The Lesson of the Holiday Roast

Have you ever heard the story of the holiday roast? Little six-year old Mary is watching Alison, her mom, carefully preparing the big holiday meal. There are appetizers, salads and all sorts of side dishes. But the centerpiece is always the wonderful holiday roast.

After spending time at the market to choose just the right one, Alison is now in her kitchen, ready to begin cooking it. It is unwrapped, placed in a huge roasting pan, seasoned, coated and finally, most importantly, carefully cut exactly in half. As she gently placed each half face down in the sauce little Mary asked why she had cut this beautiful roast in half. Alison had lots more to do and shrugged off the question.

After exactly two hours, Alison opened the oven, pulled the pan out, turned it around and put it back in. Little Mary, curious again, wanted to know why the roast had been cut in half, and why the pan had to be rotated. "Why?" Alison snapped back. "Well that is the way my mother, your grandmother, taught me to do it," she explained.

Still curious, the little girl asked her mother if they could call grandma and ask her these questions. When they got grandma on the phone, she said the same thing. It was just what she had been taught. Maybe cutting it open makes it juicier inside, and rotating the pan makes it cook more evenly, but I never really asked my mother. Fortunately, great grandma was still around in a nursing home. Little Mary's curiosity still unsatisfied, grandma thought perhaps great grandma could reveal the secret.

As IT professionals, we will often try to uncover the origin of a particular business process. Like little Mary, when we see how things are done, and it is not obvious why, we ask. Called upon to add, change or remove some element of a process, it goes beyond mere curiosity. It is important to know the real reason behind each step being taken, and to put this process into the context of the larger picture. While this can be irritating to the person making a seemingly simple request, this story illustrates why the relentless inquires are often justified.

You see, they got great grandma on the phone and little Mary suggested cutting the roast made it soak up the juice better or would somehow preserve tenderness. Great Granny laughed and explained that in her day the ovens were small and if you didn't cut the roast and lay it flat it wouldn't fit! The wood fueled oven was much hotter in the back than the front and so you had to rotate the pan to cook both halves the same. Of course, neither of these conditions existed today and the tradition was pointless.

And so often it turns out that a business process was invented to meet a need which was outside of the capabilities of systems in place at that time. The reporting oven could only bake so much data at one time leading to a need to slice the data in half. Clever people invent clever ways to achieve their goal by whatever means they know and it then becomes routine. As time passes and people hand off responsibilities, the approach becomes institutionalized and the rationale behind the design of the process is lost. It becomes tradition or, as we often hear, simply "the way we have always done it."

We all know the speed and capacity of systems today are far greater. The data "ovens" are larger and "heat" evenly all the way around. Moreover, software capabilities have expanded beyond our wildest imagination. If together we focus on the ultimate goal, deconstruct the current process and perhaps even trace its origin we are likely to find we can eliminate unnecessary steps and take advantage of newer, faster approaches. With less effort we quickly and consistently deliver the best holiday roasts.

Captain Joe

Follow me on Twitter @JPuglisiLLC

Thoughts on Immortality

This morning I read yet another article declaring how some current piece of technology will soon be dead and gone. This time it was that conventional, spinning storage medium we call disk. Solid state devices are getting cheaper and faster and more efficient and so naturally all those floor space mongering, power hungry, heat generating mechanical antiques are going to simply vanish.

I disagree.

The truth is none of this stuff ever really dies. Of course you don't encounter many 3.5 inch floppy disks any more. But we can cite an almost endless list of technologies that the prognosticators have assured us are destined for the the grave, most of which are still around.

For instance there are still as many or more lines of COBOL code in production today as there are in any other computer programming language. Mainframe computers abound. Even the RIM Blackberry is still with us despite Apple and Android, and the company's own missteps. Pagers and PDAs still sell well years after the advent of the ubiquitous and all powerful mobile device. The list goes on and on.

In fact, outside the computer realm, people continue to read books and magazines, VCRs are still around and so are CDs. According to the CEA, digital cameras, e-readers and MP3 players are among the top gift holiday items. Even vinyl records have enjoyed renewed popularity and are staging a comeback. Heck, I own a hand cranked phonograph and a collection of 78s.

