RobiNZ CAD Blog

AutoCAD 2013, nearly…

For AutoCAD users it’s nearly 2013. I’m quite pleased to see the r13 legacy or the silliness that is tridecaphobia didn’t have Autodesk change naming from 2012 to something daft like X3. You can preview some of the new features on Lynn Allen’s blog: AutoCAD 2013 is approaching the Finish Line - Lynn Allen's Blog It's always so exciting when the next release of AutoCAD arrives - I feel like a kid at Christmas as I unwrap all the new shiny features. I thought I'd share a general overview of some of the new features you'll be seeing in AutoCAD... Read more →

Solving the Snagit blackout and non-ActiveWords?

Something changed on my machine recently and impacted two of my favourite utilities. Screen capture blues from the black, and non-ActiveWords I went to take a screenshot and the capture looked like a photo taken in a coal mine with the lights out. You could see all the Snagit capture UI working perfectly (something like the faked image right) but the screen and resulting capture were solid black. The Clues: A quick trip to Techsmith support was in order but my ActiveWord “snagn”, which should launch the Snagit website, didn’t work. If the browser wasn’t running it launched and opened... Read more →

ActiveWords, Camtasia Studio and Windows 7

I recently got a new PC and this video from Buzz (not the Google one) shows why ActiveWords was my first install after Windows 7 was running. He made the demo with Camtasia Studio (another favourite app of mine). To give an idea how ActiveWords changes your computing (and why I can’t stand using a PC without it) the title for this post was created by entering “awf, camf and w7f”, letting ActiveWords do the rest. In a bit over a month it has saved close to an hour of typing and that’s just on my home PC. Caught out... Read more →

iThink it’s nearly my time for the Phone with an i

It’s not that I don’t like Apple, just their “our way or no way” attitude and the fanatic devotees annoy (but not Phil, Matt, Adam, Terrance and other iFanatics I know!). I’m not really into cults, except one, but will change my mind if the evidence stacks up. Today a few things happened that might, just might, be enough to make me consider actually getting an iPhone. Yes Kiwifrenzy, I know that even means tolerating iTunes which I’ve happily avoided, hard since Apple try & sneak it in with (also avoided because it’s rubbish) QuickTime downloads. If you’d asked me... Read more →

Buzz, about ActiveWords, on YouTube

Buzz Bruggeman's video not only shows ActiveWords in action but confirms that it works with Windows 7. I tried ActiveWords on the Windows 7 64 beta and was happy to find it worked as I couldn't use a... Read more →

ActiveWord for Wolfram|Alpha

This ActiveWord will query the new Wolfram|Alpha Computational Knowledge Engine. Execute the ActiveWord and this dialog appears, enter the search term, ActiveWords will launch your browser with the query entered in Wolfram|Alpha. It's early days for my use but so far just the city & date searches have been very useful. Create a "Navigate ActiveWord" with this URL in the action field: "http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=" UPDATE 2009-05-22: I've added the missing "|" to Wolfram|Alpha in the code but not updated the images Tags: Wolfram|Alpha Read more →

A Date with ISO 8601, and ActiveWords

Until I read Phil's post I didn't realise the eminently sensible Year, Month, Day (YYYY-MM-DD) format had official status. Hot Dating Tips for Marketers | Phil Couling Why aren’t more marketers... Read more →

ActiveWords for Twitter Search

Since I'm new to Twitter I just made an ActiveWord for http://search.twitter.com/ . Now I type, or ink, "tws" then intiate ActiveWords. A dialog appears (below), enter the search term and my browser l... Read more →

Buzz Bruggeman shares how he transcends time

Given this is, occasionally, a CAD blog I suspect you use design software. But in addition to that do you use Outlook , do you send email , do you have contacts and business relationships to mange, or... Read more →

ActiveWords update v1.95

ActiveWords have released an update (Version 1.95) which adds Windows Language features. It also adopts the standard Windows protocol for user settings (. ..Documents and Settings\LOGON\Application Da... Read more →