Historically of course things have needed a cable to connect them.  And we like wireless ‘cuz it’s like being free of a tether to any certain location.  But still today many applications run better over a wired network, and faster.  The prime example is a database app which might be CRM (Customer Relationship Management like we talked about last week), or maybe video editing apps, some cloud apps.  Many are not very tolerant of even a short blip of connection drop.  You wouldn’t notice this so much just browsing the internet or checking email.  But think about an app that needs to have uninterrupted connection to its sharepoint (i.e. a server) and it’s trying to go over a wireless connection similar to your cell phone.  Oops, under a bridge, dropped call.  App crash.  If you’ve ever sat and watched wireless signals (what we do with our Friday nights) you’d see they fluctuate up and down, grow and fade.

And wireless is getting faster, but still no match for a wired connection.  More speed and more stability.  And then we see fiber optics coming at us fast, wired at the speed of light.  So if you’re in your office and you don’t need to move from room to room, get a wired connection and increase your productivity.

Use wireless when you’re on the move.

Happy computing!

Flick it on, and a totally foreign set of icons, sliders, and hidden gestures await your every command.  Kind of like being plunked down in the cockpit of stealth fighter, no?  Wheels up in 10!  Now where is that instruction manual anyway…

Don’t be intimidated, forget the manual for a bit.  We recommend you just start exploring and touch icons, follow where they lead, then try to find your way back to the home screen.  Pick another icon.  Try out a couple gestures that always look so cool on that primetime detective/cop shows where a lead character is mining forensic data for clues on their translucent floor-to-ceiling touchscreen.  With surround-sound of course.

At some point before you decide to chuck it out the window, search the internet or even the (gasp!) manual for how-to steps.  There are likely a gazillion poorly produced youtube videos demonstrating just what it is you want to know.

The reason we suggest this approach is to integrate the intuitive-ness in design of the device with your own cognitive approach to discovery and problem-solving.  Is there science behind this method of learning?  Maybe, maybe not.  But probably most of us learned to communicate with words before we learned to read.  We played the instrument before we read the manual.  Also it’s what we’ve found to work best, and many clients have told us the same.

So back straight, chin up.  Feel the wind in your hair and go boldly forth.

Happy Computing!

From Wikipedia:  The “cloud” is the use of computing resources (hardware and software) that are delivered as a service over a network (typically the Internet).

[The name comes from the common use of a cloud-shaped symbol as an abstraction for the complex infrastructure it contains in system diagrams. Cloud computing entrusts remote services with a user's data, software and computation.]

So if you use gMail, Hotmail, Dropbox, online backups, google apps, sharing pics online, etc., you’re there.  The question is, do you want some or all of your business data and information be up there too?

Pros:

Accessibility – Data can be accessed from many different computing devices and locations.

Scalability – Additional server space or capacity can be added or reduced relatively easily.

Startup Cost – Setup costs are generally low so not a lot of capital needs to be invested at new business startup or expansion.

IT Staff – Server management is outsourced to cloud provider.

Cons:

Availability – Internet goes down or cloud provider goes down.  Neither of which you can control.

Security – Your information is going through a third-party which carries with it some risks.

Performance – Speed is dependent on your internet connection, number of users, and what apps are being used.

Cost – Depending on actual use, long term cost is often greater than keeping information in-house.

Cloud providers would have you think it’s a must-have.  Naysayers might say stay away at all costs.

Here’s our take:   Cloud computing is one of many tools available to businesses and is best used when appropriate.   Computer Wrangler utilizes cloud resources for some network functions and in-house resources for others.  We optimize IT performance tailored to our individual clients.

Happy computing~ cloud or otherwise!

Computer networks are the same.

When your business is under heavy load, which is good, a casual or amateur design of your network is enforcing a low speed limit on the productivity of your team.

Especially wireless networks where consumer grade equipment is used because it’s cheap.  Yes, you get what you pay for, but it doesn’t have to break the bank to make things right.

If you are having any speed issues – or lack thereof! – Computer Wrangler can visit your business and analyze your systems – for FREE!  We provide visual diagrams of where the bottlenecks are happening.  Where it’s costing you revenue.  And we provide solutions that make sense.

Happy, speedy computing!

Yes we might be heading into Skynet and Terminator territory here but scientists have been able to link “brains” of animal test subjects to communicate and solve simple puzzles.  And another aspect of that is computers made only of biological molecules, no transistors or copper wire anywhere.  But think of it.  What if scientists could develop liver cells that would actively seek damage and replicate themselves to repair human organs.  Brain cells that could find injury and heal it.

