Raise your hand if you’ve ever sent a text to 466453. If you’ve done it, you already know that Google SMS is one the most helpful inventions of all time. At least in my humble, understated opinion.

4-6-6-4-5-3 = G-O-O-G-L-E on most cell phones. Text Google if you need anything (within reason) and you’ll get it. Here are some examples:

• Text “Pizza 48104″ and you’ll get a list complete with address and phone number for Pizza House, Cottage Inn Pizza (3 locations), Papa John’s, Domino’s and “reply: more for more listings.”
• Text “USA 97″ and get “23 Jan 2009 US 97 DTW Depart: 6:20 AM Departed LAS Arrive: 8:01 AM Landed Gate: T1/A12″ and then some… WOW!
• Text “CBOU” and get “Stock: CBOU (Caribou Coffee Company, Inc.) 1.61(+0.00.0.17%) Jan 23 11:44am ET Real-time price data for NASDAQ.”

I learned about Google SMS this week, on the road, in a last-ditch effort to get dinner on the table before my out-of-town guests arrived. When our shopping trip went over its time budget, my sisters and I determined it necessary to order gourmet pizza as opposed to making lasagna.

“Give me your cell phone,” my younger sister said, reaching into my purse before I could respond.

“Can you text from this thing?” she inquired, carefully examining my ancient, hand-decorated, beat up old Razr phone. I could understand the skepticism in her tone.

“Of course!” I grumbled. “Why?”

“I’m getting the number for Pizza House?”

Cringing at the thought of the extra $2.75 directory assistance charge that would be tacked onto my already-high cellular bill, I muttered “oh” and continued to drive.

The next thing I knew she was talking to the pizza people. What? No directory assistance? Quickly, I fired “Why on earth did you memorize that number?!?”

“I didn’t,” she said, turning the phone toward me (on hold). “Yes, I’d like to make an order for delivery…”

By the time she had explained how she got the number, and shown me a few funny examples of how Google SMS can help you find what you’re looking for, we were home. We pulled into my driveway 25 minutes later, right behind the delivery car.

Saved by Google. Guests arrived 10 minutes later — just enough time to make the salad!

Wow! The last 6 months have been insane over here with Custom Programming projects galore! I’d be remiss if I didn’t say that our programmers at Dynamic Edge are beyond awesome. (In the same breath, we’re looking for one right now, so if you’re a power programmer who likes video games and Mountain Dew, drop us a line!)

One of our biggest projects in the pipeline just got some major press from our Nashville office. The gang has been running on all six cylinders since January, 2008 with a group called DisastersNet, Inc., a Nashville-based company that implements fully automated, web-based emergency management systems for hospital environments.

Our Mission: to create an integrated online emergency platform that can be used to manage and expedite response time during real-time emergencies or during training exercises. The original concept, originated with a group of hospital safety officers, physicians and emergency management coordinators, and is now in full-scale production.

Click here to read the full article about DisastersNet’s big project. I won’ t spoil the news!

Being a non-Excel user, I never really understood the value of a Pivot Table. I read on the Web that, despite its simplicity and convenience, only about 60% of Excel users actually utilize the feature on a regular basis. It wasn’t until someone tried explaining it to me that I realized why. They should have given it a better name: like EasyTable or QuickTable… at the very least, it would have given people a reason to try it out!

I went through an online tutorial that explained exactly what you’d have to do if you wanted to accomplish the same results that you get using pivot tables, and was more confused AFTER READING than I was before. So, naturally, I was more than a little concerned that the whole concept of the Pivot Table was way over my head; and that it would be impossible for me to learn how to do, let alone explain to anyone.

Then I asked Kristina from our DECon team for a quick demo, and much to my amazement, creating Pivot Tables is SO much easier than trying your luck at formulas (oh, how I love doing math!), and yet produces exactly the same results!

Before I get started about how to make a Pivot Table, you may want to know why you’d use it. Here are some a few of the most common reasons people use the Pivot Table:

• It’s easier than working with complicated formulas.
• You can turn rows of unreadable data into a chart you can use
• Perfect for tracking product sales by location, customer demographics, etc.
• You can impress your boss, co-workers, or statistically-inclined friends with a informative and efficient reports.

Now, what you’ve been waiting for! Here’s how you make and use Excel’s Pivot Table function. (Click on any of the images to view in detail!)

1. Open your spreadsheet and start by removing any blank rows or columns.
2. Make sure each column has a heading, because they’ll be carried over to the Field List.
3. Make sure your cells are formatted the right way for their data type.
4. Highlight your data range.
5. Click the Insert tab.

