Tuesday, July 7, 2009 at 8:39AM This is good news for you Beatles lovers, a new version of Rock Band will be available in September, more than enough time for the Xmas season. Funny how this was a discussion we had around the fire on July 4th and now here it is… So there you go Jen.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009 at 8:20AM 
The new Sony Vaio W will be based on the 1.66GHz Intel Atom N280 processor just like its competition but Sony plans on differentiating itself by offering a larger touchpad and a higher resolution screen. Typical netbooks in the 10 inch screen arena sport 1024x600 pixel screen but the Sony units will have a display resolution of 1366x768, providing a significantly larger desktop area to work in. This will mean less scrolling on applications and websites and potential better experience in the long run.
Along with the higher resolution comes a higher price tag.The estimated cost will be around 500 dollars. The Units will begin shipping in August and will initially be available in the U.K., France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain and Russia and be available form Sony's online shop. There has been no
The proposed Sony specs on release: Windows XP Home, 1GB RAM, 160GB Hard Drive, only 2 USB ports, 802.11a/b/g wireless LAN and Bluetooth, Camera and a Memory Card Reader. The Battery Life is estimated at 3.5 hours on the low side for money.
I love Sony products primarily because their systems usually have much better screen displays, and as usual, you will be paying for that feature as well. If you need better resolution on your netbook, then this product might be the answer.However, the price tag may be the deciding factor to keep it out of the booming netbook market. I sure hope it will be available in something other than pink!
Tuesday, July 7, 2009 at 7:50AM Great article discussing the new metrics on compact camera design. You will have some greater insight into what to look for when purchasing your next digital camera.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009 at 7:43AM 
"On March 2, 2009, service repairs for Original Xbox video game systems for which the Warranty has expired will no longer be available," reads Microsoft's official support site. "Any other technical support, documents, and content, however, will continue to be available to all our customers. Although Microsoft is ending repair services for the Original Xbox, an upgrade program and support will be maintained for Original Xbox consoles that are still under Warranty."
There is no need to cry though. The Xbox had a good run with over 25 million units sold.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009 at 7:29AM 
Don’t read this if you are about to eat lunch at your desk… In fact if you are then you are probably contributing to the problem. I am regularly dumping the collections out of keyboard on the weekly basis. It’s pretty disgusting. The comparison to the toilet seat caught my attention. Take a quick read of this article and get out the Purell and Lysol.
Dirty little secrets of the keyboard revealed | Tech News on ZDNet
Monday, July 6, 2009 at 1:40PM The author makes several good points about how the younger generation is becoming operating system independent. But, as he comments, if you are a Windows Application dependent person, then you will definitely see some benefits from the new operating system.
"Windows 7 is the same as Ubuntu" | Education IT | ZDNet.com
Monday, July 6, 2009 at 6:45AM I have created a simple video showing the cut and paste features of OneNote and show how the search function works on text vs. an image file containing text.
Monday, July 6, 2009 at 5:23AM 
OneNote can be purchased separately or is part of the suite in Office Home and Student, Office Ultimate Suite or Enterprise Editions. If you are a college student this package is available for a substantial discount and if you have a tablet PC, take a look, it may have been part of the package!
The key to understanding this package is understanding its hierarchical structure. In real life you would start with a physical notebook. The same concept works here as well. When you have the system create a notebook for you, you are creating a file folder to hold your information on the system. You can put this folder on any drive. The reason this is important is because you can place a notebook that is shared by multiple people if you place the notebook in a shared data location, like your server, NAS drive or like me, I placed one in a cloud drive on my Jungle Disk network drive that is now available to me from all my computers both at home and at work. There is no realistic limits to the number of separate notebooks, however, the more you have the harder it is to remember where to go when you want to add more information. The system is able to search through all of your active notebooks using keyword searches.
It is easy to move sections and pages from one area to another so don’t be worried about structure too much, it can be a living ever changing structure. I know mine is. I’ll write more on this OneNote functions and the many uses that you can apply to it in future posts. The main thing I wanted to do is make you aware of this wonderful often over looked product from Microsoft.
Monday, July 6, 2009 at 5:22AM Microsoft has published its top 10 reasons for using their OneNote Product. Take a look, I’m sure you will see one or more that fits your needs as well.