Okay, the phonograph is an antique and, though it works, I don't actually use it to listen to music. But the point is many of these things are very much in daily use many years after the prediction of their demise. If you expand your view outside of the US there are even more so-called obsolete devices very much alive and kicking.

Perhaps they aren't written about as much or advertised as heavily and so they slip quietly into the background of our minds. They are no longer the newest, hottest or sexiest thing on the market. But news of their death, as one famous author is reputed to have said, has been greatly exaggerated.

Captain Joe

Follow me on Twitter @JPuglisiLLC

The Danger Within

Security is surely on everyone's mind these days.  One merely has to pick up a newspaper, magazine or visit news sites on-line to read about the latest incident involving the release of personal data, confidential corporate files or government secrets. As a direct result of the rash of these high profile incidents, articles and presentations abound on the need for better means of protecting our information.

Some of the focus is on better educating the person at the keyboard, since they are most often the initial crack in the armor. I have even advocated for this in previous columns.

We are inundated with demands for better, more complex passwords, two-factor, three factor or biometric and other means of authentication. We must have improved edge security, faster intrusion detection, the latest anti-virus and web filtering systems. Network equipment vendors try to outdo one another with increasingly sophisticated methods of preventing unwanted visitors, while the security related software companies race to stay ahead of the nefarious individuals exploiting holes in the code by spotting the latest attack vectors.

What we do not hear enough about is an effort to ensure there are no holes in the code to exploit. In my recent work with the NAiC investor group I had an opportunity to learn about several companies with tools that automatically read and evaluate software code. These tools can be used to find logic flaws and identify opportunities to improve code efficiency. But importantly, they can also highlight potential security issues allowing these dangerous holes to be plugged before the code is ever released for use.

Major corporations, particularly software houses, routinely have a QA group perform reviews. But the priorities of the company and demands of the marketplace often push the code release ahead of a complete review. Moreover, the QA department is often the poor, red-headed step-child with little power to truly complete the mission. They are only there to make sure the code doesn't crash the system or fail to perform in line
with some option on the menu.

Until we make the quality and especially security of applications as important as meeting the date we promised our customers new features, we will always run the risk that some employee will unwittingly allow malware to evade all the perimeter defenses and take advantage of flaws, infecting systems, stealing data or taking control.

Captain Joe

Follow me on Twitter @JPuglisiLLC

Swimming with the Sharks

When you see a ship in port it not only means the end of one voyage, but the beginning of another. And so it is that my ship has come into port again, ending an almost three year journey. This was the fourth voyage where I filled the role of captain, pulling a crew together from different parts of the ship and taking the systems of the vessel up a couple of notches.

The role of the CIO is changing in many ways and like an old sea captain it becomes more and more difficult to find a ship where people are comfortable with you and believe you will function well on the bridge. Some think you lack the energy while others might feel you haven't kept up with the latest advances in the engine room or navigation systems. In fact, many think technology has advanced so much the ship can practically run itself.

Well I may find myself on the bridge of another ship one day, but in the meanwhile I have embarked on a completely new journey. Toward the end of last year I joined the crew of a pirate ship. Well, not really, but I'm not sure there is a good nautical analogy for an investors group. I suppose we're more like a independent fleet of fishing boats, casting our nets and hoping for a big haul.

I am now a partner in the North Andover Investors Collaborative II. Week after week we evaluate different early tech based start-up companies to choose the ones we think are going to be winners. What sets this group apart from most is the collective brain-trust with a diverse cross section of disciplines and experience.  To select the investments we draw from over thirty seasoned professionals with backgrounds in law, finance, technology, and a variety of verticals.  I've only been a part of it for a few months but I can already see where this breadth of knowledge has quickly segregated the high potential candidates from the glitzy flash in the pan ideas.

Playing Shark Tank has been exciting, fun and a real learning experience. I am seeing some incredible innovations, new software, services and technology. There will certainly be no lack of material to write about.

This new journey may be more uncertain, with less clear direction and a much higher risk of return. But I am enjoying the wind and the waves, and the camaraderie. This role turned out to be quite a catch!

Captain Joe

Follow me on Twitter @JPuglisiLLC

Auto Mechanics Syndrome

Having been in the technology game for many years, I must have heard people ask why can't you just fix it more than a million times.   It was working fine, they will say, and then it just didn't work any more. They want you to tell them why this happened, how they can fix it or how long it will take for you to fix it.