Insert the Pivot Table

6. Select the PivotTable button from the Tables group.
7. Select PivotTable from the list.
The Create PivotTable dialog will appear.

Pivot Table Dialog Box

8. Double-check your Table/Range: value.
9. Select the radio button for New Worksheet.
10. Click OK.
A new worksheet opens with a blank pivot table. You’ll see that the fields from our source spreadsheet were carried over to the PivotTable Field List.

11. Drag an item such as PRECINCT from the PivotTable Field List down to the Row Labels quadrant. The left side of your Excel spreadsheet should show a row for each precinct value. You should also see a checkmark appear next to PRECINCT.

12. The next step is to ask what you would like to know about each precinct. I’ll drag the PARTY field from the PivotTable Field List to the Column Labels quadrant. This will provide an additional column for each party. Note that you won’t see any numerical data.

13. To see the count for each party, I need to drag the same field to the Values quadrant. In this case, Excel determines I want a Count of PARTY. I could double-click the entry and choose another Field Setting. Excel has also added Grand Totals.

And there it is folks, your introduction to the Pivot Table. Get practicing, as this may be on our next exam ;)

Today’s posting brought to you by Jason the Programmer — who needs a little more to do with his time!

In search of an answer to this age old question, I’ve consulted numerous sources and scoured the Web. Hopefully, you’ll find this tidbit of information as useful as I have. The difference between the forward slash and the backslash is as follows:

/ = the forward slash leans forward
\ = the backslash leans back

That’s it. Wow. That was complicated!

For Average Joes and Janes like myself, that’s all you really need to know — because we really only use slashes when typing in website URL’s. And, yes, I did casually say “slashes” because most of us regular users only know where one slash is, anyway. It shares a key with the question mark.

FREE Social Tech Tip #1 – When giving out a website address in conversation,  leave off the colon and forward slashes that happen before the dot-com. Mentioning them just sounds silly.

As an example, here’s something we’ve all heard before: Some know-it-all-type (trying to sound smarter than they actually are) wants to give you the address to a website that you’ve not yet graced with your presence. It sounds something like this: “Just go to http-colon-backslash-backslash www dot blah-blah-blah dot com…” Before you even hear the site address, you’re bored. What on earth would make you want to go there?

Don’t be this person.

FREE Social Tech Tip #2 – If you’re referring somebody to a website that has forward slashes AFTER the dot-com, just call them slashes. People are smart enough to know what you mean [and even if they aren't, they'll probably use the one under their pinky finger anyway.]

Q. So, if Average Joes really only use the forward slash, what’s the other one for?
A. Only Programmers, really. This is probably why Jason recommended this post in the first place.

Backslashes are mainly used in computing, and have a more limited and technical use than the slash:

• They can act as a path delimiter in Windows path names (C:\Program Files\Adobe Photoshop).
  - or -
• As escaping characters in most C-style languages, including C, C++, PHP, Perl, and also on most UNIX shells ().

More likely than not, if you’re reading this, you don’t use backslashes very often, either. It’s ok. We can’t all write code for a living ;) otherwise, there would be no one to write our UnCorporate Blog.

Well, there it is! The difference between Forward Slash and Backslash! Hope it helps. Blogging isn’t all wa do here at Dynamic Edge, Inc. Click Here to poke around our website.

Ok Folks, it’s time to dig deep and give big! There are only 14 short hours remaining to cast your vote for Dyanamic Edge’s Best Beard of 2008!

Statistics show that one in every eight adults lacks the literacy skills needed to be successful in society. If you are reading this post right now, you can make a difference in the life of one of these individuals. With every $1 vote, you make a donation to support literacy in our community! Click here for more details about our Holiday Beard Challenge.

Now, Onto the Tip!

Ever wish there was a quicker, simpler way to copy the formatting of objects in your Microsoft Office applications — like your Word text, Excel cells, or shapes in Publisher? There is! It’s called the Format Painter, and it might be the most helpful toolbar button you’ve never used. Instead of manually applying different font, font effects, alignment, and other formatting to every area of your project, you can save time and effort by quickly copying all of your formatting attributes at once!

Here’s how it works:

1. Select the text or graphic that you want to copy.
2. Click the Format Painter button on your toolbar — it’s the tiny square with a paintbrush in it. Your pointer will change to a paintbrush icon. (If you want to apply formatting to more than one block of text or graphic, double-click the Format Painter button and continue.)
3. Click the text or graphic that you want to format.
4. To apply formatting to more than one block of text or graphic, select each of them, one at a time.
5. When you are done formatting, hit the Esc key to turn off the Format Painter.

