Techno Cop

The TECHNOCOP HQ

This post is to yield to the numerous requests to get a glimpse of the Technocop Headquarters (THQ). Here is one side of the THQ once more (click on the photo for a closer view):

Just a quick run-down of what is shown:

1. A DIY computer table project I described here.
2. Viewsonic 28 in monitor giving me a 1920x1200 'real estate'.
3. Fujtsu Scansnap S510M scanner sitting on top of the Mac Pro. It is just an amazing scanner.
4. The speed demon Mac Pro 3.0 Ghz Quad Core
5. Kensington SlimBlade Presenter Media Mouse
6. Belkin 4 port USB hub
7. Apple wireless Keyboard
8. Bose portable SoundDock

This setup is such a joy to use. It has made working for hours on end in front of the computer much bearable and fun too. Note that the table is pushed a bit to the side which allows me to watch TV even while working, especially when CSI is on.

In my next blog, I will show you the other half of the THQ where I do the heavy office work.

Who says that working has to be so horrible?

Intel on NETBOOKS: 'Fine for an hour' but..." Duh!

According to a Cnet article, at a recent Raymond James IT Supply Chain Conference, Stu Pann, vice president in the sales and marketing group at Intel, said his company sees the Netbook differently now.

His most jaw-dropping statement was, "If you've ever used a Netbook and used a 10-inch screen size--it's fine for an hour. It's not something you're going to use day in and day out."

I could only speculate about the logic behind this statement especially considering that the Intel Atom processors found in most netbooks are perhaps the hottest selling in Intel's product line. However I could say for certain that there will be millions of netbook users who will argue with that viewpoint.

Techradar in their recent article "Notebook vs Netbook: which should you buy?" found the netbooks to be extremely capable but not as one's sole computer especially if you are a gamer or fond of heavy multi-tasking. This is what they say about the overall netbook performance:

Speed-wise, we didn't experience many problems when working on Word, Excel or PowerPoint files on a variety of netbooks. File opening and saving times were fairly nippy and even cutting and pasting large images or lots of tables and graphs didn't slow things down too much. However, if you keep a lot of documents open at the same time and are constantly switching between them, it can place a strain on a netbook's limited spec.

This is mainly because netbooks tend to come with a limited amount of memory, but it's also due to the nature of the Atom processor, which isn't a patch on the dual-core and quadcore processors found in full-blown laptops when it comes to multi-tasking.

On the whole, we'd say that for day-to-day office tasks, netbooks have enough processing power to get the job done without feeling too sluggish.

My OS X netbook of choice, the Asus 1000H, is not my only computer. You simply cannot beat the speed as well as the convenience of working on a full-featured desktop or notebook. That is why I still have my MacPro setup at the Technocop HQ and my Macbook tethered to a 22 inch monitor at the office. But for my day to day computing chores, I find my netbook to be very capable. At this price point, its reasonable processing power, light weight, and respectable battery life are simply hard to beat. Heck, I recently survived a 1 week consulting job with the netbook as my only computer.

Perhaps, I will not argue with this conclusion by Techradar:

For more intensive tasks, you'll find that a netbook's limited performance really gets in the way. However, as a companion for your existing laptop or desktop PC, a netbook is hard to beat. They're highly portable and the good battery life is also a boon. Add to this the fact that they're so competitively priced and you've got a really tempting device.

Technorati Tags: Netbook

Most Useful Sync Tool Ever - SUGARSYNC

We recently moved to our new office and in just a few hours, all members of my team were settled down and busy going about their chores. This should no longer come as a surprise to anyone given the technologies we now have available. But let us just do a quick run down of what was involved in the 'move':

1. Since the new office is fully furnished, we just had to move some tables around a bit.
2. Our IT guy went about his task of installing the Linksys Wireless N router while everyone was busy plugging-in their external desktop monitors and keyboard. He also setup our only desktop PC (an XP) to hook up with the ever reliable CANON Dr-2580c scanner.
3. Since all my team members are used to working with only a laptop (mostly ASUS Eee 1000H PC), they are done with the 'move' just as soon as they hook-up their external monitor and are able to connect to the wifi.
4. Printing is a cinch since we all use the very dependable Canon iP90v printer with optional Bluetooth.

