Friday, January 23rd, 2009
I was just reading an article on how Windows Vista may have affected Microsoft’s earnings in 2008. The article didn’t blame Vista per se, but it did blame Vista, Windows XP and the sale (or lack thereof) of computers due to the lagging economy. As everyone most likely already knows, most of the sales of computer operating systems are tied to the sales of computers, because the operating systems come installed on the computers. When computers don’t sell, neither do the operating systems.
The article talked about how people were generally dissatisfied with Windows Vista and that may have been taking its toll on computer sales. In other words, people were willing to stick it out with Windows XP and an older computer, until a new operating system is released. They said that many computer users are waiting for the release of Windows 7. This is what I found interesting…
Here is my logic: If people didn’t want Vista in the first place and were willing to keep an older operating system, how is a new operating system going to fix the problem?
As far as I know, there really isn’t all too much of a pull for a new version of Windows. I totally understand the need to come up with new and better products, but a new version of an operating system every few years isn’t really necessary. Especially when so many users out there are perfectly willing to use an older one. Why not build on that one?
Here is a disclaimer: I have absolutely no reason to believe I know what I am talking about when it comes to the inner workings of software. I am merely stating simple observations.
So here is my question: Has anyone taken an in-depth look at Windows 7? From what I can tell, it looks a lot like other versions of Windows, with things arranged differently, along with some new icons. I am sure the developers over at Microsoft would like to slap me for saying that. I wouldn’t mind someone familiar with the system to comment.
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Monday, September 15th, 2008
This article was written by Jay G on behalf of Iiamin.com, a popular job listings website.
If you’re looking for new employment, the Internet is an easy way to find it. Many employers have started using the Internet to find interested and qualified workers for their business.
Finding Employment Online
In tough financial times, finding employment can be like searching for the North Star on a cloudy night. Few open positions are listed in your local newspaper’s classified ads. While this is partially caused by a lack of new jobs, it is also caused by a shift in advertising mediums. Newspapers are a dying breed, and many companies have turned to newer methods of connecting with potential employees.
If you’re looking for new employment, the Internet is an easy way to find it. Many employers have started using the Internet to find interested and qualified workers for their business. This eliminates the hassle of filling out applications in the office and submitting resumes in person. By searching Internet classified ads, you can find the right job for you and continue your career today.
Many sites exist that offer job listings for every field imaginable. Some sites are pay-per-post, while others are completely free. The advances in online communication over the last decade have made it simple for businesses to connect with potential employees. Just go to your favorite search engine and enter the occupation that you’re looking for and you’re sure to find many matches.
If you’re not sure what type of employment you’re seeking, Internet classifieds offer a wide variety of open positions. Jobs from auto sales to plumbing positions are constantly opening. All you need to do is find the proper listing and strike when the iron is hot. You can start your journey down a new career path with a few clicks. Enter all the pertinent information from the comfort of your home office, instead of applying during office hours. This is especially handy if you are currently employed, but seeking something else. Your boss won’t know you’re looking elsewhere, so you won’t jeopardize your current job while you’re on the prowl for new employment.
Many listings offer home employment. While this sounds like a dream come true to some, be careful when applying to work at home positions. There are a lot of scams, so do some homework to make sure the business you’re applying to is reputable. Freelance writing is a great way to make some cash from home, but envelope stuffing is certainly a fraud. Look for testimonials from satisfied employees, and find examples of other reputable businesses in the same industry.
There are new listings appearing all the time on Internet classified websites. You will benefit from the paradigm shift to a technological society if you have the right skills. If you’re qualified to work on computers, employers are waiting to hear from you. If you specialize in the latest operating systems technology, you’ll have no trouble finding employment online. Keep your skills current and your resume updated, and you’re sure to find a great career opportunity that is perfect for you listed online.
Whether you’re a tech-head or not, online employment listings are a great way to continue your current career path or start a new one. It’s all up to you. Once you figure out what you’re looking for, get your resume ready and start emailing it to your prospective employers. Internet classifieds are the new way for the unemployed or under-employed to connect with great new job opportunities.