Seems like these things go one of two ways.

Often you get the call or the message and when you go to investigate the trouble report you simply can't make the problem happen. The screen was blank a minute ago. Not sure what you did but it seems to be okay now, the customer will say.  There was some kind of message but I am not sure what it said and I cleared it.  Can you tell me what you were doing, you ask, but they can't recall exactly. We often ask what changed only to get the standard "nothing" reply.

I once worked with a young woman who was convinced that the computes only worked when I was within 10 feet of them.  She always had problems and yet the minute I came near her desk her problems would miraculously vanish. It was as if I had some mystical aura or perhaps I was a biological key fob that unlocked them.

While that was annoying, far worse is the trouble ticket which tells little to nothing about the problem you are supposed to solve. My computer stopped working could really mean anything from a complete hard drive failure and inability to boot, to an error due to a bad formula in a spreadsheet cell. Its like the poor mechanic who draws the short straw, getting the customer who only says there is a funny noise and the engine wouldn't start the other morning. Can you fix it, please, and can I have the car back by lunch? The car starts every time and you don't hear any noise.

Technology has become incredibly complex. Moreover, much of the technology use is remote. Expecting any technician to simply know what is wrong and talk you through fixing it would be similar to expecting an auto mechanic to talk you through repairing your car, or your doctor talking you through surgery over the phone.

So when you report a problem, please try to include as much detailed information as possible. Computer repair 101 suggests the first step is always to reboot the machine and see if the problem goes away. This holds for mobile devices as well. Turn them off and back on again. Check wires and make sure all the devices, particularly the ones with apparent problems, are plugged in and turned on. Is the little green LED on your monitor lit, and is the network cable plugged in all the way?  

If none of that helps and you have reproduced the problem, make some notes about the messages, the conditions and the activities that seem to lead up to the problem.  If you know how to take a screen shot and send it that can be very helpful. Of course if the system is truly "dead" you won't be able to do any of this, but then your technician may not be able to help either.

Remember, the person at the other end of the phone call can't see what's in front of you. Be patient and assist in the resolution by providing information instead of just demanding a quick fix.  Follow instructions, repeating them and indicating the results as best you can. Don't get ahead of the technician.

Cooperation will get you back on the road again a lot sooner.

Captain Joe

 Follow me on Twitter @JPuglisiLLC

The Iron Rice Bowl

It is often said, the beauty of standards is that you have so many to choose from. The irony of this statement is, of course, there should only be one standard. But we often find, as I have in many prior situations, that standards are local and sometimes not known, understood or even followed.

Standards lead to efficiency. There are countless examples of equipment, software and business process where the variety in place lead to unnecessary complexity, difficult interactions and rework. But this applies to more than just IT. People will tend to develop their own "standard" process unless they are provided documentation or training. Even then, they are likely to add their own special twist and perpetuate its use by handing it down to the next person who will perform the same task or job function.

Once, while automating the "standard" process for starting a new project, we encountered Louie, the keeper of the job numbers. Louie's job was to maintain the book which listed the identifying number of every job the company performs. Louie has the privilege of assigning the job numbers and so every project eventually came across his desk so he could open the book and allocate the next number. Louie designed and owned this process.

Everybody along the way had a "standard" way of initiating the work that had to be done in their particular department for the new job to get underway. Whether it was the scheduling of manpower, purchasing of materials, preparation of documents or management approvals, there were a myriad of steps using various paper and electronic means to enter and process the same data.

The process was riddled with many forms in duplicate or triplicate which were physically passed around the office and often copied, annotated and then stored in multiple locations. As you can easily imagine, this was a cumbersome and inefficient way of alerting each department about a new project. Forms were misplaced, incomplete or contained old information. Time was lost as they moved around and often information was inaccurate, incomplete or inconsistent from one department to another.

We saw an opportunity to streamline this process and set about identifying the key steps, data elements and reasons behind each. If I had a nickle for every time I heard "because that's the way we've always done it" I could have retired years ago. A new, more rational process was designed and approved by management.

