Microsoft’s Overlooked Innovation
Posted by Stephen in Computer history, Personal on 15. Feb, 2010 | View Comments
It’s fun to bash Microsoft. It’s easy, too, with Apple solidly conquering the high end of the PC and mobile markets and Google’s command of the Internet. But how fair are these articles skewering Microsoft, such as “Microsoft’s chronic lack of innovation” published today at Techworld? I suggest that Microsoft innovates as well as, if not better than, any other massive company. But no one innovates like an outsider.
Remembering J. D. Salinger
Posted by Stephen in Personal on 28. Jan, 2010 | View Comments
J. D. Salinger passed away January 27, 2010; he was 91. The famously-secretive author rose to prominence in the 1950’s for The Catcher in the Rye, a book that has resonated with every generation of youth since. He is more celebrated in literary circles for his shorter stories, many of which centered on the Glass and Caulfield families and explored deeper religious and philosophical territory than his sole novel.
Two Stupidly Cool Terminal Fonts
Posted by Stephen in Apple, Computer history, Personal on 25. Jan, 2010 | View Comments
Two stupidly-cool fonts in action: My normal DEC VT220-like terminal and a super-large terminal with super-tiny Tom Thumb displaying Hamlet. All of Hamlet. No kidding.
Vendor Bloggers 1: Why Does It Matter?
Posted by Stephen in Enterprise storage, Personal, Virtual Storage on 18. Jan, 2010 | View Comments
What does it mean for the community when independent bloggers go to work for vendors? The Internet has changed the old game of leveraging publications for PR. Can you still trust what you read?
Turn Your 27″ iMac Into An Awesome Monitor
Posted by Stephen in Apple, Personal on 05. Jan, 2010 | View Comments
The Mini DisplayPort connector on the 27″ iMac is bi-directional, so you can connect another device to its gorgeous monitor! I was eager to try this out, and sure enough my 2009 Mac Mini had no trouble taking over the iMac’s display using a $30 Belkin cable. But actually using the iMac in this configuration has not been pleasant.
Drobo, XP Users: Beware of 4K “Advanced Format” Drives!
Posted by Stephen in Apple, Computer history, Enterprise storage, Everything, Terabyte home on 23. Dec, 2009 | View Comments
Personal computer hard disk drive access methods have been repeatedly forced to adapt to ever-expanding capacity. But Western Digital is leading the change to larger 4 kilobyte hard disk blocks. Although this new “Advanced Format” includes mechanisms for backwards compatibility, buyers should be wary of these new drives for the time being.
Quad-Core 27″ iMac: First Impressions
Posted by Stephen in Apple, Personal, Terabyte home on 24. Nov, 2009 | View Comments
Last week I bought my third (modern) Mac, a new Core i5-powered 27″ iMac desktop. My new iMac has become a video editing workstation, running Apple’s Final Cut Studio software to process the video footage from Gestalt IT’s Tech Field Day. The massive display and speedy quad-core CPU and graphics continue to impress: This new iMac is a keeper!
Drobo Goes Sideways and Slantways With the Drobo S and Drobo Elite
Posted by Stephen in Enterprise storage, Terabyte home, Virtual Storage on 23. Nov, 2009 | View Comments
Data Robotics has doubled the size of their product line, adding two new Drobo storage devices alongside the existing Drobo (version 2) and DroboPro, which I’ve previously written about.
We Don’t Need Cloud Standards (Yet)
Posted by Stephen in Computer history, Enterprise storage, Gestalt IT, Virtual Storage on 16. Sep, 2009 | View Comments
Championing “open” and calling for standards has become the first stalling action by late-movers in technology spaces. They see opportunity passing by and try to hold back progress and FUD the market by yelling about proprietary solutions, vendor lock-in, and a lack of standards. Many well-intentioned IT folks follow along: After all, who doesn’t want openness, standardization, and interoperability?
Drobo: First Impressions
Posted by Stephen in Apple, Personal, Terabyte home on 04. Sep, 2009 | View Comments
Although the Drobo “storage robot”, essentially a friendly home RAID enclosure, has long impressed me, it never fit my laptop-oriented lifestyle. But my home network has changed with the addition of a 2009 Mac Mini server, so it was time for me to pick up a Drobo of my own!
