Buy or Build ... THAT is the question
One of the first questions you need to answer as you begin the cord cutting experience is 'Do I build or do I buy?'. Honestly this question can be asked across a wide variety of topics including houses, PC's, etc. So to answer this question as a future cord cutter you need to know yourself and your skill set and comfort level. Could you comfortably build a PC with some parts and YouTube videos as a guide? If the answer is 'no', then building is not for you.
I'm a Buyer, now what?
So you've decided you're a buyer and not a builder. OK. No problem. You still have choices as a cord cutter. You can purchase a TiVo system that's compatible with over-the-air (OTA) broadcast signals and be quite happy. You'll still be leaving the expensive world of cable & satellite TV far behind. And you'll get a pre-built system that's been at the forefront of DVR technology since day one. You'll also get a bundled program guide to assist you in selecting free TV programs from the vast array of broadcast options you'll now have. And you'll also have access to Netflix and other streaming options as well.
I'm a Builder, now what?
In a nutshell, the world is your oyster my friend. You are about to find out there is an amazing array of streaming choices available to you solely because you opted to do all the work yourself. So here are some options you'll have to select from.
First you'll need to settle on a Home Theater PC (HTPC) set up, and there are loads to choose from. You can start with a barebones systems like a Zotac ZBOX Nano or an Intel NUC, or you can opt to go all the way and buy a case, motherboard, CPU, RAM, hard drive, etc. and go for the entire experience. I opted to use a ZBOX Nano AD12 system as my base platform (more on that later).
Second you'll need to select an operating system (OS) to run on your new HTPC system. There are Linux options ... and of course there's Windows. After much thought and research I opted for Windows 7. Not because it's inherently superior (to be sure) but more because of it's huge market presence and large support base of hardware and drivers. And since Netflix relies heavily on Microsoft Silverlight, you'll find Netflix easier to inegrate on a Microsoft OS (sorry Linux).
Third you'll need to select which HTPC software you want to use. Of course with a Windows OS there is always the included Windows Media Center (WMC). But after a few minutes with WMC you'll soon realize that package is worth just about what you paid for it (nothing). A much more expandable and supported option (IMHO) is the freeware XBMC. XBMC has a huge following and there are an almost endless array of AddOns that can expand the "channel" selection by snapping in new streaming options.
Fourth, and lastly (for this post) you'll want to explore what streaming options you want to include. Of course you'll probably want the standard options like Netflix and Hulu Plus and possibly also Vudu or Amazon Instant Video. All these options are possible inside XBMC, but some may require an additional product like PlayOn (more on this product later).
What you'll also find as you read and research is the vast array of lightly or never advertised free streaming options on the web. These include PopcornFlix, Crackle, and others. What you'll find in short order is the truly vast array of video options that are now available on the Internet. A list which grows every month. In a future post we'll explore all the options and discuss each one briefly. For now ...
Welcome to the future ... the journey continues ...
Saturday, March 8, 2014
Saturday, February 8, 2014
The Cord Cutting journey begins ...
Introduction
For several years my wife and I have slowly watched as our bill for satellite TV went up and up. As I talk to friends, family, and clients I find this is a growing trend both locally and nationwide. Cable and satellite providers keep inching their bills higher and higher. And by and large we as consumers grouse and grumble but send the check each month. But recently my wife and I drew a line in the sand. We decided to pursue another path ... the 'cord cutter' path. So I've decided to chronicle my journey to freedom in my blog.
This is the first of what I hope will be many posts on our decision to join the rapidly growing group of people coming to be affectionately known as Cord Cutters. It's worth noting that the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) at their meeting last year (2013) convened an entire session dedicated to Cord Cutters and how they are changing the face of media consumption ... and thereby changing the advertising paradigm in the process. More on that in a later post.
Historical Perspective
We live in metro Phoenix so our viewing options here are far better than most. We have 4 paid services available; Cox, CenturyLink (formerly Qwest), DirecTV, or Dish. Cox is the local cable TV provider. CenturyLink is the local phone company. And of course DirecTV and Dish are the national satellite providers.
Several years ago when we decided to jump into the subscription TV game we evaluated all our options and decided Dish would be the best value. We were already getting our phone & DSL Internet from Qwest. Years later Qwest came calling and offered to bundle DirecTV with our existing phone and Internet services and give us a "better deal". So we again evaluated all our options and determined it would, in fact, be a better value. So today as I write this we are CenturyLink & DirecTV bundled customers. Although in truth we dropped our traditional land line a couple years back in favor of a netTALK box (so we could keep our home phone number). That too was a journey.
Reasons Why
So before we begin this journey to freedom together you and I, I think it important that you understand how and why we got here. The continually rising cost of our bill is certainly one very large factor. But it also occurred to us one day we were spending much of our time watching shows we had previously recorded so we could skip the commercials or because we were unavailable when it was broadcast 'live'. We watched as Netflix, Hulu, and other online content providers slowly increased their offerings. And often times they were giving us access to the exact same content ... already recorded and packaged without commercials.
I also watched over the last year as additional products and services came online to address and service that growing group of Cord Cutters. I watched as more and more cable TV stations began including their own in-house shows and content on their web sites. I watched as computer programs started to emerge that would replace and enhance the role of Microsoft Windows Media Center. And I watched as TV tuner cards necessary to pick-up over-the-air (OTA) signals moved from add-in cards installed in each HTPC to shared devices that could be accessed across my in-home network.
Summary
In short, I've watched this movement or industry or consumer shift, what have you, grow from it's infancy to what I believe is now it's adolescence. And just like any adolescent it's got some acne and it's a little rough around the edges. But at the same time I see the greatness within. So take this journey with me as I walk down this path to video content freedom.
Welcome to the future ... the journey begins now ...
For several years my wife and I have slowly watched as our bill for satellite TV went up and up. As I talk to friends, family, and clients I find this is a growing trend both locally and nationwide. Cable and satellite providers keep inching their bills higher and higher. And by and large we as consumers grouse and grumble but send the check each month. But recently my wife and I drew a line in the sand. We decided to pursue another path ... the 'cord cutter' path. So I've decided to chronicle my journey to freedom in my blog.
This is the first of what I hope will be many posts on our decision to join the rapidly growing group of people coming to be affectionately known as Cord Cutters. It's worth noting that the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) at their meeting last year (2013) convened an entire session dedicated to Cord Cutters and how they are changing the face of media consumption ... and thereby changing the advertising paradigm in the process. More on that in a later post.
Historical Perspective
We live in metro Phoenix so our viewing options here are far better than most. We have 4 paid services available; Cox, CenturyLink (formerly Qwest), DirecTV, or Dish. Cox is the local cable TV provider. CenturyLink is the local phone company. And of course DirecTV and Dish are the national satellite providers.
Several years ago when we decided to jump into the subscription TV game we evaluated all our options and decided Dish would be the best value. We were already getting our phone & DSL Internet from Qwest. Years later Qwest came calling and offered to bundle DirecTV with our existing phone and Internet services and give us a "better deal". So we again evaluated all our options and determined it would, in fact, be a better value. So today as I write this we are CenturyLink & DirecTV bundled customers. Although in truth we dropped our traditional land line a couple years back in favor of a netTALK box (so we could keep our home phone number). That too was a journey.
Reasons Why
So before we begin this journey to freedom together you and I, I think it important that you understand how and why we got here. The continually rising cost of our bill is certainly one very large factor. But it also occurred to us one day we were spending much of our time watching shows we had previously recorded so we could skip the commercials or because we were unavailable when it was broadcast 'live'. We watched as Netflix, Hulu, and other online content providers slowly increased their offerings. And often times they were giving us access to the exact same content ... already recorded and packaged without commercials.
I also watched over the last year as additional products and services came online to address and service that growing group of Cord Cutters. I watched as more and more cable TV stations began including their own in-house shows and content on their web sites. I watched as computer programs started to emerge that would replace and enhance the role of Microsoft Windows Media Center. And I watched as TV tuner cards necessary to pick-up over-the-air (OTA) signals moved from add-in cards installed in each HTPC to shared devices that could be accessed across my in-home network.
Summary
In short, I've watched this movement or industry or consumer shift, what have you, grow from it's infancy to what I believe is now it's adolescence. And just like any adolescent it's got some acne and it's a little rough around the edges. But at the same time I see the greatness within. So take this journey with me as I walk down this path to video content freedom.
