Archive for the ‘Business’ Category
Thursday, July 17th, 2008 |
One of the things on my task list today was to order the new computer that I have been considering for the past few months. Laura’s computer started acting up yesterday and that gave me the push to get it done. We can’t be without these kinds of things.
So, here is what I got:
1 Dell Precision T7400 Mini-Tower, Quad Core Xeon Proc E5405, 2.00GHz, 2X 6MB L2 Cache,1333MHz
1 2nd Processor, Quad Core Xeon Proc E5405, 2.00GHz, 2X 6MB L2Cache,1333MHz, Dell Precision T7400
1 4GB, DDR2 ECC SDRAM Memory 667MHz, 8X512MB,Dell PrecisionT5400 (I couldn’t go to the 800Mhz with these processors. Bumping up to faster processors added thousands to the cost.)
1 Entry Level, USB, No Hot Keys keyboards, Dell PrecisionWorkstations
1 nVidia,NVS 290, 256MB dual DVIGraphics Card, Dell Precision T3400
3 146GB 3Gbps SAS, 15K RPM Hard Drive, 3.5 Inch, Dell Precision T3400
1 C23 All SAS Hard Drives, RAID 5 for 3 Hard Drives, Dell Precision T7400
1 NO FLOPPY DRIVE, Dell Precision 490/690, Factory Install
1 Vista Ultimate SP1 with Media 32 Bit English Dell Precision (I decided to stick with the 32 bit operating system. I don’t need any surprises at the moment.)
1 Dell USB 2-Button Entry Mouse with Scroll for Dell Precision
1 16XDVD-ROM, Data Only, Dell Precision T3400
1 Cyberlink Power DVD 8.0,with Media,Dell Precision
1 Internal Chassis Speaker, DellPrecision T7400
1 Dell Wireless 1505 PCIe WLAN Card, Dell Precision Workstation
1 Resource DVD contains Diagnostics and Drivers for Dell Precision T7400
1 PERC6/i SAS/SATA Hardware RAID Card - For Connecting Internal Hard Drives, Dell Precision
7400
1 Norton Internet Security 2008 English, 2 Year,Dell OptiPlex Precision and Latitude
1 Dell Hardware Warranty Plus Onsite Service Initial Year
1 Dell Hardware Warranty Plus Onsite Service Extended Year(s)
1 ProSupport for End Users: 7×24 Technical Support and assistance for end-users, Initial
1 ProSupport for End Users: Next Business Day Parts and Labor Onsite Response Initial Year
1 ProSupport for End Users: Next Business Day Parts and Labor Onsite Response 2 Year Extended
1 ProSupport for End Users: 7×24 Technical Support and assistance for end-users, 2 Year Extended
Basically, the reason for this new computer is get some beef in the processor department as well as the additional and faster hard drives. I added RAM to my current computer and while I got a minimal performance increase, I don’t think RAM was the issue. I also thought that getting the on-site support was important.
I should get the system next week and will continue to use my current computer for other, non-critical tasks.
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Saturday, July 12th, 2008 |
In my previous post, I think I mentioned that I can delete email on my Blackberry Curve and it would delete on my desktop email account, but not the other way around. Well, after having the phone for a day or two and not deleting email on it (only deleting the mail on my desktop), I am realizing that it actually does delete on the phone, it just takes a while.
Yeah, you don’t have to hit “reconcile” or anything, it does it automatically. This is nice because I really would have a large pile of email sitting on the phone if this wasn’t the case.
Also, I installed the Blackberry Desktop Software that came with the phone. I believe it was version 4.3. It generally worked ok, but did crash at times. I guess that it didn’t work ok then. I would have to undo all of the settings and reset them and then sync again. The crashes would occur at the end of the sync somewhere. Last night, I upgraded to the latest version of the Blackberry Desktop Software, version 4.5, and the phone and desktop synced just fine. There is also a new look to the software. I only synced up once, so I am crossing my fingers that it works without issue from here on in.
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Friday, July 11th, 2008 |
I think I mentioned in my last post that I wanted to get broadband for my laptop while we are out and about or on vacation.
Basically, I had two choices…either I get the wireless card to connect to the wireless broadband network or use my new Blackberry to do it. Both options give me broadband access on my laptop, but the wireless card route would have required a two year contract, plus the purchase of the card. Also, the access charge was like $59.99 per month or something like that.
I decided to go with the VZAccess software that came with the Blackberry. I called Verizon Wireless support and had them turn on the broadband feature. It is $15 per month with no contract in addition to my existing one. Since it is a feature, I am able to turn it on and off as I please. The guy was like, “Ok, give it 15 minutes and you should be good to go.” That’s it. I installed the software, plugged the phone in and hit connect. It works great.
Both plans are limited to 5Gb per month. I think that should be ok for sitting on the patio of the Spring House on Block Island. I suppose I could occasionally look over to see the waves in the ocean.
