Office1000 Blog May Archive

So what's in common with the situations mentioned above? The circles are crudely cut, that's it! Yes, however you try it, it seems that manually cutting up circles from a piece of paper cannot be perfected. There will always be corners in your circles. The best you can do, perhaps, is cut the circles with a regular cutter around a glass to ensure that your circles are close to perfection. This is just tedious, in my opinion.

But Office 1000 just doesn't seem to run of things that you need. If there is a compass to draw near-perfect (if not perfect) circles, there is also an effective tool to cut circles. That is with the use of a circle cutter. Like what was said in its description, it definitely beats out cutting circles around a glass.

Yeah, yeah, you might say that this is another tool to fill up your desk paper. Well, I'm pretty sure you'll be cutting up more circles in your life so you might as well 'invest' in one of these.

Though not strictly for essay examinations, the blue books used in our university are also used for examination purposes. It will serve as our exam booklets. We rarely use exam papers and would rather have our exams using these thin notebooks.

And thinking about examinations will surely bring out a lot of memories, like how I mourned when wI dreadfully fail a big exam, or how wI rejoice when I end up on top of the class. I am not a math wizard, but I had not failed a math examination when I was in secondary school, so it was really a shocker when I got my first failing mark in an advanced algebra class. To add to the sadness of the event, it was my birthday when I took that exam! Well, I guess we really have to experience some things at least once in our lives, don't we?

What's better with use of these blue books rather than examination answer sheets is that I get to have a lot of scratch papers when the blue books are returned. It is because, most of the time, I do not get to fill he booklet up to the last page--so there's a lot of room at the back of the booklet, good enough for doodling and sudden mental jolts that teases me to write about some stuff I heard in class and couldn't seem to forget. Hehe.

Ah well, I guess memories with blue books will not stop to cease while I am in university. How about you what are/were your experiences with your blue book?

Many of us, including myself, literally takes hours to work in front of the computer. While I cannot be really considered as a computer freak, sometimes taking days in front of the monitor, a substantial part of my day is spent on typing, reading, and blogging. This can really put a strain on my eyes, taking to the radioactive emission of my computer monitor. I won't be surprised if I will have to wear eyeglasses soon.

But it isn't only my eyes that are strained by hours of using the computer. My neck is also suffering. This is because my computer monitor is positioned well below my eyesight, which means I have to bow down to directly see what I am doing in the monitor.

Furthermore, it also becomes problematic when I have a tons of stuff to put on the computer desk. There's just not enough space! So what I do is to put some of them on the floor and bring them up whenever I really have to.

I do not have a flat panel monitor, but many of you probably do. For those who have one, I think this Flat Panel Monitor Arm with Desk Clamp from Safco will be of great help to you. By suspending your flat panel monitorin, it accomplishes two of its tasks: your neck will be more comfortable as it can be repositioned at a height that it is comfortable to you and; space may be saved as the monitor isn't positioned on anything.

Too bad I do not have a flat panel monitor.

If you are not attracted to its Victorian design of if you feel that that music system is too expensive for your liking, here is another one for you, the Emerson Heritage Music System from Emerson. Just like the stackable turntable from Crosley, the Heritage Music System is a wood veneer cabinet furnished with a walnut finish--clearly classical. This does not mean, however, that it is not well-equipped. In fact, its speakers are wide-range 4" woofers that will give a distributed sound throughout the room.

Like the other product, it has a turntable that can play 33/45/78 RPM records. It has a drawer-style CD player, as well as a casette player with an auto shutoff. Best of all (well, for me, it's the best feature), it is equipped with an AM/FM receiver that you can use during times when you are out records, CDs, and cassettes to play. Unfortunately, you cannot download songs from an online database just like how people do with an iPod.

Though it isn't as expensive-looking as the classical turntables, or even though it isn't as hi-tech as an iPod, the Emerson Heritage Music System is good enough for those who are looking for one thing that can play a million of songs--from different media forms. Check out the Office1000 gallery for other specs and prices.

• Proprietary software tend to be more consistent than open source systems. This is due to the fact that this kind of software is developed by less people, as opposed to open source, which is basically open to the whole world. When there is consistency, there's familiarity, hence, training employees will cover less time.
• Proprietary software are covered by dedicated technical support. Like any product or service sold in the market, you are assured that you will be helped if any glitch arises with the product. Tech-savvy call center agents are hired to assist you at any time of the day and the night.
• Like what was said in the previous post, having a system running on a (well-)paid system is more compatible to the outside world than open source. Some of you are probably aware that DOC files open on Open Office whereas ODF files (the Open Office file format) cannot be opened in MS Word.
• Closed systems tend to be more vulnerable to hacks, bugs, and viruses, thanks to the hackers out there who continuously try to open these systems. Perhaps it's because closed systems pose as a challenge to these techies.
• There will be always the issue of price. Many people say that these products are overpriced. So you when purchase one for your computer, you can forget about that Pooh phone for a while.

  In the end, it's all a matter of preference and weighing the merits of each side. After all, it is your office and it is your computer system. You know what's best for them.

I believe that this is an important consideration for anybody who will be just opening an office or modernizing the computer network. It's the big software question. Shall you go for open source technology, or stick with the traditional proprietary software?

We could go on and on, debating about which is better. Many people will still stick with 'closed source' software, while an increasing number of people opt to go for open source. What shall you choose for your office's computer network? I will just give you some advantages and disadvantages of each type, as I see it.