And that's that. No messy wires, no back-breaking transfer of heavy equipment. We completed the transfer to the new office in less than half a day. Well, almost. If only the dang ACU is working.

The most time consuming aspect of the 'move' was introducing my team to a crude workgroup filing system using SUGARSYNC. We had to download and install SUGARSYNC in every laptop and then create individual folders inside the Magic Briefcase folder that was automatically created. A few of us just could not believe the fact that after saving a file inside the Magic briefcase on their PC, the same file is almost instantly available in all our other computers.

Since we downloaded only a trial version of SUGARSYNC which is good for 10 gigs in 45 days, we will be upgrading soon. I think the 60 gig storage (around $100, only need to sign up for 1 account) should suffice given our workflow for the next 6 months or so.

I have been a satisfied customer of Sharpcast for the past 3 months. I have written this blog a few months back to describe how I manage to sync all my files across the 4 computers that I own.

RAFE NEEDLEMAN of Cnet has this to say about sugarsync:

SugarSync is a unique product. Properly configured, it can give its users access to all their data from anywhere -- any computer they own or any Web-connected device. It can completely free users from caring where their data is stored, and that's a powerful thing. And while it's a great "hard drive in the sky," it doesn't force you to change your work habits and rely solely on online storage.

GMAIL Themes

For months now, I have been surviving without ever having to open MS Outlook in any of my computers. I have found GMAIL and GCAL to be very good alternative to my longtime favorite PIM – MS OUTLOOK. Today, I discovered that I could change the looks of GMAIL by giving it a fresh coat of paint, sort of. You can gain access to the theme selection by going to SETTINGS then THEMES. I have selected DESK on mine which gives you a feeling of working on an open notepad sitting on top of a desk. Whoa.

Text to mp3 - TextAloud

I have some time on my hands and would love to catch up on my business book readings. However, there are just 'too many books and so little time.' Yes, I am a subscriber of Audible.com where I get to download audio books and listen directly on my iPhone 3G. In one of my blogs, I described how audiobooks allowed me to keep up with the required readings for my Personal MBA.

But with audiobooks running between 8-15 hours of listening time. There must be a better way.

Enter book summaries. I signed up for a trial account the other day with Biz Summaries and I was just amazed at the quality of book summaries that they have in their archive. Their summaries give me the nuggets of knowledge that not only save time, but more importantly, zero in on the salient ideas in an easy to read format. What I discovered actually lends credence to one of the testimonials:

A Summary isn't merely a digest or excerpts strung together. It's a seamless document that reads (and holds your interest) like a magazine article. And you retain more of the content when you read a Summary than when you read a book. A major university study proved that a few years back.

$79.99 will get you a 1 year subscription and access to their more than 500 bestsellers which on the average are between 5-10 A4 sized pages when printed. This is a definite time saver for me.

I even went a step further and converted the summaries to mp3 using TextAloud. TextAloud is a windows only software that converts any text into voice and even to MP3. Listen to email, web pages and documents on your computer or portable MP3 player. When I bought TextAloud a couple of years back, I also purchased two natural voices – Kate and Paul. I swear that the quality of mp3's I produce from TextAloud are at par, if not better, than my purchased audiobooks.

I usually end up with a 20-30 minute mp3 per book summary which I listen to when driving or even while shooting the breeze at my favorite Starbucks. I find that listening to the mp3 while reading a printed copy of the summary allows me to zero-in better on the materials.

Today, I finished two must read marketing books both written by SETH GODIN – 'All Marketers are Liars' and 'Purple Cow'.