First, let’s define the difference between a Workbook and a Sheet (or sometimes called a Worksheet.) A workbook is the overall Excel file, whereas the Sheets are the individual spreadsheets. A Workbook can contain multiple worksheets, which are the tabs along the bottom of the Excel window.

Link Data in the Same Sheet

In any given sheet, you can use data from any other cell. This is most commonly used for formulas. You can also use a very basic formula to duplicate a cell’s content.

=E14

Entering this simple formula will display whatever’s in cell E14, whether it’s text, numbers, currency, or a date. If you change the contents of cell E14, all the other cells that reference E14 will change as well.

Link Data Between Worksheets

Where this linking ability of Excel really shines is when linking data between different worksheets. For example, if you have one spreadsheet (IT Expenses) that details expenses broken down by day or week, and another (Expenses by Dept) that compares total expenses between departments, you can pull the totals from the IT Expenses spreadsheet for use in the Expenses by Dept spreadsheet.

In the Expenses by Dept spreadsheet, you would enter this formula to pull the data from the IT Expenses sheet:

=(IT Expenses!C21)

Now, this looks a little complicated, but it uses the same basic structure as the =E14 formula we used before. We’re just adding the name of the spreadsheet from which we want to pull the data.

Link Data Between Workbooks

Similar to how we can link data from separate worksheets, we can use data from entirely separate Excel files (workbooks). Again, the structure of the formula is simple; we just need to give Excel a little more information about where it should look for the data.

=(‘[IT Expense Report.xls]IT Expenses’!C21)

In this case, we’re adding the other workbook’s file name (IT Expense Report.xls) in square brackets. Then we enclose the file name and sheet name in single quotes.

Please note that for security and convenience, try to keep the two Excel workbooks in the same folder.

These data linking techniques can also be incorporated into more complex formulas the same way you would use local cells.

User Tiketti has posted a script on the iLounge forums that will allow you to adjust your play counts in iTunes 9.

Dim iTunesApp, currTrack, newPlayCount
Dim prompt, title, defaultValue

Set iTunesApp = WScript.CreateObject("iTunes.Application")
Set currTrack = iTunesApp.CurrentTrack

prompt = "New playcount:"
title = currTrack.Artist & " - " & currTrack.Name
defaultValue = currTrack.PlayedCount

newPlayCount = InputBox (prompt, title, defaultValue)

If IsNumeric(newPlayCount) Then
If newPlayCount >= 0 Then
If Len(newPlayCount) > 0 Then
currTrack.PlayedCount = newPlayCount
End If
End If
End If


1. Copy this code into Notepad.
2. Save the file as SetPlayCount.vbs (the file name doesn’t matter; just make sure it’s a .vbs file)
3. In iTunes, play the song whose play count you want to adjust; double click the script you just saved.
4. Enter the desired play count in the input box.

A few things to note… Unlike the script for versions 8 and earlier, you must have the song playing. If you only highlight the song as before, you’ll receive a script error.

Since this script works only on the song that is playing, it won’t work on multiple tracks.

Thanks, Emma, for the tip!

Some time ago, I came across a neat little program called Taskbar Shuffle. It does exactly what it sounds like it does: Taskbar Shuffle gives you the power to rearrange the buttons on your taskbar. According to the website:

Taskbar Shuffle is a simple, small, free utility that lets you drag and drop your Windows taskbar buttons to rearrange them.  Here’s a full feature list:

• Reorder your taskbar buttons by dragging and dropping them

• Reorder your tray icons in the same way

• Reorder tasks in a grouped button’s popup menu in the same way

• Middle-click to close programs on your taskbar

• Works with UltraMon taskbars

• Tweak taskbar button grouping

During a normal day, I’m on the computer for more than eight hours. So as you can imagine, I’ve gotten used to having things certain ways; my taskbar not excluded.

I like to have my browsers first, Outlook next, then my productivity applications, and finally all of the random windows. This makes switching between applications much easier.