In this particular blog post, I will talk about the merits of open source.

• Open source, in general, may be downloaded free from those that offer it, though there are some that charge a fee. This is in contrast to the amount you have to exorbitant fees you have to pay for proprietary software. Instead of paying these fees, you will now have some extra cash to buy other important items like printers.
• You may have the source code of open source software (OSS) edited to fit your requirements. Obviously, you are not allowed to edit the source codes of the products coming from the other side.
• Programs are free for distribution. This means that you can install them to as much computers as you want without worrying about additional costs.
• However, there is barely any technical support for open source software--especially if you have it edited. It's either you find the bugs yourself or hire somebody to do it for you.
• If you are just updating your system and you already have licensed software, transition will be very tedious.
• Closed-software is older. Hence, majority of the market is using it (except for some sectors like web servers). Compatibility may be an issue you should consider.

Take for example the evolution of sound--more precisely, the evolution of the way sound is distributed. I won't go much into linguistic details but it seems that human beings have this fondness for recorded sound. I do not know for sure why but I guess it is because we like to repeat sounds we like over and over again. We can't possibly have the original source of the sound repeat the sound he/she/it produces everytime we want to, don't we? There is also the need to distribute the sound on a widescale basis. Getting millions or billions of people inside one venue is very costly, if not impossible.

Thanks to man's intelligence and stubbornness, ways have been found to distribute sound at a less price and difficulty. From turntables to cassettes to CDs to Blu-ray to who-knows-what-next, media has let everyone listen to music that will be otherwise impossible for us to hear.

I guess the only disadvantage here is that transitions in between distinctive media forms take so long that every generation already has its own media equated only to it, thus further widening what we call 'generation gap'.

Good thing we come around products like this (you know this will come, no?) 3-in-1 stackable turntable from Crosley. how's this gonna help? Well, it is capable of playing records, cassettes, and CDs. It looks like a very old turntable but no, it even has a LED display. So much for generation gap.

Domaineering is the business of buying and selling domains for a profit. The domains you buy does not necessarily have to be developed. All you need to produce is a catchy domain which you may 'hand reg' (register using domain registrars) or 'catch' (buy domains that have expired and weren't renewed by their past owners) or buy from some other domainer for investment.

I thought that thinking of a good name is not as easy as I thought. Possibly every one-word generic names are gone because they are considered 'premiums' and are in the 5- and 6-digit figures. An example would be flowers.mobi which was sold for $200K.

You may earn money out of this industry not just by choosing a generic name that attracts 'type-on' traffic. Another way is to purchase names that are considered 'brandable' and 'catchy'. This is where creativity kicks in. Choose a good name, sell it to an end-user (someone who will keep it for good and develop it), and you have it. More cash. One trend that I noticed is the addition of i's in front of the name. You'll see domains like iBloopers and iSee all over. I guess this is the product of rise to fame of the iPhone, the iPod, and its accessories.

It isn't also as simple as I thought. There are terms like 'premium letters', 'LLL', '5L', and you have to familiarize yourself with the top level domain (like .com and .net) and the current market trends. I guess any money making venture is an art that you will have to master if you want to make profit.

Do you have a creative domain name in mind? Register it now before someone else grabs it.

Why should you store your wealth in gold? I guess this has been already told to you many times over and over again. It is for protection. If you want to protect your wealth from financial turmoil, gold is the way to go. Many things in this world that hold wealth tend to either lose value, or become volatile, value-wise.

The dollar is increasingly depreciating in value, thanks to inflation and a slowdown in the US economy. Your $500 today might buy you less valuable stuff in the future. The dollar is a very weak currency these last few years, why should you keep a lot of it?

Some would rather keep their wealth in stocks. That would be really well, if you know how to play the stock market game. Buy stocks at its lowest value, wait until you think it has reached its peak value and then sell your shares. This is, however, oversimplified. It's rather difficult to predict. It's a volatile investment.

Unlike cash or stocks, however, gold keeps its steady rise. Sometimes its growth is very very slow, but it will surely rise. No wonder this precious metal has been used as treasure way way back to ancient times.

Again, when in turmoil, go for gold. Its value actually shoots up during bad times. It's the perfect financial shield.

Moreover, all the competition that transpired because of globalization resulted to more productivity. And to ensure that a business is more productive, there has to be a scientific approach to things. There has to be a scientific approach to business. Thus, the Master of Business Administration (MBA) became one of the most famous, if not THE most famous, graduate degrees on this planet. Millions are getting it every year.

But what good is a graduate degree in business administration? Why do you still have to get one?

Some would instantly say that it is because of the career opportunities, promotion, and the salary. True enough, it is easier to get picked for jobs because you have an advantage. If you are competing with ten applicants who only have Bachelor's degrees, chances are you will be the one to be picked. The salary is very impressive too, as you will probably earn as much as up to six to seven-digit figures.

This is good. But it does not end there. An MBA holder gets all those incentives because expectations from them are high. MBA holders are expected to deliver. Knowing, but not applying, those business theories cannot help much. Sorry, but buying this business calculator cannot really help you much if you do not how to use it.

In the end, it's all a matter of the skills you have learned in graduate school, your dedication, and your creativity. The first one may be achieved by getting an MBA, but the other two is something you should have gotten way way before.