Welcome to the future ... the journey begins now ...
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Microsoft Surface RT & Windows 8 ... thoughts ...
Introduction
Over the past few weeks I've several friends and clients ask me to weigh in on the new Microsoft Surface tablet. While the current version is not the promised "full" version coming in Spring 2013, it does run a new version of Windows 8 known as Windows RT. I have played with the current Surface running Windows 8 RT. I've also played with Windows 8 inside a VirtualBox on my laptop. So let me share with you my thoughts and what I know.
Hardware
First, the Surface tablet from a purely hardware perspective is a really nice piece of equipment. The case feels really solid and the VaporMg manufacturing process makes the unit itself feel very light. The lines are crisp and clean and it is a very attractive tablet. Also, they learned from Apple and all the standard attachments (power, keyboard, etc.) are magnetically attached. So if you accidentally pull the unit beyond the reach of it's power cable the cable just 'pops' off ... no harm done. The video, however, is not that impressive at 1280 x 720. Most newer Androids or iPads have better video displays, candidly.
There are 2 keyboards available. One is flat while the other is an ultra low profile traditional keyboard. The unit I played with had the flat keyboard. It's cool at first, but the 'coolness' quickly wears off when you figure out it's not well suited (for me anyway) to do any kind of touch typing. And it offers NO tactile feedback. Personally I would go with the traditional keyboard if I were to go at all (read on).
Windows 8
As far as Windows 8 RT goes, it was a little 'eerie cool' to fire up a tablet and have it connect to your WiFi network and be able to instantly browse all the file shares on your local network and open many of the files (i.e., Microsoft Office, Adobe PDF, etc.). That coolness quickly wears off when you actually try to use the Surface tablet. In my humble opinion the Microsoft Surface could be the ultimate hybrid between a tablet and a laptop or ultrabook ... were it not for Windows 8. That initial screen on the front looks great with all those moving tiles that update their info in real time ... until you actually want to get behind that and get real work done. This is where Windows 8 falls flat on it's keister, IMHO.
Windows 8 has eliminated the Start menu. After multiple Windows iterations and years and years of 'press the Start button', all that user interface (UI) commonality is instantly swept away. Finding installed applications is a nightmare (please note the Surface RT came with a pre-release 'beta' copy of Microsoft Office 2013 Student). Since there is no Start menu you're left to poke and plod through the vastly different UI hoping you'll stumble upon what you're looking for.
And God help you in remembering how you got to where you just were once you do find what you were looking for (or put EVERY application on the desktop). Most all the familiar Windows reference points we've used for so long (Start Menu, Run box, Command window, etc.) are all gone from plain site. Some may still be there. But that ones that are have been hidden behind new UI layers. What I found after a week of working with the Surface was the new UI, for me at least, was almost unworkable. I spent so much time working the UI to get to where I wanted to be it was vastly quicker to go back to a Windows 7 machine and perform the same tasks.
Microsoft Store
And the Microsoft Store is a joke! I think I counted about 11,000 apps total versus 650,000 Android or 950,000 iTunes apps. Of course Microsoft promises there will be more apps by the time the full Surface ships in Spring 2013, but who knows. The fine print on the Office 2013 Beta says MS reserves the right to remove it later. The reason people buy a tablet or smartphone is for the apps and Microsoft has seriouslydropped the ball here. There was not even a Gmail app! Gmail!?! The most popular free email service on the web!?! No app! What does that tell you about the app store and the selection of apps it contains?
General Feedback
And apparently I'm not alone. I've already had clients who bought new machines with Windows 8 pre-installed call and beg me to downgrade them back to Windows 7, which I've done (Thank God Microsoft is still selling Windows 7 copies). In short, I think Microsoft has really shot themselves in the foot with Windows 8. On a small cell phone or tablet screen that "tiled" front screen with real time updates may be useful. It's not to my liking personally, but I can see where it may be liked by some. But on a large screen desktop or laptop it doesn't cut it. Further, if you don't have a touch screen much of the viability and usability of Windows 8 goes right out the window (excuse the pun).
Final Thoughts
In my humble opinion Microsoft has created a new operating system nobody asked for, with a new user interface nobody demanded, that can't run some legacy apps Windows 7 still can, created largely for an environment (smartphones & tablets) where they (Microsoft) are number 4 in a 3 horse race. If that "tiled" look is really what you're going for there are already Android launcher apps that can give you that same look and feel on your Android smartphone or tablet. Overall I just see a LOT of downside risk and very little upside potential. I think Microsoft may well alienate more of their user base and drive them over to Apple ... or at the very least drive up sales of Windows 7.
Time will tell. Welcome to the future ...
Monday, September 3, 2012
Ice Cream Sandwich, and other sweetness ...
A well written OS does its job in a clean, consistent, reliable way. A superbly written OS does all that, but then entices you with its attention to detail indicating the developers really care about their work. The latter is the what Android has been elevated to with the release of Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS), also known as Android 4.0.
Even with its idiosyncrasies, ICS still proves to be one of the best Android versions released to date. Obviously your mileage may vary (YMMV), but overall it’s one of the most stable mobile OSs that I’ve ever used. Android enthusiasts (like myself) will find a lot to like in the new version. But will still probably find various reasons to want to replace the stock applications with third-party alternatives (read Handcent SMS for one) ... it's not perfect. But the major improvements to the user interface (UI) & experience do help to make ICS better tasting right out of the box.
A Fresh New Look
ICS is by far the most visually appealing version of Android released to date. The holographic interface in Android 3.x (a.k.a., Honeycomb) has been passed on to ICS, though it doesn’t translate that well on smaller displays. On a tablet such as my Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, the holographic interface looks as if it has some depth, but on a phone such as my Samsung Galaxy S II it appears much more two-dimensional. ICS, however, adds a few new colors to Android’s repertoire, swapping out the old green and gray for a vibrant blue. Might I add the Galaxy S II's AMOLED screen loves these new colors.
Text is also much easier to read thanks to the use of a new high-resolution font Roboto. Roboto was designed to be used on HD displays, and is a massive step up from the old Droid Serif originated in Android 2.x. The font looks a lot cleaner than the default font from Honeycomb, and it complements the holographic UI quite nicely.
Features Galore
Face Unlock and Android Beam were two features that sounded great in theory, but in actual practice they didn't play out too well. Face Unlock lets you unlock your phone by using facial recognition software, but it has one too many bugs to make it really useful. Face Unlock can be difficult to use outside on sunny days, because bright sunlight obscures your face to the camera. Also Face Unlock can be tricked by either a picture or someone who closely resembles you. Face Unlock is not an entirely foolproof security measure (Google even warns that it’s not as secure as a PIN or a lock pattern), but it’s still a novel way to interact with your phone.
Android Beam is supposed to make it easier to share data between devices using near-field communications (NFC). The instructions for Android Beam are quite vague, and it seems to behave differently in each app. To use Android Beam, you must first make sure NFC is enabled and the Android Beam feature turned on under Settings. Once you’ve done that, open the app you’d like to send data from, and simply hold your phone against another NFC device to begin a connection. Your phone should make a noise to announce the pairing, at that point just tap the screen to begin transmitting content. IMHO, it’s an interesting piece of ICS that still seems to need a bit more work to flesh out fully.
Another handy new feature is the ability to resize Widgets to your liking. You do this by holding down a widget briefly, then dragging the sides until the widget is as big or as small as you’d like it to be. Android Honeycomb tablets and certain proprietary overlays have had this feature for a while now. But this is the first time, it's a built-in part of the native OS.
Almost all of the core apps have received major redesigns. Gmail more closely resembles the desktop version, and it’s now much easier to attach photos and other files onto emails. Your inbox is also available for offline viewing (should you not be able to connect online), and a new context bar on mobile makes it easier to quickly compose new emails and delete the ones you no longer want.
The Calendar app was tweaked so you can view multiple Google Calendars at once, and now you can pinch to zoom in or out of events to see more details about them. The old Music app has been replaced with Google’s new Play Music app that is tied to its online music service. You can still play local files, but now you also have the option to stream content from your online music library to your device. Google Talk now lets you sign in using multiple Gmail accounts, and it was just recently updated to support video chat. The Gallery can do some rather robust editing, and the camera now includes a very-easy-to-use panorama mode.
