Merry Tech Rant 2012

Aloha everyone! Hopefully this message finds you full of mirth and good cheer for the holiday season. Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

The theme of this missive is the changes we are all faced with daily on a technical level: New requirements, more bad news about the latest security threat, updates, upgrades, etc. ad nauseum. Here Comes Santa Claus, Here Comes Santa Claus …

It isn’t all that bad, of course. But when it gets in the way of you getting your work done ‘quickly and efficiently’ in the way that you have become accustomed, does it really help that much? Sometimes not so much, initially, anyway.

But, I guess that is beside the point. We don’t really direct the technical stream that affects us and we are always 3 steps behind the people who do lead it, for good or bad. Silent Night, Holy Night…

I would love to put a positive spin on this, right here, right now, so that you would feel confident and assured that we have it all under control. But, it’s really just barely controlled anarchy and chaos, masking a future ‘disaster in the making’. How’s that? Feel better? Joy to the World!

Of course drama, like comedy, uses exaggeration to amplify the intensity of the experience. So of course it isn’t all that bad, but it’s kind of how we feel sometimes, with what we are faced with. As a user, we try to protect you from the harsh reality, and the technical lingo, that we are forced to deal with day in and day out. You’re welcome. J O Tannenbaum….

Take passwords for example. Sure, everyone knows, upper case + lower case + special characters + numbers, etc., the longer the better, blah-blah-blah-blah-blah, but guess what? There is software out there that contains what are called ‘hash tables’, of every possible combination of characters that special computers can use to chew through your best laid plan for a password in hours!

The answer to this, believe it or not, are things like dual-factor authentication and bio-metrics or physical controls to access your systems securely. It’s 007 time. Don’t lose your eyeballs or fingerprints please. Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire…

But we keep trying to outwit, outlast, outplay and out think these players by avoiding online banking, or online shopping. But, guess what? The stores you use? The businesses you patronize? The restaurant you just left?

They are under assault as well by the same folks that you think are after you. But in truth, they want the banks, the stores and the data vaults where your information and a million other folks just like you, is stored whether or not you shop online. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer...

You have the best intent, yet so much of what you try to affect is simply out of your control, through no fault of your own. You are dependent on others integrity, intelligence, intention, thoughtfulness and thoroughness.

That is where we at MB Technologies, LLC really try to excel. To one degree or another we succeed, albeit not always. After all, you can’t make everyone happy all the time and you can’t always prevent bad things from happening to people you care about, but you use the best practices available to you and remain vigilant. The stress is incredible, you have no idea. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

As you may have noticed, my role in the company has changed dramatically as of late, whereby I am more involved in administrative services, accounting, proposals and managing the company while directing our engineers and technicians to perform the requested services instead of performing the actual field work. It Came Upon a Midnight Clear…

Sorry, but it is the evolutionary nature of becoming more successful. Thank you for your support and patronage that has allowed our continued success. But, we all move on and take on different challenges. I consider it a promotion of sorts, but I plan on continuing to visit and communicate with our clients as often as I can. Please, never apologize for ‘bothering’ me or contacting me with your questions or concerns. It’s really what I live for. I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas…

Speaking of changes, we have always counseled our users on backing up their data, but even that has changed. Online storage and backup solutions abound for dirt cheap costs these days, so it is almost impossible NOT to have your data replicated somewhere in the cloud. Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells….

Of course, backups are great. But you haven’t lived, (or died a thousand deaths), if you haven’t tried to RESTORE that data while recovering from a disaster. Let’s face it, no one cares much about a document or picture that was backed up 4 years ago, but they do care about the file they were working on 4 minutes ago! You Better Watch Out, You Better Not Cry…

Not there, is it? That’s right, because unless your active files are stored and accessed in the cloud, through a service like DropBox, Google Drive or Office.365 you probably don’t have that file backed up. It’s the nature of the beast you know. Santa Claus is Coming to Town…

Need advice on what service best suits you and how to protect yourself? Let us know. Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly…

But enough of that. On to updates and the raging need of every program you own to update itself at every turn and every worst moment possible, because it almost always entails the need to restart your computer after it’s done.

