After my not so trusty dell d20 laptop decided I needed another hard drive inside of it, I realized that I should go with solid-state hard drives. It could by my frustration with the machine I have (dell mentioned earlier) but why do hard drives have to be the main point of failure. So while a scrubber program is running on my hard drive to clean up the bad sectors and parts of the disk, I get to use my home laptop. My IBM t61 is a joy to use, but not having my main work laptop is starting to be an issue at work. I have all my stuff backed up (read earlier posts of my other 4 hard drives in this machine), but I’m not really excited about pulling and working on files from different locations if I can get a snapshot of my drive.

So to resolve the issue our IT team is cleaning up the drive with a program and Dell is sending me a new machine, they are starting to think maybe something else is wrong. Or maybe it is just me.

I have a great idea for laptop manufacturers, just make an internal slot or a memroy bay where us users can inject an SD card 4 gig or so and create a small RAID or backup utility that would work outside of an OS.

I’m not sure how I stumbled to this link, probably reading my rss feeds. But, what a simple and great idea.
SpaceStation
A product to organize your cords and also clean up your desk space for a laptop.
I have probably seen a few people do this on their own over the years but never made a product out of it. Wow, just think of the many products that have not been created yet, and the basic ideas that were used to make them.

I just ran across a post on lifehacker regarding running linux on your windows machines
Run linux on windows app

I think it is a good idea and a nice distro. I have found that I use my linux machine for years in just a terminal window. However, no matter where I go I am able (as long as I have an internet connection) to run my linux applications on my windows machine. Using X-11 forwarding you can connect to your linux machine of choice and forward the gui to your local machine. That sounds easy and it is, you just need the right tools. You need SSH (putty.exe ssh client) for windows and an X server on your windows machine. I use Xming (Xming). This allows you to run the application on your linux box, mine happens to be a laptop in my basement, and have the application appear on your local machine. There is nothing more rewarding then opening up xeyes on a windows box.

There are many reasons to do this instead of installing another app (600 megs) of one on your machine. For me it allows me to test from different locations, I may be at the office and need to view a site remotely instead of from the office to see if it is location specific or if our connection is the cause. I have also found it great for testing, pings, ssh, and application security.

Skydrive is giving you 5gigs of data. Backup, share, and push your data online.
http://skydrive.live.com/

I currently use Mozy and I-drive for backup. But skydrive allows you to share files.

Next week we will no longer be able to use a “bag phone” or at least an analog one.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/15/AR2008021500036.html

They are turning off most of the networks. I’m not sure too many people are going to notice. But some companies are very interested in this. Home security systems that were installed may run off analog, hard wired cell phones (emergency phones) may be effected.

I guess we will not know until the day and people complain.

Ah, I remember my last analog phone, it allowed for analog and digital. I can remember the sales guy saying that there are more analog towers available and that digital may not be a clear…

In the normal world of business when you start your business people may use the term “hang out a shingle” , in other words open for business (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/hang+out+shingle). Well the group I am part of a nusoft just launched our placeholder site and we are getting ready to “hang our shingle”

www.kineticig.com

It’s not much now but a place holder. So stay tuned for more to come.

I have not used msndirect before. But it was recently released for the phone. Windows Mobile phone to be exact.

http://phone.msndirect.com

So far it has been good.

I’m going to keep on this topic. I was watching crankygeeks (http://www.crankygeeks.com/) which I download on tivo. An the group was talking about ISP and traffic filtering. It was an interesting conversaton. For starters, I think John did not really care about the matter. But what I did get out of it was a few people who have my same feelings. That this change if it happens and an ISP would charge you for usage (more than normal) that it should be reverse. So currently I pay about 45 - 50 bucks for a cable modem service. I have my own cable modem but they still think I have to pay to rent one (long story) If I were to be considered a high volume user (though I don’t know what that volume would be) they may charge me more per Gig of downloading.

I don’t dissagree with that model. I would pay for the more bandwidth I use. The place that I want the ISP to be would be to 1. if I pay for it, give it to me. Meaning do not throttle my bandwidth, if I’m going to pay for more usage then allow me full P2P or MB’s per second when I’m using it. So if I want to backup my hard drive online (which I do) then I should be able to do that at 2mb per second. 2. If someone does not use that much bandwidth, then don’t charge them for it. So my mom and dad have a dsl line. I bet it gets used 4 hours a day to surf the web, not much traffic at all. So the ISP should have a package for them that was Cheap.. I mean in the 10 - 12 dollar a month range.

These are just my thoughts. I can already see where the industry is going to start calling out the ISP. As we get closer to being more connected and use our internet connections for entertainment and also work the $ to bandwidth equation becomes more important.

I may think more about downloading the movie from Itunes if I am near my cap for bandwidth and get charged an extra 5 dollars for the 5 gig download. I may just drive to the DVD rental store….

Think on that one…. More posts to come…

Helena Diana joined our family on Tuesday Feb 5th at 10:53.
At 8lbs and 1oz standing (rather laying) 20 3/4 inches she is the 3rd member of the team.

http://flickr.com/photos/jimiz

mom and baby are doing good.

I have rambled for years that it will come down to a device, one device that you take with you. Something like a phone, a camera, or watch. but one device that will contain your (computer, communications, information, and $$). We are getting close every day. Phones that are camera’s, MP3 players, have a browser and contain your info. Where we lack is the input and usablity.

Imagine if you will, that any display near you could be the monitor for your device through wireless, and a infrared keyboard or input device could be on any table or surface. You would have an instant computer. With the technology this vision is becoming more of a reality

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/01/07/monday-inspiration-innovative-designs-and-devices/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqSwBVzeTMY

I got an email from a friend that sent this on to me.
This business shares their competitive knowledge and also their competitors.

What an interesting idea.

It says we are truthful, honest, and just want your business.
http://fortyagency.com/