The process was then automated from start to finish using imaging and on-line forms with drop down menus limiting choices and having the intelligence to display those fields which were relevant to the different departments. One set of forms with one set of data living in one physical place meant everyone always had the latest and most accurate information and could get it at any time from any location.

The story has one twist. Perhaps you are familiar with the expression that someone has an iron rice bowl? This means they have their position or seat at the table forever. No one can take it away.

It seems Louie had an iron rice bowl and so the entire automated process still had to grind to a halt so Louie could open his (physical not metaphorical) book and allocate the next job number.

Perhaps the ultimate irony was that someone had to enter this job number as Louie was not technical enough to do it himself.

Captain Joe

Follow me on Twitter @JPuglisiLLC

Six Of One, Half Dozen Of The Other

There is this popular expression of unknown origin that I frequently use. "Six of one, half dozen of the other" is just a different way of saying something simply doesn't really matter. Faced with two equally good options, you are more or less indifferent and would be happy with either one. Any choice is a good one, as long as you pick one.

This is how I often feel about a selection of a technology or process standard. Today, much of the hardware and even common software systems are essentially commodities. There is often a heated debate around which is best and should therefore be designated as the standard across the company. It is easy to spot the ongoing rivalry among fans of particular operating systems or cell phone carriers. Debates extend to internet browsers and a variety of other basic tools. But at the end of the day, what's really important is to make a decision and stick to it.

I can recall the discussions, years ago, at a company that lacked any personal computer standards. At that time, the predominant choices for desktop and notebook computers were either HP, Dell or IBM. The choices obviously would be somewhat different today.

But at the time, among the IT professionals throughout the organization, each brand  had a number of strong supporters and a group of fairly vocal detractors. Certainly each of the brands offered a wide range of models with a variety of unique features people found very attractive. The differential in cost was minimal and each manufacturer would regularly introduce new, faster, cheaper models, often leap-frogging the others.

So the question became how do we choose. Well, for me, it was six of one, half dozen of another. The company happened to own more of one of these brands and after fairly brief negotiations this allowed us to put a volume purchase agreement in place and choose it as the standard.

In my view, it wasn't worth an extensive amount of research or debate. We chose one horse to ride and began to accrue the benefits almost immediately. There were far more pressing needs in the company.

Certainly there will be other, more critical evaluations where the technology or application is more complex and will have greater implications or major impact on the company and its operations. This is where you should spend your time and energy. Don't lose sight of the business.

Remember, the cash register has to work, but it is just a tool to facilitate a transaction. Actually selling your merchandise is what will make or break your company.

Captain Joe

Follow me on Twitter @JPuglisiLLC

Drinking From A Firehose

One of the most frequent questions I am asked by friends, colleagues and almost always during interviews is how do you keep up with all the changes and new developments in your industry.  There is no easy or short answer to this question.

Technology moves at the speed of light. New hardware, software and communication products are introduced every day. Products become services and services evolve into products. Software gets embedded in hardware while hardware becomes virtual. Just when you think you know everything about how data can move from here to there, someone introduces a faster, cheaper and more reliable method.

Certainly there is no shortage of information sources. Whether in print, audio or video format, there is a never-ending stream of news stories, opinions, vendor announcements and other content physically or electronically delivered to you. My preference is a healthy mix of tech and business publications. You have to scan a  Computerworld or Information Week, and read CIO Magazine. But you should also be reading Fortune or Forbes and top publications in your industry or vertical. For example, when I was in construction it was important to scan through ENR each week. If you are in finance you should be reading the Wall Street Journal.

The internet and aggregators make it relatively to assemble stories from multiple sources. Whether you employ your own rules using alerts, RSS or other tools to pull stories, or you rely on the judgement of others to highlight content of interest, you do not have to go to each original source. Web sites like Topsy show content that is trending while electronic newspapers collect links based on custom rules. Applications like Flipboard are very popular because they pull information from all your sources and present you with a personal magazine.

Additionally, social networks are a place where people know you and are happy to share links to content they think will be of interest to you. Facebook, LinkedIn or Google Plus all have streams of original content and links to published material. Twitter let's you choose the people or companies you consider interesting or well informed. By following your favorite thought leaders or industry pundits, you can have links to relevant content handed to you all day long. Companies now Tweet in addition to issuing a press release or other forms of announcement.