Upgrading
For users coming from Gingerbread (a.k.a., Android 2.3.x) you'll notice a host of improvements. For users coming from Honeycomb (a.k.a., Android 3.x.x) the differences will be more subtle and will mostly be a significantly smoother visual and tactile experience. I found after upgrading my Galaxy Tab 10.1 from Honeycomb to ICS the screen to screen scrolling and app/widget scrolling was significantly smoother.
On the technical side, techie users will notice this is the first version of Android to support preemptive symmetric multi-processing (SMP). For those readers who are less technical, this means the OS will transparently suspend (or preempt) background processes in favor of foreground processes (or applications) which require additional CPU time. This can be verified by looking in Settings under About Phone/Tablet, Kernel Version. This means users with dual-core and quad-core CPU's will find the OS does a better job of handling multiple tasks simultaneously and also means Android will begin to make better use of these multi-core devices going forward.
One thing that must be noted about upgrading to ICS, all icons on the Home Screens will be lost. While the programs themselves are not lost, the icon layout and general positioning of each of the home screens (e.g., icons, widgets, etc.) is lost during the upgrade process. I recommend noting or snapshot-ing each screen so you can return the phone or tablet to it's prior icon & widget layout after upgrade. The upgrade process itself takes about 40 to 60 minutes, and I always recommend a full battery charge before attempting any OS upgrade.
No one can rightly accuse Google's Android team of putting forth a weak or insubstantial OS update. ICS has reworked Android's style from head to toe, giving it a far bolder identity than before with a polished look and logical feel. For the most part, Google has succeeded in splicing together Gingerbread and Honeycomb to create a single experience that can work identically on both phones and tablets.
At the end of the day, ICS does succeed in moving Google and Android forward, and reaffirming its staying power as a mobile OS. With its bold new personality, Android 4.0 is also a sign of Google leaving less of its visual cultivation to the handset makers through overlays, and taking a stronger role in defining its own 'Droid' visual personality.
Next version up ... Android 4.1 a.k.a., Jelly Bean.
Even with its idiosyncrasies, ICS still proves to be one of the best Android versions released to date. Obviously your mileage may vary (YMMV), but overall it’s one of the most stable mobile OSs that I’ve ever used. Android enthusiasts (like myself) will find a lot to like in the new version. But will still probably find various reasons to want to replace the stock applications with third-party alternatives (read Handcent SMS for one) ... it's not perfect. But the major improvements to the user interface (UI) & experience do help to make ICS better tasting right out of the box.
A Fresh New Look
ICS is by far the most visually appealing version of Android released to date. The holographic interface in Android 3.x (a.k.a., Honeycomb) has been passed on to ICS, though it doesn’t translate that well on smaller displays. On a tablet such as my Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, the holographic interface looks as if it has some depth, but on a phone such as my Samsung Galaxy S II it appears much more two-dimensional. ICS, however, adds a few new colors to Android’s repertoire, swapping out the old green and gray for a vibrant blue. Might I add the Galaxy S II's AMOLED screen loves these new colors.
Text is also much easier to read thanks to the use of a new high-resolution font Roboto. Roboto was designed to be used on HD displays, and is a massive step up from the old Droid Serif originated in Android 2.x. The font looks a lot cleaner than the default font from Honeycomb, and it complements the holographic UI quite nicely.
Features Galore
Face Unlock and Android Beam were two features that sounded great in theory, but in actual practice they didn't play out too well. Face Unlock lets you unlock your phone by using facial recognition software, but it has one too many bugs to make it really useful. Face Unlock can be difficult to use outside on sunny days, because bright sunlight obscures your face to the camera. Also Face Unlock can be tricked by either a picture or someone who closely resembles you. Face Unlock is not an entirely foolproof security measure (Google even warns that it’s not as secure as a PIN or a lock pattern), but it’s still a novel way to interact with your phone.
Android Beam is supposed to make it easier to share data between devices using near-field communications (NFC). The instructions for Android Beam are quite vague, and it seems to behave differently in each app. To use Android Beam, you must first make sure NFC is enabled and the Android Beam feature turned on under Settings. Once you’ve done that, open the app you’d like to send data from, and simply hold your phone against another NFC device to begin a connection. Your phone should make a noise to announce the pairing, at that point just tap the screen to begin transmitting content. IMHO, it’s an interesting piece of ICS that still seems to need a bit more work to flesh out fully.
Almost all of the core apps have received major redesigns. Gmail more closely resembles the desktop version, and it’s now much easier to attach photos and other files onto emails. Your inbox is also available for offline viewing (should you not be able to connect online), and a new context bar on mobile makes it easier to quickly compose new emails and delete the ones you no longer want.
The Calendar app was tweaked so you can view multiple Google Calendars at once, and now you can pinch to zoom in or out of events to see more details about them. The old Music app has been replaced with Google’s new Play Music app that is tied to its online music service. You can still play local files, but now you also have the option to stream content from your online music library to your device. Google Talk now lets you sign in using multiple Gmail accounts, and it was just recently updated to support video chat. The Gallery can do some rather robust editing, and the camera now includes a very-easy-to-use panorama mode.
Upgrading
For users coming from Gingerbread (a.k.a., Android 2.3.x) you'll notice a host of improvements. For users coming from Honeycomb (a.k.a., Android 3.x.x) the differences will be more subtle and will mostly be a significantly smoother visual and tactile experience. I found after upgrading my Galaxy Tab 10.1 from Honeycomb to ICS the screen to screen scrolling and app/widget scrolling was significantly smoother.
On the technical side, techie users will notice this is the first version of Android to support preemptive symmetric multi-processing (SMP). For those readers who are less technical, this means the OS will transparently suspend (or preempt) background processes in favor of foreground processes (or applications) which require additional CPU time. This can be verified by looking in Settings under About Phone/Tablet, Kernel Version. This means users with dual-core and quad-core CPU's will find the OS does a better job of handling multiple tasks simultaneously and also means Android will begin to make better use of these multi-core devices going forward.
One thing that must be noted about upgrading to ICS, all icons on the Home Screens will be lost. While the programs themselves are not lost, the icon layout and general positioning of each of the home screens (e.g., icons, widgets, etc.) is lost during the upgrade process. I recommend noting or snapshot-ing each screen so you can return the phone or tablet to it's prior icon & widget layout after upgrade. The upgrade process itself takes about 40 to 60 minutes, and I always recommend a full battery charge before attempting any OS upgrade.
No one can rightly accuse Google's Android team of putting forth a weak or insubstantial OS update. ICS has reworked Android's style from head to toe, giving it a far bolder identity than before with a polished look and logical feel. For the most part, Google has succeeded in splicing together Gingerbread and Honeycomb to create a single experience that can work identically on both phones and tablets.
At the end of the day, ICS does succeed in moving Google and Android forward, and reaffirming its staying power as a mobile OS. With its bold new personality, Android 4.0 is also a sign of Google leaving less of its visual cultivation to the handset makers through overlays, and taking a stronger role in defining its own 'Droid' visual personality.
Next version up ... Android 4.1 a.k.a., Jelly Bean.
Friday, May 4, 2012
Tablets To Replace Laptops ... by 2016
Thanks in large part to industry efforts to make tablets much more powerful and affordable, Forrester Research predicts that tablets will become the preferred computing device for millions of people by 2016. Global tablet sales have been steadily climbing and there's no doubt the futuristic form factor has found its way into many homes & some businesses: over 56 million tablets were sold in 2011. However, will tablets really replace laptops as the preferred mobile computing platform people turn to? Or will tablets go the way of the 'netbook' and fade from the technology landscape?
In a recent Forrester Research market analysis labeled, "Tablets Will Rule the Future Personal Computing Landscape", the research firm projects tablet sales will top 375 million units by 2016. In addition, the research firm generally expects tablets to last about three years before the aging devices are replaced by their owners, meaning about 760 million tablets will be actively in use by 2016.
Globally speaking, about 40 percent of sales are expected to be driven by "emerging markets" while nearly a third will be pushed by businesses.
For those who are still skeptical, the principal analyst involved with the study had this to say:
"I agree that laptops are still preferred today, if you had to pick one device," he notes. But he is firm in believing that preference "will flip in the next few years. Tablets will get good enough at many, but not all creation tasks — plus they'll become so important and convenient for every day use and consumption, that they will become an individual's primary device."
