Are Desktops Slated For The Pasture?
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At a recent event, Steve Jobs compared Desktop Computers to Trucks and the iPad/Laptops to the family car. At the time, I dismissed the comment as crazy. Maybe the comment was more ‘Crazy Like A Fox’.
Recently I have been researching all of the different cloud applications that are compatible with Google’s Chrome Browser. It is quite clear that for the typical PC user; which I am not, cloud based services are a definite option.
A recent article that I shared out, written by ChromeBook Lounge: Chrome app equivalents to Windows default applications. Points out a number of web based applications that provide alternatives to disk based applications. This list only touches the tip of great web based applications available, the list continues to grow.
I personally find that I need an old fashion desktop as I’m running a media server and do web development work as well. But for most when it comes to general computing, a desktop is not required, which frees up your desk as well as lowering your electrical bill. So if all of this great stuff available why haven’t we all moved to mobile devices and switched over to cloud storage and applications?
It all boils down to being connected, or the cost of being connected everywhere. It’s not a problem for most of us at home or work, its having access when we are not in those familiar environments and having access to our stuff. When we have a consistent and cost-effective solution for staying connected, then we will see the mass migration.
Below are some of my favorite cloud based applications:
- Office Live or Google Docs – Both of these are excellent cloud based services. I personally find myself using Office Live more than Google Docs.
- Picknik - http://www.picnik.com/ Picnik makes your photos fabulous with easy to use yet powerful editing tools. Tweak to your heart’s content, then get creative with oodles of effects, fonts, shapes, and frames.
- YouConvertIt - http://www.youconvertit.com/ConvertFiles.aspx Online file converter.
- Aviary -http://www.aviary.com/ Aviary provides free applications for creating digital art, graphic design, and audio mixing.
- Evernote – http://www.evernote.com/ Premier note application for text and audio notes.
For the most part, if you are looking for a web based application to replace a desktop application; there is probably one available. All you need to do is look.
Microsoft TechNet – Smokin Deal
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Microsoft announced that it has released a new version of it’s TechNet subscription; Standard. I know what does this mean to you. If you own more than one computer and run Microsoft products such as Windows, Office, ect. TechNet is one of the great deals available.
So what is a TechNet Subscription anyway? Paul Thurrott and his site; http://winsupersite.com describes this as:
TechNet Subscription is a subscription service that Microsoft aims at IT pros. There are various versions of the service at various price levels, but the new version you should consider is called TechNet Subscription Standard, or TechNet Standard for short. It costs $199 for a year ($149 for renewals), and includes online access to downloadable ISO files for various Microsoft operating systems and applications, including full versions of Windows 7, Vista and XP, Microsoft Office and standalone Office apps, and more. That’s a lot of stuff. But it gets better. Consider the following:
It’s forever. Even though the subscription lasts only a year, the product keys for the products you have access to won’t stop working after a year. So while you will lose download access to those ISOs after a year, as long as you saved copies of them, you can reinstall over and over again. The product keys are forever.
It’s for multiple installs. Each product key can be used to install up to 10 versions of the OS or application, for the most part. But that’s actually 100 (yes, 100) installs for each Windows 7 product edition, because you can activate each key 10 times. So you get 100 installs of Windows 7 Ultimate, 100 installs of Windows 7 Professional, 100 installs of Windows 7 Home Premium, and so on. That’s an incredible value, though it should be noted that this program is designed for a single person. You can’t share the product keys with others. What you’re getting, essentially, as an individual is multiple, unlimited installs of the products that are included with the subscription … for yourself.
They’re full product versions. These are not time-limited products, and they’re not upgrade versions. TechNet Subscription Standard supplies full product versions.
You can read the full article here: http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/totw/technet2.asp
Lets think about this, you are going to upgrade to Office 2010. The cheapest you will do this for is to get the Home/Student version at a price tag of $149.00. For an extra $50 you can get a TechNet Standard subscription and not only get Office 2010 Pro, but just about every desktop software Microsoft makes. This seems like a no brainer. Oh, almost forgot, you also get 6 online courses in the deal.
