Ganttic, planificación de recursos en la nube

Gestionar un proyecto es algo mucho más complejo que llevar al día un listado de tareas que tenemos que acometer. Muchas veces se piensa que la gestión de un proyecto es la realizacón un análisis top-down, descomponer el proyecto en paquetes de trabajo, subproyectos o tareas y representarlo en un diagrama de Gantt en el que visualizar la planificación pero, además de esto, tendremos que gestionar el día a día, optimizar la asignación de recursos a las tareas, gestionar los riesgos y, claro está, interactuar con los miembros de nuestro equipo de trabajo. Dependiendo del grado de complejidad de nuestro proyecto y de nuestra organización, podremos optar por aplicaciones con las que gestionar el ciclo de vida completo de un proyecto, aplicaciones más simples para trabajar en equipo como Trello o Asana o, por ejemplo, centrarnos en un aspecto concreto de la gestión como la planificación de recursos con herramientas como Ganttic .

Ganttic, que por cierto está disponible también como aplicación para Google Chrome, es una sencilla aplicación web con la que podremos realizar la gestión y planificación de recursos de un proyecto o de varios proyectos (en el caso que gestionemos una cartera de múltiples proyectos que comparten recursos entre sí).

La dinámica de funcionamiento es muy sencilla, tendremos por un lado una sección en la que daremos de alta los recursos de los que disponemos (ya sean personas que forman parte de nuestro equipo o recursos materiales que sean de uso compartido) y los clasificaremos dentro de distintos grupos para que nos sea más sencillo localizar los recursos disponibles (y los ocupados). Por otro lado, podremos dar de alta nuestra cartera de proyectos con una serie de sencillos campos como el presupuesto, el deadline (fecha de finalización), el estado del proyecto (fase inicial, en ejecución, etc) o comentarios adicionales (que podremos ir acumulando a modo de histórico).

Una vez fijados las "dos dimensiones" que maneja esta aplicación (proyectos y recursos), como gestores procederemos a definir tareas dentro de cada proyecto y asignar recursos a dichas tareas. De esta forma obtendremos un calendario (que podremos exportar a Google Calendar) con el plan de trabajo de cada uno de los recursos de nuestro equipo, es decir, podremos ver las tareas asignadas y los proyectos en los que están interviniendo de un solo vistazo.

Para una gestión en el día a día, creo que Ganttic puede ser una opción interesante a tener en cuenta puesto que, además, nos ofrece la posibilidad de lanzar informes de seguimiento (tanto en PDF como en CSV) o crear un grupo de trabajo con otros usuarios para que puedan contribuir a la gestión del proyecto o la asignación de recursos (por ejemplo, permitiendo a los responsables del proyecto usar recursos del pool disponible y que un coordinador revise esta asignación y controle la ejecución a nivel global).

Ganttic ofrece una versión gratuita con la que podremos gestionar una cartera de hasta 5 recursos y, para equipos de mayor tamaño, tendremos que recurrir a alguno de planes disponibles aunque, para realizar pruebas, existe la posibilidad de utilizar una cuenta premium durante 30 días de manera gratuita.

La entrada Ganttic, planificación de recursos en la nube aparece primero en Bitelia.

via Jonathan's starred items in Google Reader http://bitelia.com/2013/01/ganttic-planificacion-de-recursos

CodySafe, lanzador y gestor multimedia para tu unidad USB

Una de los mejores usos que le podemos dar a esa vieja unidad USB que tenemos abandonada en el cajón puede ser el de convertirla en un centro de aplicaciones, asegurándonos de que aunque ese ordenador en el que vamos a conectarnos no tenga conexión a Internet o sus restricciones no nos dejen acceder a determinados servicios, siempre podremos sacarle el provecho que necesitamos.

Hay muchas utilidades en el mercado que nos permiten lanzar aplicaciones de forma unificada, y de hecho en Bitelia hemos hablado de diferentes launchers, aunque hace bastante tiempo. Como el USB seguirá siendo el método de conexión y de entrada da datos offline por excelencia, he decidido hablaros de CodySafe, un lanzador que además hace las veces de gestor multimedia.