Even worse, for so many of our clients, we have had to reduce your user access control to a lower level to protect you from involuntary exposure to malware and the like. So that even when you are alerted to a legitimate update process, it fails because you don’t have the rights to allow it to run! (Think Java, Adobe, Microsoft, Symantec, etc.) Frosty the Snowman!

Oy vey! The huge manatee! Then your vendor of preference, Micro$oft or Apple, comes out with a version upgrade to the latest and greatest OS and you find out that you will end up needing an entirely new computer. Which is GREAT for the economy, but not so much for your credit rating. Just one more notch on the MasterCard I guess. Feliz Navidad…

Like life itself, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Thanks for reading, or deleting. It all ends up in the same digital wasteland anyway you know. ;) One thing that won’t change is our dedication to making sure you and your technical needs are taken care of before, during and after the next upgrade/downgrade, problem/solution that you may have to face. Do You Hear What I Hear?....

I will be out of the office from 12/20 -> 12/28. MB Technologies, LLC intends to take two 4 day weekends in a row, (Christmas 12/22 - 12/25 and New Year’s 12/29 – 1/1), but of course we will be available to answer and solve your pressing technical, computing and security concerns whenever you need our help, so please don’t hesitate to call or email us! Have a Holly Jolly Christmas!

_______________________
Brian D. Hughes
MB Technologies, LLC
brian@mbtechnologies.com
(808) 383-9986

Simple Reminder: Be the conscious creator of your experience.

Tech Rant Windows 8

Aloha my friends and captive audience members. You may have noticed there is an election about to happen. If you think the political world is sociologically paralyzed with polarization you should read some of the Apple vs. Windows flame wars online. Red vs. Blue? More like “We are Cool vs. You Are a Recalcitrant Old Fart”. OK, I can live with that, but I guess Micro$oft is taking it personally. Plus they are seeing a massive amount of former profits disappear into the tablet void of which they have no competing product. Until now. Drum Roll…… Ta da! SURFACE in your FACE Apple! Well, I don’t have a Surface Tablet yet, but I TOTALLY get it. Cute Windows and squares with moving content right on my screen! WHEE!!! Actually it’s giving me motion sickness about now, AND THE COLORS! OMG THE COLORS!!!! No, it doesn’t come with that awesome blue keyboard, that’s an extra $100++, but it makes it ever more awesome or so they say. All I know is this: For a desktop operating system (Every working computer in every office across the globe) that has a screen without a touch screen, this whole modern approach is strictly eye candy and without the benefit they intend. Of course the whole point is the new OS is for tablets, but tablets aren’t going to work for you in the office. Not my office anyway. Yet, here we are with a one size fits all approach to something as specific as an operating system you can’t NOT buy with a new computer, for the most part anyway. However, there are a thousand or more programmers busily writing apps that will simply help you revert to settings that mimic the previous version. Which is funny because when Win7 came out, we used utilities to help us revert to WinXP settings! We love going forward at the 3 steps ahead, 2 steps back pace, apparently. Such is life and so it goes on. Changes, struggling to retain our identity, things moving too quickly, kids growing up too soon, etc., and so on and so forth. Change is the only constant. How I love an enigma, wrapped in a conundrum and conceptualized as nothing less than an oxymoron. Moron being the operative word. BTW, if you haven’t seen it, check out our new website, at MBTECHNOLOGIES.COM courtesy of our in-house web developer, Gerald L. Taber. Seriously, if you need a web site created, deployed, edited or designed, CALL US NOW. This is good stuff!  Also, I know I mocked and teased ‘The Cloud’ and all that, but I was just trying to point out that it has value but at a cost. We are actually promoting our cloud solution for all of you out there that are still trying to grasp what that means and how it could benefit you, kindly check out CLOUD-HUI and let me know what you think. You know I adore all of you and we look forward to seeing you at our annual gathering of the minds at Gordon Biersch on December the 5th on the lanai. Official invitation to follow. You may also have noticed that my role within the company has changed. I love talking with folks and connecting on a personal level, while the onsite technical aspect has been taken over by my much more enthusiastic and Filipino alter-ego Bernard. Kudos to him for putting up with my guidance and still continuing to excel at providing the level of customer service that I insist upon. I will be out of the office for a few days for a personal matter, please call or email me to let me know what you need or questions you may have. Aloha! Brian _______________________ Brian D. Hughes MB Technologies, LLC brian@mbtechnologies.com (808) 383-9986 Simple Reminder: Be the conscious creator of your experience.