"Over the next four years, tablets will gain new sensors, processing power, and better wireless capabilities for connecting with nearby devices," Frank Gillette, principal analyst on Forrester's business technology futures team, wrote in the report. "This will enable full voice control and dictation, increased gesture control, more situational context, better accessory integration, and software that anticipates a user's needs."
[Source: cnet.com, Frank Gillette (Forrester Research analyst)]
It is important to note the firm counts hybrid or convertible devices as tablets. Examples of such devices include the Asus Transformer and Transformer Prime series, the Lenovo Yoga, the Acer Iconia Tab W500, and the Asus Eee and Samsung 7 series Slate products. Although the latter products tend to break the traditional 'low cost' tablet mold costing in excess of $1000.
Forrester Research also predicts the introduction of a new tablet-like device intended for larger-scale applications. The firm is calling this device a "frame" and expects the device to sport a far larger display and higher-end hardware. Such a larger device may be useful for presentation, entertainment and business applications. The latter hybrid products listed above easily fit into this emerging classification, as most of these products run some iteration of Microsoft Windows.
Many people feel in a business environment, tablets are nice for checking e-mail and surfing the web but that's about it - they're not really business production tools. However, I would be quick to caution what you may view as true specifically for you may not be true for millions of other people - perhaps even your own staff and/or organization.
Many people in a business environment are finding unique and wonderful new ways to put these devices to work for them and their workforce as an incredible new work machine or tool. If you or your workforce uses forms on a regular basis a tablet can be an effective alternative and even replacement for traditional paper forms based functions. When coupled with the right carrier and data plan, data from the field can be collected faster and with less human error and the results analyzed in a much shorter time frame than was possible before.
As just one example, if you are a Realtor imagine your client coming to the closing and signing (or e-signing) all their paperwork on a tablet device. No more printing out contracts only to have them shredded and re-printed when an offer or counter-offer is made and/or accepted.
Or imagine you're an inspector with a clipboard and a traditional paper form. Now imagine replacing your paper form and clipboard with an online form or even an Excel or Google Apps spreadsheet with macros running on a tablet device. And as you fill out the form the information is immediately available in real time for analysis and/or reporting by you or the home office miles away.
These are both real world examples of how tablets can be put to use in your organization as an effective tool to modernize and streamline your workforce. Need help exploring those ideas? We stand ready to help. Give us a call and we'll help you explore the latest technology, including tablets, to see if there's a fit that's right for you.
Welcome to the future.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Start a Company With 'Virtually' No Overhead
In the late -1980s, I graduated college and joined a Phoenix area technology company. In those days - before smartphones, let alone widespread Internet availability - most start-up businesses followed a pretty predictable path. They’d rent office space; buy chairs and other office equipment; install a phone system; install a network of PCs; and hire office staff, sales, marketing, and technical people. Employees were all paid actual W-2 salaries and sometimes even promised a percentage of the company. And many of the software packages used internally had to be custom written from scratch or purchased and modified by on staff programmers.
Given today's ubiquity of wireless, broadband Internet access, smartphones, tablets, laptops, and other truly portable computers, as well as cloud computing services, that startup mentality seems almost quaint now. And it’s possible to start a company now with virtually none of that overhead. Make no mistake you’re no more likely to be successful now than you were in those days gone by, but at least you can funnel whatever little capital you do have toward your actual business - toward the processes and products that you should be focusing on - instead of overhead & infrastructure.
You can probably see where I’m going with this: Whether you’re a fledgling startup with the next killer idea, a small business serving local customers, a growing entity with a multi-location or even regional or national footprint your critical business resources are being stretched in multiple directions. But with the advent of so many new technologies, the time has come to focus on what’s truly important to your business. It’s time to focus on your business and offload as much of the unnecessary day-to-day to other processes ... web or otherwise.
We in the technical community have been talking about such things for years. But unlike the 'paperless office' of decades ago, this time it’s not just talk. It’s possible today to safely, securely, and seamlessly offload a lot of your non-core business processes — and even some core, mission-critical needs. So, whereas my blogs frequently focus on buying recommendations, I’m taking the opposite tack and discussing this time what not to buy. Let’s start with some obvious technological targets.
On-Premises Servers
Ah, the good old days; Flying out to Global Center in San Jose so I could physically put my hands inside a server cage and reboot one single errant web server. Jealous? Well, you could implement a modern version of this silliness by buying, deploying, and managing your own servers and server software. But why would you? Servers are expensive, loud, and complex, and they require a certain level of expertise, either from yourself, your own employees or via a support contract of some kind.
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Modern new businesses should seek to minimize or eliminate their exposure to in-house server hardware and software. With the possible exception of centralized local storage and, for large organizations, user management, there’s little need for this complexity, cost and headache. Small businesses should seriously consider the recently released Microsoft Windows Small Business Server (SBS) 2011 Essentials, which can integrate with a variety of online services while providing just the basics in-house. And with various cloud storage services such as Vault Services, as well as PC management services such as Microsoft Windows Intune, even the remaining excuses for on-premises servers are beginning to fade.
PCs
If you thought the elimination of local server hardware was shocking, you’re going to want to sit down. For a growing generation of startups, even corporate-funded PCs are going by the way side, replaced by employees’ own PCs. This isn’t really as radical as it sounds. If you sign up for a PC management service such as Intune — starting at $11 per PC per month — you can easily manage these employee-owned PCs, ensuring that they’re up-to-date with software updates and security fixes. And in Intune 2.0, coming later this year, you’ll even be able to remotely deploy software to those PCs.
Another related issue to consider is whether every one even needs a PC. Depending on the business and the individual employees, a high quality smartphone might be enough, especially for sales people or other frequent travelers. Even an iPad or other tablet device can work in the right situations.
Email, Contacts, Calendar, and Tasks
If you’re not an email service provider but you still host your own email servers, you’re either constrained by regulatory or legal reasons, or you’re just wasting your time and money. This is especially true now that there are inexpensive (even free) and high-quality choices for email and personal information management (PIM; i.e., contacts, calendar, and tasks).
For young and new small businesses, Google Apps is an excellent choice for email, contacts, calendar, and task management — and it’s free for businesses with ten or fewer employees. Google Apps provides email with a customized domain, and its services are broadly compatible across different devices. The primary interface is via the web, but users can also use popular email clients such as Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird, although support for other Google Apps services in native apps is mixed. And the full blown paid for all-the-bells-and-whistles version is ridiculously cheap at $50 per user per year.
Microsoft also, suddenly, has a very viable alternative for cloud-based email, contacts, calendar, and task management in Office 365. Even though there’s no free option, it’s not too expensive — starting at $72 per user per year — and it’s a tad more compatible with Microsoft Office-centric shops including integrated Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (for document collaboration and sharing) and Microsoft Lync (for presence and online communication).
Office Productivity Software
Speaking of Office, it’s worth pointing out that although Microsoft Office 2010 is a mature, highly capable Office productivity suite, it might be overkill for some people. Fortunately, there are several free alternatives, and there’s no reason you can’t mix and match between free and paid offerings, depending on your needs.
One of the best and most obvious of the free Office alternatives is actually another feature of Google Apps called Google Docs. As its name suggests, this service offers web-based versions of Docs, Spreadsheet, and Presentation. And although they’re not quite as powerful as the native apps, and they can’t work while you’re offline, they look and work just like the real thing and could offer enough horsepower for many users. Google Docs are included with Google Apps and include either 8GB or 25GB of Google cloud-based document storage. Heads up for Microsoft Office power users, you’ll experience some fidelity issues if you try to share documents between Office and Google Docs. Especially if you use Excel macros.
For those who still feel they need an Office option that installs locally, look at Open Office. This package offers open source versions of Writer, Calc, and Impress. And although they’re not completely compatible with Microsoft Office, they can work while you’re offline, they look and work just like the real Microsoft thing and offer a lower cost option for many users.
Phones
Another way to appear bigger and more professional than you are is to implement a virtual (VoIP) phone system , such as that offered by Vocalocity. This service is completely web-based and can also provide 800 & fax numbers for customer support and sales, local numbers for geo-diversity, customized hold music, and call routing to any phones — starting at just $39 per phone per month.