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Thursday, July 10th, 2008 |
Well, I decided to upgrade my old Treo 700w for a nice, new BlackBerry Curve 8330 Smartphone. I thought it was about time to jump on the email-on-your-pda bandwagon. We are planning some activities and vacations this Summer, so this will cover one base.
So, let me tell you about my experience.
I have many email addresses, all forwarding to one Gmail address. It makes life a bit more simple. When I got the phone, I went through the quick setup. After that, I went in and configured an email address. It was basically inputting the email address and password. After that, I logged into Gmail and clicked “settings.” I clicked “Fowarding and POP/IMAP.” There, I enabled POP.
Then, I sent myself an email. Low and behold, I received it in my Gmail account and my Blackberry. Truly, I thought this was amazing. Then, I clicked delete on the Blackberry. I had the option of deleting the message from just the phone or both the phone and the Gmail account. I deleted it from both the phone and the Gmail account. A few seconds later, I noticed it disappear from Gmail. Again, I was stunned.
After that, I did the whole thing again, except this time, I deleted the message from Gmail first. I waited and waited for the message to disappear from the Blackberry. After a little research on the web (and customer support), I found out this is not possible. The messages stay on the Blackberry until they are deleted from there. Why? I have no idea. This is going to be kind of a pain in the butt, but I’ll figure something out. I did a search for “blackberry curve won’t reconcile” and I think I read somewhere that if you are using the BlackBerry Enterprise Server (or something like that), you can reconcile your messages with your email client. Until I find some information, I don’t know how to reconcile the email on the Blackberry with Gmail, or Outlook for that matter.
The other issue I was having was that whenever I would send an email from the Blackberry or from Gmail, I would receive a copy of that email on the Blackberry. I needed to find out how to stop that. I called customer support and, while on hold, did a search for “blackberry getting copies of sent email” on Google. I found a nice website that instructed me to login to the Verizon Wireless Blackberry Internet Service (BIS). No one seems to tell you these things from the company. At this point, customer support picked up and we both created an account and created a filter for my email address. Basically, the filter stops my own email address from sending me email. This forum post will tell you exactly how to do that.
Otherwise, everything is very smooth. The Blackberry syncs up with my Outlook 2007 so I can have my tasks, contact list and calendar on both my PC and the Blackberry. This is not too much different from the Treo 700w.
I’ll let you know how it works on the streets when I have had it for a while.
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Tuesday, May 20th, 2008 |
This is just a little follow up on my previous post about stamps. I know these aren’t the most exciting posts in the world, but we’ll deal with it.
Aparently, my last stamp order consisted of the “Forever Stamp.” Now that stamps are 42 cents each, guess how much they charge for the Forever Stamp? Yeah, 42 cents. I don’t know, maybe I’m just not smart enough to figure this kind of stuff out.
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Posted in Business | 4 Comments »
Saturday, May 17th, 2008 |
Well, you would actually be an independent contractor.
I already have two people helping me out these days. They manage all the websites, which is nice because it loosens me up to run the business. It has worked out very well so far. Now I need to take the next step. I am looking for someone (preferably an English major) who LOVES to write and do research. The main words are creativity and professionalism. This person must be able to write better than me, because if they can’t, I might as well do it all myself. I would love to read something this person writes and give them a pat on the back and say job well done. This person needs to be thinking about what they are going to write the next day while they are laying in bed falling asleep. Have you ever turned the light back on to take notes so you wouldn’t forget that great idea? Yeah, that’s what I’m talkin’ about.
If you don’t know me, I am going to let you in on a little secret. I am kind of hard to please. I do many things related to business myself and have gotten very good at them. It’s rare that I come across someone who knocks my socks off. When it comes to writing, I notice all the missing commas and off punctuation. It’s not easy noticing all this stuff, but that’s the way momma raised me.
Anyway, if you, or anyone you know is looking for some cold, hard cash and is an awesome writer, please let me know. You are going to need to send me samples of your work so I can look at them. It would be fantastic if you knew all about keywords and how to write for the web. It would also be fantastic if you were a marketing major (as well as an English major) who has experience with the web.
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Posted in Business, Internet | 1 Comment »
Thursday, May 15th, 2008 |
This one is for those people out there who know about computers. When people are searching for a new computer, they usually ask me what to get. I say something like, “I design websites, what the heck do I know about computers?” That usually gets some mean look and the person walks away. I haven’t been known for my bright attitude at times.
Well, I usually do ok, but I am getting a little tired of buying computers. I want my next one to last. I bought the one I am working on about 6 months ago. I am going to keep this one for something, but I need a monster. Here is the issue…I work with tons of files. One of my sites has 59,000 image files that I need to copy/paste, delete, move, whatever. That’s just one example. I also have very large files that I need to open/close, etc… My problem isn’t the need for processor power to run huge applications or for gaming, I just need something for big, and lots of files. Uploads and downloads are my middle names. I have been working on getting the fastest servers available and now my bottleneck has become my PC.
