SMB IT | Curtis Franklin | TAG: Oliver's Rants

MORE ENTRIES

TAG: Oliver's Rants

March 12, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Yep, we're hitting this topic again this year. I've already got a sizeable chunk of these reserved, but I wanted to open the door for more reader input like we had last year.

The call is the same: send me your anecdotes with as much personal information about yourself as you'd like--from anonymous to name, rank and serial number.

Anecdotes should concern moves that a user(s) made that did something to the network at large (crashed a server, burned up a printer, opened a security hole, etc.). In other words something a user did that just ruined a system administrator's day. Follow that with what you learned from this experience.

Winners get their anecdote published in the online & print story and an InfoWorld backpack--provided you provide shipping info. Get'em to me by the end of next week.

Posted by Oliver Rist on March 12, 2007 01:42 PM

January 10, 2007 | Comments: (0)

From The CES Show Floor #1

Okay, not really from the show floor because getting WiFi there is about as easy as finding a Snapple in the Mojave and grabbing a press room PC means a gladiator duel. But it is from the Jesuit priest's house in Henderson--yes, we're staying there again because InfoWorld won't pay our travel here. (Send your indignant complaints about this to InfoWorld executive editors and higher, please.)

Meanwhile, here are some sweet things we saw with an SMB spin to them at this year's CES (and, yeah, there'll be more later).

First the Flybook. An Apple affiliate may have come out with the first Apple tablet at the MacWorld show, but the Flybook just blows that out of the water.

First, figure it's an ultra-portable format (that's my hand for size reference). Second, it's got enough muscle to run a full version of Vista. Third, it turns into a tablet. Fourth, it's got GPRS connectivity built-in, which not only means broadband Internet, but if you stick the right SIM card in there it's got phone features built-in. Very cool. Fifth, it includes Bluetooth GPS. Just flip it into tablet mode, activate the Bluetooth GPS, drop it on your passenger seat and you're getting directions. Very sweet. Plus, it's made by an Italian company, so it looks great--here's a better image than my homemade photo above.

Bad news is twofold: First, it's being sold in the US mainly through Barney's--yeah, that's the NYC or Beverly Hills department store where a button down shirt costs about a grand. Means we're not going to like the price once they finally tell me what it is. Second, battery life allegedly bites. Too many RF extras and too small a batter form factor. Then again you can opt for a laptop batter life extender, but that'll take away from the ultra-portable pleasure. Hey, life is full of compromises.

Next, I liked this deal from Packet8. It's another Internet-based VoIP plan. But it's cheap ($20/mo for most home/small biz users) and it includes this handy video phone box. We demoed this at the show, and it wasn't George Jetson-perfect, but it worked fine for me. You can even set up a three-way video conference out of the box. The devices will be sold direct or via Office Depot, so they're not hard to get. Small biz owners can get them in the $20/mo residential version, but slightly larger companies should opt for the $40/mo Packet8 Virtual Office service, which extends the whole thing via a hosted PBX function. Lets you use your existing phones but adds all the digital VoIP goodies.

Next comes the best looking Bluetooth earwig I've seen yet. Okay, it's not the geekiest thing, but this is the kind of thing you see at CES. It comes from Bluetooth hardware maker Aliph, and is disturbingly called the Jawbone. Aside from the Hills-Have-Eyes-style name, it looks cool enough to win a design award here at the show and it also includes an ambient noise damper. Much easier to hear, and I verified that at the booth. Plus, it looks good enough to be paired with the Flybook. It costs $120 and is availalbe only at Cingular stores for the time being, tho it should work with any Bluetooth-compatible phone.

For now, I'll stop with Buffalo Technology's newly minted TeraStation Pro II. This is a step up from last year's version 1.0, but is still the same 1TB-2TB NAS device designed specifically for SMBs. New features include a built-in UPS (very cool idea) that guarantees orderly shutdown in the event of trouble as well as a Disk Quota Management feature, which will let the local admin assign disk space to users rather than having the gobble it all up. The device still has 10/100/1000Base-T connectivity and can also still accept USB-based storage expansions. And, yeah, the price is still between $1000 and $1700 depending on how much disk space you're looking for.

