The firm captured around 40,000 social networking messages a day and did a real-time analysis of what people were saying would make them happy.

“People want everything from iPads to a divorce.” said Steve Richards, the head of the social media agency.  Topping the list however was a Christmas spent with family and friends.

The software required to analyse the trends took about a week to put together and was fine-tuned to help it recognise spam and tune that out — though if it hadn’t worked and the top Christmas desire came out as generic Viagra, we might be more suspicious of the results — there were all types of wishes as you’d expect but goodwill and happiness also scored highly.

It’s good to know the value of friends and family and that in an increasingly consumerist society we aren’t forgetting the joy that the people around us can bring.

It will be interesting to hear what it is you want for Christmas, why not tell us in the comments.

But is GNOME office and alternative that you should overlook? More than likely most readers didn’t even know there was a GNOME office. And of those that have heard rumors of this suite, many probably didn’t even know it was ready for installation. It is. But the big question…is it worth try? In this article I will highlight the tools that make up GNOME Office and help you to decide if this suite is worth your time.

Installation

The first thing I should bring up is the installation. Previous incarnations of GNOME Office required the user to install the pieces separately. That has changed and now you can open up the GNOME Software Center and follow these steps:

1. Search for ‘gnome office”.
2. Select GNOME Office.
3. Click the right-pointing arrow.
4. Click the Install button.
5. Enter your password.
6. Sit back and watch the installation happen.

What GNOME office installs is the following (some may already be installed):

• Abiword: Word processor
• Gnumeric: Spreadsheet
• Evolution: Email, contacts, calendar
• Planner: Project manager
• Inkscape: Vector graphics
• XSane: Scanning

There are other tools that are supposed to be included with GNOME Office, but are not installed:

• Gnucash: Finances.
• gLables: Label designer
• Glom: Database designer.

Why the above tools are listed on the GNOME Office official site and not installed I have no clue.  Of course those are simple enough to install, just by going to the Software Center and going through the same steps above.

Value of the applications

Instead of taking each piece apart and showing you how they work, I want to spend a little time on whether or not each application is a worthy usurper of your current tool. And since I do not know the tool you are using, the usurper is going to have to be pretty good.

Abiword: I have always wanted to like Abiword. And, in some instances I do. But the problem is that Abiword really stinks at document exchange. Abiword’s idea of formatting doesn’t always gel with another Office Suite’s idea. But I will say that Abiword has come a long, long way. And if you are just needing a simple word processor that is lightweight and fast, Abiword is a great alternative. Does it match the skills of OpenOffice? Not so much.

Gnumeric: Another tool that I have always wanted to like, but have been prevented from doing so because of its poor ability to work with other tools. Any spreadsheet that uses complex formulas or formatting will most likely wind up a bit of a mess in Gnumeric. But for basic spreadsheet use, Gnumeric will get the job done.

Evolution: If you are looking for a groupware suite to take the place of MS Outlook, this is where you need to go. Evolution is, without question, the best groupware suite available for Linux. It’s power, easy to use, reliable, and includes everything you need for a groupware suite. This is, by far, the best tool of the GNOME Office suite.

Planner: Because most office suites do not generally include a project management tool, planner is a surprising addition to the suite. Not only does planner bring a much needed tool to the office suite, it does so with aplomb.

Inkscape: There is only one office suite that includes a vector graphics application – OpenOffice. Inkscape brings to GNOME Office one tool that the competition can not touch. Inkscape is the best vector graphics tool for the Linux operating system. There is, however, a rather steep learning curve that comes with using Inkscape. So don’t expect to just jump into this tool without any idea of what you are doing.

XSane: You can read my article on Xscane (“Scanning in Linux with iScan and XSane.”) I think most readers will agree that XSane is an overly complex tool for a simple task. However, XSane can be made simple by simply closing all of the unnecessary windows.

The verdict

Although GNOME Office makes a valiant attempt at replacing your current office suite, it fails in too many categories to actually usurp the big dogs in this space. Now, if are in a situation where you are not having to trade documents with others and you do not need the power features of tools like Excel or Calc, and you don’t need a tool for presentations then GNOME Office might be your go-to suite of tools. Otherwise, stick with OpenOffice or MS Office.

What do you think? Is GNOME Office a worthy entry in the office suite category?

Back to the usb sticks. The customer can pick one of the colorful templates and edit that or start the process with a white usb stick. The sticks can be rotated, zoomed in and out, opened and looked at from every possible direction.

It is then possible to change the colors of all the parts, apply text, upload images and frames to create fantastic looking usb sticks. Just look at some of the results, they look really great.

The company is using a specialized 3D printer to create those custom usb sticks and other products.

It is still a lot of work and I collect unique gift ideas throughout the year to be prepared to buy a gift that is unique and special. Here are five unique gift ideas that make a very special gift for people that you care about. I hope you do find at least one gift idea to be good enough.

1. Custom Jewelry:

I start with the most expensive gift idea, don’t worry the others will not be that expensive. Paragon Lake is a company that creates custom jewelry. Customers explain what they would like and Paragon Lake creates a 3D design of the jewelry which will later be used to create the jewelry. This will of course only be created when the customer is fully satisfied with the model.

Paragon Lake Homepage

2. Blends for Friends

A truly unique gift for tea drinkers. Alex Probyn is a professional tea tester who creates custom blends using information that you provide about the person. He needs as much information as possible about that person. Everything is important and could include hobbies, colors, job, unique stories, experience and so on.

The tea will be neatly packed in a unique presentation gift box, a decorative tin, recipe descriptor referencing the personality traits of the recipient and a booklet. Each blend gets a unique id which makes it possible to order additional amounts.

The first is sold for £27 plus postage and additional ones cost £7 plus postage. That’s about $55 for the first one.

Blends for Friends Homepage

3. RideMakerz

Create custom cars for kids of all ages. You choose the car, paint jobs, tires, rims, engines, radio control, stickers, music and a personalized license plate. Prices start at $19 plus posting.

Ridemakerz Homepage

4. Art Toy USB Drives

A gift for geeks, especially female ones I think. Unique usb devices that cost a little bit more because of their uniqueness. You can buy some characters from Star Wars, Happy Tree Friends and unique creations that look cute, oh so cute..

Mimoco Homepage

5. My Food Home

This is actually a pretty unique idea. You pay a monthly membership fee of $9.99 to join the food community which gives you the support and knowledge to analyze and change your eating habits. This is done by taking pictures of the food that you eat which is then analyzed by experts and other community members.

My Food Home Homepage

Mimoco Homepage

Don’t expect to find anything mainstream at Etsy, most stuff looks pretty unique and would probably make great presents for close ones. The toy section will its dolls looks nice and the teddy bears and dolls would surely make children happy. Most sellers seem to come from the United States but some Europeans seem to also use Etsy to sell their wares.

Oh, they also got a bags and purses category. Any women left on my site ? Just kidding. How about shoes ? Knew i got the last one with this one, hehe. Pastry Shoes are also very nice.

What can I say. Etsy is a real nice site and I surely will use it to buy presents to women and children (mainly) in the future. Let me know what you think of this.