Techno Rant Edition This One

Aloha everyone! You are perilously close to reading another edition of my techno-rant! Turn back now, before my delightful sense of humor and quirky, skewed perspective tickles your funny bone and stimulates your cerebral cortex. Or not.

Normally, I have some grand issue or latest technology blurb that the Interwebs or the ‘liberal media’ is kicking around and generally mucking up, while over-sensationalizing or under-appreciating the importance and/or significance of the tech the talking heads are jabbering about.

Because really, the last thing in the world you should do is ask an ‘old’ person about technology. Seriously, everyone knows, (That is at LEAST as old as me, anyway), that  if you have a technical problem, question, or issue, you ask a kid.

Ya, that’s right. Ask a kid. The Mobile Generation. Doesn’t matter if it’s yours or someone else’s, they likely know the answer. Whether or not you can understand WTH they just said is another story, but that is on you.

The Mobile Generation is the latest gen, the group to whom we will be passing off these massive deficits caused by wars they didn’t start and for cutting Social Security Checks that they may never get their fair share of. But, what the heck. They will figure it out, right?

But they are also the brightest, most connected, quickest responding, techno-able, game-console button-pushers EVAR! What this means for a world and a country, I have absolutely no idea. I am an optimist though and I doubt they could screw it up worse than it has been already.

From a technical standpoint though, I believe that a relative comparison to the capacity and capability of this generation would be to use a computer model of Megahertz, or the speed with which data is transferred between transistors or in this case, humans.

An old model of a computer had little memory, little storage and few transistors and the CPU could only process data at a specific rate. Overloading it just causes a crash, or a lag, or a simple inability to compute. As computers evolved, they were able to process data more quickly, in larger chunks, thereby resulting in move capacity to move and use the information being fed to it.

Don’t forget the old axiom: GIGO That’s right, Garbage In, Garbage Out. It’s not good enough that it processes info, it must process correct information. But, I digress. I liken the human experience to computing on this level of speed and capacity and the increasing amount of data passing between transistors (humans) at an ever increasing rate of speed.

So, our precious keiki, our very own Mobile Generation, are like these transistors across the planet, exchanging data at an ever increasing rate of speed and resulting in more information being exchanged across borders, with new ideas and alternate views that are expanding the capacity of our ability to understand, formulate new ideas and strategies and solve problems. Like I said, I am an optimist at heart, though a cynic for humorous reasons.

I read an article yesterday ridiculing this constant overload and the shallowness of it all. A great quote from the article: : "... in that technology is turning us into ever-stupider, ever-strunger-outer attention anorexics with a thirst for nothing but meme gristle and Internet lists..."

Read the full article at GIZMODO, here: http://gizmodo.com/5933688/its-ok-to-be-a-hater-because-everything-is-bad

I am not far behind that, but again cynicism for humor’s sake is a given. I believe we owe these kids a larger allowance at least, because without them you will NEVER be able to program your Droid or iPhone for streaming the latest installment of ‘Housewives of Orange County’ or whatever your dirty little secret TV show addiction is.

I go back and forth between this idea of information I should distribute through these emails I foist on my unsuspecting audience. I don’t always want to include links because anyone can link to anything, anywhere and even though there is a lot of great info, most people can figure out how to find the information they want. If they only KNEW what information they were looking for or how to compose a proper Google search, they would be fine.

My recommendation is to always keep your search specific, but not too far defined or with too many words. Linking ideas with words that don’t seem to make sense sometimes works better because it filters your more complex ideas into a matrix that is likely to produce better results. I am trying to come up with a good example…. Hold on. BTW, if you search for Google on Google you will break the Internet! J

Here is a link that users of MS Word might appreciate: How to use MS Word as a desktop publishing tool.

Alright, back to the ‘useful’ part of this missive, say for instance you want to Google ‘The Mobile Generation’? Of course that alone would result in a billion hits in 0.00009 seconds and produce a couple useful links that will likely inspire you to further define your search to reduce your results further.