Google goers should of course look into Google Voice as well, although this service is geared a little more toward individuals and micro businesses. But Google Voice is a great addition for cell phones. In my humble opinion, every business cell phone user should be using Google Voice for their cellular voice mail. It's speech-to-text feature will text or email you any messages left on your voicemail Inbox with about 95% accuracy.
Office Space
Let’s not stop with Office software: For new and very small businesses, an actual office with a physical presence often isn’t required at all. But thanks to new services, even the smallest business can appear to be big and successful. The key here is to do what bigger companies already do for satellite locations, and rent space where you can drop in at set times for meetings with potential and current clients and perform other face-to-face duties.
Many of these occasional office space services provide a permanent address for your business, where mail and packages can be routed and collected, a permanent receptionist crew, a phone that rings and calls that are directed to the correct employees, no matter where they are and what kind of phones they use. An entry-level package that grants companies 5 days of office space per month, along with the mailing address, receptionist, and phone services, should cost about $200 a month — a far cry from the rental fees on a permanent address.
Post Your Tips!
There are so many excellent ways for up-and-coming companies to save money, and I’m sure I’ve only scratched the surface here. If you have some tips of your own, please post a comment below, and I’ll look at compiling them for a follow-up blog posting.
Welcome to the future.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
A Somber Anniversary
As September 11th approaches and we prepare to give pause to remember the events of that day on this the 10th anniversary, it is imperative that we continue to be vigilant. There are news reports of how Al Qaeda is attempting to infiltrate our nations technology infrastructure ... mostly utilities ... in hopes of causing more panic and mayhem. Utility companies are being asked to increase physical security and take steps to increase their cyber-security. We must remember these terrorists have not given up. They are still bent on our destruction.
In light of this I think it only prudent to put out a call to all Americans to stay vigilant. During these days and weeks as we approach the 10th anniversary we all need to have a heightened sense of awareness as it regards our own personal cyber-security. Be extra cautious about opening emails that look suspicious. Be wary of links in emails. Beware of attachments. And be extra observant when using banking & financial institutions web sites to be sure they have not been 'hacked' or hijacked.
I'm not saying to ignore messages or delete attachments. But rather to take an extra few seconds to be certain that email is really coming from the person you think it is. Make certain your anti-virus software is properly installed and working. Make sure you are using a good quality hardware and software firewall. Make sure your operating system and application software is updated with all the current patches. Take all the steps necessary to protect yourself from those who would seek to harm you and this great nation we call home. The data you save may be your own!
God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Be Thankful for More Than Technology
Another Thanksgiving has come and gone. Were you thankful? Really? What for? Your Windows 7 laptop? Your Android smartphone? Your HDTV? We need to move beyond that and be thankful for what really matters in life.
I think Abraham Lincoln said it best in his 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation speech; "We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven, we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity, we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.
I think Abraham Lincoln said it best in his 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation speech; "We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven, we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity, we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.
It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign land, to set apart and observe the third Thursday in November as a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens."
I can truly say I am thankful for my family, the people in my life, and the manifold blessings from God above. But I have no delusions. Tomorrow the Androids will still be churning, the HDTV's will still be in razor sharp focus and the laptops will be processing at full power. But it is nice to have one day set aside to remember the One who made it all.
God bless America.
Keith
Friday, July 16, 2010
The cell phone ecosystem
Some of you may not think of a cell phone as being part of an ecosystem. But Webster defines ecosystem as "a system formed by the interaction of a community of organisms with their environment". I'd say that fits.
Some of you who read my blog regularly know I recently upgraded to an Android based phone. At it's recent press release with Verizon for the new Motorola Droid X, Google stated that 160,000 Android based phones were being activated per day! Think about that for a minute. So I wanted to circle back and report my findings and feelings on my first several weeks with my myTouch 3G Slide (MTS) on T-Mobile.
I have to say the Android ecosystem is very different than the RIM ecosystem. The RIM ecosystem is well defined and set. By that I mean when you get a BlackBerry and take out of the package to start using it most all the apps are already there. The phone, calendar, contacts and e-mail of course. But also a notepad app and some other built-in common apps. Over the years I came to rely on those apps. They became integrated into my world. Their ecosystem became intertwined in my ecosystem.
And now along comes the Android to upset the apple cart if you will. But the Android ecosystem is far different than the RIM ecosystem. Oh yes, it still includes the phone, calendar, contacts and e-mail pieces, of course. But the follow on apps like notepad and others were not there. But in there place is a rich marketplace of applications, many of which are free. And if the devil is in the details, then the devil in here is determining which app will be the best fit for you.
In one sense this was easy with the BlackBerry. Here's what we included take it or leave it. But now you have a marketplace environment where you can browse and search for and peruse a wide variety of apps for any given need. so to that end I want to tell you about some of the most useful (if not cool) apps I've found thus far.
First, I have to say I love the tight integration with Gmail & Google Apps. I wasn't even home from the store and my new MTS already had all my e-mail, contacts and calendar items in it's memory bank.
Next, I really like an app called ColorNote. It allows you to enter notes and then color code them for various purposes. It's also great for making checklists for going to the store and then checking off each item as you get it.
Next is an app called Handcent. This app takes text messaging to a new level allowing you interaction to be more graphical and fun.
Next is Google Sky. What a cool app! Have you ever been out looking at the night sky and wondering what that star or planet was? Enter Google Sky. Activate Google Sky, hold your phone up to the same place in the sky and your screen will show in real time what stars, planets and constellations are in that location (using GPS and star chart data).
Next is an app I picked up this week from another MTS user, Key Ring. Key Ring allows you to store all your grocery store and other UPC based loyalty cards. Never again do you have to remember your store cards. You bring them up on your phone and have the cashier scan your phones screen. Neat!
Next is Movies by Flixster. This app shows you all the movie theaters in a 25 mile radius and their movie times. It also allows you to integrate with your Netflix queue and add, move, or change the list of movies in your queue.
And last but not least is a totally geeky app called WiFi Analyzer. This app uses the MTS onboard WiFi to check signals and levels and track signal strength and channel usage of nearby WiFi systems. This is great for the IT guy who needs to see if there's a dead zone in a WiFi network.
All things considered I must say I like this new ecosystem. It's new. It's different. But it allows you to customize your smartphone in ways that were unimagineable just a few short years ago. And it reminds me as a technology professional why I love technology ... because it's a moving target.
Welcome to 2010 ... welcome to the future ...
Some of you who read my blog regularly know I recently upgraded to an Android based phone. At it's recent press release with Verizon for the new Motorola Droid X, Google stated that 160,000 Android based phones were being activated per day! Think about that for a minute. So I wanted to circle back and report my findings and feelings on my first several weeks with my myTouch 3G Slide (MTS) on T-Mobile.
I have to say the Android ecosystem is very different than the RIM ecosystem. The RIM ecosystem is well defined and set. By that I mean when you get a BlackBerry and take out of the package to start using it most all the apps are already there. The phone, calendar, contacts and e-mail of course. But also a notepad app and some other built-in common apps. Over the years I came to rely on those apps. They became integrated into my world. Their ecosystem became intertwined in my ecosystem.
And now along comes the Android to upset the apple cart if you will. But the Android ecosystem is far different than the RIM ecosystem. Oh yes, it still includes the phone, calendar, contacts and e-mail pieces, of course. But the follow on apps like notepad and others were not there. But in there place is a rich marketplace of applications, many of which are free. And if the devil is in the details, then the devil in here is determining which app will be the best fit for you.
In one sense this was easy with the BlackBerry. Here's what we included take it or leave it. But now you have a marketplace environment where you can browse and search for and peruse a wide variety of apps for any given need. so to that end I want to tell you about some of the most useful (if not cool) apps I've found thus far.
First, I have to say I love the tight integration with Gmail & Google Apps. I wasn't even home from the store and my new MTS already had all my e-mail, contacts and calendar items in it's memory bank.
Next, I really like an app called ColorNote. It allows you to enter notes and then color code them for various purposes. It's also great for making checklists for going to the store and then checking off each item as you get it.
Next is an app called Handcent. This app takes text messaging to a new level allowing you interaction to be more graphical and fun.
Next is Google Sky. What a cool app! Have you ever been out looking at the night sky and wondering what that star or planet was? Enter Google Sky. Activate Google Sky, hold your phone up to the same place in the sky and your screen will show in real time what stars, planets and constellations are in that location (using GPS and star chart data).