Aunque se puede instalar en un directorio de nuestro disco duro, lo ideal es realizar la instalación directamente en la unidad USB de nuestra elección. Bastará con elegirla y automáticamente se crearán tres carpetas:

• CodySafe


• Documents


• PortableApps

Los nombres son bastante descriptivos asi que sólo diré que la primera alberga los archivos necesarios para el funcionamiento del lanzador, mientras las otras dos son carpetas especiales donde deberemos introducir nuestros archivos de cara a su acceso desde el lanzador. Una solución sencilla y atractiva que no sólo manitiene la unidad ordenada sino que nos priva de tener que configurar los accesos desde la aplicación.

La interfaz emula a la del clásico y desaparecido menú de inicio de Windows XP, con una lista de aplicaciones en la parte izquierda y una lista de carpetas y contenidos especiales en la derecha. Contenidos tales como música, vídeo o fotografías, convirtiéndolo en el lanzador múltimedia que comentaba.

Además se nos muestra el espacio libre que tenemos en el disco portable, con el objetivo de que nunca nos quedemos sin ese sitio que podríamos necesitar si queremos transportar archivos desde otros equipos.

Sin duda, una de las cosas más interesantes de CodySafe es que podemos instalar cientos de aplicaciones portables desde Apps Depot, las cuales pueden complementar nuestra navaja suiza USB para convertirse en el contenido más valioso de nuestros bolsillos.

La entrada CodySafe, lanzador y gestor multimedia para tu unidad USB aparece primero en Bitelia.

via Jonathan's starred items in Google Reader http://hipertextual.feedsportal.com/c/33160/f/538987/s/2728cc83/l/0Lbitelia0N0C20A130C0A10Ccodysafe0Elanzador0Egestor0Emultimedia0Eusb/story01.htm

LogSmurf!

LogSmurf is an IRC chat log search engine developed and maintained by Rob Whitney along side his CoFounder, Kamonra. Rob is well known on IRC these days by the nick “xnite”. It was forked from the known Sphider PHP Bot & Search Engine. It has been heavily modified and many more features added into it.

LogSmurf! currently houses over 50,000 logs from 11 indexed servers, just under 40,000,000 keywords that can be used to search the logs including nicknames, phrases, and just common searches, thats over 5 gigabytes of IRC logs since its release at the beginning of July, 2012.

After xnite noticed that people were using pastebin to post and share their IRC logs, he then added in a feature to allow users to have their networks and/or channels indexed and logged by LogSmurf by visiting http://logsmurf.com/get-indexed.php.

If you do not wish to have you network and/or channel indexed but you have some logs you wish to have added to LogSmurf, no problem, simply visit http://logsmurf.com/submit.php, post your logs, but read the rules before you do. There are filters that will cancel out any and all credit card numbers, social security numbers, etc.

If you need any help with LogSmurf!, there is a public IRC chat in which you can join and ask questions or give suggestions by clicking HERE.

LogSmurf! is a post from: IRC-Junkie.org - IRC News



This post is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Deutschland license.

via Jonathan's starred items in Google Reader http://www.irc-junkie.org/2013-01-03/logsmurf/

In Your Face (Book): How To Integrate Facebook With Browser

Our social lives naturally revolve around networks, both offline and online. Many fundamental human needs can – at least partially – be met on online social networks. Facebook in particular has experienced massive success by tapping into the human needs to participate, understand, create, identify, and relax. We use this social network to communicate and connect, update friends on what is going on in our lives, express how we feel, and share things we like. Facebook has become so important that many of us cannot imagine living without it.

Since Facebook is so important to us, we desire seamless integration of its features into our everyday life. To most of us this is a matter of convenience. Beware that the tools described below can easily distract you from other activities and foster an addiction to Facebook. Hence, if you are susceptible to checking Facebook too many times a day, I forbear you to set up Facebook browser toolbars, sidebars, or extensions. Those of you simply looking for simpler ways to quickly check into Facebook, however, shall read on.

