I've been using Excel for years but I never knew about this one little formula that can save so much work. My predecessor has been using the ISERROR() function nested inside an IF() function to fill cells that return an error code as blank. This means if you have two columns of data that may not necessarily be filled, you can have a blank cell instead of #DIV/0, etc. A little tweak like this can improve readability quickly so you can quickly spot empty cells or not have to wade through errors if
I've always had a soft spot for KDE, so when switching to Ubuntu on my primary home machine it was a no brainer to pick Kubuntu 12.10 over it's Unity-packing parent distro. So far the system has set itself up extremely quickly and given virtually no problems at all beyond a mouse cursor that refuses to stick to the style I tell it to, irritating but hardly a deal breaker. Given the last time I installed Ubuntu I was left seekign network drivers and spending hours getting a laptop to even start t
Recycling bins filling up, spam folders overflowing. Yes it's that time of year again when you come into work with a bag full of leaflets and find half of them make their way into the bin. BETT 2012 is finished and the dust is settling in the Olympia Exhibition Hall for the last time with BETT 2013 scheduled for the ExCeL Centre instead.
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This year saw the return of the Edugeek stand to provide tech staff with an amusing diversion in the form of a comfy so
When you output dates in SIMS with the Reporting tool, the results will come out as text and cannot be converted into a proper date with the number format window. This is a fix used in the SIMS Standard Portrait template to prevent Excel from throwing a fit and entering the data incorrectly. You can modify the template and remove the fix but that is best left to advanced users, there is a simpler option.
Let's take a date in the format "1 March 2012" in cell C2. You can use the DATEVALUE form
Just had this rubbish through the door in postcard format:
UPDATE: I should correct this as surprise surprise, the ShowerSaint actually DID turn up. Aplogies to the parent company but really, try a better and more informative marketing campagin next time. Unsolicited items really raise suspicions as to wrong doing taking place, especially if you haven't even got a presence or website set up yet.
And yes, it was marked Return to Sender and dumped back in the psotbox.
Well, no, I am not fired but this poor Apple employee was for making comments about his employer on Facebook.
It shows that you need to be careful what you say these days. All too often I see comments on Twitter or Facebook about people hating their job and often they don't realise, if I can see the comment so can their boss. What makes this case more chilling is the post in question had privacy settings applied so the poster thought it was safe, but a colleague on the access list clearly had
Another year has been and gone for the EduGeek Conference. Set every year near Preston in the Summer Half-Term, education professionals from around the country came to mingle, share ideas and listen to the talks put on by suppliers and fellow professionals. Here is a quick recap:
(Please note these are personal opinions of the talks!)
Data Protection: Dos_Box's brother, known on here as Drummer Boy, gave a good talk about the data protection act regarding the myths and the musts of this co
With the recent spotlight on malware and computer security I want to share some of the tricks I have discovered whilst reading up on it. And yes, some of these can affect multiple platforms (Windows/OSX/etc).
Google Image Poisoning: The act of using Google Image Search to trick users into visiting infected pages. Images related to popular topics on Twitter or the news are pushed high up the ranks of searches relating to that topic. Victims search for said topic in their droves, click the imag
Mobile devices are gradually becoming more popular targets for scammers and are crossing over into the realm of traditional Internet scams. Social engineering plays a big part in scamming mobile phones, with a popular tactic being to ring a number, hang up immediately and leave an entry in the missed calls list that will redirect a curious owner to a premium rate number and a hold jingle. They rely on the "Hmm who just rang me?" effect to trick consumers into dialling the number and don't even r
Facebook profiles have become a bit of a commodity these days for crooks looking to cash in on unsuspecting members of the public. From spam messages to social engineering scams, the holy grail for any attacker is open access to a person's profile. From here, they can capture details about a person's private life along with their family, friends, business contacts and everything they require to pull the perfect scam.
On the same note I paid a visit to the Apple Store in London today and the l
A few things I didn't realise about the Windows key in Windows 7:
- The Windows key plus any number "clicks" on the corresponding icon pinned to the start menu, reading from left to right.
- Use Windows key and space to hide all windows until you release the Windows key.
- Windows key and = will zoom in with Magnifier by 100% per press of the key.
- Windows key and Home did err, something. One moment it switched windows, the next minimised and restored one.
- Windows key and Delete brough
London Grid for Learning has announced that it's site will be changing. On the 28th June, they will move to http://www.lgfl.info and a preview of the new site is available at http://portal2.lgfl.org.uk/
The old site will remain up for now and be accessible, but no longer updated.
Recently, I was asked by the Headteacher to look into using a centralised system for the internal school display. I settled on Xibo, a system I could set up for little or no cost to the school. Unfortunately I lacked a machine to test it on.
The end result is a working Xibo install running on a Ubuntu-based Apache webserver. This proof-of-concept test server is installed on my...memory stick?
No fast hard disk, no large space to store files, just an 8Gb memory stick plugged into a random o
Following on from my post earlier, I am publishing a quick guide to removing this nasty virus. Hopefully it will let you clear it from your network a bit quicker then we have.
First of all, you need to shut your network down. This is important because Conficker spreads from computer to computer regardless of them being patched against it. We found lots of systems that were patched but still infected after the virus propagated over the network, only a few systems that didn’t belong to the doma
4 months ago, I purchased a JVC Everio camcorder. I was hoping to film my trips to London but after running some test footage, I discovered it didn't work. The software was terrible and it stored files in .MOD format. Good if you have the cash to splash for Adobe Premiere, bad if your forced to use Windows Movie Maker.
Fast forward to today. Then, I used Windows XP. Now I use Windows 7 and the Live version of Movie Maker. Not only did Windows 7 pick up my camera with no drivers required, I co