Next is an app I picked up this week from another MTS user, Key Ring. Key Ring allows you to store all your grocery store and other UPC based loyalty cards. Never again do you have to remember your store cards. You bring them up on your phone and have the cashier scan your phones screen. Neat!
Next is Movies by Flixster. This app shows you all the movie theaters in a 25 mile radius and their movie times. It also allows you to integrate with your Netflix queue and add, move, or change the list of movies in your queue.
And last but not least is a totally geeky app called WiFi Analyzer. This app uses the MTS onboard WiFi to check signals and levels and track signal strength and channel usage of nearby WiFi systems. This is great for the IT guy who needs to see if there's a dead zone in a WiFi network.
All things considered I must say I like this new ecosystem. It's new. It's different. But it allows you to customize your smartphone in ways that were unimagineable just a few short years ago. And it reminds me as a technology professional why I love technology ... because it's a moving target.
Welcome to 2010 ... welcome to the future ...
Abandon all hope all ye who enter in.
I just love this quote from an Egyption pyramid. I say this every time I go over the top for the first drop on a really big roller coaster. And now I say it to those of you who are entering college ... just kidding. But here's something I'm not kidding about.
As some of you may know, I am a Microsoft Registered Partner. In that capacity I received notice of a deal for college students that is just too good to pass up. The Microsoft Office Professional Academic 2010 promotion, the details of which are at this URL:
http://www.microsoft.com/student/office/en-us/default.aspx
In a nutshell your college student can get Microsoft Office Professional 2010 for $80. Check the URL for details, limitations and restrictions.
Enjoy what's left of the summer. And stay cool out there.
As some of you may know, I am a Microsoft Registered Partner. In that capacity I received notice of a deal for college students that is just too good to pass up. The Microsoft Office Professional Academic 2010 promotion, the details of which are at this URL:
http://www.microsoft.com/student/office/en-us/default.aspx
In a nutshell your college student can get Microsoft Office Professional 2010 for $80. Check the URL for details, limitations and restrictions.
Enjoy what's left of the summer. And stay cool out there.
Monday, June 21, 2010
The summer of my discontent ...
Well, I took the plunge again. After 2+ years of faithful service I retired my old friend. My BlackBerry Curve 8320. Good bye my old trusty friend. I am now the proud new owner of a myTouch 3G Slide (MTS) on the T-Mobile network. All I can say is, wow! After having the phone over the weekend (I upgraded on Wednesday of last week) I can now say it is just awesome. This is a FAST smartphone.
But it's not all glitz and glory. There are some rough patches with this Android phone, but first the glitz. As a phone it's awesome. It makes and takes calls flawlessly. It holds the network and has not even so much as hinted at dropping a call, even when driving through some areas my BlackBerry would sometimes grumble about. And the web browser is phenomonal. I can surf to sites my old BlackBerry could NEVER render.
But ... there are some issues that I need to come clean about. First, the Bluetooth is spotty. The audio connection on my side is choppy and difficult to hear, although the callers haven't yet complained. And the call control button on my Plantronics Voyager 510 seems useless on my MTS phone. For incoming calls it seems OK, but for outgoing calls I can't seem to make the call button activate the onboard 'genius mode' to engage speech to action.
But several sources on the web indicate this is a problem with the Android 2.1 OS. Hopefully this will be fixed in the forthcoming Android 2.2. And while we're on the subject, 2.2 is rumored to be between 3 - 7 times faster than 2.1 on the same hardware. Now that'll make you go hmmm.
The other good news is T-Mobile appears to be in the process of upgrading Phoenix to the new HSPA+ standard. This wireless standard promises to deliver near 4G speeds, and the MTS phone supports it.
All in all this phone is beyond my expectations. It's faster than I believed. But it does require a bit of time to customize for personal use. The beautiful thing for me is the Android Market. I have added several key items to enhance my phone, and thus far all the programs I've selected have been free. While there are a lot of paid apps, most of the nes I needed were higher rated in free versions.
However there is one app I will gladly pay for ... an app to let me use the Windows RDP protocol from my Android phone to control Windows Servers remotely. Now that's what I call progress.
I'll post again as I get further into this new smartphone.
Welcome to 2010 ...
But it's not all glitz and glory. There are some rough patches with this Android phone, but first the glitz. As a phone it's awesome. It makes and takes calls flawlessly. It holds the network and has not even so much as hinted at dropping a call, even when driving through some areas my BlackBerry would sometimes grumble about. And the web browser is phenomonal. I can surf to sites my old BlackBerry could NEVER render.
But ... there are some issues that I need to come clean about. First, the Bluetooth is spotty. The audio connection on my side is choppy and difficult to hear, although the callers haven't yet complained. And the call control button on my Plantronics Voyager 510 seems useless on my MTS phone. For incoming calls it seems OK, but for outgoing calls I can't seem to make the call button activate the onboard 'genius mode' to engage speech to action.
But several sources on the web indicate this is a problem with the Android 2.1 OS. Hopefully this will be fixed in the forthcoming Android 2.2. And while we're on the subject, 2.2 is rumored to be between 3 - 7 times faster than 2.1 on the same hardware. Now that'll make you go hmmm.
The other good news is T-Mobile appears to be in the process of upgrading Phoenix to the new HSPA+ standard. This wireless standard promises to deliver near 4G speeds, and the MTS phone supports it.
All in all this phone is beyond my expectations. It's faster than I believed. But it does require a bit of time to customize for personal use. The beautiful thing for me is the Android Market. I have added several key items to enhance my phone, and thus far all the programs I've selected have been free. While there are a lot of paid apps, most of the nes I needed were higher rated in free versions.
However there is one app I will gladly pay for ... an app to let me use the Windows RDP protocol from my Android phone to control Windows Servers remotely. Now that's what I call progress.
I'll post again as I get further into this new smartphone.
Welcome to 2010 ...
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Acer Aspire Timeline 3810T
As I wrote in a previous post I recently replaced my Lenovo T43p with a new Acer Aspire Timeline 3810T. This laptop is arguably the most impressive piece of technology I've purchased in the last 12 months.
In all honesty, my T43's demise was not a "surprise" event. I knew it was reaching an end-of-life event because the battery was getting weaker and the onboard fan kept getting noisier and noisier. I spent almost 10 months researching a replacement. I had2 major requirements for my replacement laptop. First, it had to be light. My T43 had been 4.5 pounds but with power supply and accessories my bag always felt closer to 8 or 9 pounds. Second, try as I might (I even added the super-extendo 9-cell battery) I could never get more than 2.5 to 3 hours of battery life. This of course meant I had to carry my power supply, which of course made my bag heavier.
First, my 3810T is light. It weighs in at 3.25 pounds. Second, the battery lasts for 8+ hours. I've taken the laptop out for an entire workday and brought it home with 2 hours of battery life still showing. And I paid extra to get the model with the Intel Core 2 Duo processor, so this laptop is no slouch. It gets up and boogies when the workload requires. Now let's be clear, this is not a gaming machine. Nor is it a video editing monster. But if you're looking for a good stable, lightweight, long battery life laptop this just may be your next laptop.
Aside from a few very minor issues I'm giving my this laptop 5 full stars. On the plus side it has a Core 2 Duo CPU, a 500 GB hard drive, and 4 GB of RAM. On the minus side, the keys on the mouse are a tiny bit hard to press. But not so much as to be really annoying. And the laptop itself does have a very well made feel to it. All in all I'd say it would be a good choice for most business users.
I'll blog again after a few months to let you all know how we get on. :-)
Welcome to 2010 ...
In all honesty, my T43's demise was not a "surprise" event. I knew it was reaching an end-of-life event because the battery was getting weaker and the onboard fan kept getting noisier and noisier. I spent almost 10 months researching a replacement. I had2 major requirements for my replacement laptop. First, it had to be light. My T43 had been 4.5 pounds but with power supply and accessories my bag always felt closer to 8 or 9 pounds. Second, try as I might (I even added the super-extendo 9-cell battery) I could never get more than 2.5 to 3 hours of battery life. This of course meant I had to carry my power supply, which of course made my bag heavier.