There's way more here at the show, but it'll have to wait until later.

Posted by Oliver Rist on January 10, 2007 09:24 AM

December 18, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Oliver's Other Essential, Geek/Non-Geek, All Encompassing, One-and-Only Holiday Gift Guide

One working week left, so...

It's the Monday before Christmas
and all through the SMB IT virtual house
all the ADD shoppers are freaking
with last-minute gift grumpiness and grouse...

So follow this gift guide and you'll be stress-free for the rest of the week.

First off, this is my second one-and-only gift guide this year. Did one late last week on the MSN Technology Filter blog--had to or some guys in black suits and Ray-Bans would have made me disappear. That one has links to three other sites on the Web with good gift lists, as well as a fairly lengthy list of my own.

All those words have pretty much got the geeks in your life covered. I'll add a few more here, but I'm also putting in a bunch of my favorite non-geek gifts in here, too. After all, we all have business associates (the stiff and suited kind), boy/girlfriends, spouses, children, cousins, pets and squatters on our lists who probably aren't as thrilled by all the bits and bytes as we are. So here goes.

GENERAL GIFT GUIDE
[BLANK] of the Month Club: A buddy and my sister put me onto this. The buddy got me the Beer of the month club last year. My sister asked for the Fruit of the Month Club this year. But you can also choose from wine, flowers, pizza, cigars, coffee and chocolate just to name a few. They're not super cheap, but it keeps that person thinking fondly of you all year--a distinct advantage in certain situations. Especially if you're buying a gift for that special client--keeps them warm towards you all year with no extra effort on your part. I've found good vendors here, here and here.

DVDs that Won't Miss: Forget single DVDs of the latest movie craze (though Pirates will probably be a winner), boxed sets are where it's at for sheer impressive power. You'll always have someone on your list who doesn't have one or more these DVD sets: Band of Brothers (classic can't miss on the male side); Saturday Night Live the Complete First Season (if they laugh this one wins); Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol. 1 or Vol II (yeah, I'm immature, but so are a lot of people); The Clint Eastwood Gift Set (rules all the way. Though this is the western stuff only, there's another for the Dirty Harry series).

MP3 Player: You're the geek in your circle, so some folks will be looking to you on this. And, yeah, Apple's still on my list--but not exclusively. The iPod and the iPod Nano are the best they have; SanDisk's e200 and the e200 Rhapsody are my favorite non-iTunes players; while the iRiver T10 2GB is my favorite ultra-portable--works with Windows XP, Vista, Media Player, Urge, does the file transfer thing, runs on an AA battery and more for $150. All they have to do is plug it into a Windows machine and it works. Means no Christmas morning tech support duties for you.

Best General-Purpose Digital Camera: The imaging industry voted Panasonic's DMC-TZ1 into that slot this year. $250 gets you the best all-purpose 10x optical zoom digicam of the year.

Food enthusiast gift list: I'm not much of a culinary connoisseur, but in case you've got one on your list, the New York Times did a gift list for these folks. Good as gold for any food snob.

Workaholic or Coffee Nut: This is in case you can't help them off the Food Enthusiast list or via the Coffee of the Month Club deals. If neither of those works, these Tassimo one-cup coffee makers are all the rage. All the nerds, yuppies and folks-who-hate-cleaning-the-kitchen-types love 'em, and they're only $170.

BEST TOOLS
This is for the tool freaks on your list. Goes like this:

For the serious outdoor carpenter-type: Milwaukee 10 Amp Reciprocating Sawzall. Cuts through freaking anything and costs about $210.

For the not-so-serious worker, but total tool nut: The Hitachi DB3DL Lithium-Ion cordless screwdriver. It looks cool, uses the latest battery tech, has loads of attachments and does the whole bendy-swivel thing. Plus it only costs about $80.

For the VERY serious off-roader: The Warn PowerPlant Dual Force is completely AWESOME. Both a pwoer winch for pulling your truck (and others') out of trouble and, at the flick of a switch, a high-end air compressor for powering the most vicious power tools. Love it. Just be prepared for sticker shock: it's about $1800.