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Wednesday, July 30th, 2008
Well, I recieved the new Dell T7400 workstation yesterday, a day early. I met the FedEx guy in the garage. He warned me that the box was heavy.
I unpacked the box and took the computer out. It was pretty heavy. I brought it upstairs and made room for it on my desk. I set everything up and turned the sucker on. I must say, it is pretty much like my other computer, except 10x more expensive.
I do notice some speed increases with certain things, but I am not really doing anything that requires all this processor yet. Regarding moving around all those files, I would say this new system has helped out greatly.
Here are some photos…
My desk with both computers on it.
Front view of the Dell Precision T7400 workstation.
Side view of the Dell Precision T7400 workstation.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, it’s pretty large too. My other computer is tiny compared to it.
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Saturday, July 26th, 2008
This is a very aggravating post to write. It’s a wonder I am sitting here and not in a mental hospital right now.
Let me offer some background. For the past few weeks, Laura’s computer has been showing the signs of hard drive failure. The computer is about 6 years old and has a 30Gb hard drive. It’s time to upgrade and get a new one. Last night, we ran out to Circuit City to pick one out. Upon looking at Circuit City’s selection, I was shocked to see about 95% of the computers now come with Windows Vista 64-bit. I asked the very new salesperson about that and he told me that’s the way they were coming now. Since I put my utmost trust in Microsoft, I figured that this is the way things were going to be and everything was going to work out fine. We picked out a HP Pavilion a6500f Desktop PC (KQ495AA#ABA).
When we got home, I started it up and did the things you do to a new computer. Then, I shut it down and put the old Linksys wireless card in and tried to run it. It didn’t work. I decided that I needed to find the Linksys 64-bit version of the adapter driver. Nope. No where to be found. Apparently Linksys hasn’t yet realized that this version of Windows is being sold to the masses. Oh well, I did some research and found that trying to find a wireless adapter for a 64-bit operating system is not all that easy. I finally narrowed my search down to a D-Link DWA-552 Xteme N Desktop Adapter. I chose this because it was available at Circuit City and the clock was ticking. We had work to do. We were now backed up a half-day. Also, the only reason I knew about this wireless adapter card was because I read about it on some forum discussing the issue. D-Link doesn’t officially support the 64-bit driver, yet they offer it. I had to download it from their website.
I ran up to Circuit City this morning to get the card, which wasn’t a problem. I came back and installed the card and had to call D-Link tech support for assitance installing the new driver. As I was on the phone with tech support, the computer froze. I restarted it (by physically pushing the on/off button) and continued to set up the driver. Everything set up fine without further event. I was able to connect to the network. Then, the computer froze again. I told tech support about this and she said there have been a few problems with this and I might need to update the BIOS. First of all, I don’t even know what a BIOS is, nor do I think I need to. It has nothing to do with my line of work. I tinkered with the computer for a few more hours and then called HP tech support. By the way, the computer kept freezing up (or crashing, whatever the difference is) about 25 more times during that few hours. It seemed to do it more when I was shutting down the computer and sometimes it got stuck on the welcome screen. The lady on the phone was nice and suggested that we burn some backup CDs and reinstall the operating system. I told her thanks but no thanks. I really don’t think I will be reinstalling the operating system of a 12 hour old computer. Seriously, this is not my problem.
I brought the computer back to Circuit City this afternoon and traded it for a less expensive (and slower) HP Pavilion A6400F Desktop PC. I just finished configuring it and (knock on wood) everything is good. It has the 32-bit version of Windows Vista. What a pain in the $%^&.
What is the moral of the story? Stay the hell away from Window Vista 64-bit, unless you want to sit there and try to get it to run. Can you imagine if I tried to install two things?
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Friday, May 23rd, 2008
Last night around 8PM, I heard the surge protectors/battery backups that we have for the computers beep. It’s the first time I heard that since we have been here. I am pretty used to it because they are rather sensitive. Any power fluctuation causes them to beep. It is comforting.
I didn’t think anything of it. Then, a little while later, I tried to access some websites that I have on one of my servers. I couldn’t get on. I tried again a little while later and still couldn’t get on. I asked Laura if she was able to get to the sites and she said no. She told me that she was working on one of them when she couldn’t get to it anymore. I figured the hosting company’s monitoring “red light” would’ve gone off by now and the server would be brought back on line by them. Nothing. I decided to submit a support ticket.