Such as ‘mobile generation blackberry’, which will convince you that the phone I am using is for old men! Be that as it may, I am the Demystifier of Technology and your best friend and first line of defense against the most annoying and irritating aspects of computing such as the every present syndrome of  ‘Open close, Open Close, Open Close, Open Close, Open Close, Open Close, Open Close, Open Close, Open Close, Open Close. Ope… oh no!’

Commonly known as ‘Out of System Resources’ this is such a common issue and I get a lot of bitter emails regarding these types of crashes but I am always amazed by people that Open and Close their applications, the same applications, over and over and over and over again and then wonder why their system is bombing.

Hey there is a Google Search for you: ‘memory leak open close applications’.  Enjoy! Here is a funny picture about Google Searching by Parents.

I hope you enjoyed this sidebar of distraction whilst awaiting more productive and profitable efforts. As always, MB Technologies LLC is ready to help you design, deploy, decide and decry the latest technology.

We also can help you design your website with our latest addition, Gerald Taber, and Optimize your Search Engine results.

No, we are not a one-stop shop, but we can help with the inundation of techno-babble and competing platforms to gain your attention and take your money. But you don’t have to take our word for it, ask your kid!

Latest and Greatest Rant Central

Aloha, Brian here. Tech-Rant guy and all-around player and raconteur.  You will undoubtedly soon be overwhelmed by threats and news stories of being infected by the malware ‘DNSChanger’ that will knock you off the Internet and prevent you from connecting to your preferred websites come Monday, July 9. 2012. As a pre-emptive strike against unnecessary stress and confusion, I am providing the quick link provided by the ‘good guys’ to verify that your system is indeed NOT infected. Now, before you click on this link, think about this for a minute. Isn’t this exactly how a BAD GUY would TRICK you into CLICKING into a BAD LINK? It’s one form of ‘social engineering’ whereby someone comes up with a plausible story to get you to provide information, or in this case, follow an infected link. But, you should realize that I am the good guy and this is a legit email because you can always call me (I never pick up anymore, sorry) or email me, (guaranteed fastest response time!), and I will assure you this is legit and that I did indeed send it to you. That lesson being learned, click here http://www.dns-ok.us/ to receive verification as to whether or not your system is infected by the DNSChanger Malware that the FBI and other world security entities have been warning us about. See the story here: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57466871-83/web-users-beware-dnschanger-victims-lose-web-access-july-9/ ANOTHER LINK!!! OMG! I get a lot of calls about emails that are sent with hyperlinks in them, like the two I included in this email, as to whether or not they are legitimate or not. (Subject: You have received a notice from the IRS, or USPS, or Your Ex) A very easy way to tell is to hover your mouse over the link and then READ, (I know, sucks right!?!), the displayed URL in your email program. It pops up a box that shows exactly what the url REALLY contains. Neat huh? Go ahead, try it. If the link you are examining says something like, blah-blah-blah.amazon.com but when you hover your mouse over it, it reads ‘blah.amazon.redirect.cn’ or ANYTHING other than what the visible hyperlink shows, particularly the ending of it (.com, .org., .net, .us, .biz, etc.) DO NOT CLICK IT if you are suspicious. Is that too technical? I may have overstated in saying ‘anything’ because most url’ s are like above, a hundred different characters, strung out in a secret language that makes no sense. However, we were talking about if you receive an email from a source that concerns you and it seems to be encouraging you to click a link that just seems fishy, hover over it, look carefully at it and you will likely see the source of your suspicion revealed therein. You can ALWAYS contact me, or simply forward the email and I will verify it for you. After all, I am here to help you decipher this never-ending onslaught of technical jargon and help you survive this Tsunami of TMI that we are all drowning in. Please check your browsers via the above link, ask me a question, give me a lap dance or just send me $$. It’s all good. Aloha! Brian _______________________

