Copywriter, technical writer, translator (FR>EN, ES>EN, IT>EN), journalist

TechnoZen

Exposed: the server farms behind Farmville

Editors at InformationWeek Magazine outdid themselves with the cover story in the May 16, 2011 issue. For starters, the thought bubble on the cartoon character gracing the cover said this: I can add millons of customers in a week I can add 1,000 servers in a day

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Using nonprinting characters (formatting symbols) in a document

Non-printing characters (NPCs) show formatting in your document. When you first see these symbols, you might think they’re cluttering up your screen. In fact, they’re designed to be both easily perceptible when you want to see them and easy to ignore when you don’t. And the headaches

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Wrangling passwords

Last week, a discussion on passwords took place on a listserv I belong to. Being a shameless thief, I’ll mention some of what was said and add my own input.

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Great document layout tips

I recently wrote a yet-to-be-published article that sprouted from an observation: legal documents, when compared to documents from Adobe, Inc., often look horrid. There’s no good reason for any document to be difficult to read, so I wrote about how important it is for lawyers to improve

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Getting computer help from friends

You know the geek (sorry, good friend, or “help desk person”) you call when your computer goes on the fritz? The one who happily helps you for free? Make that person’s life easier. If there’s nothing wrong with your Internet connection and you can turn on your

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Creating meeting invitations (Outlook, iCal)

Have you ever received a “meeting request” or calendar invitation via email? I send them often, since they’re a really handy way to get meeting information into calendars belonging to other people.

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Mac users, PC users: the stereotypes researched

It’s one of the funnier posts you’ll ever read, even if it’s purported to be true (I didn’t bother fact-checking this one – it stands on entertainment value alone…) 

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Why use online calendars?

It’s a great idea to use an electronic calendar, if for no other reason that you can ensure it automatically gets backed up. That calendar exists, obviously, on one of your electronic devices. Now you can also put a copy of your calendar on the web. Why

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Basic business social media strategy

Own a small business? Wondering how to effectively use the tangle that is social media today? Here’s the secret: pick a few things you can do well, and do them routinely.

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