Doesn’t Want Honest Reviews

Business / Reviews / Software / Technology / Websites

WordPress (Automattic) has blocked and banned me before for writing reviews that weren’t positive about a plugin or theme. (Kinda sounds like fascistbook, right?) And now they’ve done it again when my review was very simple and clear – that a plugin doesn’t mention that it’s VERY limited unless you upgrade to their paid version. Of course I support developers making money on the code they write – but bait and switch should have gone out with greasy car salesman and wide ties. So why does WordPress think …

Google has Eaten Microsoft’s Lunch

Business / Microsoft / Software / Technology

I worked at Microsoft for many years in the mid-1990s and late 2000s. I was a Microsoft fanboy. I got especially good with the Microsoft Office suite, and could do just about anything faster than most anyone I knew. I had all the keyboard shortcuts down, was great with Microsoft Excel formulas, could format anything in Microsoft Word, and was a master with Outlook, Publisher, PowerPoint, and even did a lot with Access. Then, Microsoft completely messed up Office with their “ribbon” toolbars. They drastically changed – or …

AI Time-Lapse of Your Life

Databases / History / Software / Technology / Video

I was scrolling through someone’s social media timeline and noticed they had a lot of selfies. The idea popped into my head that this is where actual AI (not NLP / Natural Language Processing, that people are CALLING AI) could be used – even if just for fun. Remember the videos of people who have taken a photo of themselves every day for the past “X” years? Actual AI could look at one (or all) of your social platform timelines, do face recognition to find you, then compare …

Dr. Ben Franklin or: How I Learned to Ignore Lazy Entrepreneurs and Love the Email Address

Business / Marketing / Microsoft / People / Software / Technology / Websites

I’ve been searching for a local or regional marketing consultant to hire, to put together a marketing plan. To me, the most obvious place to me to find that person is LinkedIn – the social network for business. To my great disappointment, of the more than 60 profiles I opened for people listed as “Marketing Consultant” or “Independent Marketing Consulting” only THREE of them had contact information on their LinkedIn profile. It should be a giant red flag if a MARKETING CONSULTANT doesn’t know how to market themselves… …

Simple Twitter Feature – Show Number of Blocks

Business / Software / Technology / Websites

Here’s a very simple Twitter feature that could make a huge difference in the quality of Twitter. It’s unlikely Elon Musk will ever see this but here’s hoping that someone will pass it along. Over the years I found that way too many fake, spam, and fishing Twitter profiles follow my account. I assume they’re doing this with the hope of getting a ‘follow back’ so they can spam more profiles and get into more news feeds. Unlike many people, I don’t care how many followers I have …

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