Category: Tech

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Document to PDF conversion – Compromise on inaccessible links & annoying watermarks or use open source.

As any virtual assistant will tell you, in the nature of our work ( which is truly online in every sense), document exchange is a big hassle. With public documents such as portfolio items we would definitely not prefer to use documents in their original formats, doc, xls, etc. So, the available alternative is to take up screenshots and convert it into jpegs. Again, its very tedious, cumbersome and unprofessional to present to prospective clients. Then it was a chance discovery at Pdfonline.com.

All I had to do was to prepare my document, check for typos and grammar, fill in the details and upload it at PdfOnline, along with my email address. ( You can use any free email service for this. ) After your document is converted, you will receive it as an attachment in your inbox. Cool!… isn’t it. So far, So good, especially if you have only static text content.

On the other hand, lets assume that you have written MyWebsite ( as a hyperlinked text), instead of actually typing the url http://www.mywebsite.om/. In such case, the URL text within the pdf document will be accessible, while the hyperlinked text will not be.

Now, this is okay for small urls like web url, blog url etc. Let us assume that you want to include few links to express a point, give refrences, provide credits etc The length of the url is fairly long & there are several intercepting links. Providing the Url text will tarnish the presentation completely, and it is impossible to eliminate the url completely. In such case you are forced to use a hyperlinked text. But what use are there links, if these are not accessible in the pdf. PdfOnline’s solution to this problem is their BCL-Easy PDF

The trail version of BCL – Easy pdf is free to download and you can convert as many documents you want to pdf without any expiry data. Plus this also retains the hyperlinked texts & all of them are accessible from the pdf page.Great ! Isnt it.. Too Good To Be True, isnt it… Yes, it is too good to be true. There is a catch, which is..they have their BCL-Easy pdf stamp appearing in the bottom right corner of all the pages in the pdf file. If you are okay with it, then there is nothing else to think about.

On the other hand, if you are somewhat like me, not afraid to try open source, then I would recommend to go in for OpenOffice.org ( personal recommendation – close replacement for MS office ~145MB, worth the effort). In addition to the regular docs, spreadsheet, paint and other stuff in their suite, OpenOffice allows you to export you documents into pdf, where in the hyperlinks are retained , there is no watermark & there is no expiry as well.

Please click on the image to download the pdf file. I tried embedding pdf within this post. But that disallows the follow-hyperlink by default.

Deepa’s
Virtual Assistance
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Visual CV – Take your resume to a new level

Finding a job was never an easy task, and the Resume / CV which is practically the jobseeker’s gate pass to connect to an organisation has undergone a great deal of change since the concept came into being. From word of mouth – to – hand written –to Neatly Typed –to printed format, the show-it-all resume is still undergoing changes to suit the new age trends.

With the penetration of internet, and Virtual Assistance gaining foray into the job-posting sites, many recruiters are finding it hard to keep track of submitted resumes and evaluating them. Moreover, for those who are keen on taking up virtual assistance as a career option (part time to begin with…), sending mails after mails with word / pdf attachments is a tedious process especially when you update a resume after it has been mailed to a prospective employer.. It is also a very pressing concern especially for those who want to work with Logos and banners and other graphic elements to send their creative files as attachments, for the fear of their graphic’s unauthorised usage ( People always find a way to work around © & Watermarks… isn’t exactly foolproof)

It was during one of my google-wanderings I came across Visual CV , the much needed resume – format for the virtual age. It doesn’t really matter if you aspire to be a virtual assistant or not. If you are planning to apply for a job, over the internet, then I would suggest that this is the best way to post / create your resume for your employers. Personally I would recommend this for the following reasons

  1. It is online and its your resume. So you own the content , files, and other stuff in your portfolio
  2. No more attachments, just a link in the mail.
  3. You can update this as your career path progresses. So there is no more older versions
  4. Allows a video resume upload. Make it more interactive, as compared to the b /w word documents
  5. You can have option to have a certain public resume ( general info) , & a private resume (more detailed info) which can be shared with discretion.

Virtual Assistant or not, Visual CV is a great thing to have the resume put up. I am sure this will come across as a “Unique feature” among the hoards of resume a company gets for their job postings. Humand mind is a curious thing. The HR is no different, so cash on it, and make your resume truly stand out.

