Monthly Archives: January 2011

iPhone Mobile Devices Smartphones Web/Tech

Why I am not getting a Verizon iPhone

January 30, 2011 – 6:42 pm

I’ve been watching the news about the impending launch of the Verizon iPhone even though it is not really news for me as an iPhone user because I won’t be making the switch. My telecommunications patronage has been about who the lesser evil is since my mobile phone provider, cable provider, and Telephone Company have all had issues of one sort or another while I’ve been their customer.

Verizon Wireless is supposed to be separate company from Verizon. This is all fine and good. I understand. However, the billing problems and line problems I have had from Verizon over the years while I’ve been in my house make it hard to switch to any Verizon company for my preferred telecommunications provider. Verizon Wireless product offerings like the iPhone and Verizon FIOS are very attractive to me on paper but then I remember the technical issues I had with the POTS line in my house. How can I trust them with more advanced technology offerings?

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VoIP Web/Tech

Google Voice as an Exit Strategy from my Landline?

January 30, 2011 – 12:35 pm

In my opinion, Number Portability was a natural fit in the Google Voice product roadmap. While porting mobile numbers is a natural first step, I am looking to a future where I have the option to port my home phone number to Google Voice so I can move my landline to other services with impunity.

As I’ve written about in the past, my landline now exists as an expensive voice mail. My research into porting my number over to my cable company shows I can’t bring my number with me. Google Voice seems like the ideal way to park my landline number so I don’t lose it. While Google’s Service Level Agreement (SLA) for Google Voice (or lack thereof) should be a concern, it is not since as I said my home phone is now just very expensive email. Another concern I have is the longevity of the service since Google has a real strong engineering and product development focus, which combined with the buzz a new Google service offering, generates means great uptake but sometimes a poor follow through by the company (Google Wave is a recent example of this happening). Though I might be willing to risk, it provided I could have a plan-B to port the number to another provider.

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Life Productivity Web/Tech

Quest Diagnostics and Google Calendar

January 24, 2011 – 8:47 pm

Since my thyroid surgery, I’ve become fascinated with how I can best use technology like my mobile device and cloud-based applications to better manage my dealings with my Doctors and various medical tests. It seems like Quest Diagnostics got the memo way before I did based on the very positive experience I had scheduling an appointment with one of their testing facilities.

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SharePoint Technical Writing

SharePoint Governance and the Technical Writer

January 23, 2011 – 12:16 pm

When I was out on quarantine after a medical test the other week, I made extra efforts to catch up on some professional reading and take an informal survey of where my local job market is at for technical writing positions. Out of the usual sundry job requirements that never seem to leave the job boards, there was a call for a technical writer contractor to help an organization to develop their SharePoint governance documents. Proper SharePoint governance is not about ruling with an iron hand. Rather, it should be about putting in the appropriate policies and framework to help maximize the organization’s investment in the SharePoint platform while offering users maximum productivity while securing an organization’s proprietary information and related interests.

The enlightenment of this move was not lost on me because the right technical writer can be a real strong contributor to a SharePoint rollout, implementation, or upgrade if they are put into the right position.

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iPhone Microsoft Office OneNote Productivity

My First Impressions of OneNote for iPhone

January 20, 2011 – 8:09 pm

I downloaded  OneNote for iPhone as soon as I caught the news of its availability. It was very welcome news (actually made my day) because I’ve long been a believer that Microsoft Office needs to fully embrace alternative platforms like iOS and OneNote is the logical application to lead the way. As a longtime OneNote user, I began using mobile devices more for productivity and organization so Evernote quickly won over my note taking because its clients are available for each of my major working platforms – Windows, OSX, and iOS – relegating it to my more home office bound note taking and project management activities. My first question about the apps is could OneNote now regain the title from Evernote?

As an iPhone app, OneNote shows that Microsoft studied the platform. It is definitely no “me too” port from Windows Phone. I had no issues syncing it with my Windows Live account and my OneNote notebooks were available almost immediately. Navigating around the app seems to take a few more steps than similar navigation tasks in the Evernote iPhone app. It’s too early for me to tell if this is some innate bias I have for Evernote or just a lack of familiarity with the OneNote app. read more »

 
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Job Hunting Technical Writing Work

Updates over at willkelly.com

January 15, 2011 – 5:06 pm

I did some updates today over at willkelly.com including my resume and availability.

 
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Books Gadgets Reading Web/Tech

Nook Color: My First Impressions

January 12, 2011 – 1:31 pm

Santa Claus brought me a Nook Color for Christmas. It joins my iPad and Kindle to help me honor my 2011 resolution to do as much of my personal and professional book reading via ebooks not through dead trees. The Nook was a big boon to Barnes & Noble Christmas sales and my first impressions of the device are all very positive. Barnes & Noble did their homework with the Nook. It’s a real competitive offering and definite challenger to the Kindle.

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Courseware Development Technical Writing Web/Tech Work

3 Ways to Wreck your eLearning

January 12, 2011 – 1:10 pm

eLearning is increasingly seen as a way to deploy training economically. Just like other training methods, it has its place but in the flurry of cutting budgets, it can be thrust into roles where it has no real place being. Additionally, with its low barrier of entry there is a lot of crap coming out calling itself “eLearning” slapped together by people with dubious skill sets.

I am a book learner. Despite having spent chapters of my professional career in the training industry and working with trainers, I remain a book learner. Sitting in a classroom is painful for me. Unfortunately, eLearning is a fate worse than classroom training for me.

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iPhone Productivity

FastEver: Now a Speedy Interface to Evernote

January 11, 2011 – 9:48 pm

While I am a confessed Evernote fan, I do recognize it has some shortcomings. The biggest one to me is the speed of which I can enter data into Evernote and tag it later for reference. When I had the need to start tracking some symptoms after my thyroidectomy last October, I came across FastEver in the Evernote Trunk which fit my requirements well.

The application offers a quick entry interface for Evernote that supports notebooks and tags. In fact, since I am only using FastEver for one form of note taking – I can leave the tags and notebook setup and FastEver remembers the settings every time I open the app.

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Job Hunting Technical Writing

Now Available For Part-Time Technical Writing Projects

January 3, 2011 – 6:30 am

Now that the holidays are over, I am seeking part-time technical writing projects that I can accomplish from my home office during evenings and weekends. Currently, my availability is 15-20 hours per week. I am able to make conference calls towards the end of the end of the business day EST.

My strong an diverse technical writing experience includes:

  • Writing and editing policies and procedures for IT and process driven organizations.
  • Writing articles on technology and project management related topics for publication.
  • Writing user guides and online help for cloud based applications.
  • Reviewing and updating legacy technical documents.
  • Conducting technical reviews on computer book manuscripts.

You can read more about my technical writing experience on my professional site or LinkedIn profile. I am motivated, responsive, and deadline conscious when it comes to my writing and editing projects.

Let me help you start out your 2012 initiatives with professional technical documentation.

 
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