StudentEmpowered

Got Hooked to Ink Crossword

The last time we have discussed Tablet PC capabilities and this is what I've been doing for the past couple of weeks when Tablet PC capabilities were enabled on my computer. What you see in the screen inside the crossword is not a beautiful crafted font, it's my handwriting.

Since the installation of my pen tablet and activation of tablet pc capabilities on my computer I was able to download and install the Microsoft Experience Pack for Windows Vista from the Microsoft Download Centre. You must pass the Windows Genuine Advantage validation before you can use the software. The Microsoft Experience Pack for Windows Vista includes the following:

1. Equation Editor - converts handwritten equations to text.
2. Ink Crossword - my favourite application. It is where you can solve crossword puzzles.
3. Flash Cards - good for review, lets you write questions in front and answers at the back.
4. Microsoft Media Transfer - lets you transfer media files from your home computer to your tablet PC.

For those of you who have Tablet PCs or have Tablet PC capabilities enabled download the Microsoft Experience Pack at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=4861aad3-1d67-4b02-bfd5-4add1879d3dc&DisplayLang=en.

Unify the look of your Documents, Workbooks and Presentations

Have you ever wondered how you can unify the colour scheme of each document that you make, or if you can apply the style that you have applied on your document to a workbook or presentation? In the 2007 Microsoft Office System, it is possible.

I think it is a great idea if you can unify for example the style that you have used in formatting your research paper to the presentation that you would be making. I believe we can impress our teachers that way. So how could we unify the look of our documents, workbooks and presentations?

Let's discuss themes!

Themes define the overall look of your document, may it be the font style, colour or the effects that are being applied to graphical elements such as charts and shapes. By default Word, Excel and PowerPoint uses the Office theme which defines Calibri as the default font for the page body and Cambria for headings. You can actually customize them by changing the colours, fonts and effects in the page layout view.

Let's say for example that you have customized the default theme and you want it to apply to your other documents, workbooks or presentations here's what you have to do.

1. Save the document, workbook or presentation where you want to base the style of other documents, workbooks and presentations.
2. On the other document, workbook or presentation go to the Page Layout tab of the Ribbon in Microsoft Word or Excel or to the Design tab of the Ribbon in Microsoft PowerPoint
   
    or
   
3. Click on Themes > Browse for Themes (Microsoft Word and Excel) or pull down the Themes Gallery and select Browse for Themes (Microsoft PowerPoint)
   
   
   
4. Browse for the document that you have created in step 1, open it and viola the theme is applied to your working document, workbook or presentation.

Now you can unify the look of your documents and presentations to impress your teacher. Now you don't have to worry about designing your document, spreadsheet and presentation individually.

The Office Button, The Close Box and their secret

I have a question for you, what is the difference between double clicking the Office Button in Microsoft Word, in Microsoft Excel and in Microsoft PowerPoint?

Hint: How do you close applications in Windows 3.1?

For those of us who have been used to close applications by double-clicking the horizontal-bar-in-a-box in Microsoft Windows 3.1, I'm sure that most of us haven't broken the habit yet even though the close box was introduced since Windows 95.

For those of you who have tried the 2007 Microsoft Office System during beta 2 and haven't broken the habit of closing applications using the close box you will notice that double-clicking the office button does nothing until Beta 2 Technical Refresh came out. [Read More Here]

Double clicking the Office Button closes the application, but it is not true for all. In this blog entry we will look into details on the differences between double-clicking the Office Button in Microsoft Word 2007 and doing the same in Microsoft Excel2 007 and Microsoft PowerPoint 2007. Double clicking the office button when only one document, worksheet or presentation is open will close the application. However the difference comes if more than one file is open in either Word, Excel or PowerPoint.

In Microsoft Word, when two or more documents are open double-clicking the Office Button will close the current document and Microsoft Word will ask you to save changes if necessary, however in Microsoft Excel double-clicking the Office Button when two or more worksheets are open will close all open worksheets and Excel will ask you to save changes for each of the modified worksheet if necessary, the same thing also happens in Microsoft PowerPoint.

What about the Close Box?

In Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint it will only close the active file regardless on how many files are open. In Microsoft Excel however since it has retained some form of MDI you will see that there are two close boxes but their function is (one for the application and another for the worksheet) the same which is to close the current worksheet.

So how do I close everything at once?

• In Microsoft Word, Click the Office Button and Click Exit Word
• In Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint, double-click the Office Button

Tablet PC Capabilities on your Computer

I've always wanted to have a Tablet PC. For me it's the ultimate student tool since you get the flexibility of taking down notes using your own handwriting or using the keyboard. Imagine taking down notes just like writing onto a physical notebook, cool!

In the past, you get Tablet PC capabilities when you purchase a Tablet PC with Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition Installed. Now with Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium, Business and Ultimate Editions you can get Tablet PC capabilities with just the right hardware (in short you don't need to have a TabletPC)

What do I need?