The hosting company responded to the support ticket informing me that they could access the server and all the sites just fine. I then called my sister down in Chapel Hill, NC to see if she could log on to the sites. She could access them just fine too. The strange thing is that I was able to see all the websites on my other server like nothing was wrong.
I responded to the hosting company ticket and let them know that I could not access the servers from only my location, but it seems like the rest of the world was looking at the sites without issue. I felt so left out. They asked me for my IP address so they could check the firewall. That was fine. Then, they asked me to do a traceroute to the server. I did that and the connection timed out at the server. Then, they did a traceroute from the server back to me, and the connection was timing out at my location.
This was all getting kind of odd. They asked that I power cycle the modem. I did and the problem was solved. I was able to access the server again.
What I find puzzling is that I was only blocked from one server in the world…mine. How did this happen. After thinking for a while, I remember right at the moment of the power hiccup, the issue began. Could being on a website at the time of a power surge (or failure) make your modem block you from the website (server) you were looking at?
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Thursday, May 15th, 2008
This one is for those people out there who know about computers. When people are searching for a new computer, they usually ask me what to get. I say something like, “I design websites, what the heck do I know about computers?” That usually gets some mean look and the person walks away. I haven’t been known for my bright attitude at times.
Well, I usually do ok, but I am getting a little tired of buying computers. I want my next one to last. I bought the one I am working on about 6 months ago. I am going to keep this one for something, but I need a monster. Here is the issue…I work with tons of files. One of my sites has 59,000 image files that I need to copy/paste, delete, move, whatever. That’s just one example. I also have very large files that I need to open/close, etc… My problem isn’t the need for processor power to run huge applications or for gaming, I just need something for big, and lots of files. Uploads and downloads are my middle names. I have been working on getting the fastest servers available and now my bottleneck has become my PC.
Here is what I am thinking:
- Dell Precision T7400 Workstation
- Quad Core Intel® Xeon® Processor E5405 (2.00GHz,2X6M L2,1333) (Do I need a 2nd processor?)
- Genuine Windows Vista® Business, with Media (I’m willing to move on from XP. Plus, Vista actually puts the computer in sleep mode, like I never got XP to do. Big power savings.)
- 3 Year ProSupport for End Users and 3 Year NBD On-site Service (This is important because I want someone in this house if the computer breaks.)
- 256MB PCIe x16 nVidia NVS 290, Dual Monitor DVI Capable ( I know absolutely nothing about video cards.)
- 4GB, DDR2 SDRAM FBD Memory, 667MHz, ECC (4 DIMMS) (I want more.)
- C23 All SAS drives, RAID 5, 3 drive total configuration ( I also know nothing about RAID. I basically want the speed of SAS drives, the speed of two drives working together and the redundancy of a third drive. I don’t know the difference between RAID 0 and RAID 5.)
- Three 146GB SAS Hard Drives, 1 inch (15,000 rpm) (How much faster are SAS drives than SATA drives?)
- PERC6/i SAS/SATA Hardware RAID Card – For Connecting Internal Hard Drives
- Dell 1505 Wireless-N PCIe Card
So there you have it. I already have a monitor, so that’s cool. I think I can save a few bucks by switching out the SAS drives for SATA drives. It depends on what I find out about them. I want more RAM, but didn’t see the option for more. I am wondering about another processor and the video card.
Well, any advice? Am I missing anything?
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Tuesday, May 13th, 2008
Seriously, this is as big as I am going to get. I have been using my 22″ monitor for the past few months, but we need that for the other office. I can’t work on two computers, one having a large monitor and one having only a 19″. I tend to get used to the large one.
I bought this Samsung 2693HM 25.5″ Widescreen LCD Monitor (2693HM) the other day and Circuit City delivered it to me today. I thought I would be ready for it. I have to say, it’s kind of big and bright. It’s going to take some getting used to.
I am sure I will, I did with the other one.