Free Beer and Pizza

Aloha everyone! Brian here from MB Technologies, LLC to dazzle and entertain with a bit of guidance and humor thrown in for good measure. I constantly lament the state of tech and amidst this tsunami of information, useless flotsam and meaningful jetsam, how to tell the difference between them and cut to the solution. After all, what is it that you really want to accomplish? Despite the wild variety of software and end-purposes, the truth is, people just want to get their work done. Did you know, in the ‘olden’ days, the think-tanks and experts promoted the idea that computers would allow the workforce to do more work in fewer hours resulting in more leisure time for the workers? LOL!!!! Not in America my friends, maybe in Sweden or Germany, but not here. It has come to mean that fewer people can do the job of many. We are so convinced of our need to be available, many of us no longer really disconnect from the office. But I digress. While at my favorite watering hole this last weekend, they suffered the ignominious insult of having their POS (Point of Sale) computer system crash and require a complete reboot. Wow. I know almost everyone there by name, they are some of the nicest, friendliest wait staff anywhere and I count many as my friends. I will tell you though, they were HATERS that day! I had never heard so many F-Bombs, vague threats towards management, gnashing of teeth and speaking in tongues all whilst screaming about their inability to do their jobs correctly. WORST DAY EVAR! They couldn’t submit orders, run credit card charges or even open their cash drawers! They had NO alternate system and it was true chaos. Being an IT admin and knowing exactly what was going on, it was amusing. At first. As I watched the meltdown continue it became clear to me that this is how my users (clients) feel when computer things don’t go their way. Even though we are all inextricably linked to the network, the Internet, our Smart Phones, our work process, our email, etc., the link is tenuous. Interrupted for whatever reason, we are bereft of input and output. We are disconnect. We cannot think straight much less get our work done. The resultant angst is understandable and yes, I feel the same way if I come into the office and I can’t get to the Internet. Does not make me happy. It is exactly that need for absolute perfection at all times that creates this paradigm of near hysteria if anything and I mean ANYTHING goes wrong. DO you have ANY idea how many things CAN go wrong? SRSLY?! There is hardly any amount of money that can create a system that is entirely infallible and completely perfect, because in the end, one system depends on another. They are all interconnected by the thinnest of wires. Bringing it all around to a completed circle, I, we, can only do the best we can with the tools we have at our disposal. BTW, there is always a workaround. If you haven’t ‘Turned it off and turned it on again’, you are doing both of us a disservice. Workarounds are legitimate temporary fixes for problems that need a permanent solution but can be fixed in the short term by modifying behavior, whether it’s the user or the program. Nothing is perfect, after all, this IS a relative world and we all know that what can go wrong, will go wrong. (To misquote a famous ‘law’) But, we here at MB Technologies, LLC really do care about you and it is our intent to protect you from yourself and the noxious rabble that skulk on the Interwebs to steal your banking info and your credit card numbers and crash your computer. BTW, you know how I always tell you to ‘lock your computer’? I just learned, or relearned, that hitting the Windows key + the ‘L’ key will instantly lock your screen. Try it! Leaving your screen ‘open’ invites people to write on your Facebook profile and send emails out in your name. You don’t want THAT do you? Thanks for listening and being part of this grand social experiment. After all, the world has never been at this very moment in time before. It is unique, precious and amazing. These are the good old days. Aloha, Brian _______________________ Brian D. Hughes MB Technologies, LLC brian@mbtechnologies.com (808) 383-9986 Simple Reminder: Be the conscious creator of your experience.

Repetitious Rants Rule

Techno-Rant by Brian D. Hughes
Volume 12 Issue 4

Welcome to my occasional techno-rant, foisted on my unwitting and at times unwilling captive audience. 

So what’s my rant today? Well it could be about ‘Privacy’ on the web, or it could be about ‘Google Glasses’, maybe ‘The Cloud’ or ‘Apple vs. Everyone and Everything that is NOT Apple’.

But no, this isn’t meant to be a divisive or judgmental rant, it’s meant to be an informative and humorous blurb about technology and how it affects each of us. It is so powerful, this emerging techno-juggernaut, embedded, unavoidable, liberating and frighteningly ubiquitous.

Part of the rant today is repetition. Ya, I know. Heard it all before, been there done that, yada-yada-yada, preaching to the choir repetitious. But isn’t that like computing a bit? Repetitious behavior , repetitious processes, repetitious repetition.

So when I tell you about this weeks ‘Major Security Patches’ or how to ‘Restart Your Computer Before Calling’, or to ‘Update Your AV Software’, etc., you are going to let out a big fat yawn. YAWN!

