Posts

Use Excel to parse text to hours

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I use a tool that displays elapsed time in the format of Xd Xh Xm, for days-hours-and minutes. If it's less than 1 day, then the output is Xh Xm. It's easy for me to scrape the output, but I need it in hours to manipulate it further. Example outputs and converted results: 2d 0h 18m = 48.3 (in hrs) 14h 9m = 14.15 (in hrs) I wrote an Excel function to accomplish this task. Assuming my output is in cell B3, this is the function. =IF( ISERROR (FIND("d",B3)),LEFT(B3,FIND("h",B3)-1)+(MID(B3,FIND(" ",B3,FIND("h",B3))+1,FIND("m",B3)-FIND(" ",B3,FIND("h",B3))-1)/60),( LEFT(B3,FIND("d",B3)-1) *24)+ MID(B3, FIND(" ",B3,FIND("d",B3))+1 ,FIND("h",B3)-FIND(" ",B3,FIND("d",B3))-1) +( MID(B3, FIND(" ",B3,FIND("h",B3))+1 ,FIND("m",B3)-FIND(" ",B3,FIND("h",B3))-1 )/60)) Notice it starts with an IF s

Is your Mac shutting down after it goes to sleep?

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This eluded me for some time! Usually it didn't go all the way through the shut down, as there were files that needed saving. Either way, it was a pain getting going after my Mac was asleep. This is how I solved it. Go to System Preferences... > Security & Privacy Select the padlock in the lower-left. A user name/password dialog box will open. If you don't have the correct privileges for your Mac, you may be stuck at this point. Enter your user name and password. The padlock icon will change to an open padlock; The Advanced... button will no longer be grayed out/unaccessible. (See the image below.) Select the Advanced... button. Uncheck the box proceeding "Log out after _XX_ minutes of inactivity." Select OK Close the Security & Privacy preferences dialog box. That did solve the issue for me. I've heard from others that had similar issues, and what finally solved it for them was to make sure their hard disks didn't go to s

Simple notification script for Google Sheets

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UPDATED: May 19, 2017 I changed the script to be more user-friendly and the ability to include HTML in the email body. I also found that Google moved a few things in the menus, so I modified the instructions as appropriate. Google Sheets has a nice feature to notify yourself if something has changed, but every person who wants to be notified must add a notification for themselves. With a simple script, you can send notifications to people of your choosing. In this example, I've written a script to send an email when 1 or more rows are added. Get started. Go to the sheet Find a cell in the sheet that wont ever be over-written. Enter the value of the current total number of rows in the sheet. Note the cell for use in your script. I used G2. Go to Tools > Script editor... Write your script. Add this script in the script editor. Change as required to meet your needs. function check4NewLines() {       // /////////////// //////////////// ////////////////

Front-loaded text and scanning the page

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We push our writers to always front-load their titles and paragraphs not just because we think it's a good idea, but because studies back up the technique. Jakob Nielsen posted a great article, " First 2 Words: A Signal for the Scanning Eye ," where he goes into the details of his research in this area. Jakob starts with reminding us how our customers have many lists to read, err scan -- it's not just search results. Search result pages List of current and/or archived articles and press releases Product listing Table of contents Question lists on an FAQ page Bulleted and numbered lists, checklists, etc 11 characters is used as the baseline measure the number of characters a user actually reads when looking through a list (link text). The test is to see just the first 11 characters and see if you can predict what's behind the link -- what will you get when you click. The best link text has these characteristics. Plain language Specific te

Improve your writing for the web with the Hemingway Editor

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As we know, readers on the web don't really read, they scan and skim articles, and won't read anything that's long form. With the Hemingway Editor , you can improve your writing by making it more "bold and clear" -- make your writing standout so your audience actually reads it. The Hemingway Editor is going to give you feedback and input on the following: Sentences that are too hard to read Simpler alternatives to words and phrases Unnecessary adverbs Use of passive voice Readability score The Hemingway Editor also has other helpful functions: Basic formatting Import from Word Export as HTML Character count It's free to use online, or a mere $10 for the app version.

Text (SMS) from your computer using MightyText

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It's 2016 -- if you're not texting, you've fallen behind. I text my family, I get appointment reminders via text, and text is being used for 2-factor authentication. At my company there are several different communications apps, from Yahoo Messenger, to Slack, to HipChat. They each work well, but only texting is guaranteed to reach the person I want to talk to. With that being said, texting can be difficult from my phone if I have multiple conversations going on, or I have a lot to share. Fortunately, I've found a great solution. Whenever I'm at a computer, PC and Mac (I have both), I can use MightyText instead. MightyText works with Android phones and Google Chrome browser. Not only can I type faster using MightText, I get notices from my phone on my computer screen. I no longer need to take my phone out of my pocket to see alerts or respond to text messages. It also as the added benefit that I can easily attach any image that I can access from my computer

Favorite Podcasts

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It's been a year since I've posted, and only once in 2015... how time flies! I was sharing with a friend my favorite podcasts and thought I could share here. Daily Tech News Show  (DTNS) -- I've been following the host, Tom Merritt for 10 years. He's excellent. If you only have time for 1 podcast, this is the one. Serial  -- Spin-off from This American Life (below). There have been 2 seasons. Each is a story. I would highly recommend listening to both seasons.  This American Life  -- Big variety; some better than others. The host Ira Glass is excellent.  TWiT  -- This is a network of Podcasts. The quality varies. The founder, Leo Leporte should be recognized as the person who pushed podcasts to be more mainstream. I've been to their studios in Petaluma, CA. Try these: This Week in Tech. This was the original show that started the network. Tech News Today. Started by Tom Merritt (DTNS). The Tech Guy. Syndication of Leo's radio show. Security Now. De