For the last 12 months, I've provided you with ideas, tips, tricks, a bit of humor, shopping ideas, comments on popular and inane American culture, and ways to get out of working with difficult people. Since everyone seems to be in shopping list mode—except perhaps our Jewish friends who've already done their shopping since Hanukkah started Wednesday night, or our Type A friends who shopped at last year's after-Christmas sales (both types being lucky, chosen people)—I thought I'd offer up a list of the five MOST popular (perhaps because they're useful?) tips that I came up with the past year.

Today's final "jargon demystified" post is going to cover the basics of OneNote, that über popular and oh-so-useful (not to mention favorite) Office program for note taking. We're going to define the three most basic of OneNote features today, the ones that seem to be confusing to some of you: notebooks, sections, and pages.

(Note: I published this way back in March 2009, so chances are 75% of you never got to see it. So...I thought I'd re-post it because I think it's useful—and funny, too.)

Not only does every country and language have its own sayings, every industry also has its vernacular. When you talk about cars, for instance, you'll use terms like "horsepower" and "torque." When you are a gardener, you'll get all thorny about "nitrogen deficiency" and "powdery mildew." And of course if you're into wine, you'll hear yourself talk about a wine's "mouth feel" or its "tannins" (or that it has a hint of impertinence — my favorite kind of wine).

And as for computers, the list goes on and on. I've done several columns and blog posts over the past many years that have attempted to demystify words and phrases we come across when working with e-mail, mobile devices, blogs, and so on. Read the entire post and I'll share a few of weird Internet terms with you and then I'll send you to some others.

My block is having a BLOCK PARTY this Saturday. It's our first one EVER and we're pretty excited. Well, most of us are; the creepy dude who hoses down his grass while sitting in his yard in his seat-less Naugahyde recliner (springs only) never really replied to our invitation (or signed up to bring any of his home-grown mushrooms, so I guess that is a-OK).

This reminds me: A few of us were wondering how to ensure the safety of our kids. Yes, the street is blocked off with cones, and yes we know MOST of the neighbors, but it's not like we have a police barricade there checking IDs (and there is, after all, Mr. Mushroom and his recliner and his hose.) So what to do? A helicopter mom  down the street wanted to micro-chip the kids but that wasn't really economically feasible. So we thought of making badges with names and phone numbers for each of the kids (and the adults, too). Of course we needed a volunteer. And since everyone knows what I do for a living, all heads swiveled toward me. (I in turn swiveled to look behind me but there was no one there.) So, after I finish up this post and rush through my podcast which I forgot about until JUST THIS INSTANT, I'm going to start creating badges for all the kids.

Gosh, what program should I use? How about Publisher, Crabby? Gee.

You know how it is when you're collaborating on a document with someone else: You make a change, send it back; they make a change, send it back and so on and so forth until that document has enough frequent flier miles to take the whole company on a worldwide tour.

Now, with PowerPoint 2010, multiple authors can simultaneously change the same presentation stored on a server. At the same time. Together. No taking turns, no separate (and often confusing) merging. It also prevents anyone from being "locked out" of a file that's being used by or is checked out to someone else; everybody plays together and no one is left out. 

The server keeps a central copy of the presentation and records edits from multiple authors. You and your co-authors can see who is working on the presentation and where in the document they're working. And then their changes are automatically merged with yours.

Note: You can use SharePoint Foundation 2010, SharePoint Server 2010, or Office Live Workspace to host and store your presentation.

Let's see how it works...

You have a killer PowerPoint presentation; the timing is perfect, the bullets are minimal, the effects just so. And now you want to take it to the next level by capturing and synchronizing audio and video narration,  add more rich, impactful media content, and get it ready for viewing in any browser. Maybe you're imagining it as a perfect way to beef up any e-learning experience or enhance normally stiff corporate communications.

So, who gonna call? (Ghostbusters? Uh, no, middle-ager). Why Producer for PowerPoint, of course.

There are more reasons for forgetting a password than there are reasons for having one.

Some of the feedback and e-mails I receive indicate that you're having some issues with Outlook passwords. Let's see if we can't salvage some of your sanity and unravel the mysteries of Outlook passwords at the same time.

Last week and this week I spent most of the time researching and writing about accessibility in computing. (You can read the first post and go from there if you're interested.) During my research I came across many references to computing for seniors (seniors being a group that also often prefers and even requires accessibility features in order to be able to use a computer). The overlap was obvious.

So I decided that after I was finished with my accessibility series. I'd look a little deeper into the subject of how to offer our senior citizens access to the world of computing and show how it can open up worlds to them that they never knew existed. But perhaps the most important thing that I discovered is that being able to use the computer as a senior citizen is a great way to lessen feelings of isolation and uselessness, especially if you're housebound or have limited mobility.

It sounds sort of hokey and self-serving, but knowing how to use and make use of a computer can open up a whole new world for the seniors in our culture.

Yep, it's coming:: On October 26th you can buy Office for Mac 2011.

Lots of you have written to me asking about when the next version was coming out...and here it is. There have been feature improvements (such as faster performance and launch times) and several new features (such as "dynamic reorder"—the ability to create very rich documents by layering and reordering text, shapes, pictures, SmartArt, animations, and charts).  And, just like Office 2010 for the PC, Office for Mac 2011 will implement the Ribbon, co-authoring tools, and access to Office Web Apps.

Oh, and one more thing: Entourage, the mail program for Office for Mac, is saying goodbye so that you can say hello to Outlook for Mac. Yes! Curious about what else is in this newest version of Office for Mac? Check out the full post...

I've never had particularly strong spatial abilities; I nearly flunked geometry in the ninth grade. Even today I probably couldn't find my way out of an origami-folded paper bag.

You too?

Meet Visio, the Office program that provides all the shapes, templates, and connectors (and all that stuff) so that you don't have to be geometrically or spatially inclined, and yet you can create drawings and documents that make you look like you are. People use Visio for a variety of projects, including network diagrams, calendars, flowcharts, office layouts, floor plans, and more.