Next version of Eee PC to come always connected?

Of course it's always just a rumor until it's released. But engadget is reporting that at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) next month, Asus will be offering up a sneak peek at its next generation of the Eee PC -- complete with high speed wimax.

(The Eee PC has been sweeping the computer world by storm these past few months. Might deserve it's own blog post, wouldn't you say?)

Windows Home Server? Watch out how you access those files!

Microsoft has posted a tech article warning that while you can store files on Windows Home Server, you should not have your applications write directly to the server. Yikes. (This includes Microsoft applications like Microsoft Money, Microsoft Office OneNote, Microsoft Outlook and more...)

Read more about it here at Gizmodo.

Leopard 10.5.2 Coming as Soon as Next Month

iTWire is reporting that a pre-release update for Leopard is in the works and could be released in time for the MacWorld expo next month. "One modification that will be very welcome when 10.5.2 does arrive is that Leopard's Stacks feature is said to have been modified to provide a 'List' view resembling the traditional hierarchical display of the contents of a folder in the Dock."

http://www.itwire.com/content/view/15882/53/

Google Apps - Lean and mean means millions of users

According to an article in Computerworld, Google Apps -- the online competition to Microsoft's Live and Sharepoint services and Apple's .mac service -- already has millions of users signed up at the close of 2007. Whether that translates into dollars will be another story entirely. Perhaps most interesting is the push among analysts to suggest feature after feature for new products while Google continues to resist. "Google will develop only apps and features that would be of interest to 80% of users...We're not looking or even attempting to equal the feature list of other apps on the market," said Rajen Sheth, senior product manager for Google Apps. "We're not looking to be a replacement for Office. We're focused on collaboration more than anything."

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=printArticleBasic&articleId=9054120

The Next Best Thing to Being There

Suppose you need to remotely take over another person's computer. It happens. We do it every day to troubleshoot client problems here at TECHIES. There are probably times when you, too, would like to be able to share someone's computer. Today, 333TECH will let you in on three of the best (and easiest!) programs out there that let you do just that.










1. Crossloop
Free for personal use, Crossloop lets you see the screen and control the mouse and keyboard on a remote computer as if you were working side by side on the same PC. The biggest limitation is that both computers need to be running Windows. Setting it up is quick and easy. Crossloop is a solid favorite among many TECHIES.

http://www.crossloop.com



2. WebEx
WebEx allows you to access other PCs remotely, like Crossloop above. But WebEx also has an online meeting place called meetmenow where you can have online web meetings, integrated audio, web cams and more. WebEx's pricing is affordable (unlimited online meetings for $39/month) and they have both monthly price plans as well as Pay-Per-Use. A big plus for WebEx is that you are not tied to any particular operating system. One person could be using OSX, another running Vista and a 3rd on XP.

http://webex.com


3. GoToMyPC
An online favorite with many, GoToMyPC "allows you to access your PC from any web browser. " This means, of course, that you could use it to remotely access another computer and fix something that is broken. Like WebEx, this solution comes with an affordable monthly support price ($19.95/month) but like WebEx, you can sign up for a free 30 day trial and see if it is right for you.

http://www.gotomypc.com



TECHIES is the IT Department for Small Business in the Twin Cities. If you have a computer that needs help, give us a call at 612.333.TECH and let us remotely fix your problems for you.

I'm *pretty sure* I have a good backup...

The holidays are a great time to get together with family and friends, a time to catch up and give thanks, a time to share and reflect about the year that has gone by. Unless you are a naughty TECHIE, then the holidays are a time to madly scramble all hours of the night to restore a hard drive.

It was innocent enough at first. I had a project I'd been itching to do for a few months with my home computer and I had a few rare "extra" hours. A couple of cans of Red Bull into the project, I was at the point where I needed to repartition my hard drive. I remember sleepily thinking to myself, "If this goes wrong, I'm going to lose all the data on this hard drive. I'm pretty sure I have a good backup..."

And, of course, I wouldn't be writing about this unless something went wrong.

• I'd love to tell you that as a TECHIE, I always practice what I preach.
  
• I'd love to tell you that we help clients all the time with data recovery issues and I knew better.
• I'd love to tell you that since we help our clients with backup solutions that just work, since we know how important it is to have a way to turn back the clock when things go wrong, I had a working backup.

I can't tell you any of that. What I can tell you is that I spent the better part of my long weekend - several late nights - un-deleting hidden partition tables, renaming directories and cataloging what couldn't be recovered and was lost for good. Backups are important. "I'm pretty sure I have a good backup" isn't good enough.