FOR THE LADIES
I'm a single guy, so keeping the current lady happy is a big priority. Maybe you've done the jewlery thing to death. And the flower thing. And the perfume thing. And maybe you wondered why she wouldn't speak to you for a couple of hours after the lingerie thing (email me, and I'll explain it to you). If you're a clueless what to get the ladies in your life aside from teh absolutely obvious, these have always been solid successes for me:

Spa treatment: This one is always a hit, but only if she goes for the day-of-beauty pampering thing. Not all women do, so make sure. If she does, you're golden and you can opt anywhere between a $150 hour-long massage to a couple of grand for a full weekend away somewhere. If there's romance involved you can score a huge number of points by going along--just don't complain the whole time or it's wasted effort. Also, check out the spa to which you're sending her. Make sure it's a high-end beauty and pampering establishment, not a low-end joint that might get raided.

Tickets: Comedy shows and music concerts have been the best successes for me. But they can't be chintzy. Make sure it's a well-known comedian (preferrably one she's already said she likes) or a big music concert. Beauty thing here is that it can be three months away or more as long as you let her know you've got a line on the tickets by X-Mas morning--it's best to have the actual tickets, but a documented promise will do. Just don't forget or they may never find your remains.

The Body Shop Gift Basket: Discovered this one by accident. You can't get it online, but if you hit the store, the sales person will put this together for you. Not only that, she'll most likely pick all the right stuff, too. Goes anywhere from $50-$300, looks great and definitely makes girls with decorated bathrooms smile.

That's about all I've got. I don't have kids, so I hesitate to make recommendations of my own on that front. I am however, hitting this gift list and this one for all the nieces and nephews I've got to buy for this year. The other New Yorker gift lists aren't bad either, just a mite on the eclectic and expensive side.

Posted by Oliver Rist on December 18, 2006 12:39 PM

March 15, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Stupid User Tricks Backpack GiveAway Contest--Updated Again

I've been getting loads of responses for the Stupid User Network Tricks Anecdote Contest I posted a few of days ago. Lots of comments, way more emails.

One thing I'm noticing, tho, is that there's an increasing number of helpdesk-type stories. Stuff that only affect the user, his PC and the helpdesk admin's funnybone.

Those DO NOT qualify because the user's gaffe didn't adversely affect the network (meaning his segment, overall security, the business process running on the network or some similar larger sphere). That's a core requirement to make it into the piece and qualify for the backpack.

And you don't need to concentrate solely on the funny ones (tho I love 'em). Stuff that's interesting or even downright frightening is cool too (have a couple of these already).

I'm still going to use some of the helpdesk anecdotes in a special post here or in an upcoming Windows Enterprise column. We just don't have that many backpacks.

Posted by Oliver Rist on March 15, 2006 12:45 PM

March 10, 2006 | Comments: (0)

The Stupid Human Network Tricks Anecdote Contest--UPDATED

Executive editor, Eric Knorr, emailed me a little while ago, asking me to take on a feature story with the working title of "20 Ways to Protect Your Network from Stupid Users." We're going to change that eventually to make it less offensive, no worries.

So I've got a list of the all-time dumbest moves I've seen users make, but I'm looking for more.

To promote your little fingers hitting the keys, I'm giving away an InfoWorld backpack to every reader who's anecdote makes it all the way into the final piece. Okay, the pack at left is an actual pic of the one we're giving away. There's another model that has the "CIO Forum" logo on it, but they're essentially the same pack.

Our managing editor, the vivacious Kathy B., has also promised to put some additional surprises in each one, but she wouldn't tell me what. Probably some cookies she's going to bake, or copies of Garza's latest book "The Party Animal's Manifesto", or maybe some finger paintings by Venezia's kid (she's the one who actually writes most of his articles, you know; though I'm sure most of you already suspected by his writing style). Or possibly some brightly colored InfoWorld USB hubs. Something.