Before Taskbar Shuffle, if a program were to crash, or otherwise get closed, it would throw everything off when I relaunched it. But thanks to this little gem of an application, I don’t need to worry about that any more. If I have to restart Firefox, for example, I can just grab it and put it back next to my Quick Launch menu. One thing you should keep in mind, though, is that it keeps related buttons grouped together. For example, if you have multiple messenger windows open, if you try to drag one, it will bring the others with it. I’m not saying this is a fault with the program; on the contrary, I think this feature is smart.

Taskbar Shuffle is very good at what it does. I have it auto-start with Windows, and never have to think about it. Taskbar Shuffle is “just there” and leaves a small footprint in terms of resources. It’s free and works with Windows 95, 98, 2000, NT, XP, and Vista (32-bit versions only.)

Click here to download

In an older post, I showed you how to share your iTunes library between computers. In another post, I talked about the virtues of the syncing web service, Dropbox.

Now, iTunes & Dropbox join the ranks of Great Combinations, rubbing elbows with the likes of Dungeons & Dragons, Beavis & Butthead, and Nuts & Gum (Together At Last!)

Well, at least it has the potential to be a great combination. By using Dropbox instead of an external hard drive, it’s feasible that you could eliminate the need to carry your music collection with you. I’ll tell you how you’d set up sharing your iTunes library using Dropbox, but since I no longer use a PC at home, I can’t test this first-hand.

The idea behind this modified method is the same as before. The difference is that you’ll be saving your iTunes library to your Dropbox folder. DO NOT save your music folder to your Dropbox. I’ll say it again: do not save your music folder to your Dropbox. For one, it would take a really long time to sync. For another, you only get 2GB of online storage. You only want to copy your iTunes Library.itl file to your Dropbox folder.

Once you do this, you’ll have to redirect iTunes to look for your library in this new location. Hold down the Shift key (Option on a Mac) while you launch iTunes. Keep holding it down until you see the Choose iTunes Library… option box. Select Choose Library… and find where you saved it in your Dropbox. iTunes should launch normally, with all your ratings and play counts intact.

As soon as you do this, go into the Preferences (Edit » Preferences) and click the Advanced tab. Make sure the iTunes Music folder location is pointing to wherever you have your collection. It should not be pointing to your Dropbox; my iTunes changed this automatically when I chose to use the library in my Dropbox. Be wary of this, otherwise any music you add will be put into your Dropbox.

Now this is where the potential of this setup could soar, and where I can’t test it (yet.) Theoretically now, you should be able to save your music collection directly to your local hard drive on each machine, instead of your portable external hard drive.

This could be a fantastic setup if it works the way it does in my head. The biggest advantage would be that you could share an iTunes library between two computers without having to lug around an external hard drive. You would have synchronized play counts and ratings, and it would be (almost) completely transparent.

The disadvantage, however, becomes apparent when you add new music to your library. While the iTunes library will recognize it without problems, you’ll have to physically copy the music file to each computer that’s sharing the library. For example, if you buy a song from iTunes at home, it gets added to the library and all is well. But when you go into work the next day and want to listen to your new song, iTunes won’t be able to find it. You’ll have to carry the song on a flash drive and copy it to the collection on your work computer. If it’s just a song or two, you could save it in your Dropbox to sync, then move it when you get in to work. So, depending on how frequently you add new music to your library, this could be a big hassle. If you find yourself constantly copying music back and forth, you might be better off going back to saving your library on the external hard drive.

Another thing you’ll want to keep in mind is that because iTunes is constantly updating the library file while the program runs, so too will Dropbox be syncing that file. My iTunes library is about 4.5MB with about 2700 songs, and the corresponding XML file is about 10% bigger. So be aware of this if your network usage is monitored or if you have a slow connection.

As far as I know, this will not work between Windows and Mac, since the two operating systems use different folder structures. If you can try this between Windows machines, or between Macs, I’d love to hear how well this works; leave a comment so the rest of us can benefit from your great wisdom!