It does not end there. In fact, all of this is incidental and often random while other means of keeping up are more deliberate.

Attending conferences and seminars is important in order to hear and interact with presenters. But the real value at these events is the interaction with peers. This is where you hear what has been working and what to avoid from others who have had experience with various solutions. This is where you can run an idea up the flag pole and get the kind of open and honest feedback you need to avoid disaster.

These conferences, like the publications, should not be confined to technology. I will be the first to admit I hate to miss the annual Forrester meeting but I also want to attend general business or educational functions for my vertical as well.

Lastly, the people in your company are an invaluable source of information and you should be deeply immersed in frequent  information exchanges with people at all levels.

So, how can one possibly find the time for all of this, have a normal social life and also do your job? Well, I said right at the outset, there really is no easy answer.

Captain Joe

Follow me on Twitter @JPuglisiLLC

It Ain't Over Till It's Over

I have this sign the people in the LMB marketing department made for me a long, long time ago. It hangs today in my home office.The story behind it is contained in the column below. I wrote this in October of 1998 and it originally appeared as a guest column for an on-line community no longer around.. Here is a reprint of that column exactly as it appeared back then. The story may be old, but the moral holds true even today.

Hanging in my home office today

Prior to my current position I was a partner in a small consulting company. Corporate folklore at my previous company included a discussion between a programmer and his manager. The story goes something like this: Norman the manager asked Sam the programmer for a status report. Sam proudly announced he was done. Norman had been around long enough to know that programmers always think they’re done long before they've actually finished the job. So Norman inquired further. Sam again insisted he was, in fact, done. He had written the program. He had typed it into the computer, compiled it, linked it, loaded it and ran it to completion. Sam added that since the output was wrong, he couldn't turn it over yet; nonetheless, he had finished the program.

The moral of the story is pretty clear. There is a tendency in IT to underestimate or sometimes completely overlook the final step in a project - delivery to the end user.

As a manager, I frequently remind my staff of the importance of having users confirm that any assignment is complete. My rule, printed in large letters and posted on my office wall, reads “It’s up when the user says it's up.”

This philosophy was reinforced during an incident with Ralph, our assistant treasurer. This is the guy who sends time-critical information via modem to the bank each day. When the transmission failed one day, near panic set in. An IT technician was dispatched immediately and quickly determined the problem. Hardware parts were obtained and installed. The PC’s communications abilities were thoroughly tested, and the equipment was deemed healthy again in record time.

I knew this because the technician, grinning from ear to ear over his electronic triumph, proudly reported the news to me. “Everything is back to normal, operating better than ever,” he stated. Apparently, the modem card connector was snapped off when the computer was moved to retrieve a piece of paper that had fallen behind it. The broken card was easily replaced with a new one, restoring the computer to operating condition. “In fact,” he went on to explain “the new one was a brand new 56kb x2 model capable of much higher speed than the old 9600 baud model.” “Well, what did Ralph think?” I asked. “Oh, he was at lunch,” came the answer. “I see, then how did the new modem fare when you tested the banking application?”

At this point, the technician wished he hadn't been quite so quick to report to me directly. He had to admit he knew nothing about the banking application. But he had tried several online services and a few bulletin boards. “Boy, is that baby fast,” he said.

Before I could send him back downstairs to see Ralph, Ralph called me. He wanted to know when his PC was going to be fixed. You can guess what happened when the technician, still beaming from his favorable test results, met with Ralph - still waiting to send instructions to the bank. It wasn't a happy ending. The bank required a particular modem with very specific settings, a few details that the technician overlooked.

When we eventually obtained, installed, and tested the right equipment, I suggested the technician take heed of the sign on my wall. Come and tell me you are done after Ralph tells you everything is okay.

This problem occurs in software development as well. IT professionals are very creative people. They invent incredible solutions to very complex problems every day. They fix databases, repair old applications and provide new capabilities. But just before I cross any item off my list, I always ask how the users received the solution.

You don’t really know whether the data have been adjusted, the screen changed, the new function added or the process modified correctly unless the people who use it day to day confirm this.

Remember the rule. It’s up when the user says it up.

