Sunday, May 9, 2010 at 11:15AM 
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John K. Beaird will be helping present at the next AITP meeting: http://bit.ly/9G2eqb
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Monday, April 26, 2010 at 9:06AM Great news, I have the honor of moderating a CIO Panel at the next AITP meeting. The event is Wednesday, 4/28th starting at 5:30pm. Come one down.
The panel consists of:
It's a great opportunity to hear directly from local IT leaders.
Register today at: http://bit.ly/aJRiZc
And for all your sales folks out there, bring a client, the value add is outstanding!
Wednesday, April 7, 2010 at 1:41PM Wow so many questions. Ok so I have had my iPad a few days now (since it launched). Here are my initial thoughts. First if you are considering an iPad...or maybe even more importantly of you are not. I really suggest you head to the Apple store or Best Buy and check it out. Without getting your hands on one it's really hard to see what a wonderful device this really is. Sure it looks like a big iPhone. No it doesn't do everything - no true multi-tasking. But what it can do, it does very well.
So what are some good use cases for the iPad?
eBooks - If you are someone who loves to read, get an iPad. Yes, there are other devices out there, notable the Kindle from Amazon (which is a very nice device). But it and the others from Sony just don't compete. The Kindle has three great things going for it - easy to view screen, battery life and the ability to buy books right from the device. iPad has all that covered. And you don't need a book light to read in low lighting. By the way I am typing this on my iPad in direct sunlight. Very readable.
So if you have a Kindle or Sony eReader - dump them and get an iPad.
Media - If you are someone who likes to look at your digital pictures, listen to music or watch a movie (on a plane ride or anywhere). Get an iPad. The screen is simply amazing and the sound is surprisingly great.
Surf the web - More and more of us have a laptop handy when we are watching TV. I don't know if we all suddenly have ADD or what, but there is so much you can do by having the web at your fingertips. Checking email, looking up TV show information, checking the bank accounts, playing games, etc. Sure you could do that on the iPhone, but to be honest once you touch the iPad, you will soon realize that the iPhone for surfing the web is great, when you have to have it...but given the choice, I am sure we all would opt for the bigger screen.
NetBook replacement - This is a tricky one. First, let me say for most tech type folks, the iPad is not a good replacement for a laptop. BUT for a NetBook...I think so. I am trying it out in that capacity. Now the reason I say for 'most tech types'; for the average person in the US, I would think that an iPad would be a great replacement for a laptop or desktop. For example, I think my mom would love one. It was recently said that the iPad is like a reboot of the computer industry. Right now, computers are too complicated, especially for home users. I was on the phone last night with a good friend with a big virus problem. Most of us don't care about things like multi-tasking, but we do care that computers should just work. The iPad, much like the iPhone really hits this mark. When you want new cool software (such as the Zillow app to see what your house is worth), it's simple. Touch the App store, and click buy. Done. May not please all the techies...but it's what normal people want.
Other uses - Really it's unlimited. I will be using mine as a presentation tool the end of April....it's the perfect form factor. If you draw and watch to sketch out your ideas...there is an app for that. Truly unlimited.
Now, back to the questions. What model? Currently they only have a Wi-Fi version available. A model with Wi-Fi and 3G (data) will be available by the end of the month. Should you get the Wi-Fi or wait for the 3G. Well, it depends. If you think the majority of the time you will be at home using Wi-Fi or at places that provide Wi-Fi. Yes, get it now. If you are really geeky (like me), and you have a Mi-Fi or Overdrive hot spot (which turns the cellular data 3G/4G into Wi-Fi), yes get the Wi-Fi version today.
Who should wait for the 3G version? If you plan to use the device (to get on the Internet/eMail) when you are away from Wi-Fi, you might want to wait. The 3G version will cost about $130 more and have the option of a non-contract, month to month plan for data from AT&T for $30 a month (opt in and out whenever you like). For me, I got the Wi-Fi version and I have an Overdrive from Sprint so I can get Internet just about anywhere.
How much memory? This is a tough one. Considering my iPhone has 32GB, I figured I would have to go with the 32GB model ($599). But to be honest, I am recommend more and more that people just get the 16GB ($499) model. For the most part, you won't need to load it up with all your music and 16GB is probably enough. Plus by the time you fill it up in a year or so...there will be bigger, cooler models available.