First, my 3810T is light. It weighs in at 3.25 pounds. Second, the battery lasts for 8+ hours. I've taken the laptop out for an entire workday and brought it home with 2 hours of battery life still showing. And I paid extra to get the model with the Intel Core 2 Duo processor, so this laptop is no slouch. It gets up and boogies when the workload requires. Now let's be clear, this is not a gaming machine. Nor is it a video editing monster. But if you're looking for a good stable, lightweight, long battery life laptop this just may be your next laptop.
Aside from a few very minor issues I'm giving my this laptop 5 full stars. On the plus side it has a Core 2 Duo CPU, a 500 GB hard drive, and 4 GB of RAM. On the minus side, the keys on the mouse are a tiny bit hard to press. But not so much as to be really annoying. And the laptop itself does have a very well made feel to it. All in all I'd say it would be a good choice for most business users.
I'll blog again after a few months to let you all know how we get on. :-)
Welcome to 2010 ...
I took the plunge ...
After 5 glorious years and many miles and smiles (and some frowns too), my good old friend Mr. Lenovo T43p laptop finally started throwing serious errors a couple weeks back. So I was forced to replace my old friend with a new Acer Aspire Timeline 3810T.
This laptop of course came with Windows 7 64-bit. Yes, OK, it came with Home Premium and I Anytime Upgraded to Ultimate. Still ... I've done it. I took the plunge. Here I am running Windows 7 as my primary OS on my main system. And you know what? It wasn't all that big of a deal. To date I've only found 2 programs that won't run under Windows 7. My IPSec VPN software (Netgear's ProSafe VPN Client) and my SSL-VPN client (from Netgear's FVS336G).
But even that wasn't such a big deal. I found 2 replacements for my IPSec VPN; Shrew Software VPN (open source) and TheGreenBow VPN (traditional). The SSL-VPN issue was averted by implementing my SonicWALL SSL-VPN 200 appliance which is Windows 7 64-bit and IE 8 compatible. But just to be safe I still installed XP Mode under Windows 7 Ultimate. And once installed I installed & implemented the failed Netgear VPN's, which now run fine in their native XP environment.
Out of all the features of Windows 7 (and there are many), XP Compatibility Mode is arguably the best. It allows you to install applications that just can't or won't run under Windows 7 in the familiar XP Pro environment. XP Mode runs a streamlined copy of XP Professional under Windows 7 inside a streamlined version of Virtual PC. And it's not totally without it's own unique issues (like software licensing). But in total it's been a fairly painless operation. Much less painful than trying to recover necessary files from a totally dead laptop. :-)
Welcome to 2010 ...
This laptop of course came with Windows 7 64-bit. Yes, OK, it came with Home Premium and I Anytime Upgraded to Ultimate. Still ... I've done it. I took the plunge. Here I am running Windows 7 as my primary OS on my main system. And you know what? It wasn't all that big of a deal. To date I've only found 2 programs that won't run under Windows 7. My IPSec VPN software (Netgear's ProSafe VPN Client) and my SSL-VPN client (from Netgear's FVS336G).
But even that wasn't such a big deal. I found 2 replacements for my IPSec VPN; Shrew Software VPN (open source) and TheGreenBow VPN (traditional). The SSL-VPN issue was averted by implementing my SonicWALL SSL-VPN 200 appliance which is Windows 7 64-bit and IE 8 compatible. But just to be safe I still installed XP Mode under Windows 7 Ultimate. And once installed I installed & implemented the failed Netgear VPN's, which now run fine in their native XP environment.
Out of all the features of Windows 7 (and there are many), XP Compatibility Mode is arguably the best. It allows you to install applications that just can't or won't run under Windows 7 in the familiar XP Pro environment. XP Mode runs a streamlined copy of XP Professional under Windows 7 inside a streamlined version of Virtual PC. And it's not totally without it's own unique issues (like software licensing). But in total it's been a fairly painless operation. Much less painful than trying to recover necessary files from a totally dead laptop. :-)
Welcome to 2010 ...
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
What's all this then ...
One of my favorite comedy troops, Monty Python's Flying Circus, used to use that line quite a bit. And it seems strangely appropriate to use it here to talk about Microsoft Windows 7.
By now Windows 7 has been widely available at mail-order and retail outlets for quite some time. I've been playing with the pre-release beta and the final shipping copies for some time now as well. And I thought it was time to come out of my self-imposed cave and give you all some feedback on this new desktop OS from Microsoft.
First, I wouldn't say Windows 7 is revolutionary ... more like it's evolutionary. For those of you familiar with the much maligned Vista, you'll find Windows 7 a very similar place. For those of you coming from the much beloved Windows XP you'll find things a little different. Icons and standard folders aren't in the same place anymore. And those familiar Control Panel icons are mostly gone. But the good news it's all still there, with a little digging.
Windows 7 is a much more stable OS than prior Windows iterations have been. And since Vista has blazed the trail there are 64-bit drivers for most every reasonable device today. Plus Windows 7 adds 'XP Compatibility Mode' to it's arsenal. This allows you to run any app that can't run under 7 to run in a virtual machine in a true XP environment. This feature, however, is only available to user who purchase Windows 7 Professional or higher. Home Premium users are excluded. (sorry)
With Windows 7 Microsoft has also done something very interesting called Anytime Upgrade. This new feature allows you to start off with, say Home Premium, decide you need a Professional feature (like the aforementioned XP Mode), and just click through a window input your credit card info and almost immediately be upgraded to the new level of 7 you'd like.
After having played with all the versions available except Enterprise, I must say this Windows is robust and stable. Vista users will see a 30% increase in speed just by going to 7! And I have yet to find an app that won't run in 64-bit more, which I greatly prefer since it gives the user access to up to 16GB of RAM.
Overall I'd say Microsoft has scored a winner. I'll post back more as time goes on to update my experience ...
Welcome to 2010 ...
By now Windows 7 has been widely available at mail-order and retail outlets for quite some time. I've been playing with the pre-release beta and the final shipping copies for some time now as well. And I thought it was time to come out of my self-imposed cave and give you all some feedback on this new desktop OS from Microsoft.
First, I wouldn't say Windows 7 is revolutionary ... more like it's evolutionary. For those of you familiar with the much maligned Vista, you'll find Windows 7 a very similar place. For those of you coming from the much beloved Windows XP you'll find things a little different. Icons and standard folders aren't in the same place anymore. And those familiar Control Panel icons are mostly gone. But the good news it's all still there, with a little digging.
Windows 7 is a much more stable OS than prior Windows iterations have been. And since Vista has blazed the trail there are 64-bit drivers for most every reasonable device today. Plus Windows 7 adds 'XP Compatibility Mode' to it's arsenal. This allows you to run any app that can't run under 7 to run in a virtual machine in a true XP environment. This feature, however, is only available to user who purchase Windows 7 Professional or higher. Home Premium users are excluded. (sorry)
With Windows 7 Microsoft has also done something very interesting called Anytime Upgrade. This new feature allows you to start off with, say Home Premium, decide you need a Professional feature (like the aforementioned XP Mode), and just click through a window input your credit card info and almost immediately be upgraded to the new level of 7 you'd like.
After having played with all the versions available except Enterprise, I must say this Windows is robust and stable. Vista users will see a 30% increase in speed just by going to 7! And I have yet to find an app that won't run in 64-bit more, which I greatly prefer since it gives the user access to up to 16GB of RAM.
Overall I'd say Microsoft has scored a winner. I'll post back more as time goes on to update my experience ...
Welcome to 2010 ...
Saturday, June 20, 2009
NAS Conversion Update
In reviewing my blog I see I promised an update on my progress with the Netgear ReadyNAS Duo. It's been several weeks now and the Duo has perform beyond my expectations. The system has performed flawlessly and even survived one power outage where it was able to shut itself down by monitoring the UPS attached to it. Impressive.
I have recently begun to use it's "web browser interface" features to allow friends and family members to download pictures and home movies.
I'd mark this down in the "win" column.
I have recently begun to use it's "web browser interface" features to allow friends and family members to download pictures and home movies.
I'd mark this down in the "win" column.
Home Network Security
I've had a recent run on home users who are asking for my help to secure their home networks. In this day and age that is actually much easier than at any time before. There are several things you can do, even if you consider yourself to be "technically challenged", to protect yourself and the users on your home network from harm.