1. A Computer (of course)
2. A Pen Tablet / Digitizer (e.g. Wacom Graphire) that supports Tablet PC capabilities, check your tablet manufacturer for more details. http://www.wacom-asia.com/vista/index.html
3. The Driver of your Pen Tablet / Digitizer for Microsoft Windows Vista

Once you installed the Pen Tablet onto your computer running Microsoft Windows Vista, you'll notice that the Tablet PC input panel appears on the left side of the screen. Congratulations! Your PC has now Tablet PC capabilities. You can now do pen flicks, ink and other Tablet PC only features on your desktop or notebook computer.

Since your computer has Tablet PC capabilities it's now time to install the Microsoft Experience Pack for Windows Vista which I will be discussing on my next Tablet PC related post here in Student Empowered!

OneNote 2007 Tip: The Calculator

One day at the classroom you were peacefully taking down notes with Microsoft Office OneNote, then your professor suddenly gives you a math problem something like this:

(sqrt(2*pi*70)*2+150)^2

The big question is, how will you be able to solve this problem? Normally we students will reach for the calculator and from there we compute for the result. If you are a student who uses Microsoft Office OneNote you can now actually use OneNote to make some simple calculations.

Microsoft Office OneNote Supported Mathematical Symbols

So to do a simple calculation all you need is to enter the formula in this case that would be (sqrt(2*pi*70)*2+150)^2 followed by an equal sign, after pressing enter you will automatically see the result of the calculation. No more manual solving, no more calculators.    

Unfortunately the capabilities of this feature is only limited to the functions like of the standard calculator in Microsoft Windows (sorry guys this feature won't do your algebra assignment for you). But it's really a big help instead of bringing up the calculator application.

So to answer the question earlier, the answer would be: (sqrt(2*pi*70)*2+150)^2=36,842.4659585933

The Writing Process and OneNote

Have you been religiously following the writing process when you create an entry onto your blog? Do you go through pre-writing, planning, organizing before you even draft your entry? Do you know that Microsoft Office OneNote can help you go through these stages of the writing process? This writing process does not only help you to write a blog article, but it also helps you write your term paper, thesis and other academic papers that your school may require.

Personally one of my favourite pre-writing techniques which I have learned back when I was still a sophomore high-school student is what we call the free-writing. In this technique you jot down all the ideas that are on your mind regarding the topic you want to write about. You can either impose time restrictions on yourself or not. After free-writing that's the time where you discard unnecessary details or words and you get to start working on organizing and drafting your work.

Microsoft Office OneNote can be a very conducive environment to do your pre-writing given that you can start anywhere on the page of your notebook's section and at the same time you can add tags to your ideas. You need not to worry about saving files since Microsoft Office OneNote automatically saves what you write for you.

1. Start with a new page on a section.
2. Go through the pre-writing, planning, organizing, and drafting stages of the writing process.
3. Once you're done you are now ready to send your ideas to Microsoft Office Word just click on File > Send To > Blog. Alternatively if you are working on an academic paper instead of clicking blog you can click Microsoft Word instead.
4. Finalize your work using Microsoft Office Word then publish it onto your blog.

This is an interesting read about the writing process itself this is a page entitled English Writing Arts: Writing http://www.sasked.gov.sk.ca/docs/mla/writing2.html

First Glance: Microsoft SharedView (Beta)

Imagine, bringing one-fourth of your class to your home to create your baby thesis. It's a logistical nightmare (believe me). You have to transport them, make room for them in your house, you have to make sure that the group has to wake up for class or else one-fourth of the class is absent. One of my solutions in overcoming this nightmare is to implement remote access, where half of the group can dial my house number, connect to the server running Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and upload and download files. It was a great "collaboration solution", however it's too slow.

So we have one-fourth of the class in my home the second question is how will you collaborate using one or two personal computers? It will be never possible that half of that one-fourth will share on one computer to create something that is worthwhile.

Now comes a beta version of a new service from Microsoft called Microsoft SharedView which is somehow similar to Windows Meeting Space only that it uses Windows Live ID for authentication. It is also similar to Net Meeting's Application Sharing feature only that you can actually share your view with 15 other people. SharedView is relatively easy to use all you need to do is to sign in with your Windows Live ID (e.g. Your Windows Live Hotmail), Invite People and Start a session.

In inviting people is an easy task with Microsoft SharedView, you actually have a choice on how to invite them. First you can invite them through instant messaging if you are signed in with Windows Live Messenger. Second you can invite people through e-mail where information about the session will be sent. If you can't use instant messaging or e-mail you can actually dictate the details of the session that you are creating to the person through a telephone call.

Once you have started your session you now have a choice on which application you wanted to share, you even have an option to give out handouts to the participants of the session. You can even take a look at the position of the mouse cursors of the ones participating in your session. You can also give someone control over the application to modify what's on the screen. The best thing about SharedView is that when Microsoft Office Word is shared, it automatically enables tracking changes so that you can track who changed what.

SharedView has a very intuitive and simple user interface and it has a lot of potential to be a very nice collaboration application. It would be helpful for students working on their thesis, programming projects, and even problems within their own computer just like having 15 experts in one desk. I am exploring the possibility of using SharedView as an instructional tool where you can use it to create mini seminars intended for 15 or less audiences. I would like to see the final version of SharedView with tight integration to Windows Live Messenger where voice and other conferencing features are available within SharedView.

So anyone wants to try SharedView? Let's create a session! For those who want to participate please drop a comment below.