Hasta La Gadget!

You already know how we feel about the Space Shuttle program coming to a close, but of course that was just a little premature. Now it’s all done except for the mothballing, with the Atlantis touching down successfully at runway 15 at Kennedy Space Center. Crewmembers Chris Ferguson, Doug Hurley, Sandy Magnus, and Rex Walheim are back on our planet and, traveling at speeds decidedly slower than escape velocity, can officially put a cap onto this historic series of space missions that we, at least, will never forget. In the words of NASA: “Job well done, America.”

For those interested, head over to NASA’s website for the live coverage of this historic moment.

Space Shuttle Atlantis touches down in Florida, won’t be going back up again originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Jul 2011 06:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This article was written on January 24, 2007 by CyberNet.

Click to Enlarge

I don’t think that anyone would argue that getting used to Microsoft Office 2007′s new interface takes some time. I’ve been using Beta 2 for what seems like forever (probably about 8 months in reality) and I finally feel comfortable being able to find the commands that used to reside on toolbars and menus in previous versions of Office.

It turns out that Microsoft is working on a plug-in for Office 2007 with the codename Scout, according to I Started Something. It will offer an additional tab that is similar to the one pictured above so that users will be able to quickly search for the commands that they could instinctively find before. As you start to type a word in the search box, such as “pictur” in the example, it will show you live results from the list of available commands.

One recommendation that I can give you is to make good use of the Quick Access Toolbar that is located above the tabs. It keeps you from having to constantly switch back and forth between tabs to get to the commands that you use frequently. The easiest way to add something to the Quick Access Toolbar is to just right-click on any item located on a Ribbon, and select the “Add to Quick Access Toolbar” option:

To keep the toolbar from getting too cluttered you can customize it using the respective option on the right-click menu. That way you can reposition items and put separators in.

Of course, you’ll have to be able to find the command in the first place. I’ve found the help to be quite useful and it can save you more time than you think, but once the Scout add-on becomes available that will surely speed things up. This morning I actually came across an interactive tutorial that Microsoft is offering for Word 2003 users that lets you hover over a command to see where you can find it in Office 2007 (as pictured below). If that isn’t enough for you then click on the command and it will actually demonstrate how you can find that command in Word 2007.

I was really impressed that they even let you go through all of the menus and select commands there as well, so it will be pretty comprehensive for most Word users. It would have been nice, however, if they put a tutorial like this together for Excel and PowerPoint but I couldn’t find one.

Once you start to get used to Microsoft Office 2007 it is hard to switch back to the previous versions that only have the toolbars. Everything works so smoothly and, despite the initial frustration, you can find things much faster. If you really give the new interface a fair shot, and still walk away not liking it I would be quite surprised.

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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We wouldn’t say it was delivered with lightning speed, but Dell’s firmware update for the Venue Pro is at least on schedule. The outfit’s Lionel Menchaca tweeted that the refresh, which brings a fix for a WiFi lockup issue (among others), “starts rolling out today for T-Mobile customers in the US + all other customers outside the US.” Unfortunately for AT&T customers sporting this pro phone, it looks like you’ll be left in the firmware lurch a bit longer — there’s been no mention of a similar update for Ma Bell.

Update: It looks like someone spoke too soon. Lionel Menchaca’s taken to Twitter yet again to update us on the state of this update, and it appears T-Mo Venue Pro users are going to have to wait until next week for the refresh — it is, however, already available to unlocked devices. Considering how long we’ve waited, what’s another week? Right?

Dell Venue Pro firmware update silences WiFi woes (update: delayed) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Jul 2011 03:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This article was written on November 17, 2007 by CyberNet.

Weekend Website

Today’s Weekend Website is also known as the World’s biggest show & Tell. It’s called Instructables, and it’s a place where people show what they do and how they do it. Members can collaborate with others, have fun, and learn a lot in the process.

What’s an Instructable?

Before we dive into what Instructables is all about, we need to first explain what it is.  It’s simple, an Instructable is a step-by-step description of anything that someone wants to share.  They can be about anything, really, maybe something inspiration, educational, or something helpful.

Become a Member

If you think Instructables is a site you’d visit and participate in often, you’re going to want to become a member. It’s free, and doing so will allow you to create and submit your own Instructables. You’ll also be able to comment on other’s Instructables which is a big part of what it’s all about. Additionally, you’ll be able to see all of the steps for any Instructable on one page which will save you some time.

Signing up is simple and only takes a minute.

Navigating

Instructables doesn’t cater to just one crowd because they coverall kinds of things.  The easiest way to navigate the site is to use the menu bar towards the top of the page that lists out each of the topics.

Topics include:

• Art
• Craft
• Food
• Games
• Home
• Life
• Offbeat
• Ride
• Tech

On the home page, they also display “Featured” and “Popular” Instructables. For your first visit, I recommend taking a look at some of those to get an idea of what it’s all about. Once you click on a particular topic, you’ll also see two lists containing the featured and popular Instructables just for that topic.

Contests/Getting Involved

It appears the folks over at Instructables want you to get involved because they’ve always got several contests going on.  The contests you can participate in at this point include a “Mash-UP Contest” with over $5,000 in prizes to be given away as well as a Laser Cutter Contest in which the grand prize is a VersaLaser worth over $13,000. It’s one way to get involved and get result in you getting rewarded for the work you put into creating your Instructable.

Another way to get involved is simply to comment. I’ve come across many helpful comments that really add to what they offer.  You can also participate in forum discussions.

Why I love Instructables

If you’ve used Instructables before, you know that many of them are filled with really great pictures and instructions. If someone wanted to actually follow along and replicate what ever it was that was being explained, they could without problem. For example, this Instructable titled “How to Solve a Rubik’s Cube” is divided into thirteen different steps and each step has an image that shows exactly what they are explaining in words.

Check-out these Instructables:

• Simple lightning in Photoshop
• Control electrical stuff with your computer
• Create your own personal home robot
• Hand motion controlled R/C Car
• Computerized Etch a Sketch

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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The LS5 looks like a basic point-and-shoot with an above-average lens.