We’re in a time when technology is exploding in many different directions.  Don’t really think any one person could keep up with all of it nor should they try.  We think the important thing is to keep an open attitude to what is developing and sample bits and pieces of what seems to fit into what you’re already doing and learning.  Maybe we could consider it the Zen of computing.

Check out how the new biological computer works – here!

Watch out for those guys with a glowing red eye – and happy computing!

You left the draft for your presentation at the office and you need it now that you’re at the client meeting.  Good thing you put it in Dropbox.

This is a free app that uses the cloud to sync your files across all your devices.  Sync means it keeps the most up to date copy available to you no matter where you are.  And it’s free up to 2GB.  Which is a lot of documents.  You can get more gigabytes by “spreading the word” and referring colleagues and friends too.  And they’ll be happy you did because did I mention it’s free?  No pyramid scheme here.

Of course my favorite part of dropbox is interacting with my smartphone.  I snap a picture or two and it immediately sends it to the cloud, then back to my desktop computer.  Can’t tell you how many of those little SD cards that have corrupted on me.  But doesn’t matter since there’s already a copy on my PC.

And, get this, it also acts like a backup similar to Carbonite and Crashplan and Mozy.  If you have a document that has been edited many times, it keeps all the copies as you go.

This one is a no-brainer, check it out as soon as you have time.

Happy computing!

Don’t be overwhelmed.

Yes there are a lot of cool gadgets out there and yes social media swirls with activity and yes it changes almost by the minute.

But as business people, one always need to use a cool eye to view what’s all the latest rage.  Then ask the question: How could this help my business?  If I give all my employees smartphones and insist they get linked in and Facebooked and Twitter 10 times a day, how does that move toward my goals?

With the hype of all things new, our guiding principle should be based in the core of our business and secondarily looking at new technologies.  We don’t want to be stuck in “the old way”, but spending resources on today’s craze isn’t necessarily wise.

Computer Wrangler can be your advisor in that.  We deal with it every day and see how it affects businesses just like yours.  Tap our knowledge of what makes sense and what doesn’t.

We’re here for you – give us a call.  Happy computing!

Enter Start8 by Stardock, and there are some others.  www.stardock.com

Basically what it does is get rid of the cellphone-like main screen of Windows 8 and give you back the Start Menu you’ve known for a decade or more.

At $4.99 it’ll pay for itself in about 5-10 minutes of your wasted time.  You can then explore the new features at your leisure and avoid the frustration when you’re trying to get business done.

Windows 8 does have some nice performance enhancements and it’s a move into the future of computing (along with the introduction of solid state drives), but for small and medium businesses, that a topic for a later time.

Happy computing!

Def: Beta-tester – Yeah, the product isn’t ready for prime time but it’ll be cheaper for us to force it on the retail market and have them find out the flaws we have to fix so business will buy it.

So just like Vista wasn’t ready, and the IT world heaved a sigh of relief when Windows 7 came out, it appears we might be reliving history with Windows 8 and will rejoice when Windows 9 arrives on the scene.  And for those of you old enough to go to a bar on your own, you might remember a similar episode with Windows Millennium in the antagonist role.  Is there a pattern here?

Some estimates show that even as late as mid-2012, Windows 7 had been adopted by just over half of small to medium businesses.  In the large enterprise market, Windows XP still dominates maybe as high as 80%.

Our recommendation: wait until at least 2014 to trust Windows 8 with your business health.

Happy computing!

As the online world has developed, you should know that anything you put on the internet – your website, your blog, your comments to the local news website have been immortalized in the ever expanding web.  It doesn’t just disappear into the ether.  Maybe you didn’t already know that but careers have been ruined by just one whimsical Facebook post of a person at a party or a political comment on a letters-to-the-editor forum.

This was seed to a new industry that has adopted the “Mission Impossible” mantra of “this tape will self-destruct in 5 seconds, 4,….” .  The Snapchat app is one such agent.  You can send a pic and it will display for 10 seconds and then disappear.  Facebook has launched Poke to compete with Snapchat but results are mixed.  Still the idea you can send chats, messages, videos and pics that self-destruct points out the need for balance in the invasion of privacy that social networking brings upon us.

In the business world, the rule of thumb is still “If you don’t want your best client to see it, don’t put it out there.”