Microsoft Office OneNote 2007 top 10 benefits - OneNote - Microsoft Office Online
Saturday, July 4, 2009 at 11:14AM 
I happen to be one of the lucky guys that has a job that also has many roots in the ways that I enjoy my life. I love and embrace the technology that invades my life and use it for enjoyment as well as help me get my job done. Technology is so ensconced in my life I really don't know what I would do if you were to strip it from me. Everything that I do at work and in most of the things at home use electronics and/or software, that they cannot be separated from each other. Only when I'm doing gardening, cleaning the pool or some other small chores around the house do I escape from technology. The rest of the time I embrace it because I enjoy it so much.
So back to the article. The gist of it is that with IT's help, there are several things that you can do to help provide less frustration and keep all your balls successfully in the air. By implementing job related tools that are available wherever and whenever you need them, you allow people to become more efficient which also gets them back to their personal lives. The need to access data and ability to communicate with people no matter where you are has become one of the “a must have” functions. As information workers, we need access to corporate data whenever and wherever we are. Implementing remote access to central information sources is vital. The access to these services needs to be available 24/7. The good news is that these technologies are available for implementation and all you need are the finances and the help of a knowledgeable technology professional to get them implemented.
It is funny how in my home office I've been able to set up an environment that includes both office functionality and personal entertainment. And as I watch myself on the weekends, I see how easy it is for me to switch back and forth between the things I enjoy doing for myself as well as those things that are necessary for the job. It is also interesting to see those things that have a foot firmly planted in both areas and how they give me a sense of accomplishment as well as enjoyment with all things that I do at the keyboard. If you focus on the technologies that can enhance your work experience, and you can have a better handle on creating less of a blur of loan line between your life and work. Good luck, and be successful in both life and happiness.
Three Smart Technologies to Ease Work/Life Chaos - Smarter Strategies
Friday, July 3, 2009 at 4:38PM 
The first group have to do with communication. They include the new Messenger and Mail client for instant messaging and email. There is also an Outlook Connector for linking your hotmail account back to Outlook. Next, is Writer witch is a great blogging tool. I have mine setup to publish to 6 different sites. It makes it real simple to do so once you have it set up. I have a deep interest with photography and the next two applications deal with that. Use Photo Gallery and Movie Maker to edit and organize your photos and movies, and then post them online or send them to friends. The next few add-on deal with accessing info with your web browser. With the Toolbar you can customize your browser and find what you need. Family Safety provides access control to protect your family from unseemly sites. Microsoft Silverlight provides Microsoft’s version of Flash and video presentation programming to your system from the Internet.
So Scott, here are some of my favorite programs that you may be able to take advantage of.
Thursday, July 2, 2009 at 5:33PM 
With a single USB connection you can connect to all of your peripherals, including your monitor. The video output supports up to 1440 x 900 on widescreen monitors and 1280 x 1024 on standard 4:3 monitors. It is Windows Vista compatible and comes with a 2 year limited warranty. The only drawback that I see is that it doesn’t include a network adapter but you already have wireless in your notebook so that shouldn’t be a problem unless you don’t have a wireless router or access point available at your location. But, if you are running around with the notebook in your home you probably have this in place already.
Features Include:
Thursday, July 2, 2009 at 3:58PM 
Microsoft to offer Family Pack for Windows 7 Home Premium | Ed Bott’s Microsoft Report | ZDNet.com
Thursday, July 2, 2009 at 12:31AM There is a lot of worry about how Microsoft is going to deliver Windows 7 to Netbooks that don’t have built-in optical drives. I personally question why this is such a problem. If the operating system is delivered on an optical drive, just take the DVD to a machine that has a DVD player on it and copy the contents of the disk to a USB Flash Drive. I have made complete article available on how to make a USB drive bootable and to install Windows 7 from a Flash Drive. My experience so far with our customers is that the NetBook is usually not their only computer and that they have another computer available to them. If not try going to your local library. They have computers and they will probably let you do the transfer from the optical disk to a USB Drive if you explain what you need to do.