Captain Joe

Follow me on Twitter @JPuglisiLLC

Working On My Personal Image

Many years ago I decided to reduce the amount of paper in my home office. I had desk drawers and file cabinets filled with bank statements,vendor invoices, purchase records and other paper documents. These dated back at least seven years or more. The older ones were removed and stacked in boxes in the closet.

Everything from our tax returns to the bill of sale for a purchase of a major appliance was carefully filed. Of course, 98% of these documents were never again touched after they had been handled once and put away.  Yet, it was always a challenge to find that one particular page you really needed somewhere among the other 2%.

While I was CIO at an insurance company, a system for imaging documents was introduced and successfully implemented in the claims department. This had the effect of reducing mountains of paper and rows of file cabinets to digital images which were accessible by anyone from anywhere. No more lost files. No more outdated copies. No delays in obtaining information. It even allowed more than one person to have access to the same file at the same time. It also freed a lot of office space and removed desk top clutter.

With a strong desire to do the same at home, I took a look around and I found an affordable solution. For about $100 I purchased a single sheet scanner which came with a complete imaging package. It was rudimentary, only allowing you to scan one page at a time. You could create folders and organize your documents accordingly. I created an initial set that mirrored the folders in the drawers of my desk and file cabinet, and set about reducing my massive accumulation of papers.

It's been over 15 years and the system has served me well. Papers stack up for a while and then I have a scan-fest. But hard drive space is cheap and plentiful. Once scanned the originals are discarded. I have never had an issue finding or printing a copy of any document I needed.

There have been many updates along the way. New releases of the software were clearly worth the small investment. New features and improvements were introduced. I can nest folders and choose their colors. I can scan documents in full color including high quality images of photos.

The scanner itself has also been replaced twice, upgraded each time to a better, faster, higher resolution model. I am still limited to one page per scan but I plan for my next upgrade to include a sheet feeder.

Thanks to my wonderful  imaging system, I now have room in all those drawers for cables, connectors, old cell phones and a variety of other obsolete equipment.

Captain Joe


Follow me on Twitter @JPuglisiLLC

Ding Dong WiMax Is Dead

Last night I listened to a fascinating panel discussion, presented as part of the monthly dinner program hosted by the New Jersey Chapter of SIM. On the panel were three representatives of the vendor community and one practitioner.

• Bob Egan - Vice President, Mobile Strategy, Mobiquity, Inc.
• Vinod Kachroo - Senior Information Technology Executive
• Chuck Sacco - President of Mobile Monday Mid-Atlantic, Vice President of Client Strategy at Movitas and Adjunct Faculty at Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business.
• Dean Guida - President and CEO - Infragistics

The panel was moderated by JP Finnell,  Head of Mobile Strategy, SAP America Services. Under his direction, they covered a lot of ground in the mobility space but one comment in particular really struck home with me.

Many months ago I wrote a brief piece about the impending death of WiMax, the first broadly available high speed cellular wireless system. Only a year or so before, I was thrilled to have obtained a so-called 4G Sprint phone that supported WiMax. This meant my smart phone would be several times faster when it sent or received data over the WiMax network. It had little to no impact on voice service, but email or any internet related activity would be considerably faster.

Service was only available in a handful of major cities at first. Traveling in these cities, my phone delivered fantastic performance. I couldn't wait until service was available in more cities and in my area. I remember the week I showed up to my office and saw the little 4G symbol light up. Super high speed internet to my phone while sitting in the office.

At fist, Sprint was way ahead, expanding WiMax into lots of new markets. Then, there was a deal with Clearwire Communications who were going to build out a huge WiMax infrastructure. Through a joint agreement, Sprint users would soon gain access to WiMax service across the nation.

The wheels came loose when Clearwire ran into some difficulties obtaining additional bandwidth due to concerns over interference with the GPS systems. But they came off altogether when the world converged on LTE, a competitor to WiMax. AT&T, Verizon and T_Mobile, the major payers in the US all adopted the LTE standard. Moreover, with its partner, Clearwater, having difficulties, even Sprint began introducing new devices with LTE in lieu of WiMax.

These signs lead me to believe, and subsequently write, that WiMax was on its way out.

Last night, the floor opened for questions and, being the quiet and shy individual that I am, my hand went up immediately. The panel had discussed the latest devices, user interface designs and applications. But we are still limited by coverage and bandwidth, I pointed out. How do we deal with that?

