ChatGPT Unveiled: Friend or Foe

ChatGPT Unveiled: Friend or Foe

Conversational AI, like ChatGPT, might seem complex, but at its core, it’s about teaching computers to talk like humans. Imagine having a smart friend who learns from tons of books, articles, and conversations to help you out whenever you need information or just want to chat.

ChatGPT is super smart because it learns from reading a lot, kind of like studying really hard for a big test. It understands words, sentences, and even the feeling behind what you say. So, when you ask it something, it does its best to give a helpful response, just like a knowledgeable friend would.

This friendly AI can do lots of cool stuff! Businesses use it for customer service, answering questions and solving problems. It can even help with homework by explaining things or sparking creative ideas for stories and articles. ChatGPT is like a digital buddy who’s always there to assist.

But, while ChatGPT is amazing, there are things to watch out for. Sometimes, it might not have all the right information or could misunderstand because it’s learning from what it’s been taught. That’s why it’s important to double-check things and not always take its word as the final answer.

In a nutshell, ChatGPT is a clever friend in the digital world, learning tons to chat with us, help us out, and make our lives easier. It’s an exciting peek into the future of how we interact with technology, and while it’s super cool, it’s also good to remember to use it wisely!

Created with the help from a friend – ChatGPT (openai.com)

Use SketchUp to design and market your business floorspace

Use SketchUp to design and market your business floorspace

Using SketchUp to design your business floorspace can be a great way to visualise and plan your space and create compelling visuals and interactive experiences that resonate with your clients. There is a free web version to download from the SketchUp website with the basic tools and functions, and a more feature-rich paid version for more advanced functionality.

From drawing the basic floorplan of your business space, and using the Line, Rectangle, and other drawing tools to create walls, doors, and windows, you can use the Push/Pull tool to create any other vertical elements in your 3D space. Measurement tools, to set accurate dimensions, ensure that your design is to scale.

To add details like doors, windows, other architectural features, and furniture and fixtures, you can create these with the toolbar, or you can browse 3D Warehouse, an online library of pre-made components within SketchUp, which can save you time and give you a realistic representation of your space.

Applying high-quality materials and textures to your surfaces will add realism and help clients visualise the look and feel of different elements in the design. SketchUp allows you to import textures or choose from the built-in library. Different kinds of woods, brick and stone, glass, and floor coverings give your designs a more life-like look and feel.

Applying high-quality materials and textures to your surfaces will add realism and help clients visualise the look and feel of different elements in the design. SketchUp allows you to import textures or choose from the built-in library. Different kinds of woods, brick and stone, glass, and floor coverings give your designs a more life-like look and feel.

Use the various viewing options in SketchUp to see your model in different perspectives (top-down plan view, 3D view, side elevation, etc.). Creating a walkthrough in SketchUp allows you to move through your 3D model in a virtual environment, providing a dynamic and immersive experience for both you and your clients. Walking through the model gives a more realistic sense of scale and perspective. This can be especially important for interior designs or spaces with intricate details that might not be fully appreciated in static views, and can help identify potential issues with layout, flow, or aesthetics that may not be as apparent in traditional 2D representations. Using rendering plugins or built-in features in SketchUp allows you to generate high-quality images. These can be used in presentations, marketing materials, or shared on social media to generate excitement and engagement.

TO BOOK YOUR TRAINING TODAY CLICK HERE

Ronnie McGovern

Ronnie McGovern

Training Consultant

Use Photoshop to visually enhance your business image

Use Photoshop to visually enhance your business image​

Use Photoshop to visually enhance your business image

Use Photoshop to visually enhance your business image​

Using Photoshop can significantly enhance your business by helping you create professional and visually appealing graphics, such as branding materials, social media and website graphics, product photography editing, event promotion, and advertising design.

Photoshop’s customisable templates and document layouts ensure that your brand image, such as business cards, letterheads, and brochures are cohesive across all platforms. Engaging and eye-catching visuals on your social media platforms, including posts, cover photos, and profile pictures, can help increase your online presence. Your website’s visual appeal, from banners, to icons, and other graphical elements contribute to a cohesive and professional design which can be created with Photoshop tools. Consistency and professionalism across all your visual materials can contribute to a strong and memorable brand image.

icecream
Photoshop woman

Social media graphics play a crucial role in establishing an online presence and engaging your audience. Ensure your profile picture is recognisable and aligned with your brand By using Photoshop to resize and optimise the image for different social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.).

Improve the quality of your product images and make them more visually appealing by using Photoshop to edit and enhance your photos, by resizing images and cropping unwanted content, enhancing colour, removing backgrounds, and create advanced composite images.

When creating graphics for social media and websites, it’s essential to maintain consistency in branding, use high-quality images, and consider the platform’s specifications and guidelines. Regularly update your visuals to keep your online presence fresh and engaging.

photoshop

Images courtesy of http://www.photoshopsupport.com/

TO BOOK YOUR TRAINING TODAY CLICK HERE

Ronnie McGovern

Ronnie McGovern

Training Consultant

Word Docs with Embedded Links to Excel

EMBEDDED LINKS TO EXCEL WITHIN WORD

Did you know you can link live Excel charts and tables within a connected PowerPoint presentation or Word document?

In a recent project that came to us a client was looking for a way to bring multiple sections of an Excel document into different parts of a Word document. The Excel file would be continually updated, so the need was for these live updates to automatically be reflected in the Word document without the need for the users to complete lengthy edits of the Word document every time.

There are a few ways this could have been achieved:

  • Embedding an Excel file within Word itself.
  • Embedding links to an external Excel file.
  • Developing a custom VBA/Macro solution to automatically copy and paste in.
Word Paste Special

In this particular instance, the Excel file in question was a fully fledged file in its own right that would be updated/accessed outside the need to just update the Word file and so the embedding method was ruled out. The custom VBA approach would require too much development time for this project. So, the linked Excel route was taken.

The Copy and ‘Paste Special’, ‘Paste Link’ method can be used across multiple charts/tables or ranges of cells to bring in multiple separate objects/sections into the Word/PowerPoint doc.

Project Flow Chart

Once the linked objects were now in place, upon opening the Word file the user would receive the following message.

Word Links Warning

Upon selecting ‘Yes’, MS Word would seek to update any of the linked elements in the document with the very latest data available.

A few things of note here;

It is best to keep the linked files stored within the same root folder and to not rename the Excel file. If stored in the same location and the Excel file is not renamed, they should remain linked.
If the link between Word and Excel does become broken it can be reset in Word by going to File>Info>Edit Links to files.

 

If you select ‘Yes’ while the Excel file is closed, Word may take upwards of a minute to open and refresh the data. If, however he linked Excel file was opened first, this updating process is instant. As a result, it is highly recommended to first open the Excel file, then open the word file and to select ‘Yes’ to the update links message. This is particular true where there is more than one object/section linked.

If you have a project where linking to Excel is a requirement, please do not hesitate to contact Olas to discuss how we can assist you on the project.

Olas Team Member - Fergal

Fergal O'Connor

Senior Technical Consultant


fergal.oconnor@olas.ie
Mobile: +353 86 841 3708