Meanwhile, put your thinking caps on, squint, stare off into space and puzzle on this:

1. A damaging move made by a user that could be due to a simple dearth of IQ points or just ignorance of PCs, Windows, an application, whatever. Only caveat here is that the user's dumb move must also have affected the network, other users or the business adversely.

2. What you did, if anything, to make sure that kind of error didn't happen again.

Once you've got that down, then either comment your anecdote below, or better yet (much better yet in terms of my getting in touch with you later for your backpack) email me your experience.

The story will run in mid-April sometime, which means I'VE GOT TO BE DONE WITH IT BY END OF MARCH, but I'll be sure to be more exact with a pub date as soon as I can.

Posted by Oliver Rist on March 10, 2006 01:32 PM

February 13, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Happy Valentine's Day...With a Geek Flair

Have a Happy Valentine's Day. If you've been suckered into buying a gift and don't have one, I pubbed a list of last-minnit gifts off of TechFilter along with links to similar lists from other geek sources.

Posted by Oliver Rist on February 13, 2006 07:52 PM

January 13, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Freaky Friday: CES Photo Miscellany

CES being at Vegas, there was plenty more weird stuff than this, but this is all I had that was clean enough for InfoWorld.

This is Brian fondly remembering his first date...I mean, experience with a Commodore.

And one last photo of useless gadgets:

They're mini-lights and desk fans. That are shaped like little animals for no known reason, and powered via USB for even less reason.

Posted by Oliver Rist on January 13, 2006 08:47 AM

December 29, 2005 | Comments: (0)

Freaky Friday

Another Tech Filter entry on Toyota's new MP3 player with wheels. I just don't get what's so hard about sticking a USB port on a car stereo. Why all the fuss?

Posted by Oliver Rist on December 29, 2005 10:39 PM

December 23, 2005 | Comments: (0)

Happy Holidays

Just a public service announcement: I'll be on vacation next week celebrating Christmas in the traditional way, namely by playing golf in Carmel, CA.

So, while the blog won't go entirely dark during this period, I will be posting a little less.

Meantime, enjoy the holiday and we'll be SMBITing in full force right off the bat in 2006.

Happy Holidays everyone.

Posted by Oliver Rist on December 23, 2005 10:09 PM

December 23, 2005 | Comments: (0)

Freaky Friday: The Gingerbread PC

The link is off of Technology Filter, but I'm not kidding. Follow it and you'll find a full how-to article on baking your own gingerbread PC.

Anyone actually does this, and I please...please...want to know about it.

Posted by Oliver Rist on December 23, 2005 10:38 AM

December 12, 2005 | Comments: (0)

No 128MB Windows XP Pro Info...Yet

Got some pings on a recent column where I mentioned that because Virtual Server R2 now has the ability to more effectively manage the size of VHDs that some Microsoft guys had figured out ways to trim enough fat off a working Windows XP Pro instance to keep it running inside of 128MB. That's bootable USB key territory.

The pings basically asked: "How?!"

I begged Microsoft, but they wouldn't yet release that documentation to the public. Internal Redmond stuff only.

Fortunately, if you get Win2k3 R2 installed, you'll also get the Virtual Disk Precompacter feature, which is, apparently, a big step in the shrinking process. Maybe we'll just get a working copy of R2 installed in the lab and see how far down we can shrink it ourselves.

Anyone else cares to join, I'll give away a free virtual T-Shirt to the smallest provable running instance.

Posted by Oliver Rist on December 12, 2005 01:59 PM

November 18, 2005 | Comments: (0)

Freaky Friday

Those of you who waded through the email policy post yesterday, deserve a break. So check out my two favorite Web toy sites:

Just posted about this one on Technology Filter: ZeFrank has all kinds of funky toys, including a 3D browser drawing tool that's almost entirely useless yet utterly fascinating. Check the TF post for the links to the adjustable puppet and the memory game--that one's frustrating.

The puppet put me in mind of my favorite Web dancing dingaling site, which is Dancingbush.com. The best is when you make him yell "yow!"

