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You know what I hate about Facebook? I hate that they can innovate seemingly endless ways to sell my information to corporations, make it difficult for me to maintain control over my privacy, and complicate the process of deleting my account, yet they can’t come up with a means for me to transition my Group members into Page fans or to transfer my Pages from one owner to another.

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Saw someone Tweet out today that tabbed Internet browsers had revolutionized the way he works. That got me thinking about a few computer skills I’ve learned to get the office work done as efficiently as possible. Here are my top six tips on how to get that computer work done, and FAST! These tips are for PCs:

1. Avoid the mouse. All those little movements to take your hand off the keys to take hold of the mouse add up to a lot of inefficiency. As much as possible, try to keep your fingers on the keys. But once you’ve got your hand on the mouse, leave it there until you’ve got to go back to typing. So how do you keep your fingers on the keys as long as possible???
2. Windows hotkeys. Get familiar with and comfortable using all of the hotkey combinations you can get your head around. Just experiment for awhile to see what they do, or read up on them. My faves (and perhaps little-known): Alt+Tab toggles between open programs, CTRL+K inserts a hyperlink, Window+L locks your computer, CTRL+Enter sends your e-mail in Outlook, CTRL+(right or left) arrow sends your cursor to the beginning (or end) of the next (or previous) word, CTRL+SHIFT+(right or left) arrow selects the next or previous word.
3. Dual monitors. They say you can expect at least a 10% increase in efficiency just by adding a second  monitor. I’m thinking for me it’s been at least 50%. Examples of how I use two monitors: Calendar open in one screen, timesheet software in the other; budget on one screen, written report on the other; reading a report on one screen, writing about it on another. I’ve been using two monitors for about four or five years now, and you’d have to pry my second monitor out of my cold, dead fingers. It’s hard to imagine going back. For even better efficiency, try DisplayFusion. It offers a bunch of features for dual monitors that Windows doesn’t support, like a super-useful hotkey combination that moves the window you’re currently working on to the other screen. (Confession: At times recently, I’ve felt the need for a third monitor)
4. Speed up your mouse. If it takes you more than one swipe of the hand across the mouse pad to get from one end of the screen to the other, your mouse is too slow. Speed that thing up so that you can traverse the entire width of your screen with one pass.
5. Right click everything! It does so many different things in so many different places – just try right-clicking stuff and you’ll be amazed what you can do. My favorite: Right-click a program in the task bar for options like Maximize, Minimize, and Close.
6. Google Desktop. This has been a life-saver for me. If your office is anything like mine, everyone on staff files their documents differently. Some store them by type of file, some by year, some by project, and so on. Install Google Desktop and have it index your network drives as well as your e-mail inbox. Learn the hot key (CTRL twice in quick succession): This opens up the Google Desktop search box and away you go.

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I’m surprised to see many organizations continuing to publish Web pages and send out e-mail messages with low-resolution images embedded in them. They look sloppy and amateurish – definitely a turn-off for me and, I’d hazard to guess, other Web savvy people.

Check out this image from Wikipedia that shows the obvious difference between two of the most popular file formats out there.

In an effort to help put to an end to this unseemly practice, here are some image file format pointers:

• Plan A – Save as PNG-24 or PNG-32: The PNG file format renders your images smoothly, without visual noise and supports transparency. This is the ONLY file format to use for artwork like logos, etc. You’ll pay for it in file size, but assuming most of your images are small and your audience has high speed internet access, it won’t matter a bit.
• Plan B – Save as JPG at maximum quality: In my experience, it’s cool to use JPG for photos, but NEVER for logos, etc. Even at maximum quality, visual noise can be detected. With JPG, you’ll save a little bit of file size compared to PNG.
• Plan C – Save as GIF: About the only thing GIF is good for is animated images, and we all know how annoying those can be. Yes, there are a few good uses for animated GIFs, and even some awesome uses (as demonstrated to the right). But really, they are few and far between. So I beg you: Be a good netizen and use the animated GIF sparingly.
• Plan D – Save as BMP: Actually, no. Just don’t do it. BMP is a bloated file format that should just be burned at the stake.

Geek out: Wikipedia article on PNG.

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I’m surprised to see many organizations continuing to publish Web pages and send out e-mail messages with low-resolution images embedded in them. They look sloppy and amateurish – definitely a turn-off for me and, I’d hazard to guess, other Web savvy people.

Check out this image from Wikipedia that shows the obvious difference between two of the most popular file formats out there.

In an effort to help put to an end to this unseemly practice, here are some image file format pointers:

• Plan A – Save as PNG-24 or PNG-32: The PNG file format renders your images smoothly, without visual noise and supports transparency. This is the ONLY file format to use for artwork like logos, etc. You’ll pay for it in file size, but assuming most of your images are small and your audience has high speed internet access, it won’t matter a bit.
• Plan B – Save as JPG at maximum quality: In my experience, it’s cool to use JPG for photos, but NEVER for logos, etc. Even at maximum quality, visual noise can be detected. With JPG, you’ll save a little bit of file size compared to PNG.
• Plan C – Save as GIF: About the only thing GIF is good for is animated images, and we all know how annoying those can be. Yes, there are a few good uses for animated GIFs, and even some awesome uses (as demonstrated to the right). But really, they are few and far between. So I beg you: Be a good netizen and use the animated GIF sparingly.
• Plan D – Save as BMP: Actually, no. Just don’t do it. BMP is a bloated file format that should just be burned at the stake.

Geek out: Wikipedia article on PNG.

