I really have no comments on this one: Microsofts_sidekick_pink_problems_blamed_on_dogfooding_and_sabotage Well, OK, of course I have something to say: the word sabotage is libelous. Dogfooding I would assume Every organization wants to run the solution they can best support and extend, whether they write that solution or not. But sabotage? Human errors can happen, no matter how many processes you put in place to keep it from happening. That’s life. To then say that loosing data for most SideKick users is sabotage is an unsubstantiated (yes, I read the whole article and saw no proof) and dangerous (no pun intended) statement, likely made as a result of a disgruntled and ultimately…
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Danger Will Robinson: SideKick + Microsoft
Occasionally Blackberries go down. Not one or two, but all of them. Sometimes (albeit rarely), Google Apps are unavailable. The Mac community got so frustrated with MobileMe during the .Mac transition that Apple released an official apology of sorts. But nothing that is as dangerous as the recent SideKick data loss. In a move that is characteristic of the battle that has been brewing between the makers of mobile devices and the carriers that provide access to those devices, T-Mobile released the following statement: Regrettably, based on Microsoft/Danger’s latest recovery assessment of their systems, we must now inform you that personal information stored on your device – such as contacts,…
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Home Robotics
Technology is a beautiful thing. Especially for those of us that hate to do the dishes, get up to change the channel or even walk over to grandma’s house to say hi. For those things we have (respectively) dishwashers, remote controls and of course the telephone. I’ve talked about Z-Wave for awhile now and automating the home – but that’s automating electrical currents. But what I haven’t talked about is automating the cleaning that goes on in the home. And I’m not referencing putting a cleaning service on automated bill pay; I’m talking about robotics. To sweep, mop and do tasks beyond those that have been automated for 30 or…
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Houseport Z-Wave for Mac Finally Available!!
I’m a geek, I can’t help it. The Houseport USB Z-Wave Adapter can control 230 devices, set the level of lights that have dimmers, time lighting controls and garage door openers and maintain the actual Z-Wave mesh network. So how could I not be interested?!?! The Wayne Dalton Houseport software and Z-Wave adapter were announced some time ago. Betas went out and got our appetites wet. I have been sitting by my phone waiting for them to call and tell me I can buy it for months! Now, you can finally buy the Houseport software and adapter at http://www.smarthomeusa.com/ShopByManufacturer/Wayne-Dalton/Item/WDUSB-10MAC/ and you can download the manual at http://www.smarthomeusa.com/Products/WDUSB-10MAC/manuals/USB-MAC.pdf. The PC version…
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A Stranger In A Strange Land…
Pickled herring, salted licorice, sports I don’t comprehend and a language I don’t speak. At the outset, Sweden seemed like a place that I just wasn’t going to fit in. But certain foods can become an acquired taste (if you stay away from Burger King and McDonalds) and oddly enough, the people out here speak English better than I do. But best of all there is a Mac Systems Administrative community here in Northern Europe that comes together at MacSysAdmin; one that is filled with the same challenges that we all face. It’s a community, like many around the world, filled with a quest for more knowledge on the platform…
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Backup Planning
The two attached files are a sample checklist and a sample backup calculator to be used in conjunction with the talk I’m giving at MacSysAdmin, which has been moved up to 10:45 in the morning today.
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H1N1 and Computer Labs
Once upon a time, in a land far, far away (Athens, Georgia), I worked in computer labs. And I don’t think we cleaned the keyboards but once in the year before I moved into more department-specific IT. But now I’m a parent. And I keep hearing that we need to wash the hands of our children, that we need to keep everything they come in contact with sanitized and that we need to be prepared to take 7 business days to stay with them if they get sick or if something happens at their school (not that mine is in school yet). It isn’t that they want to keep our…
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Business Intelligence and ITIL
A lot of importance is being placed on business intelligence again. It seems as though the promises that business intelligence was supposed to deliver got lost at some point, but that it’s oddly enough found its way back onto the path of productivity gains and ergo back into the minds of the IT pundits that drive the rhetoric of the industry. But what I don’t hear people talking about is applying business intelligence to the business of IT. A lot of resources are put into a wide variety of IT projects. But what drives the agenda? Are the allocation of those resources justified based on quantifiable metrics or are they…
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Facebook Acquires FriendFeed
Let’s over-simplify this: Twitter is a very popular site. FriendFeed is kinda’ similar. Facebook is a very popular social network site that happens to have the features of FriendFeed built in. Now Facebook owns FriendFeed. Some acquisitions are about technology, some about user base/customers and others about the talent that a company has. I would assume that almost every person with an account on FriendFeed already had an account on Facebook. Facebook can easily integrate the same technology that is present in FriendFeed (and already has for the most part). So I’m gonna’ go out on a limb and say this one likely had more to do with the talent (mostly…
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Interactive Marketing for Office 2010
Microsoft is clearly trying to market their more human side. In Office 2010 The Movie, Microsoft puts videos of the program managers, engineering team leads and even the director of program management for office up in Silverlight movies that are meant to display the actual people whose hard work went into creating the upcoming Office upgrade. They show some features, discuss the development process and even show you some garden gnomes. It’s like they’re trying to say that this is clearly a different Microsoft. And for some time, Microsoft has been allowing for their employees to blog publicly. The Microsoft Office 2010 team is no different. As for the technical…