The first line of defense is a good hardware firewall. I am still surprised when I find users connecting their PC directly to the cable or DSL modem provided by their ISP. There are several really good products available. I myself have always been a fan of Netgear products, not to say they're perfect. Linksys is also a good choice, as is Trendnet. I have not had a good track record with D-Link wireless firewalls. Not to say they are bad, rather they are more difficult to set up and maintain than other brands (IMHO). Linksys products can be modified with un-approved firmware from dd-wrt to allow the firewall to offer more advanced features unavailable under the standard Linksys firmware. Use of dd-wrt firmware should only be attempted by the experienced technician, however.
The second line of defense may come as a shock ... don't use the ISP's DNS settings. Instead I recommend using the free service OpenDNS (http://www.opendns.com/). By default it automatically protects you against most known spyware and virus worms. And if you take the time to set up an account and follow their posted instructions you can also use it as a way to prevent users on your network from accessing porn, illegal downloads, peer-to-peer sharing sites, etc. The thing I like about it the most is I make those changes in OpenDNS and they automatically extend to any and all "users" on my network, even if a friend brings a laptop onto my network. Check it out.
Lastly, I also do not recommend you use the ISP's e-mail service. I strongly advocate using Google's Gmail for 3 very important reasons. First, it's free. Second, Google recently purchased Postini arguably the number one anti-spam service on the internet. And all your Gmail is Postini filtered (for free). Lastly, Gmail has programs for many smartphones (such as BlackBerry and iPhone) to allow you to receive and send Gmail right on your smartphone (for free). Did I mention all this was free? Check it out.
From my experience, user's who adopt these 3 simple policies have a much more secure home network and find themselves free from many of the "risks" we read about in the press periodically. These steps are simple, easy to implement and help to make your home network a safe and secure place for your family to work and play.
Enjoy the future.
The first line of defense is a good hardware firewall. I am still surprised when I find users connecting their PC directly to the cable or DSL modem provided by their ISP. There are several really good products available. I myself have always been a fan of Netgear products, not to say they're perfect. Linksys is also a good choice, as is Trendnet. I have not had a good track record with D-Link wireless firewalls. Not to say they are bad, rather they are more difficult to set up and maintain than other brands (IMHO). Linksys products can be modified with un-approved firmware from dd-wrt to allow the firewall to offer more advanced features unavailable under the standard Linksys firmware. Use of dd-wrt firmware should only be attempted by the experienced technician, however.
The second line of defense may come as a shock ... don't use the ISP's DNS settings. Instead I recommend using the free service OpenDNS (http://www.opendns.com/). By default it automatically protects you against most known spyware and virus worms. And if you take the time to set up an account and follow their posted instructions you can also use it as a way to prevent users on your network from accessing porn, illegal downloads, peer-to-peer sharing sites, etc. The thing I like about it the most is I make those changes in OpenDNS and they automatically extend to any and all "users" on my network, even if a friend brings a laptop onto my network. Check it out.
Lastly, I also do not recommend you use the ISP's e-mail service. I strongly advocate using Google's Gmail for 3 very important reasons. First, it's free. Second, Google recently purchased Postini arguably the number one anti-spam service on the internet. And all your Gmail is Postini filtered (for free). Lastly, Gmail has programs for many smartphones (such as BlackBerry and iPhone) to allow you to receive and send Gmail right on your smartphone (for free). Did I mention all this was free? Check it out.
From my experience, user's who adopt these 3 simple policies have a much more secure home network and find themselves free from many of the "risks" we read about in the press periodically. These steps are simple, easy to implement and help to make your home network a safe and secure place for your family to work and play.
Enjoy the future.
Monday, June 1, 2009
College Preparations Begin
Wow. The last few weeks has been littered with graduation parties. I guess that's what happens when you have friends with kids, right? Thankfully we have a couple more years until our next one is ready for the jump to college (whew).
As some of you may know, I am a Microsoft Registered Partner. In that capacity I received notice of a deal for college students that is just too good to pass up. The Microsoft Office 2007 Ultimate Steal promotion, the details of which are at this URL:
http://www.microsoft.com/student/discounts/theultimatesteal-us/default.aspx
In a nutshell your college student can get Microsoft Office 2007 Ultimate for $60. Check the URL for details, limitations and restrictions. Enjoy the summer. ;-)
As some of you may know, I am a Microsoft Registered Partner. In that capacity I received notice of a deal for college students that is just too good to pass up. The Microsoft Office 2007 Ultimate Steal promotion, the details of which are at this URL:
http://www.microsoft.com/student/discounts/theultimatesteal-us/default.aspx
In a nutshell your college student can get Microsoft Office 2007 Ultimate for $60. Check the URL for details, limitations and restrictions. Enjoy the summer. ;-)
Friday, May 29, 2009
NAS Conversion
After over 2 years of faithful service I finally retired my D-Link DNS-323 and replaced it with a Netgear ReadyNAS Duo. Not because I was necessarily dissatisfied with my DNS-323. More because I felt like I'd outgrown it.
The ReadyNAS offers the option to upgrade from the two slot Duo to the multi-slot NV+. Plus the ReadyNAS offered features the DNS-323 didn't have (without "tweaking the system"). One that I think will be truly useful is the option to connect an external USB hard drive to one of the three USB ports on the Duo and back up the NAS's contents for safe keeping (presumably off site). Another cool feature allows the ReadyNAS to be set up to allow users to browse the ReadyNAS via a web browser.
I also like that the ReadyNAS is running a true RAID 1 (ReadyNAS calls it XRAID). The DNS-323 has very limited integrity checking on the RAID which concerned me greatly after one of my drives dropped offline. The front panel LED's clearly showed it was offline, but the system maintained it wasn't. Further investigation proved the LED's were right, so out goes the DNS-323.
The conversion process was fairly straightforward. I pulled the "failed" drive from the DNS-323, wiped it clean and inserted it into the ReadyNAS Duo. The ReadyNAS detected the drive, formatted it and set it up for normal use. I then matched the settings from my DNS-323 and set about copying the files from one to the other. The whole process took about 24 hours. Not back for 300 some odd gigabytes of data.
So today the ReadyNAS takes it's place as my main NAS with twin Seagate 1 TB drives in RAID 1. I look forward to the experience ...
The ReadyNAS offers the option to upgrade from the two slot Duo to the multi-slot NV+. Plus the ReadyNAS offered features the DNS-323 didn't have (without "tweaking the system"). One that I think will be truly useful is the option to connect an external USB hard drive to one of the three USB ports on the Duo and back up the NAS's contents for safe keeping (presumably off site). Another cool feature allows the ReadyNAS to be set up to allow users to browse the ReadyNAS via a web browser.
I also like that the ReadyNAS is running a true RAID 1 (ReadyNAS calls it XRAID). The DNS-323 has very limited integrity checking on the RAID which concerned me greatly after one of my drives dropped offline. The front panel LED's clearly showed it was offline, but the system maintained it wasn't. Further investigation proved the LED's were right, so out goes the DNS-323.
The conversion process was fairly straightforward. I pulled the "failed" drive from the DNS-323, wiped it clean and inserted it into the ReadyNAS Duo. The ReadyNAS detected the drive, formatted it and set it up for normal use. I then matched the settings from my DNS-323 and set about copying the files from one to the other. The whole process took about 24 hours. Not back for 300 some odd gigabytes of data.
So today the ReadyNAS takes it's place as my main NAS with twin Seagate 1 TB drives in RAID 1. I look forward to the experience ...
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Blog Opening Day
Well after many months of prodding and consideration, here I am. I'm blogging. If you had told me 10 years ago I'd be writing a blog on the web I'd have laughed.
But the simple fact is in our technology driven world blogging is a unique tool to allow us to record our thoughts and even our unique technical gifts, talents and insights (in my case) to a larger world.
Will I post every day ... I doubt it. But this new medium affords me the opportunity to record my technical knowledge and impressions in a very new and different way.
As Captain James T. Kirk says in the original Star Trek, "Prepare for Warp maneuvers."
But the simple fact is in our technology driven world blogging is a unique tool to allow us to record our thoughts and even our unique technical gifts, talents and insights (in my case) to a larger world.
Will I post every day ... I doubt it. But this new medium affords me the opportunity to record my technical knowledge and impressions in a very new and different way.
As Captain James T. Kirk says in the original Star Trek, "Prepare for Warp maneuvers."
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