Recording a macro

OK, macros simply automate a routine process. Pretty much.

Start by setting up the macro to record:

Tools > Macro > Record new macro

Now give the macro a suitable name - something like clear_sheet (no spaces!!)

Hit OK - everything you do now is recorded as part of the macro. This will simply repeat everything you do each time the macro is run by hitting the button.

For example, you might want to delete all the cells in the sheet. Simply click in the first one, press delete, click in the second one...

Make sure you click at the end in the cell you want to leave the cursor in.

Finally hit the Stop Recording button (or go Tools > Macro > Stop recording)

Now we need to create a button to run the macro. You'll need to be able to see the Forms toolbar first of all - go View > Toolbars > Forms to do this.

Draw a button (the grey button shaped icon may be a good guess here...)

You'll then be able to choose the macro to assign to the button - so I'll add clear_sheet to it.

To finish off you can format the text on the button (Button 1 isn't the most helpful name in the world...).

Then whenever you hit the button you should get the macro being repeated. This makes stuff a lot easier for the user - they can do stuff a tthe press of a button rather than having to think about it. This is (probably) a good way to meet some client needs.

Macros, macros, macros!

First thing you need to do is change your security settings in Excel.

To do this on your home machine:

Tools > Options > Security Tab

Hit the macro Security button

Set this to Medium.

Easy.

Phishing...

Given the people didn't seem to know what it was the other day: try this BBC article, especially given the spate of hotmail and gmail phishing problems.

Technology for the visually disabled

Just a quickie - but an important one.

A slideshow of stuff at a recent Technshare exhibition run by the Royal National Institute of Blind People. Lots of ways technology can make people's lives easier if they have a visual impairment.

And (and this is two for the price of one territory here...) a gizmo which allows people to read audio labels - little sticky labels with data in them. Potentially a brilliant way of using the potential of data stores to get smaller and smaller and employ an effective interface.

Cool.

Might be v useful to know about this sort of stuff.

We don't need no school (we got a learning platform)

Fantastic! The government is at least considering extending the summer holidays to reduce the spread of swine flu. Or maybe temporarily closing schools in the autumn (quick, everyone cough and complain of a sore throat!).

So, what do we do about the education stuff then?

Easy - use the interwebz.

Teachers can just set work via e-mail or on the web or on a learning platform and it can be done and sent back, checked and whathaveyou. Hey, we coul duse podcasts, quizzes and all sorts of stuff. Look, at what Becta (a government sort of agency) is thinking:

Becta's advice would include that schools make sure they have email addresses for parents and that teachers have access to the schools' websites from outside school, so they can set work.

Now, I know what you're thinking - there are some teachers (no, I won't name them, we all know who we're thinking about) who might find this rather complex. Well, yes, but think of the fun they'd have trying it out! Think how much they'd, err, learn...

Cackle.

And, you never know, this thing about using technology to help people learn might catch on. We might be bluetoothing video from mobile phones and listening to podcasts on iPods before we know it...

How the net keeps going (Holy webserver Batman...)

Interesting article from the BBC website summarising some thoughts on how the interweb keeps going. Happened across it on a ferry - now there's an example of increased connectivity.

The way data is divided up and sent around the internet in many jumps makes it "delicate and vulnerable" to attacks or mistakes.

However, Professor Zittrain added, the "random acts of kindness" of these unsung heroes quietly keep the net in working order.

"It's like when the Bat signal goes up and Batman answers the call," Professor Zittrain told BBC News.

The ferry was on it's way to Denmark from where I was going to Sweden - where there be pirates (letter's in the pirate alphabet? 1 - Ahhhh...), Some interesting points in a Newsnight article about the whole file sharing issue, which is becoming a fairly important political issue in Sweden.

It raises lots of questions - not least about the impact of fast internet connections on society. We can share files now, because of fast internet, so we do, so what impact does that have on our views about stuff like intellectual copyright and the ability of things like record companies to make money (or, logically, my words and pictures to be controlled by me).

One of the key things to realise is that Sweden, because of it's nature (big country, population v spread out) has really great, fast internet access. File sharing has become easier there quicker, so there's a more immediate impact on Swedish society. Perhaps.

Hmmm, that may be too deep for this time in the morning on ferry after about 8 cups of coffee. But important perhaps.

The technology of Wimbledon

Some interesting bits in this BBC news report.

I'll add some stuff to this when I can...