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Some folks seem to be intrigued or even enamored with the National Restaurant Association’s dancing flash mob at a recent event. Pardon me if I seem a bit skeptical, but I’m wondering:

• If I were an NRA member, would this would this 21st century version of the electric slide make me more or less likely to attend an NRA event in the future? (Out of respect for others, I prefer to do my dancing in dark, crowded places, where my ridiculous moves can’t be easily discerned — some of you can attest to this)
• What value did this add to the event?
• How is it that everyone in the flash mob knows the dance? Was there a flash mob rehearsal? (oh, look! there was)
• Why is there a lady holding a red “Flash Mob Dance” sign?
• Couldn’t they have done a flash mob around something, say, restaurant-related?

The whole thing seems a bit too forced, contrived, and — dare I say, corporate — to me.

Lesson learned? Social media is usually best left to the community.

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Forwarded to me by a member of my team, I think this has a lot of potential. Just print a membership application on the reverse, mail `em out en masse, and watch the cash just roll in.

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Been using Google Wave in a limited way over the past few days since a friend sent me an invite. I need more friends to play with. If you’d like one of the invites, just shoot me an e-mail: b (at) BenMartinCAE dot com and I’ll hook you up (while supplies last, some restrictions apply, please allow 6-8 weeks for delivery, offer not valid in Puerto Rico or Guam).

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Because checking your watch during a meeting isn’t quite as rude as checking your BlackBerry, the fine folks at RIM bring you the BlackBerry InPulse Smartwatch. Now, your Pavlonian teeth-grinding response to BlackBerry buzzes can be accompanied by repeated pulls at your cuff to glance at your “watch.”

Me? I’m waiting for the BlackBerry ImPlant. Here’s a prototype photo of the control console.

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Have you seen the VAR Infomercial, shown at VAR’s Convention & Expo 2009?

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The body charged with attracting more visitors to the midwestern state will now be known as the Tourism Federation of Wisconsin (TFW), in an attempt to put a stop to the jokes.

It seems that the federation was unaware of – or unconcerned by – the modern meaning of WTF until its acronym featured on a blog that compiles unfortunate corporate logos earlier this year. [sic]

Read more: WTF? Wisconsin Tourism Federation changes name after internet jokes.

I wonder if the Official Meeting Facilities Guide is next to change its name?

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Back in college I discovered this amazing acoustic guitar duo that toured regionally. My friends and I would drive all over the place following them into small music halls, bars, and college music festivals. The year before I graduated they put together a band and got even better. I followed them closer, was active on the fan listserve, and even started a Web site for the fan listserve. Then, shortly after I graduated, the band released an album on a major label, and, well you know how this story will end… Everyone’s grandma showed up at their concerts, the listserve blew up to a bazillion subscribers, their music was all over the top 40 stations, and (horrifically) turned into Muzac™.

That was it. I still listen with fondness to those old albums and bootlegs, but I haven’t bought an album or seen a show since they went mainstream.

By now you’ve probably seen this: The Xer Meme: Have we sold out?. (For the record, I am in Gen X, but depending on which model you look at, I was born less than 12 months from the onset of the Millennials and I tend to affiliate more with them) Maddie calls me out by name, wondering if I’ve sold out. The answer is (probably) no.

There are two sides to my story. I have pulled waaaay back from my blogging and social media speaking. First of all, social media has gone waaaaaay mainstream. As someone who made much ado about social media and associations early on, the fact that it has caught on in this industry is both satisfying and, frankly, disappointing. It was kind of fun being the voice in the wilderness. Today, the wilderness is overpopulated. Everyone’s grandma is here. And they’re playing Muzac™.

Secondly: Everyone’s a social media specialist these days (and some are actually quite good at it). I’ve frankly had trouble keeping up with the likes of the social fish, and so I’m less inclined to share my social media musings here on this blog. Why cover trails already blazed?

Maddie also says that I’m lost to the real estate industry. This is totally true. For all the speaking and writing that I don’t do for associations, I now do for Realtors. As for my participation in the association blogoclump, the real estate scene is a lot more interesting than the association industry. There are amazing and cool new real estate technologies released every couple of months, dozens of innovators are engaged in the social media scene, there’s no shortage of news about the industry, we have a fascinating cast of characters complete with bitter rivalries, and it’s just an exciting time to be part of it all. Plus, factor in that there are over 1000 Realtor associations, and you can see how it would be easy to get sucked into that world.

Sold out? If you don’t work with me day-to-day, I can see why it might appear that way. But Maddie’s right to guess that I’m engaged in some epic special ops on the inside, and making a lot of progress on stuff, thankyouverymuch — revolutionary stuff.

That’s all I can say. Otherwise, I’d have to kill you.

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From all indications, Google Wave looks to be a game-changing group collaboration technology. If you haven’t already watched the video from the Google I/O event earlier this year (caution, it’s long) you really should set aside some time to look into this, especially if your organization does a lot of online collaboration.

Google does a pretty good job putting a good face on its products, and Wave is no exception. Here’s a review from ZDNet about Google Wave, which points out a few of its shortcomings. A good read.

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A few people have seen some of the viral status update links I push out through Twitter and have wondered how I did it. It’s actually really simple if you know what you’re doing.

• Start your link URL with http://twitter.com/?status=
• Then, everything after the equal sign will be the status that appears in the update box when users land at Twitter.com. For example: http://twitter.com/?status=I just learned how to make a viral status update link from @bkmcae at http://BenMartinCAE.com/viraltweet <– Check it out!
• Important side note: Twitter users must be logged into Twitter.com for this to work.

To see how this works, go ahead and log into Twitter.com and then click this link.

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So I had a little fun on Zazzle tonight. I made and bought one of these. If you want one too, go ahead and buy it, and we can coordinate outfits at ASAE. It’ll be so much fun. What the heck is fogdirog, you say?

Buy this shirt.