If, for whatever reason, you find yourself needing to adjust the play count of a song or songs in iTunes, here’s a really simple way to do it without having to muck through XML files. I don’t remember where I found this script, but it works like a charm, so I’ll pass along. Thanks to the original author, whoever you are.

1. Download this file: AdjustiTunesPlayCount.txt (Right-click, “Save Link As…”)
2. Change the file extension from .txt to .js
3. Right-click the file and choose Edit. (If you choose Open, it will run the script; choose Edit)
4. Find the line currTrack.PlayedCount = 64 and change “64″ to your desired play count. Save and Close
5. In iTunes, highlight/select the songs whose playcounts you want to change.
6. Double-Click the AdjustiTunesPlayCount.js file to run the script. Voila.

I’ve been using Dropbox for several months now, and I wanted to offer it my congratulations.

As I mentioned in my post about OtherInbox, I’m a bit lazy when it comes to my technology; it has to capture my attention and hold it with little to no effort on my part. I’ve tried a lot of different web services over the years and most of them don’t last more than a week. I give these services every chance to better my life, or to make it more interesting, but for different reasons, they fall by the wayside, forgotten. Either they’re too difficult to use, too cumbersome to use, or they just don’t fit into my online lifestyle.

Dropbox has cleared these hurdles that so many sites and services have run smack into and collapsed, twitching in a pile of twisted, useless data.

So, what exactly is Dropbox? Basically it’s a virtual file folder in which you can save pictures, music, documents, and whatever else you want to access on more than one computer. If you’re using Windows, you’ll find a folder in your My Documents called My Dropbox – this isn’t movable. On a Mac, however, you have a choice of where to put the folder. Then, whatever you put in this folder will be synced to the Dropbox servers. To access these files on another computer, you’ll have to set up the service just like you did on the first one. Log in, and the folder will be automatically synced. Depending on your connection and how much data you’re syncing, this could take several minutes.

The beauty and real strength of the Dropbox service is that it’s 99.9% transparent. Unless you’re saving large files to the folder (say, more than 5 or 10 MB depending on your connection speed) you won’t notice the syncing at all. It happens in real time, the instant you put the file in the folder. There’s no waiting, and no need to force it to sync if you’re in a rush to get out the door. There’s no annoying popups or alerts telling you that your files have been uploaded, either. Instead, each file icon is tagged with a small, unobtrusive green check mark. While the files are in your Dropbox folder, you can do whatever you’d normally do with them – drag and drop them into different folders, rename them, or open them for editing. When you’re done, save the file as you normally would, and Dropbox will sync the affected files immediately.

What makes the service even more useful and accessible is that you don’t need to have the software installed on your computer. While it does make it much more usable, you might not always be at your own computer. Wherever you are, you can get access to your files by logging on to their website.

Upon installation, there are two folders created inside your My Dropbox folder. Files in the Public folder can be shared to friends that aren’t Dropbox users. You can create more public folders, and invite people to share by listing their email. All the members of the folder can edit, add, and delete the contents. It works great for team projects and online collaboration. The other folder, Photos, will have its contents displayed in the gallery on the web interface. Here, you can get a permalink for each photo to email to friends and family.

You’re given 2GB of storage space, which I’ve found to be plenty. Remember, larger files take longer to sync, so the service works best with small files anyway. When deciding on what you should use your Dropbox to store and sync, you might want to read through the Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, etc.

THE SITE, CONTENT, FILES AND SERVICES ARE PROVIDED “AS IS”, WITHOUT WARRANTY OR CONDITION OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED.

So in other words, use at your own risk. Don’t store electronic copies of your bank statements, text files with all your passwords in them, or anything else you couldn’t stand to lose.

Bottom line: Dropbox is a wonderful convenience; much more convenient than a flash drive or emailing files to yourself. Go sign up for it now!