I found DancingBush off of my first-ever Web time wasting site: Bored.com. Similar to Zefrank, this has all kinds of fun toys, but be careful as some of them take you into Web fringe areas. The less malware the better. The one site you definitely need to visit off this one, tho, is Oliverbot. He's cool. Like his name.

Posted by Oliver Rist on November 18, 2005 01:00 PM

November 11, 2005 | Comments: (0)

Check Out Brian's Report from Hawking Lecture

Our ANCL Lab Director, Brian Chee, is at hot-stage for Fall (or maybe Winter) N+I right now out in Silicon Valley. That's a buys time for Bri-Bri, but he managed to take enough time off to catch Dr. Stephen Hawking on his Origin of the Universe lecture tour which made a stop in San Jose.

Check out his first-hand observations at Technology Filter. Hawking's not only fascinating, he's funny, too.

Posted by Oliver Rist on November 11, 2005 10:05 AM

September 30, 2005 | Comments: (0)

Freaky Friday

Okay, I missed last week, so I'm making it up to you this week with self-deprecation. I reviewed an ultra-geek gadget for the TechFilter blog and decided to use myself in the pic. Dorkily dashing, no?

Posted by Oliver Rist on September 30, 2005 01:58 PM

September 28, 2005 | Comments: (0)

Comments Away!

We've enabled comments on this blog now, so if you feel like dropping me a line here, just hit the "Comments" link below and flame--er, comment away.

We're screening these for a while to keep a lid on spam or obnoxious stuff, so it'll be moderated before it goes public, but I'm on top of that so scribble away.

Please. I'm lonely.

Posted by Oliver Rist on September 28, 2005 11:20 PM

September 23, 2005 | Comments: (0)

See This is Why I Hate Market Research Reports

Okay, I don't hate all market research reports, but when they're really just trying to sell you some data tidbit that's effectively common sense it bugs me.

These Integrated Marketing eChannel guys (who seem to be affiliated with Gartner) put this story together. Over a 1000 words and, of course, a reference to one of their market research docs with I don't know how many syllables, all to say:

Workers are using mobile technology more,
Smaller businesses often don't have staff experts on how to make the most of mobile, so...
...they hire consultants to do it for them.
We all like wireless.
Many of us use VPNs.

Well, I feel enlightened. What about telling me something I don't know? Like some easier to manage and lower-cost alternatives to VPNs? Or mayhap an actual concrete example of a "mobile solution that positively impacts my bottom line"?

Yeah, I'm cranky in the morning, but this really is the kind of stuff that adds the capital 'G' in Info Glut.

Posted by Oliver Rist on September 23, 2005 05:50 AM

September 16, 2005 | Comments: (0)

Freaky Friday

Our two freaks are both a little dire this week. My first stems from the sunny city of Newark, NJ--right next door to yours truly. Seems three little mice have disappeared from a local bio-terrorism research center. (Figures that'd be in Newark.) Were these little rodents robust and healthy? Well, pretty much except for a really minor case of bubonic plague! Worse, the 'disappearance' was noticed two weeks ago, but only made public this past Wednesday when (I'm guessing) somebody somewhere blew the whistle. Now that it's out, the folks researching bubonic plague think that the public health risk is "slim to none". Sure. I'm there with that. Loose mice, bubonic plague and terrorism. What could possibly go wrong? I'm moving to Bali.

death mouse.jpg

Glommed my next freak from the Tech Filter blog on MSN, which I'll be taking over next week.

Dan Costa, my TF predecessor, found the folks at Kumawar, who are apparently making a game out of a war that isn't even over yet. I get the potential, but it sure does lack in taste.

main.featured.nm.jpg

Posted by Oliver Rist on September 16, 2005 03:02 PM

September 13, 2005 | Comments: (0)

Marketing Desperation

What do you get when your marketing people simply run out of creative ideas? Something like this:

"We gotta come up with a new giveaway plan."

"How about we give away a car?"

"Are you kidding? Everybody's given away a car. It's been done to death!"

"Okay, how about two cars?"

"Not enough. We really need to make a splash. I've got it: Twelve cars! We'll give away twelve cars! Nobody's done that before."