Most of the response had to do with disconnected or standalone processing, store and forward logic, and tight designs that minimize traffic and therefore limit bandwidth needed. But the first statement was made by John Egan, a well know and highly respected industry veteran. He simply said, "WiMax is dead."  It's what I had predicted months ago. Even if it was old news to some people in the room, for me it was confirmation.

That was a good enough response for me.

Captain Joe

Follow me on Twitter @JPuglisiLLC

Not Another iPad3 Review

That's right. This is not another iPad3 review. Since everyone and their brother is busy covering the much anticipated releases of the iPad3 I thought I would avoid that topic and seek some other, more pleasant diversion. You see, I have an iPad2. For the longest time I lusted after one badly. I wanted it so that I could have the tablet experience just like everyone else.

Then, as you may recall, on the luckiest day last year I actually won one as a door prize. It has been terrific and it does everything I need it to do. Now, I am sure the iPad3 will have all kinds of sexy new capabilities including a bigger screen, better camera, more memory, faster connectivity (LTE) and so on.  But, frankly, I don't really need any of that. I'm happy to stick with my iPad2.

Fortuitously, a post about music, my other passion in life, just happened to come across my screen.  I took the opportunity  to try purchasing music using the new Google Play service. One of my fellow plussers, Frank Garufi Jr. shared Ryan Van Sickle's announcement that his album Ghosts Of The Brokenhearted was now available for purchase on Google Play. Having met and heard Ryan in person I knew this would be a set of tracks I would enjoy. So what better way to test this new service one day after its launch?

Click. Click. Click. Okay, I own the album. Couldn't be easier. My stored credit card was used. There was no delay, no shipping, loading or ripping needed. The entire album was instantly available to me on any of my devices. As an extra added bonus Google Play lets you "share" or announce that you have bought the album on the Google Plus stream. When you share, you give everyone who has circled you one free play of the album. Share public and even people who have not circled you are entitled to sample the songs.

Brilliant. Not only do I get a bargain and the ability to play this album or any track it contains, but I can allow all those people who follow me on Google Plus to listen to it as well. For any music buff, this is a great way to grow your following. Word gets around that you throw a free play of an entire album once in a while, people will be enticed to circle you.

From the artist's perspective, this is free publicity. Exposure of the best kind. Whether you sample one track or play the whole album you are one tiny click from buying it. We all know about impulse purchases.

There is a lot more to explore in Google Play and if I encounter any other extraordinary features I'll be sure to let you know. In the meanwhile, I'll be sitting back and listening to some hard driving tunes on my iPad2.

Captain Joe

Follow me on Twitter @JPuglisiLLC

How Long Could It Take?

Every once in a great while it becomes necessary to take off the tie, roll up your sleeves and get a little dirt under your fingernails. SMART, that automatic device monitor inside the PC, kept telling me one of my two internal disk drives was going to fail. "Back up your system immediately," it said, "and call tech support."

Of course, I back up regularly so there was no threat of data loss. But being a force of one, tech support is me!

Since the system is old but still functions well, I decided that I would replace one of the drives with a solid state drive or SSD. In addition to replacing the broken drive, this would deliver significant performance gains. An SSD looks and responds to the operating system just like a regular drive. However, it has no moving parts. It is simply a box of random access memory (RAM) with an interface that makes it behave just like a disk drive. While not as fast as the main memory of your PC, these solid state units are much faster than mechanical drives and just as easy to install.

It arrived Saturday morning so I set about the installation. True to form I first laid out all of the parts and carefully reviewed the instructions. Four screws and two cables to install. Seemed simple and straight forward enough. How long could it take? As a fail-safe approach, I decided to add the SSD as an additional (third) drive, leaving the other two in place. To achieve the maximum boost in performance the SSD would become the new "C" or system drive.

Anyone who has ever undertaken any project that even involves computers knows straight away the actual time to completion is always several times the initial estimate. The phrase two steps forward, then one step back comes to mind. This project was no exception.

Step 1: attach the drive to the mounting brackets. The screws were the wrong size. Fortunately I was able to find some that fit but then my screwdriver was too large. Attaching these two mounting rails, which by the way turned out to be unnecessary, burned the first hour of this 20 minute project.