Here is what I am thinking:
- Dell Precision T7400 Workstation
- Quad Core Intel® Xeon® Processor E5405 (2.00GHz,2X6M L2,1333) (Do I need a 2nd processor?)
- Genuine Windows Vista® Business, with Media (I’m willing to move on from XP. Plus, Vista actually puts the computer in sleep mode, like I never got XP to do. Big power savings.)
- 3 Year ProSupport for End Users and 3 Year NBD On-site Service (This is important because I want someone in this house if the computer breaks.)
- 256MB PCIe x16 nVidia NVS 290, Dual Monitor DVI Capable ( I know absolutely nothing about video cards.)
- 4GB, DDR2 SDRAM FBD Memory, 667MHz, ECC (4 DIMMS) (I want more.)
- C23 All SAS drives, RAID 5, 3 drive total configuration ( I also know nothing about RAID. I basically want the speed of SAS drives, the speed of two drives working together and the redundancy of a third drive. I don’t know the difference between RAID 0 and RAID 5.)
- Three 146GB SAS Hard Drives, 1 inch (15,000 rpm) (How much faster are SAS drives than SATA drives?)
- PERC6/i SAS/SATA Hardware RAID Card - For Connecting Internal Hard Drives
- Dell 1505 Wireless-N PCIe Card
So there you have it. I already have a monitor, so that’s cool. I think I can save a few bucks by switching out the SAS drives for SATA drives. It depends on what I find out about them. I want more RAM, but didn’t see the option for more. I am wondering about another processor and the video card.
Well, any advice? Am I missing anything?
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Posted in Business, Computers | 4 Comments »
Thursday, May 1st, 2008 |
I am not sure if I previously mentioned this or not, but I am now in need of business class internet service, because I now require a static IP address.
The guys from Comcast just left. They switched our services from residential TV, cable and internet to just residential TV and cable and now business internet. They did a bunch of stuff, but the main thing was to set up another modem downstairs, alongside the old one and the router.
I already see a speed increase with downloading my files. I just happen to be in the middle of a big download, and strangely enough, the connection didn’t break…it just got faster. I have yet to set up the router to work with the static IP, but have found the support page that tells me how to do it. We are going out for a little while and I’ll give it a shot when we get back.
One thing I am going to do is the create a screen capture of the original settings, just in case I screw up. I am also going to have Hannigan’s number on hand. Hopefully he is familiar with Linksys routers.
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Tuesday, February 19th, 2008 |
Latest Google Android SDK: Solid Improvement!
Google has announced another prerelease version of the Android SDK. We took a close look at how it performs and found that Google is listening to feedback—the new SDK is a solid improvement over its predecessor.
Do Not Call Registry saved from mandatory reset
When the Do Not Call Registry launched in 2003, it had but one major flaw. Thanks to some rare Washington harmony, our DNCR registrations are safe for life (or until you move).
9 Useful Websites You Should Know About, But Probably Don’t
The following is Nine Websites You Should Know About, But Probably Don’t. There were still some extremely useful websites that were left out, so I’m writing a continuation article to cover these sites.
Ray Kurzweil: Machines Will Match Human Intelligence By 2029
“I’ve made the case that we will have both the hardware and the software to achieve human level artificial intelligence with the broad suppleness of human intelligence including our emotional intelligence by 2029,” he said.
An Internet Marketers Guide To Leveraging Your Way To Massive Online Success
The term leverage is used often in internet marketing circles, and simply means the power to act effectively, using existing knowledge, money or something else in a manner that results in a chain reaction of greater success.
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Friday, February 8th, 2008 |
Why Can’t America Vote Right?
Democracy in America is in trouble. For some reason we can’t figure out how to cast votes and count them without blunders, inaccuracy and stupidity. Worst of all, a consensus seems to be forming that computers or electronic ballots are to blame, and that the solution is paper-based voting. Here’s my proposal.
Democrats’ Nightmare: Elite Superdelegates may pick nominee
If neither Illinois Sen. Barack Obama nor New York Sen. Hillary Clinton manages to pull decisively ahead in the next few weeks, the nomination could depend on the convention votes of 796 party leaders, or superdelegates, who are free to ignore the preferences of Democratic voters.
Analyzing the Internet Collapse
When the Internet suddenly collapsed early last Wednesday across the Middle East and into India, it provided a stark reminder of how the Net’s virtual spaces can still be held hostage to real-world events.” And showed “the fragility of the Internet at its choke points.
What This Recession Nonsense Really Means for Us
Recession, shmecession. Everyone keeps blathering on about the dwindling dollar, the deflating markets, and an economy that is sure to dissolve into something obscenely dire any day now. But what does that all really mean and what exactly are we supposed to be doing about it?
10 Mistakes People Make When Starting a Business
What are the common mistakes that new entrepreneurs make and how can you avoid making them yourself? Here is our top 10 list of mistakes people make when starting a business:
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