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Cardboard cat forts and tanks? How bored can people get in lockdown?
Posted by Andy Brown on 02 December 2020
The aptly named sad and useless website contains many photos of people's cardboard creations, including a surprising number of forts and tanks for cats.
Did you know you could use your browser as a text editor? Us neither ...
Posted by Andy Brown on 02 December 2020
Thanks to Simon Ranson for contributing this bit of trivia: what to type into your browser's address bar to turn it into a text editor.
How to add cumulative totals to a visual using DAX measures in Power BI
Posted by Andy Brown on 02 December 2020
Inspired by a question from a course, in this blog Andy Brown builds up a measure to show cumulative totals for a calendar matrix, dotting his DAX i's and crossing his t's!
Playing the Harry Potter escape room game in Power BI
Posted by Andy Brown on 27 November 2020
This awesome game shows what's possible using bookmarks in Power BI (think of it as the sequel to Sam's 2019 Pin the Tail on Rudolf game).
An opportunity for stardom (well, sort of)
Posted by Andy Brown on 27 November 2020
If you've attended one of our online training courses recently (and enjoyed the experience), would you be willing to be interviewed about it? We're making a couple of short promotional videos, and would love them to feature real people's views.
The November 2020 update includes zoom sliders and a better apply filter button
Posted by Andy Brown on 27 November 2020
This month's update allows you to zoom in on a particular part of a chart using sliders, and also lets you save up filters to apply them all in one go.
Was Roger Hargreaves predicting the future of the US with his Mr Men series?
Posted by Andy Brown on 26 November 2020
There's an uncanny correlation between the Mr Men series and the list of American presidents. Donald Trump comes in as Mr Rude, Barack Obama as Mr Cool … see how many correlations you can find!
The Christmas 2020 Wise Owl newsletter competition
Posted by Andy Brown on 26 November 2020
For the second month in a row this issue's competition is a logic puzzle. Use the 6 clues given to determine the finishing order of 5 boys in a race (the winning entry drawn at random will win a fifty-pound Amazon voucher).
Victoria Anthony is the winner of our October 2020 newsletter competition
Posted by Andy Brown on 26 November 2020
We had a bumper crop of 42 entries for this puzzle, with one person saying they had enjoyed it so much that they went out to buy a Logic Puzzles book! This blog shows details of the answer and winner.
Two easy ways to create themes in Power BI without needing to write JSON
Posted by Sam Lowrie on 30 October 2020
This blog show two ways in which you can create custom themes in Power BI without needing to learn how to write JSON: either use the built-in theme editor in Power BI, or use the theme generator from Power BI Tiips.
This blog shows you how to connect to Remote Desktop if you're using a Mac
Posted by Sam Lowrie on 30 October 2020
Most people attending our online training courses use Windows computers, but the odd Mac user slips through! This blog explains how you can connect to Remote Desktop on a Mac, and so still enjoy your Wise Owl online training.
Changes to Edge and Windows in the new October 2020 Windows update
Posted by Andy Brown on 24 October 2020
Although this is called a Windows update, the most useful changes are actually for the new Edge browser, as this blog explains.
The Power BI app for HoloLens 2 allows you to juggle futuristic 3D reports
Posted by Andy Brown on 24 October 2020
What do you get when you combine the futuristic 3-dimensional mixed-reality environment created by the HoloLens 2 headset with Power BI reports? Read this blog to find out!
What happens when you blend the pieces from two different jigsaws?
Posted by Andy Brown on 24 October 2020
Vancouver-based artist Tim Klein has used the fact that many jigsaws are based on the same template to create some truly weird and wonderful composite images.
Three top YouTube channels for learning about DAX
Posted by Andy Brown on 24 October 2020
Following a question from a recent DAX course, here are 3 recommended YouTube tutorial channels to help you learn to master DAX.
You can use the new LET function in Excel to store interim formulae calculations
Posted by Andy Brown on 24 October 2020
The new Excel LET function lets you create variables to store the results of calculations, making formulae easier to read and quicker to calculate.
The answer to (and winner of) our September newsletter word search competition
Posted by Andy Brown on 22 October 2020
The winner of our newsletter competition this month is Vincent Vaughan of Public Health England, who wins a fifty-pound voucher. The word search contained all 50 states of the USA, along with a hidden quotation.
For our October 2020 newsletter competition, solve a logical puzzle
Posted by Andy Brown on 22 October 2020
Five people live in different houses, travel to work in different ways and work at different jobs. For this month's competition, all you have to do is to work out who is who!
Thie month's Power BI update includes a new logo, on-screen help and much more!
Posted by Andy Brown on 22 October 2020
There are a few good changes to Power BI Desktop this month, including a better icon and splash screen, on-canvas help (albeit pitched at too low a level) and the ability to let users tweak visuals you've published.
The 5 best things about working with Power Apps
Posted by Andy Brown on 26 September 2020
Power Apps is fun, as this blog tries to show. It consists of one owl's very personal take on the 5 best things about using the software.