What I am going to do with the 22″? Well, as I mentioned above, I am putting that one in the other room. Then, I am going to take the 19″ and use it here, for the computer I am using right now. Then, when I get my new computer (just wait for that one), I will hook this big monitor up to it.
No more messing around.
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Thursday, December 13th, 2007
I run Windows Vista. I have a C: drive that can hold 290GB. I also have a D: drive that can hold 7.68GB. This D: drive is also known as the “Recovery” drive. Windows Vista has a fancy feature where you can set up a backup schedule to back up all your files and stuff from the C: drive to the D: drive. I think this is really nice.
There is only one problem. After I set up the backup schedule with all the recommended settings, I ran the backup. About half way through, I received a message informing my that the D: drive was full. Hmmm…that’s really interesting. Am I doing something wrong?
The reason this puzzles me is that this computer is only a few months old. Why in the world would Circuit City sell a computer with a large hard drive and a tiny backup drive? At this very moment, I remain puzzled. There has got to be something I am missing.
Oh well. I went on CircuitCity.com today and browsed through the external hard drives. I came across the “Seagate 250GB FreeAgent Desktop Drive” and thought it was a great deal. I could plug this external drive into my computer and have it run as the backup drive, once a week or so. I can even put it on the scheduler. That’s pretty cool. With the 250GB capacity, things should be good.
Here are my concerns…I am still wondering if I was doing something wrong with the current backup drive. Also, I am hoping I don’t run into any snags with this new drive, such as, “Oh, this drive won’t hold those types of files” or something like that. The drive is only $79 and change, so it’s worth the gamble, I guess. I plan on using the external drive for a full system backup and restore (if need be).
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Wednesday, November 28th, 2007
There’s No Money In The Long Tail of the Blogosphere
In a recent post here, we examined the reasons that people feel compelled to blog. From the post and the comments it received, it became clear that quite a few people are blogging to make money. The reality is that it is difficult to make money in the long tail. In this post we examine why that is and look at other aspects of long tail economics.
10 Hot Computer Driven Careers
While traditional IT careers will probably stay in-demand for the foreseeable future, don’t forget the alternatives. From climate modeling to revolutionizing the very fabric of life itself, there are plenty of enjoyable computer jobs to keep the computer professional creatively engaged.
Google preps online storage service
Offering would compete with recent products from rivals Microsoft, Amazon.com and Facebook.
The Mobile Web remains far off, and inevitable
“Within 10 years more people will be accessing the Internet from their mobile . . . than in the home from a PC,†said Geraldine Wilson, vice president of connected life at Yahoo! Europe. “In emerging markets most people’s first contact with the Internet will be with a mobile phone.â€
Google hopes to undercut coal with cheap, renewable energy
Google’s latest plan to put all that money to good use is to announce an initiative that will develop renewable energy that’s cheaper than coal.
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Monday, November 19th, 2007
Blogger takes Honda’s $10m hydrogen fuel cell FCX Clarity for a test drive
What would you do if Honda handed you the keys to a $10 million car that emits only water vapor? Everything legal, that’s what. Read AutoblogGreen’s first in-depth review of a car some lucky people will be able to lease next summer. When will the rest of us get to drive a hydrogen car?
Broadband speeds days numbered?
Enjoy your speedy broadband Web access while you can. The Web will start to slow down as early as 2010, as use of interactive and video-intensive services overwhelms local cable, phone and wireless Internet providers
Think Recycling Computers Is A Good Thing? Think Again
Most people think they’re helping the earth when they recycle their old computers, televisions and cell phones. But chances are they’re contributing to a global trade in electronic trash that endangers workers and pollutes the environment overseas
Is AMD Doomed?
Can a $622M dollar cash infusion plus reasonably profitable GPUs give AMD enough breathing room to prove its gamble on true quad core was a good one? The jury is still out, but the portents are not very encouraging. The tech world really needs a scrappy, nimble CPU company like AMD, just like it needs a scrappy, cool computer company like Apple.
Why Car Salesmen Think its Okay to Screw you, And what you can do about it!
This is a good article on common arguments a car salesman may throw at you during the buying process. Very informative, kind of funny, but SO true!
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