I’m looking for a solution (or set of solutions) for a small business. I need things in two realms: group project management (notes, files, timelines, tasks), group calendaring. (more…)
So, there was a time, where if I wanted several someones to get together to chat, I’d find an IRC
server and start a channel, and that would be that. Of course, at that time, pretty much everyone I knew was a reasonably hard-core geek (or was friends with one), and had a shell account. (more…)
I have this Excel spreadsheet. Believe it or not, that is not, in and of itself, the annoyance.
I have data in columns A & B, and column C consists of this formula:
=if(countblank($a2:$b2)=0,concatenate($b2, ", §", $a2), "")
This works perfectly, with one small exception: the formatting in cell $b2 (partial italics) is lost in the concatenation. Since I have a few hundred rows to deal with, hand-formatting (again, since I originally hand-formatted $b2 to begin with) is really annoying.
Yes, I know that Excel isn’t a word processor, and that formatting is for word processors. But, damnit, this should work.
For a wide variety of reasons, I am starting to have need to be able to bulk install / activate and deactivate / remove fonts from my system. I’d like to be able to do this by project. (I’m working on Project $FOO, I need to make sure the fonts are installed. I’m no longer working on Project $BAR. I should remove the fonts.)
I haven’t used a font manager in 15 years, and I’m sure the field has drastically changed in that time. Any of you have any recommendations?
Thanks to all who responded about running Windows under OS X. You all came back with the same answer: Parallels. This was handy, since I already had a Parallels license kicking around.
So, I installed Parallels, and installed Windows 7, and then went to Adobe InDesign CS6 from my Adobe Creative Cloud subscription. (For those who don’t know, Adobe has an “app manager” that you use to install the various Adobe Creative Cloud apps. So, first you install this Adobe Air app, and then, using the Adobe Application Manager, you’re able to install things like InDesign and Photoshop and Acrobat Pro.)
This is where the plan went off the rails.
It seems that, in their attempts to fight piracy, Adobe’s gone a wee bit over the edge, and has essentially broken the Adobe Application Manager when it is run (at the very least) on a Windows Parallels instance. After the installation failed for me (repeatedly), I searched the interwebs, and discovered that I wasn’t alone. Many others were reporting the same problem with the latest AAM.
Well, that sucked. I was on a tight deadline, and since the only reason I needed a Windows machine was to use some Type 1 fonts provided to me, I set off in another direction. With the help of G and a handy piece of software called FontForge, I ended up being able to use the Type 1 fonts natively under OS X, which solved all of my problems without requiring a virtual machine, or Adobe’s broken application manager.
So there.
(No, this is not about some S&M practice you never knew I was into. Sorry. That’s a whole ‘nother blog. (KIDDING!) This is about typing. More specifically, this is about typing in text editors.) (Also, if you’re not a UNIX / vi geek, this whole post will probably mean nothing to you. You have been warned.)
Once again I turn to the wonders of the Interweb to ask for guidance, this time regarding RSS readers.
I’m playing around with the various readers out there, and am feeling both over- and underwhelmed by the options at my disposal. So, I figure I’ll provide my requirements, and see if any of you have any suggestions (or anti-suggestions) to throw my way.