Format Painter is a great tool for putting together reports and presentations. Once you’ve developed the look and feel of any section, you can easily apply the style to your entire document. Give it a try on your next project — I promise it’ll save you time!

Do you ever ask yourself, “If I’ve got  iTunes set to shuffle all songs, why do I keep hearing these same songs over and over again?!?”  For some reason, the loop of tunes you’re hearing doesn’t really feel shuffled – much less random – at all. Wouldn’t it be nice if your iTunes played only the songs that you haven’t heard in a long time? Oh wait, it CAN! … Who knew?

Apple developed this tool called the Smart Playlist that allows you to set certain parameters to generate a playlist populated by only the tunes that you’ve got an inkling to hear. Like Christmas music, Songs about Love, or comedy bits by Adam Sandler that are more than 4 minutes long.

The Smart Playlist gives you ultimate control: letting you be as specific as you want to be, and then paring down your lists by more than a dozen variables. And, as a matter of fact, when I’m finished writing this post, I’m going to create a playlist Hip Hop, R&B and Rap songs with the word “Girl” in the title… just to find out how many I’ve got in my library :)
Here’s what to do:

1. Open iTunes.  In the File menu, choose New Smart Playlist.
2. Make sure to check the box next to “Match the following rule” if you’re going to have iTunes add songs that match specific criteria.
3. Make your selections from the pop-up menus provided.

Here’s My Christmas Smart Playlist!

* You can add extra criteria by clicking the Plus (+) button.

4. You can limit the size or duration of a playlist by choosing the “Limit to” option in the menu.
5. To include only songs that have a checkmark beside them in your library (and that match your conditions), select “Match only checked songs.”
6. iTunes will continually modify your Smart Playlist whenever songs are added to or removed from your library, as long as “Live updating” is selected.
7. To finalize your Smart Playlist, click OK, then give it a name in your source list.

Remember: iTunes will add any songs in your library that match the settings you chose are added to the playlist. If your list isn’t as refined as you’d like, you can always add extra qualifiers later.

Good luck! And have fun creating Smart Playlists to fit your every mood!

p.s. As of right now, my Library has 13 Hip Hop/Rap/R&B songs with “Girl” in the title.

Everyone knows that keyboard shortcuts can help you to get the most out of your software programs. They can speed up your work by letting you perform functions without searching for them on the menus and dialog boxes. If you can memorize these commands, your fingers will literally NEVER have to leave your keyboard.

Here’s the great part! The shortcut keys in Word 2007 are pretty much same as the shortcut keys in earlier versions of Word. But, there is one main difference: if there isn’t a command that works for you, you can customize shortcuts that are easier for you to remember! Maybe you may want to create a key command for a shortcut doesn’t exist, you can do that too.

And it’s SO EASY if you follow these steps:

1. Click the Office button
2. Select Word Options

3. Click Customize
4. In the bottom of the window, click the Customize button beside Keyboard shortcuts.

5. In the Customize Keyboard box, locate the command for which you would like to edit the keyboard shortcut. Start by selecting the category. For each category, the commands will appear at the right side of the window. When you select one, a brief description will appear at the bottom of the dialog box.

6. The current shortcut key, if there is one, will appear in the Current keys box.
7. Click inside the box labeled Press new shortcut key.
8. Press the shortcut key you would like to use. Include the Ctrl, Shift, or Ctrl + Shift keys.
9. If the shortcut key is currently assigned, Word will tell you what command currently uses the shortcut key.
10. You can reassign the shortcut key, or you can select a new one.
11. Choose whether you’d like to save the shortcut key in the Normal template (all documents) or only the current document.
12. Click Assign when you’re happy with your changes.

13. Click Close

That’s it. Now you can create shortcuts that truly make your life easier! I bet you’re already thinking about the possibilities…

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could activate Excel 2007’s Formula bar without using the mouse? You can… try this!

Press the F2 key. This will let Excel know that you want to edit the contents of a cell. The first time you do this, Excel will probably expand the information in the cell and let you to edit the information inside that cell… but you can tell Excel you want F2 to open your formula bar by doing thisi:

1. Click the Office button and then click Excel Options. Excel displays the Excel Options dialog box.
2. Click the Advanced option at the left of the dialog box.
3. Make sure the Allow Editing Directly In Cell check box is cleared.
4. Click on OK.

And that should do it… Now you should never have to take your hands off the keyboard while you’re putting together those worksheets!