Google Chrome

A Facebook extension for Chrome puts the social network at your fingertips in the browser toolbar. The extension eliminates the need to keep a tab with Facebook open because it offers direct access to all key features, for example news, messages, photos, and notifications. You can also update your status and share links directly via Facebook for Chrome.

Since Facebook for Chrome also integrates into Chrome’s right-click menu, you can easily share anything with a URL by right-clicking the item and selecting Share on Facebook from the menu.

MakeUseOf has also published a full review of Facebook for Chrome, which looks at the setup and all features in detail. The extension is lacking some of Facebook’s functionality, for example the chat and a full events calendar. However, the developers are continuously working on improvements.

Note that to fully function, the app requires full access to your Facebook account, including personal information, posting on your behalf, and accessing your Facebook inbox. You can refuse to grant some of these permissions, but they will reduce its usefulness.

If you think this extension is too much, you might prefer the Facebook Like Button extension for Chrome, which we have briefly introduced here.

Mozilla Firefox

Many Facebook add-ons are available for Firefox, but the browser actually supports Facebook integration, natively. The feature is hidden in about:config. It can easily be enabled by following the instructions below.

Open a new tab in Firefox, type about:config into the URL bar, and hit Enter. Acknowledge the warning and promise to be careful.

Now search for the preference name social.enabled by typing this name into the search box. The default value of this preference is false. To set the value to true, double-click the item. The moment you enable this feature, a Facebook Messenger sidebar will pop up on the right-hand side.

After you log in, the sidebar will show the latest updates and notifications, as well as a list of your online friends. Moreover, Facebook buttons in the top right of the browser indicate new notifications, messages, or friend requests. To be sure you don’t miss these, a notification pops up in the bottom right of your screen. Fortunately, all unnecessary distractions can be disabled through about:config.

As you may have noticed, there are several more social.* settings available in about:config. For example you can change the value of the social.sidebar.open setting to false, which closes the sidebar, but keeps the toolbar buttons. Likewise, you can disable notifications popping up in the bottom right of your screen by setting the value of the social.toast-notifications.enabled setting to false.

If you are interested in more or different ways to integrate Facebook into Firefox, try these 5.5 Great Firefox Extensions To Make Facebook Awesome.

Opera

Although there were speculations in early 2012 about Facebook acquiring Opera to turn it into a Facebook browser, Opera offers little native Facebook integration at present. However, Opera and Facebook have teamed up to develop the Facebook extension for Opera’s Speed Dial.

Opera’s Speed Dial is similar to Chrome’s new tab. Each empty new tab contains a list of favorite sites (dials) that the user wishes to access quickly. Speed Dial for Facebook adds more interactive extensions, but users report that it doesn’t always work.

An independent Facebook extension for Opera works similar like the Facebook extension for Chrome. A toolbar button expands to a popup window when clicked and allows you to check Facebook.

Microsoft Internet Explorer

For Internet Explorer 9, no Facebook extension or toolbar could be found that mimics the above browser integrations. It seems like users of Internet Explorer 9 are stuck with visiting Facebook.com for their daily dose of social connectedness. If you use an earlier version of Internet Explorer, however, you may have luck with Facebook Web Slice or the Facebook Toolbar. Please note that I cannot give a recommendation, since none of them did anything for me. Who uses Internet Explorer anyway?

Conclusion

Integrating Facebook into your browser is highly convenient, possibly distracting, and it potentially contributes to social network addiction. When Facebook is always in your face, you will definitely not miss out on anything your friends do, you will be reminded of events and birthdays, and you will share more (of) yourself. On the downside, however, you may miss out on real life.

Be mindful and try to keep a balance between interacting with people online, observing what they do with their lives, and living your own. Facebook can help you maintain friendships and get inspired, but it cannot replace reality.

For more about Facebook, refer to our (very) unofficial Facebook privacy guide.

How do you use Facebook and how do you manage not to spend too much time on the site?