1. Without a backup, some things are lost forever
Off the top of your head, what are the cell phone numbers of your five biggest suppliers? What was the invoice number you sent out to your new client on May 1st? If your system crashes, you can rebuild the operating system. You can buy a new server. You can pay for most things to be replaced. But the data that is unique to your business? The information you have about your customers? That's one of a kind. If you lose that, you lose it forever.


2. You don't know when you'll need it
Whether your server gets fried by a lightning strike or a new employee accidentally deletes all of your vendor contact information, you can never be sure when or why you'll need a backup. But having a giant undo button -- getting everything back the way it was -- QUICKLY and COMPLETELY -- should help you sleep better at night. You insure your car. You insure your house. You even insure your teeth. Shouldn't you insure the information that keeps your business running?


3. Your data is much more valuable than the cost of a tape
Backups aren't cheap. They don't have to be expensive but they cost something. The information you have about your customers is what allows you to maintain a relationship with them and stay in business. That information is worth a lot. A lot more than the cost of a backup server and some storage tapes.


A good managed service provider can help ensure you are backing up your data and make it painless. A really good one will test that data from time to time to make sure your backup actually works. And if you somehow found today's post because, like me, you just had a disaster and didn't have a good backup, give your local TECHIE a call and see what they can do for you.



TECHIES is the IT Department for Small Business in the Twin Cities. If you've had an IT Disaster over the holidays, given us a call at 612.333.TECH.

2:30

This would have been so much easier if only you'd come to see me sooner.

This past week, I had a root canal. It got me thinking.

Just so you know: I am terrified of dentists. I know, I know, it's irrational and it isn't healthy to avoid the dentist when you know you have a problem -- believe me, I've heard it all from family and friends -- but that's what I did.

I had a problem with a tooth. It hurt to eat. It hurt when it got cold outside. It hurt when I was trying to sleep. But I managed. I learned to live with it. I chewed on the other side of my mouth. I kept my mouth closed when I was outside in the cold. I did all sorts of crazy things to get around going to the dentist.

What was I afraid of?

For one thing, I knew it would hurt. Also, I knew it would be expensive. Then there was the fear of the unknown. Maybe I would need a root canal. Maybe they would pull my tooth. Maybe they would tell me that there was nothing they could do for me. So I lived with it.

And then my tooth cracked.

Now, instead of hurting when I ate, it became impossible to eat. Instead of just hurting when I was out in the cold, it hurt all the time. It didn't hurt when I slept anymore...because I couldn't sleep.

Now I didn't have a choice. I broke down and went to the dentist. Before I knew it, I was in the chair. And yes, it was painful. But I now I can sleep at night. And yes, it was expensive. But not nearly as expensive as I had feared. My dentist was professional and efficient. But as I sat in the chair, he said to me, more than once, "This would have been so much easier if only you'd come to see me sooner..."

Anyway, like I said, the whole thing has me thinking.

My company, TECHIES, fixes and maintains computers and networks for small businesses. You wouldn't believe how often when new clients come to us, we find that their computers are a mess. Failed backups, excessive spam, computers that lock up all the time. No one can get any work done. We're happy to help them, no matter bad it seems to them. We'll show up, day or night, and get them back in business. We are professional and efficient. But we'll often remark to each other, "This would have been so much easier if only they'd come to see us sooner."

Why do they wait so long to call us? They're probably afraid that it will take up some of their time. Also, they probably know it could be expensive. Then there is always the fear of the unknown. Maybe someone will tell them that they need to upgrade their computers. Maybe someone will tell them they need a new server. So they put it off. They do all sorts of crazy things to get around calling us. I get it now.

Maybe you aren't scared of the dentist. Maybe you go in for cleanings every six months. Maybe you get your oil changed every 3000 miles. Maybe you understand that by properly maintaining something, you can prevent avoidable disasters. But who do you have taking care of your computers and network? If something's wrong with your computers, call someone to get it fixed. Don't let it get worse. You don't have to live with the pain. Honest.


TECHIES is the IT Department for Small Business in the Twin Cities. When you know it's time to start taking care of your computers and network, give us a call at 612.333.TECH.

Freeing Your Laptop from the Power Cord

You jealously eye them as they sit smuggly in coffee shops. At airport gates and in hotel lobbies, they taunt you. In every magazine ad you spot the big lie right away: Laptops, sitting there, not connected to an outlet.

YOUR laptop is always plugged in. You know it has a battery ...but it sure doesn't seem to last very long. You're forever choosing where to sit based on if your power cord will reach the nearest outlet. And that sad scramble, scanning the walls near people's feet, trying like mad to find some extra juice those times when you misjudged and ran out of gas early...? How come they never show THAT in the magazine ads?