I could fill this awesome rant with super-cool and useful websites and links and then warn you about clicking links in an email, but I won’t. Too bad, too, because I know some really great sites with really great info and articles. But the whole ‘linkage may be evil’ is kind of true.

The amount of conflicting information you receive from competing sources overwhelms and underwhelms simultaneously. 600K Mac’s were infected by a flash virus this week. Oh, gee. I thought they were invulnerable to everything. (Except Apple policies, over-pricing and mind-control)

There really were several important security updates distributed by Microsoft this week that would have been automagically installed to your system IF you had followed my previous (repetitive) posts about how to make sure these updates are done.

BTW, Google recently changed its Privacy Policy and it now protects you less. Did you know that Google will hand over your data if they receive a subpoena for it? ALL OF IT? Sure, so while your law office thought moving to the cloud was such a great idea, all it takes is for opposing counsel to figure out where your data is stored, request the data, receive all of it and leave you breathless.

I am just trying to point out that like life, you can only do your best with the information you have at hand. The information changes daily. That is why I previously pointed out (Repetition) that users can’t remain deaf, dumb and blind when it comes to computing anymore. You can’t really survive as a Luddite in this day and age.

Why would anyone want to? There is such a rich and vibrant culture of instant gratification waiting for you at the end of your mouse-click. Just be smart about it, please. Google it if you have to, but know that they collect and sell your information every time you do a search, unless you opt out and turn that feature off.

This isn’t paranoia or bravado. It’s being as smart as you can be, while getting the most out of it and getting it for free whenever possible.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

End of rant. Aloha, Brian
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What's Your Budget?

Hello to everyone that actually reads these posts. I will try to keep this short, sweet and to a point.

Whenever anyone asks me about what type of system they should buy, whether it be desktop, laptop, netbook, mobile device or whatever, my first question back to them is usually: ‘What’s your budget?’.

It surprises me when people don’t have that in mind, as there is such an enormous swing in price ranges these days. But, if you give me a budget, my next directive is always: ‘Try to get the biggest bang for your buck’.

This is when I get the questions about RAM, MHz, Hard Drive Storage, etc. and what it all means. There are a lot of crazy numbers and letters mixed up on those sale ads at your favorite store or website and they can be a bit confusing.

I know I teased you all about slow computers recently, but it is true that they are never as fast again as the first time you turned them on and booted it up. However, if you are willing to spend some money, (See Title), you could get faster RAM, or better yet, an SSD! Also known as a Solid State Drive.

Yes, the ‘flash drive’ of hard drives is now available for less than $1000 in various configurations and sizes and they CAN make your computing experience much faster at boot up, load times and switching windows.

Unfortunately, to get the most out of them you need the latest and greatest of everything. But that doesn’t mean you can’t see a significant benefit if you are willing to pay for it. Of course your data must be copied to the new drive and the new drive set as your boot device and that is when things get tricky, but laptops and desktops can see a real boost from this upgrade.

But that is like most of life, isn’t it? If you are willing to pay the ‘n’ price, you can get the ‘x’ benefit. I guess the next question I should ask would be ‘Is it worth it?’.

When it’s only one system, it’s yours and for your home, then it may well be. The problem becomes more thorny when you have 50 systems and they are 3 – 5 years old. Maybe then, not so much. After all, our outside life span for business computers is 3 – 5 and if you are going to spend any money at all, it may as well be for a new system with a full warranty.

If you are buying a new system, do yourself a favor and go for the one that already has the SSD and as much RAM as you can fit into it. It will likely be faster and last longer than any computer you have had before.

BTW, Apple will likely be coming out with the iPad3 any day now (3/7/12?) and when they do, the price for the iPad2 will likely drop by $100 immediately. I have never been one to have ‘bleeding edge’ technology, mostly because version 1.0 of anything is for suckers. So in sticking with the theme of budgets and buck bangs, if you REALLY want a mobile device that has that Apple logo, get ready to plunk down your money when the price drop happens soon.

For those that are thinking about the SSD upgrade and have questions, let me know. Just make sure you have a budget in mind. LOL!

Aloha!

Brian
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