Oh!, I too have my Visual CV in place. Brief me on why you need my CV , I shall share it with you pronto!

Deepa’s
Virtual Assistance
Posted on

Vista's Security concerns – For a common Man

Today,I happen to read a news-item which says ” Windows Vista security ‘rendered useless’ by researchers” which greatly reminded me of how this would affect the outlook of a common man who “just want to get a new PC”. To cite my concern, I would like to introduce you to Alex, whom I consider to be a typical average computer user. He is not tech-savy, but just wants things to done via his computer. More simply said, I would say he has traded ‘ His Notepad’ for ‘Notepad.exe’

Alex Finkelstein is a senior citizen who blogs his way happily about real-estate and related news content, after retirement. Unlike many senior members of our community who start out late with “computers”, he too had his share of roadblocks. His enthusiasm is infectious, and I get to see a regular stream of mails from Alex asking how to “make this work”, or “why this is not working” etc and I would respond accordingly. Slowly but steadily he gained more control over “things being done on a computer”, and now has fewer queries to clarify. This is the time, he was just about getting things right in XP. But as providence would have it, he too faced a hard-disk crash and had to go for a new desktop.

Eventually he did end up buying a Vista (as XP is no longer available). Lets bear in mind that he is a senior citizen, and has reached a certain comfort level with XP. Now forced to use Vista, he feels completely lost and the increasing delay in understanding how to go about folders and icons only added to his frustration. His requirements are minimal and, is certainly not interested in the frills and fireworks of vista.

Now, back to the article, ” Windows Vista security ‘rendered useless’ by researchers” . You can read the technical mumbo-jumbo in the original article, while I quote,

“The genius of this is that it’s completely reusable,” said Dino Dai Zovi, a well-known security researcher and author. “They have attacks that let them load chosen content to a chosen location with chosen permissions. That’s completely game over.

A common man like Alex may not have “sensitive information pertaining to national interest” on his desktop. Nevertheless, this piece of information cannot be ignored Going by the details, I presume, anyone with the appropriate knowledge can use an unsuspecting commoner’s PC/Laptop as a virtual command center for sensitive and perhaps malicious actions. All that is needed is to find an open Wifi-spot , with lot of unsuspecting commoners who are unwittingly taken for a ride.

Wonder what Microsoft has to say about this ?. Maybe I will just go in for Mac.

Deepa’s
Virtual Assistance
Posted on

Cloud computing – from the ground

I have been following cloud computing for quite some time, I read about it, or watch Cloud Computing conferences on you-tube in an attempt to gain some insight into it from the common man’s point of view. Numerous google search, (and now Cuil search) lead me to detailed documentations and presentations on the architecture of Cloud computing. Ok, now that I have searched, and researched, do I feel any wiser now ? I guess not, these searches and documents took me deeper and deeper into the labyrinth of cloud computing principles and continued to emphasis on being the “next big thing” in all its technical mumbo-jumbo.

I don’t claim to be an expert in PHP, JS, or XML. ( hey !… don’t even think about HTML, every kid out of a computer crash course is an HTML expert). But nevertheless, I do understand the logistics involved in client-server applications. From what I gather, simply put Cloud computing is about requesting “x=2” from a data center in Timbuktu, presenting this data to a server in order to compute “x+5 = 2+5” located in Barcelona and I may be placing this request from Uganda. All the HTML – PHP-SQL –XML- HTML talk happens in the cloud, and I finally get to see the result in my browser.

I agree it is unfair to oversimplify a technology such as Cloud Computing, but, the point is, it is enough if your device ( It is no longer PC, or laptop, or iPhone ) has a browser and allows you to connect to the internet. But isn’t this something similar to web-based applications such as Google Docs , Zoho Suite , ClientSpot, QuickBooksOnline etc?. The application is stored online. There is no need for us to download or install. The data is also stored online. All one needs is a browser, internet connection and of course, the key-pad in order to call these apps and generate data. But doesn’t this sound like SaaS (Software as a Service). May be there is some difference in their architecture.

The whole idea seems to be built around the principle that every electronic device will stay connected to the internet at all times. But will the future see this connectivity as a matter of choice or as a pre-requisite to use the device? This scenario reminds me of vista. Microsoft has stopped XP , pre-loaded Vista in all new computers and vista sucks. So, is there a choice for those like us on the ground?

Deepa’s
Virtual Assistance

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