Why don't other people's laptops need to be plugged in as often?


There are a few simple things you can do to help your laptop battery last longer. Learn to run your laptop like a TECHIE...


1. A Not so Bright Idea
Turn down your display brightness. Your laptop's screen uses more power than almost any other component. The less bright the screen, the longer the battery will last. On my own laptop, I've noticed an almost 30% increase in battery life by reducing the display brightness when it isn't plugged in. That 30% can mean the difference between finishing a spreadsheet and getting on your knees in public.

You can even configure your laptop so that it displays at full brightness when it is plugged in and automatically dimming when it is unplugged. (This is also nice because if your laptop accidentally becomes unplugged, you will notice right away.)


2. Get More Memory
If your laptop doesn't have enough RAM (memory), your hard drive activity light will be forever flickering like a firefly on crack. This is because your computer doesn't have enough memory for all of the programs you are running.

Even if you aren't "running any programs", the operating system itself is a collection of hundreds of tiny programs all chugging away in the background. When you don't have enough memory left to do something, the computer doesn't just stop. Instead it takes a chunk of memory you aren't using at the moment and stores it to the hard drive, freeing that memory up to run another program. When you need to run the program that was stored to the hard drive, it swaps another chunk of memory to the hard drive and restores the section you need back into your RAM. This is called "virtual memory". Your computer does this on the fly -- so fast you hardly notice -- but all that spinning of your hard drive takes a lot of power.

If you have more RAM (memory) your computer will have more room to run programs and there will be less need to keep saving things to your hard drive. My laptop came with 1GB of RAM. I was able to add another 1GB of RAM for under $50 and now the battery lasts approximately 20-30% longer. And it runs faster too!


3. Turn off your wireless
Maybe you are connected to a wireless network. Maybe you need to be connected to do whatever it is you are doing. Or maybe, just maybe, your wireless adapter is on and connected to a network -- or worse, it is on and SCANNING for a network, again and again -- guzzling extra power all the while. If you need to be on the Internet, keep the wireless on. But if you are working on a presentation or reviewing a spreadsheet, turn off your wireless. You can easily squeeze an extra 5 percent or more out of your battery by doing this.

Just following the steps above should buy you some breathing room -- up to 50 percent longer -- before you need to plug in the dreaded power cord.


TECHIES is the IT Department for Small Business in the Twin Cities. If you would like some more tips about how to get your technology to work like you know it should, give us a call at 612.333.TECH.

You think bottled water is expensive?

(Source: Gizmodo)

A TECHIES' Christmas Wish list

Keeping things a little lighter on Fridays, it's time to present the completely unofficial and utterly impractical ultimate TECHIE wish list for 2007. These are grown-up toys that would set any TECHIE'S heart beating just a little bit faster ...
















1. Laptop -- a Monster or a Mouse? Take your pick

We had a fight in the office, an actual fight over this next pick.

Dell XPS M1730 otherwise known as the World of Warcraft laptop.

With an Intel^®Core^TM 2 Extreme Processor (2.80GHz,4M L2 Cache,800MHz FSB), 4GB of Dual Channel 667MHz DDR2 RAM, dual 256MB GeForce video cards, a 17" 1920x1200 display, 400 GB 7200 RPM SATA II hard drives (or 128 GB of solid state hard drives), this monster is not only ridiculously overpowered, it also weighs in at a back-breaking 10.6 pounds. Price tag? $4500.

OR, you could go for the Sony Vaio TZ.

With an 11.1" screen with 1366x768 display, built in Sprint mobile broadband wireless WAN, a 48GB solid state drive and 2GB of RAM, the thing has enough power to run most business applications you'll run across. The real beauty of it, though, is it's size: 2.65lbs. The built in battery will last 4-8 hours. The double capacity battery? 7-13 hours. Starting price? $3400.

I'll have one of each, thanks!


2. Optimus Maximus Keyboard



There isn't a geek around who wouldn't be happy to find one of these under the tree. With a price tag of $1500, it might cause a case of sticker shock at first glance. But with completely customizable mini OLED keys, changeable layouts, a row of macro keys to the side and, let's face it, the all around "WOW" factor, it is worth every penny. OK, OK, that's a hard sell. But this is a wish list, right?




3. A Robot

That's right, a robot. Here's the thing. It's almost 2008. Haven't you always wanted a robot? Well, there's some pretty amazing development going on. If you think a robot would be big and clunky, you should check out the video below. Sure, they're not for sale, yet. But again: WISH LIST.