Last week I rattled off a handful of the TopTech Toys of 2008… rated, of course, by none other than me. The second installment, (we could call this the “bottom half,” I suppose) will consist of tech toys that are probably equally as desirable as the those atop the list, but with slightly lower price tags.

So, without further adieu… the rest of my list:

#6 The Flip Mino HD: This is the fourth version of the hip little video camera that first came out in 2007. It looks, feels and works exactly like the previous version, except it shoots high-definition video. It holds 60 minutes of video and comes with software to let you edit your videos and upload them directly to sites including YouTube.

#7 Call me childish, but this watch is just too cool. The Swatch Orb Concept Watch. While it may never officially hit stores because it’s so unbelievably cool (albeit WAY ahead of it’s time), I’ll gladly put this one on the list so that one day we can say that DE talked about the Orb Watch before it was the best thing that no one ever saw coming!

#8 V-Moda: bass freq earbuds. Headphones that sound like you want them to! Just Read “… The dynamic driver delivers a warm, clear and natural sound as opposed to the distant and mechanicalsound of other manufacturers’ in-ear models that cost more than double Bass Freq’s value-based price.” You can click hereto get the rest of the info… but I’m completely sold already!

#9 Shaun White Snowboarding Road Trip for Wii. Go to the Ubisoft Website to see the official description, but if you’ve hopped on a WiiFit Balance Board and can remember what it felt like the first time you finished the snowboard slalom without being called “unbalanced,” you can definitely get excited about this game. Unlock world mountains, make an early exit from the chair lift, start a fight… a video game as freestyle as the sport itself. Now you don’t have to spend thousands on lift tickets to be a lackey with your friends.

#10 Get lonely spending hours at your computer with no one to keep you company? Why not ask for a Tengu Sound Toy? Tengu is a USB-powered character that lights up and lip syncs to music, or your voice, or whatever noise happens to be around at the time. Tengu has different facial expressions that you can match to different music — so it’s mellow when you need a mellow friend and peppy when you need cheering up. Silly, huh? Yeah. But I bet it could help with writer’s block!

Okay, Y’all that’s it. Time to get shopping!

Happy Thanksgiving from your Friends at Dynamic Edge, Inc.!

It’s just over a week away now. The day you’re either waiting in anticipation for; or are planning to spend cloistered at home, sheltered from the madding crowds at the mall and everywhere else.

If you’re one of the courageous (or crazy) people who will settle for no less than the best deal available on the worst day of the year to shop, here is my first installation of Top 10 Tech Toys for 2008, arranged in order of my favorites:

#1 Apple iPhone 3G: For most people, an iPod Touch would do just as well, but not for me. Because it’s a phone, a PDA, a music player with visual voice mail and an amazing web browser, I’ve decided that the iPhone is simply the best tech gift that could possibly be given. (If you’re reading this and want to make me the happiest person in the known universe, send that sleek, beautiful toy to our State St. address!) :)

#2 [Speaking of Apple Products]The New MacBook Pro (as described in my Oct 21 post) follows closely behind the iPhone in my book… and really only because of the price. As for reasons, see “It’s Shiny and Beautiful.” To clarify: Girls like to get computers as gifts too — especially awe-inspiring, envy-invoking, cutting-edge cool computers. (Sorry guys, I had too!)

#3 Amazon Kindle: Why travel with one or two books, when you could take your whole digital library with you? Seriously. Jim, one of our programmers got one of these about 3 months ago and it quickly became the center of attention in the Orange Room here. I was amazed at how compact the thing was, and how easy it was to read the pages. Not to mention the fact that you can use its browser wherever Sprint’s data network is available. Jim’s been using his mostly for textbook reading, but I’d be sure to use it for more relaxed reading! How about you?

#4 Now that TomTom lets you get driving directions from Sex and the City’s Samantha (Kim Cattrall), who wouldn’t want a new GPS? Listen… if you got lost half as often as I do, you’d be thinking the same thing: “Loved the series; loved the movie even more… This is Perfect!” (note: The voice doesn’t come with the TomTom, you have to download it for $12.95– a small price to be mildly entertained as you’re scolded your directions!)

#5 Canon PowerShot SD1100: Your favorite Elph just jumped up to 8Megapixels with a 3X Optical Zoom. Why get someone a big, complicated SLR when you could spend $150 on a sleek, simple, intuitive camera that fits in your pocket. With a range of colors — including a  pale pink –  this gift idea is definitely a win-win.

…

Stay Tuned. The next half of this list will be a little less pricy :-)