As iPhones and iPod Touches continue to fly off the shelves, it’s becoming more apparent that spending the time to make your website or blog iPhone-friendly is worth the effort.

Even with (arguably) the best mobile browser in the world, the iPhone’s small screen can make it difficult to read information on some websites. Its zooming and panning abilities make it easier, but it still limits your peripheral browsing vision. Many mainstream sites like Google, Twitter, and Facebook have mobile versions of their content that allow easier browsing, but what are us little guys supposed to do?

While Astro-Geek:3000 displays fairly well on my iPhone – well enough to read, anyway – there are some elements that are a little off. So, I looked around a little bit to see what kind of options were available to me for making an iPhone-friendly version of the blog.

InterSquash is a web-based service that creates an iPhonization using your RSS feed. It’s a good idea, but it didn’t work for AG:3k; I keep getting String could not be parsed as XML errors. Maybe you might have better luck.

The only other real option I found is a Wordpress plugin called WPTouch. It allows different customization features including colors and icons; there are some icons included in the plugin, but it also explains how you can include your own custom icons. Another nice little touch is the section at the bottom that shows you any incompatibilities between plugins.

The plugin creates a nice iPhone theme that’s easy to read and navigate, but doesn’t stifle your blog. For instance, because InterSquash uses your RSS feed, visitors would still have to visit the main site to leave comments. With WPTouch, visitors have full commenting abilities right at their fingertips. WPTouch also supports pages by displaying their links under the Menu dropdown.

WPTouch is a solid plugin that does its job well.

Well, I’ve had my OtherInbox for a couple months now, but I haven’t really used it a whole lot. I talked about what it does in an older post, so I won’t rehash that.

I’m going to be perfectly honest right now and confide in you a little secret: I’m lazy. When it comes to my technology, I’m lazy. What I mean is that I don’t want to have to work too hard in order to take advantage of my technology. Not only does it need to be easy to use, but it also needs to be readily available. It needs to keep itself in the brackets of my attention span, otherwise I’ll forget about it. OtherInbox is succumbing to this malady, albeit more slowly than other apps and services.

In order to make use of my OtherInbox, I have to click the button on my bookmark tab, which requires me to actively think about doing it. I’m the one putting forth the effort.

It’s a great service, don’t get me wrong; the concept is nearly brilliant, and the execution has been done well. But until they come out with a Firefox addon perhaps, or maybe an iPhone app, I’m still going to have trouble remembering to check my OtherInbox. Granted, there is a notification service built into it that will send an email to my main address, but doesn’t that just defeat the purpose?

I recommend this site, especially for those less tech-lazy than I am. If you want to give it a try, I think you still need an invitation to the beta. I have some I can hand out so if you’d like one, leave a comment here – but mask it [i.e. me(at)mailhost(dot)com] – or send a message through my Contact Form.

Mozilla’s Firefox browser continues to gain more and more share of the browser market, especially after it’s third official release earlier this year. It’s faster and more secure than Internet Explorer, but where it really shines is its expandability. With a library of thousands upon thousands of addons, the functionality of Firefox can be extended almost infinitely.

One feature that I use constantly, often several times a day, doesn’t require the installation of an addon; it’s built right into the browser. Using keywords with bookmarks, you can search virtually any site right from the Firefox address bar without first visiting the page. It’s easy to setup and can even get a little addicting.

• For the first step we will have to visit the page first. Simply go to the website you want to create a custom search for and locate their search box. In this example I’ll be using NewEgg.com (not out of any sense of loyalty or preference over other online technology vendors, but because their search bar was close to their logo.) Then, right click in the search field and choose “Add a Keyword for this Search…”
• Next, a window similar to this one will pop up. The “Name:” field will be what it’s listed as in your bookmarks; in this example, I gave it the name of the site. The “Keyword:” field is what you’ll use to invoke the search – egg in this example. And finally, choose a place to save the bookmark. If you want, you can create a special folder just for these customized searches. Just click the small button with the down-arrow to the right of the “Create In:” pulldown. This will give you the option to create a new folder. When you’re done, click the “Add” button.
• Now you can use Firefox to search your favorite sites from anywhere on the web. All you have to do is type your keyword in the address bar, followed by the search terms. Using the New Egg example, it would look like the picture to the right. Once you hit Enter, it will take you to the results of your search. One thing you may want to keep in mind; this will navigate you away from whatever page you have open. Here’s a tip: hit Ctrl-T to open a new tab, then type in your keyword search.