"Twelve cars?! Are you high? What do you expect them to do with twelve cars? Open a dealership?"

"Who cares what they do? It looks great as ad copy."

"But don't they have to pay taxes on all those cars...?"

"Shut up."

Posted by Oliver Rist on September 13, 2005 09:27 PM

September 09, 2005 | Comments: (0)

Training Sales Staff Phone Personality

You gotta love it when geeks get creative. Turns out that an MIT grad student shooting for his piled-higher-and-deeper degree has designed a phone-based conversation analysis tool that'll let users know whether they're well spoken or about to be broken.

I'm pretty sure Thursday's date would have me on the Jerk end of the scale, but then that was in person not on the phone. Maybe they'll make this thing mobile so I can have it surgically implanted in my head.

Posted by Oliver Rist on September 9, 2005 10:32 PM

September 09, 2005 | Comments: (0)

Freaky Friday

Let's see if I can find something whacky once a week and get it to y'all on Fridays.

This week is easy. An old friend, colleague, and pool room victim, Alice Hill, pointed me towards two gas (as in fuel) issues off her RealTechNews blog.

First, it looks like its Y2K for gas pumps. Seems some older pumps in Oregon are reporting that they can't handle prices over $2.99. Watch how fast FEMA reacts to that news. There's probably black helicopters with SEALs in ninja masks circling Portland right now.

But for those of us in states with gas pumps that have no trouble bending customers over, check out GasBuddy.com. This site not only locates the lowest-priced gas in your area, it also finds gas stations and prints gas pricing trends.

Have a good weekend. Get that old bicycle out of the garage.

Posted by Oliver Rist on September 9, 2005 02:22 PM

August 31, 2005 | Comments: (0)

Creative Gets a Patent for This?!

Creative Labs was just recently awarded a patent for its MP3 player interface, appropriately dubbed the Zen patent. We don't write about MP3 developments much at Infoworld because we're serious and don't know how to have fun. Unfortunately, the happier folks at PC World doesn't have this up yet either, so I'll need to refer you here to get a current news story for the moment.

I've got nothing against Creative--at least, ever since I was able to con an editor here into letting me review a Zen player based on the fact that those little puppies can sync with Outlook. HA!

So why am I writing about Creative's patent windfall on an Infoworld blog? First, because it's not only a windfall, it's downright nuts. Near as anyone can tell, what the US Patent Office is giving Creative credit for is allowing MP3 users to categorize their music using more than one cross-index. Meaning you can record an MP3 and then find it again using the album name, the artist name or even the genre. Wow.

Did Creative invent indexing? I don't think so. I'm thinking if we check, we'll probably find it was first thought of right around Amunhotep Bedingle's time in ancient Egypt. Maybe earlier. It's entirely conceivable that ancient man used to categorize his clubs first by size, then by weight. No way was this Creative's idea.

Did Creative invent databases or even spreadsheets? The closest digital synonym for cross-indexing are these two technologies, and I don't recall Creative's name on either one of them.

So what, they're getting a patent because they applied an existing concept and an existing technoloy to MP3's? So now any time anyone else wants to develop a cross-indexing MP3 front-end they need to check with Creative first? What is going on at the US Patent Office? This stuff makes the veins in my head throb.

The other reason, I'm writing about this here, is because it most certainly applies to any technology oriented SMB. You'd best be getting patents filed for just about every neuron pop your employees have--because if you don't, some other weenie is going to file the patent first and the US Patent Office will most likely award it to him.

Talk about paralyzing innovation. Makes my teeth hurt.

By the way, I'm petitioning the editors here to allow for reader comments, so the next time I mouth off like this you can flame me back. Hopefully.

Posted by Oliver Rist on August 31, 2005 11:00 AM

EMERGING ENTERPRISE PODCAST

Listen to the latest podcast:

MP3 •

•

• Archive •

Technology White Papers

InfoWorld Technology Marketplace

» Technology White Papers Library

Technology White Papers by Topic

Technology White Papers E-mail Alert