The post In Your Face (Book): How To Integrate Facebook With Browser appeared first on MakeUseOf.

via Jonathan's starred items in Google Reader http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/in-your-face-book-how-to-integrate-facebook-with-browser/

3 Downloadable Games From 2012 That Every Gamer Needs To Play [MUO Gaming]

2012 was a big year for downloadable games on consoles and PCs. The indie and smaller developers came on strong this year and brought some truly special games directly to our consoles, without the need to go buying a disc at the local video game retailer. There is something so incredibly satisfying about being able to boot up your console and download a game instantly. Sure, it loses the collection factor that comes with owning the box and manual, but in many cases, I am willing to forego that in favor of being able to play the game almost instantly.

There were three games that really stood tall above the rest in terms of the downloadable space in 2012. Usually, choosing a list like this is difficult, and requires a great deal of thinking on my part. For this list, it was not even a contest. I just knew exactly what three games to choose. Sure, I double checked my memory banks, but in a matter of moments, I came back to the original three.

Journey

Journey is a fantastic game available on the PlayStation Network. It is developed by the small team at Thatgamecompany and they most certainly knocked it out of the park. There is a good reason it was nominated in almost every category at the Spike Video Game Awards this year; it’s just that good. It is a game based on simply exploring the world and it features some of the most splendid and spellbinding music and sound you will ever encounter in a video game.

The co-op component of the game is so simple, and yet so innovative. Other players dynamically appear in your game, and the only way you can interact with them is through a simple musical call your characters can give off. You don’t see the other players PSN name, and in spite of this, you feel a real sense of connection with them; so much so that when you move too far apart and they get dropped from the game, you may actually feel a genuine sense of sadness at the loss of your anonymous friend.

Journey’s name is fitting because the game is just that; a beautiful, simple journey that every gamer must experience at one point or another.

The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead is available for almost every platform under the sun. It is the game that reminded gamers everywhere that the point and click adventure is far from dead. It flipped the relatively simple genre on its head with intense action sequences and high-end visuals that rivals any other game on the market. Telltale released the game episodically, and each episode left gamers longing for the next one to drop.

All of the episodes are available now, and even without the delay between them, you will still be dying to jump into the next one.

The Walking Dead features some of the most messed up choices ever in a video game. Instead of a simple good and bad system like Mass Effect, everything in The Walking Dead involves shades of gray. No matter what decision you make, something bad is going to happen. Some of the decisions are so brutally difficult, that you will feel like a person actually stuck in a zombie apocalypse. Every choice has consequences, and that is what makes this game so incredibly awesome.

Fez

I realize I am probably in the minority here, as most people think Walking Dead is not only the best downloadable game of the year, but the best game period. However, I found myself more enamored with Fez than any other game to hit the downloadable scene this year. It’s not my favorite game of the year overall, but it’s certainly close.

The simple platforming gameplay mixed with the mind-bending mechanic of flipping the 2D world’s perspective on a 3D plane is truly something special.

At its core, Fez is a platformer. You play as a cute magical Fez wearing character named Gomez in an old-school art style as he collects pieces of the Hexahedron and tries to save the world from the brink of destruction.

Is it the deepest plot? No, but the gameplay is so thrilling and addictive that I simply don’t care. Fez brings me back to the video game days of yesteryear, but with plenty of modern polish. It is one of the best games I have ever played, and it’s one that every gamer should download. For more on Fez, check out the film Indie Game: The Movie. It’s on Netflix.

Conclusion

There were some other great downloadable games across Xbox Live Arcade, The PlayStation Network, the App Store, and Google Play, but these three games stand tall above the rest. The gameplay and innovation they bring to the table is something special. We can only hope 2013 brings the same level of quality to the world of downloadable games.

Agree? Disagree? Hit the comment section below and let us know what downloadable games you think of the best from 2012.

The post 3 Downloadable Games From 2012 That Every Gamer Needs To Play [MUO Gaming] appeared first on MakeUseOf.

via Jonathan's starred items in Google Reader http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-downloadable-games-from-2012-that-every-gamer-needs-to-play-muo-gaming/