ActiveWords

Trying out ActiveWords from www.activewords.com . It's really an ingenious utility -- performs word substitutions and/or commands by watching what you type. It can do some really amazing things -- from typing whole paragraphs for you when you type just a word, to launching programs and then making them do things for you.

I became interested in it out of a conversation I had at the Microsoft BizSpark Meet & Greet event a couple of days ago. As I was sitting there live microblogging the event, the founder of ActiveWords told me he had a way to make using my netbook easier, and suggested I download the trial of ActiveWords.

Well, a couple of days later, with some of the free Add-ins loaded, I can confirm - yes, it does indeed make using my netbook easier, and I strongly suspect it'll make using any of my computers a lot easier.

I'll keep blogging about ActiveWords as I learn new ways to use it in the coming months. Even now, though, it's clearly a winner.

Gimme more ribbon!

I never thought I'd say this, but I really wish Outlook 2007 had the proper "ribbon" so I could have it autohide like in my other Office apps on my netbook.