Below is a breakdown of the different subscriptions.
So before you purchase your next Microsoft product, check out these programs. You can find out more about TechNet at: http://TechNet.com
Categories: All, Tips & Tricks, Training, Windows Tags: Home Premium, Home Student, Microsoft, Paul Thurrott, Windows
Windows 7 Backup
Using Windows 7 Backup. Multiple videos explaining the process.
Office Live vs Google Docs
Office Live is Microsoft’s new cloud based document system goes one better than Google Docs
Categories: All, Windows Tags: Google, Google Docs, Microsoft, Office Live, SkyDrive
Stop Forgetting Passwords
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Let me ask a question; Do you ever forget a password to a site, or use a password that is so easy it’s hardly worth the effort? If you are like most of us then the answer is YES to both.
Let me introduce you to LastPass. LastPass is the answer to your problem, even if you didn’t know you had one. With the growing popularity of social sites and putting up tons of personal information on the Internet, Security is no joke. Not to mention that just about any site you go to these days wants you to register for whatever reason. So what is LastPass? In short LastPass is one of the most well regarded services when it comes to protecting your usernames and passwords and giving you access to them anytime you are connected to the Net.
Categories: All, Tips & Tricks, Windows Tags: Explorer, Firefox, Freeware, Internet Explorer, Security, YES
DNS Made Easy
Twitter It!Of late DNS and their associated services has been in the news, with Google now starting their own DNS service (Google Public DNS). This article is to help anyone who is interested in the Who What and How.
What Is DNS
DNS stands for Domain Name Service, Wikipedia has a good definition at: Domain Name System. But in short you can look at DNS as the Internet White Pages. Every website has an associated IP (Internet Protocol) address. IP addresses are in the format of 12 numbers; xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx . DNS takes the domain name that you type into your browser such as: http://tekpedia.net and translates it to the actual IP address and then presents it in your browser.
Its easy to see how this can affect the speed of your browsing. Most of us use the DNS provided by our ISP (Internet Service Provider). This may not be the best choice in many instances.
Base Line
In deciding what your best options are, the first step is to check the speed of some of the available services. OpenBench is an open source program that will test the 3 primary DNS services (Google, OpenDNS and your ISP’s) to see which is faster. You can download OpenBench from our downloads page:
Network Settings
Once you decide on the service to use you will need the Primary and Secondary IP addresses which OpenBench will provide. You will then want to configure your network settings for your new DNS servers.
You will need to restart your computer for your settings to take affect.
OpenDNS
For the most part, you will want to pick the service which provides yo
u the fastest response. I have been using OpenDNS for the past year and its not always about speed but its also about the tools the service provides. With OpenDNS you not only have access to a wide range of reports on your network Internet usage; Great if you have children. You are also provided a customizable content filtering. The filtering will allow you prohibit certain content from ever reaching your browser, such as Porno, Phishing, and Adware. This additional filtering can provide you an additional level of security you didn’t have previously.
OpenDNS is definitely worth a look see before you decide on which DNS service to use.
Work Arounds For Windows 7
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Work Arounds For Home Premium
Windows 7 Home Premium will for most cases be the right choice!
I was listening to the Windows Weekly podcast with Paul Thourrott, which I highly recommend for anyone interested in Windows and dry humor. Considering the topic, a really good combination. Check the podcast at: http://twit.tv/ww . Also check out Paul’s site: http://www.winsupersite.com/
Anyway Paul commented on that Home Premium of Windows 7 seems to have the biggest bang for the buck. Home Premium does limit some of the features that you may want but not pay the extra dough for. Mr. Thourrott has put up a very good graph of the different versions and what is included with each, you can see this at: http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/win7_skus_compare.asp
Categories: All, Tips & Tricks, Windows Tags: Home Premium, Microsoft Backup, Windows, Windows Weekly