I know this is an extra step that you probably wish you didn’t have to take, but let’s be reasonable. If you own a NetBook you are either computer savvy already, or, who ever set it up for you is, and will be able to accomplish this for you. This is not the end of the world as some people would have you believe or a very big deal at that… Come on people get real…
Thursday, July 2, 2009 at 12:30AM I am sitting here going through my emails this evening, and it occurred to me that we have really gotten lazy or I have extremely high expectations of my fellow human beings. When I see comments come 
across the internet asking why companies are upgrading products and making them better, faster and more usable (my definition), I wonder just how lazy and complacent we have become. Don’t you want to progress, learn and become better at what you do? Don’t you want your tools that you use day in and day out to help you to make your job easier and more productive? I can’t understand the attitude of people that look at every possible step forward as something to disdain and fight with all their might. All that energy wasted on trying to stop normal progression when just a small amount of effort will get them to the next level. Hey! Don’t become the Neanderthal in your work group. Embrace, learn and become the better person. Such a simple thing and so hard for some of us to do. Sorry about the Rant. but if it hits home it sure is worth it!
I look at the skill sets that we all need to have in our jobs and wonder when it was in my youth that I learned that I was going to be a student for the rest of my life. This is something that we all need to realize. In all honesty I can’t wait until the day that I retire and can begin the next part of my life. Because, you see, work sometimes gets in the way of the learning. It is funny how this can happen. There can be so much fun, amazement and improvisation with all these tools that so many magnificent minds provide us. When you begin to allow learning to become fun, then you have finally allowed all of life’s amazing wonders to fill your soul. Let it. You will be amazed at the outcome.
Thursday, July 2, 2009 at 12:30AM 
TechSmith is a company that has been producing software to help educators and support personnel to provide simple, professional looking video for quite a few years. I use several of their products to help me produce my How To Videos as well as short videos I use to respond to my clients at the office.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words but what is a video worth? I said I used several of TechSmith’s tools and this first one I am going to talk about is free. The Jing Project is a program that is offered by TechSmith that will integrate back into their other 
The second component of Jing is it’s video capture. While this may sound like the same thing, it most assuredly is not. With Jing I can capture all of my screen changes and narrate the subject matter at the same time and produce a quick, up to 5 minute presentation on the fly. The only negative, you have to do it in one take or begin again from scratch.
So if you are interested in seeing these programs in action, don’t hesitate making an appointment with me to see them. I will be more than happy to show them off and help you decide if they are the right fit for your business.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009 at 11:01AM I get to see a lot of new technology on a daily basis and this is one that causes us gadget hounds to salivate. Touchtable makes a product that allows a user to network different sites together using a large screen table top designed touch screen system. Touchtable, Inc. CEO Rocky Roccanova showed Wired Science TV’s Ziya Tong different uses for this interesting device. Mr. Roccanova stated that this device was originally designed for children to learn geography, but it really shines with applications for the oil and gas industry, military and public service areas. Take a look at the video above and I am sure you will be wowed.
Sunday, June 28, 2009 at 3:48PM 
Sunday, June 28, 2009 at 2:27PM We had a recent request for how to make Word 2007 look like Word 2003…
Though I truly believe that the new interface in Office is so much better than what we had in Office 2003, some people have had a hard time with learning the new versions Office products.
Make The Change To Office 2003
If you're stuck with Office 2007, yet yearning for the familiar menu of Office 2003, you now have an option. It's an add-in from Addintools: Classic Menu for Office 2007. It changes the menus for Word, Excel, Access, Outlook, and PowerPoint. The downside is that at $30, it's fairly expensive. However, you can pick up individual add-ins, say, just for Word, for $16.
Sunday, June 28, 2009 at 1:35PM The overview on Aruba Networks'site says: " in today's world, realizing a vision for tomorrow requires mobility. More specifically, the more secure, more manageable, more scalable, more powerful true mobility networks of Aruba. Our business user centric networking architecture securely and reliably brings enterprise applications to users where ever they work-in the office, in a hotel, on the road.
This product provides a centralized secure system for control of your wireless technology. Using mesh technology this company's products enable converged data, voice, and video network to be deployed and expanded without installing any network wiring. As an extension of Aruba's WLAN and Security Solutions, Secure Enterprise Mesh technology is ideal for outdoor enterprise environments and indoor locations that are tough to wire. Both indoor and outdoor deployments are are supported through the same infrastructure, without required disparate solutions that are separately managed and secured for each area. That makes it easy to design, deploy, and manage a secure enterprise network that contains mesh.
Aruba's Secure Enterprise Mesh solution has several key distinguishing characteristics related to security, reliability, performance, management and ease of installation. Some of these benefits include:
Aruba Networks has been a perfect fit for many of our local school districts and other large facility environments. Be sure to speak to one of your Computer Connections System Design Specialist to help provide you with a system design specific to your needs.