Cracking the lid on the PC we went on a hunting expedition for connectors. It took a while (and an internet search for a diagram of the motherboard) before I clearly identified the SATA style connectors. Then I discovered there was no place to plug in for power.

A quick chat with my dear friend Frank Garufi Jr. solved the problem in a heartbeat. At his suggestion I simply stole the power connector from the second CD unit (rarely used in any case) and voila, we had the new drive up and running. Now we were practically done at only three and one-half hours into the project.

The drive comes with special "cloning" software. No, I couldn't make duplicates of me but I could magically copy, bit for bit, all the contents on the "C" drive to the SSD. The copy worked quickly and flawlessly. Now it was a simple matter of swapping some cables around so the SSD would be drive "0" which is the drive the PC uses to boot.

Not so fast. No matter how the cables were connected, the drive letter assignments remained constant. I could not make the SSD be the system drive. Another call to Frank confirmed you must use a utility to move drives around in Windows 7. I'm sure that would have worked but since my machine is a little older and is running Windows XP, this was not an option.

In the end, I simply used the SSD as the third ("F") drive, leaving both the original system and failing data drives in place. This was a perfectly acceptable alternative. Moreover, I was able to squeeze considerable performance gains by moving the page file to the SSD and setting the default for temporary files there as well. It may not be the most elegant solution, but it works.

The PC is back up and running better than ever. At some point I will yank the old data drive, returning the systems to its original configuration and restoring power to the second CD unit.

I put the tie back on and revised all future estimates of hardware upgrades by one order of magnitude. That way next time it will only take twice as long as I expect.

Captain Joe

Follow me on Twitter @JPuglisiLLC

Man Does Not Live On iPad Alone

Like many people, I lusted after an iPad and miraculously won one as a door prize months ago. This completed my collection of various types of devices.I now have a traditional desktop setup running Windows XP, a notebook running Ubuntu Linux, an iPad and an iPhone. I have an HTC EVO device as well but it is currently deactivated. The question is how many devices do I need when I travel outside the home office.

Safe to say, like an American Express card, one would never leave home without your phone. My business number is a Google Voice number and that application happens to run pretty well on the notebook. In theory using a blue tooth earpiece I should be able to use it as my phone. In fact, I have and it actually works well. But it is impractical to use as a phone in many situations including on a plane, in a taxi or even in my own car.

Similarly, the iPhone is a pretty capable little device and I can run almost any application I need on it. Keep in mind I live almost exclusively in the cloud. My email, documents and social network activity require only a browser.Everything can be accessed over the web.

Screen size is a serious limitation. If I take off my glasses and peer closely I can muddle through a first pass at my email and other on-line content. But let's be realistic. To really drill into that job specification posted on Yahoo groups or the 32 comments below a facebook post can get tedious.

Enter the iPad. With the iPhone as a phone and the iPad for all other content management I can almost pull it off. The iPad screen is clear, crisp and large enough while the processor is fast and memory more than adequate. Everything from scanning and filing email to participating in video chat sessions can be done with ease. Short replies, comments under posts, bill paying, and all different web site interactions can be performed.

You know, of course, there is a big but coming.

Each weekday, in addition to all the other on and off-line activity, I write a column like this one. I often have to write letters or create other large documents including spreadsheets and presentation. I have to handle and edit photos and other graphics. These tasks require at least three things the iPad does not have.

I find it very difficult to compose large documents without a conventional keyboard and mouse. While the iPad screen is a good size for viewing, I need to have more real estate when creating or editing content. Finally, when in a location lacking broadband, the iPad becomes nearly useless. Often as a visitor to a client office, hotel or while on a plane, my iPad is pretty much useless.

For these reasons I still feel compelled to drag my monster notebook along on business trips. Someone is going to suggest in comments that I buy some additional peripherals for my iPad like a portable key board and wireless mouse, trade my iPad 2 for a snappy new one with LTE and perhaps change my vision prescription.

Well I think I may fix the problem another way. There sure are an awful lot of new lightweight notebooks out there and my birthday is coming up in a a few more months. What should I get next?

Captain Joe

Follow me on Twitter @JPuglisiLLC