As I mentioned, this keyword search feature can be used for virtually any site with a search function. Some of the sites I use the keyword search function for on a regular basis include Wikipedia, Google Image Search, and Google Maps. You could create keyword searches for video sites like Youtube, shopping sites like eBay or Amazon, or even the blogs you like to read. The only real limit to the number of keyword searches you can create is your own ability to remember them all.

For quite a long time, I was trying to manage two iTunes music libraries; one at work and one at home. I listen to music probably 7 out of 8 hours a day at work, but fairly rarely at home. But when I did listen at home, I didn’t have the same playlists I had at work, since many of them are dynamic, based on play counts and ratings.

I found a remedy a month or so ago, and now I can listen to the same library at work and at home. It works wonderfully.

To make this work for yourself, you’ll need an external hard drive or some other form of portable storage. A USB thumb/pen/flash drive would work, if you have a small collection. I’m using a 160GB hard drive I’d purchased for my laptop. It’s not an external drive, but I purchased an enclosure for it. The great thing about this setup is that it doesn’t need a separate power supply; it receives enough power through the USB connection so there’s no need to carry around a bulky AC adapter. This makes it much more portable. The enclosure came with a carry pouch, so I can easily carry the hard drive and USB cable with me between home and work.

I digress.

Start off on the computer that has the library you want to use. If one library is more developed than the other, you’ll obviously want to use the more developed one.

1. First of all, move your music files onto your portable storage device. The read/write speed on an external hard drive is plenty fast enough, so if you’re worried about choppy playback, you needn’t fret. It doesn’t matter what drive letter your external drive comes up as, but it does need to remain constant every time you connect it. You may want to change it to something further down the alphabet so there’s no chance that other portable media will steal that letter. The drive letter does not need to be the same between computers, however; they can be different. For instance, it could be the K: drive on your work computer and the P: drive at home; as long as it’s always K: at work and always P: at home, you’ll be fine.
2. Once you get your music copied over, you’ll want to copy your iTunes library onto your external hard drive. It can be found in the iTunes folder in My Music (C:Documents and Settings(your username)My DocumentsMy MusiciTunes). Copy iTunes Library.itl and iTunes Music Library.xml over to your external hard drive, preferrably in their own separate folder.
3. Now that your music and library files are copied over, you can configure iTunes to use these files instead of the defaults. To do this in Windows, hold the [Shift] key while double-clicking the iTunes icon to launch it; In OS-X, hold down the Option key while launching iTunes. A window will come up asking you to specify a library. Click the “Choose Library…” button. Browse to where you saved your library onto your external hard drive and select it. iTunes will now use this library file instead of the one saved in your My Music folder.
4. The final thing you’ll want to do is change the iTunes Music folder location. To do this, go into the Settings within iTunes and click on the “Advanced” tab. Change the folder location to wherever it is on your external hard drive.

The first computer is set up.

On the second computer, all you have to do is follow steps 3 & 4 above. That’s it! You now have two computers sharing the same library, same play counts, same ratings, and same playlists! And the beauty of this setup is that you can import music on either computer and instantly have access to it on the other!

I haven’t tried it on more than two machines, but I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t do this on three, four, or as many computers as you want. Keep in mind, however, that this is not a media server. As far as I know, you can’t share out the library files to use on multiple computers simultaneously. This is a one-at-a-time setup. It’s designed for going back and forth from home/work, or perhaps if you’re going to be using an unfamiliar computer for a period of time.