New with Windows Vista (and included in later versions) was the Windows Mobility Center. This great little tool typically allows mobile users to see and control many of the most obvious and useful settings on a Windows machine. The settings are arranged as tiles on a single window with each tile containing a specific setting. Also possible by OEMs, is extending the interface to include other tiles for controlling a system. I thought, this is cool and useful but really, really ugly. I thought, there must be other stuff I can do with this.
Are you an early adopter? If you’re reading this, you likely aren’t the pure definition of this category, but more of a combination of two or three of the categories (depending your risk tolerance). Based on my experience, there is a kind of category that seems to be missing from all this. Let me explain.
Is the future of email, Twitter? Well, a longer version of Twitter not limited to 140 characters. He or She of Virtual Pants goes on to say that no one wants to remember a fill email address and that an @username is much easier to remember. Since that blog doesn’t seem to offer a place to comment, I’ll do that here, thank you very much.
On August 1, Microsoft announced that Windows 8 had been released to manufacturers (or RTM). While this is certainly not the biggest news to come along – it’s a good time to prepare for this new version of Windows. Windows 8 is going to be a rather big shift for computing in general, so this milestone also serves as a warning for all users. In many respects, you might find yourself having no choice but to use it, so this is a good time to get ready.
Recently, I met a 70 year old former engineer, who by all accounts was in great shape for his age. I remember thinking I’d like to look that good at 70. He had been a mechanical engineer for more than forty years and recently left the industry he enjoyed to retire. These days, he tells me travel and leisure take up a good portion of his time.
As you’ll see, the dangers of people that will sell and handle these sales unscrupulously are so very real. After this experience, I think I’ve learned that that buying a product that you can’t fully test (at the moment of purchase) is a dangerous undertaking.
This fundamental idea generally runs counter to the thought that, when you increase the efficiency of something by way of technological means, the consumption of that resource should go down. It is an idea that has often been overshadowed by more famous theories like “Moore’s Law”, but is no less fascinating when applying it to computing and IT infrastructure.
It’s for those days your significant other gives you hell for not devoting time, those days that you’re out of the country and the customer walks away because you can’t take care of them. I want to let you in on a few secrets I’ve learned over the years to keep on keepin’ on.
And, while, I have never had an editor, I can certainly say I’ve seen enough of traditional journalism and just outright poorly written articles that seemly include the use of editors. If we consider the above definition, journalism can never be a blog. But, if we consider journalists as members of the Fourth Estate – this definition changes. Blogs with or without editors can claim to be journalists, and I’ll explain why.
One of the most amazing things about being a freelancer or consultant is that you can truly dictate how you want to run things. You don’t need to be tied down by physical office space, secretaries and/or hefty bills that other companies are forced to take on in business. Over the years I’ve learned some great ways you can Mobilize your systems and cut costs in the process.