Sunday, 19 October 2014

A Very Long Hiatus

So it has been a very long hiatus. But I am hoping that this time it will be shorter!

So what has happened over the last 3 years since i posted...

Technology has changed...very fast!

Lets take a walk through time...

1993 = My first PC IBM Ambra Intel 486 25Mhz SX 4MB RAM (Am I crazy???)
1996 = Hyundai Intel Pentium 100Mhz 32MB RAM (Hyundai made PCs???)
2004 = HP Pavilion Laptop 3.2GHz Single Core (Cutting edge for that time)

So fast forward to the GHz computing now and we now have the same if not better power on our Mobile Phones.

Hard to imagine is it not???

So how have things changed now... When I started using the internet it was on Compuserve. Or through the Compuserve Information Manager (CIM or WinCIM) with it's bundled NCSA Mosaic Browser. Netscape was something you paid for.

Along came Internet Explorer by MS and destroyed Netscape (Well it's then parent company did but that is a different story),

In this time we have Google, Facebook, Youtube.. Out of all the initial pioneers of the internet and there are many names that have disappeared... (Geocities, altavista) Only Amazon seems to remain and grow, yes there is Yahoo which is finding itself in some difficult times...

Hard to imagine how much things have changed!!


Thursday, 17 March 2011

Important tools needed on Android for IT Pro's

Ok a slight deviation but you have got that shiny android device and are wondering what to load on there.

Well first things first... Get an antivirus.

1. AVG
The great guys at AVG have created an AV for android devices that works quite well.


 So visit the marketplace and install that one.

2. Terminal Emulator
To get underneath the hood of android. Get this to tweak and see what goes on. But also for simple commands that you like doing in Linux.

3. Flash Light
How many times have you had to crawl behind servers and cabling to find that elusive serial number or port only to realise that you need a torch/flash light and haven't got one. Turn your phone camera's flash into a torch. But be warned it drinks some serious battery juice.

4. Router Passwords
An application to get those default passwords for the various routers. Ok might be a little out of date. But is a absolute life saver when you need to kill the config and start things without the manual.

5. Metaloid
Ok there are a few more applications like this that use a magnetometer. But Metaloid seems to be one of the better ones. Very useful for when things dont work the way they should do?
Ever find there is a magnetic field anomaly that is stopping your servers and networking equipment from working properly.

6. File Manager
To use an windows explorer style application to look at the file structure on your android device

7. IP Calculator
Hate subnetting? Join the club. Use this little app to help you get around things.

8. iMediaShare
Ok not quite a techie tool, but still useful. This is a fully featured DLNA server. Great for carrying your movies, photos and music around and making it appear on your internet enabled TV, PS3, XBOX etc. The life of a techie can be solitary with fans and servers being your only friends.

9. Silentflip
Turning your phone onto silent mode can be a real challenge on android devices. So use this little widget to turn it to silent mode.

10. Bubble
A useful tool to check the level of various items. Usually useful when rack mounting when the cages are of the old variety and need to be checked that the device is going in correctly and is lined up.

There are more applications like a SAMBA client (CIFS for some of us. File Sharing for most.) RDP Clients and ssh clients and servers that make for interesting uses.


Thursday, 10 March 2011

IT Service Management in the global economy

The words service management tends to bring mixed feelings in organisations depending on the experience felt within the organisation.

A lot of the time you find people tend to follow one doctrine or the other and lose sight of the fact of delivering not only a good service but a fantastic experience.

It is a bit like you going to a restaurant and getting great food where the service is speedy and flexible enough to meet changes when they occur.

This sometimes tends to elude the IT service industry. You either get people following ITIL to the letter or someother process like the manufacturing based 6sigma.

In the process the user gets left behind or the quality suffers.

Translation: great service, bad food or bad service, great food.

The industry has a whole needs to look at what it delivers. For it to do this all it has to do is look at the medical profession and the food service industry to work out how best to help it achieve the goal of great service and great experience.