Accessories - I have four. The wireless keyboard, the dock, the VGA connector and the Apple case. Of those, I recommend the dock for sure. Makes for a pretty digital picture frame when it's charging up. The wireless keyboard (or the combo dock and keyboard). They are a maybe. Depends on what you plan to work on with your iPad. The built in, on-screen keyboard is very good. Very usable. But, if you are a speedy touch typist and plan to write some long emails or (like I am doing right now- posting to your blog). Go for the keyboard. No need to buy it day one, try it without, and add it if you feel the need. VGA connector - if you do public speaking or presentations, it's a must. If not, skip it until you have the need. The Apple case - skip it. Cases will be everywhere any moment now, they are and should be personal, just like your iPhone case. No rush, it's fine without it...then shop and find the one you want.
Whew that's a lot of words and I barely scratched the surface. My advice today. Head down to the Apple store or Best Buy, play with one and buy it. Most of you would be just fine with the Wi-Fi version, so save the $130. If you must have it...plan to pre-order the 3G version and get ready!
Post your comments and let me know what you think.
Friday, March 19, 2010 at 6:33AM We have all heard the ads from Apple. I really like them, I think they are entertaining. But in my opinion, as more and more solutions move to the cloud, I think it matters less and less. Which is a good thing. People choosing what they like better, as long as they have the same access to services. It's a good step forward in the IT industry. So I am a Mac, don't get me wrong I have PCs as well. But the reason for this post is yesterday I did something that in that past was a real pain, but yesterday the process was the way it should be, simple. So what did I do? Here's the story:
Yesterday afternoon I was working on my desktop computer, a Mac Pro, running OS X 10.6. I received a pop up saying my System disk was almost full (consider that the C:\ in the PC world). My first thought, was hmm ok, I will start deleting files. Logical right, but then I remembered I had a new 1TB drive just sitting around in case I had a disk failure. So instead of me giving up files from my primary storage, I thought wouldn't it be nice to upgrade my primary disk from the 300GB I am using to this 1TB disk. But then years of IT experience hit me at what a pain that upgrade would be...I guess that also motivated me because I went for it. The main reason for this post is to share that, very pleasant experience :)
So I opened that new drive, I opened the case of the Mac Pro (slide one lever, remove the case door) I pulled out an empty drive sled. Then while I attached the drive to the four built in screws on the sled I powered down the Mac (yes it was up and running until then :) ).
When the Mac shut down I was done attaching the drive to the sled. I slid the sled/drive back in, closed the case and booted up.
Upon boot the Mac OS saw the drive and offered to format it form me. Nice!
With the drive formatted, I ran a great little app called SuperDuper. Told it to copy the system drive to the newly formatted disk. Then I went on with my evening. As I had dinner I could hear the Mac reboot. So after dinner I went in, logged in and the software had made an exact duplicate of my system drive onto the new 1TB drive, then rebooted making the new drive my boot disk. Nice! My upgrade was done. To verify I unmounted the old system disk ran a few apps and everything worked perfectly. I reformattted my old system disk and am going to use it as a temp storage area.
That's it. Done. Went from 300GB to 1TB on they system disk. No pain, no challenges just computers working the way they should. Simply!
If you have ever done this type of primary storage upgrade in the past, you should be in awe right now :).
Does this make Mac's better than PC's? Nope. But it does show that computers are making progress in getting to where they should be, simple and not adding more heartburn to us humans.
I love when technology works the way us humans expect!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010 at 9:42PM In a single word: interesting. My first take? Well wait, first...my Google Buzz account is beairdj@gmail.com. Please be kind.
Now, about the buzz. First, before I talk about the cool stuff and great take on what UC should mean. (UC is unified communications and up until now had really meant unifying your telephone and your email...a dream that is very much reality today call me, let's talk
What UC should mean in this day and age is unifying all of your communications. Believe it or not we are seeing less and less communication via telephone and more and more via email, blog, tweets, and status updates. It makes sense, more and more breaking news is discovered via twitter before anywhere else. It's even surpassing Instant Message (IM). Something honestly I have started to see the business value of IM. So imaging being able to have one place to go and get your email (a place most of us live daily) and your social circle....plus your voice to the public. Hmmm now that gets interesting. So that's the concept and I will leave a review until I have played it with it more. So stay tuned.
So, my conspiracy theory on the WHY? Ok, conspiracy theory might be a bit much, really it's just very sound business. Remember Google's true business is advertising. It's also very apparent, they are darn good at it. Now I have spent some time (minimal in comparison) in the Ad industry...the one thing advertisers want, is people interesting in buying their product. Duh I know, but true. People - you and I, want (yes I said want) to see ads we care about. Period. It's a total win-win. The way Google can be successful there is to know what we are interested in. As more and more information leaves the 'generic' web, Google can't figure out what we want, that makes their ads less effective. Where is that traffic going? The 'social' web. Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc. So Google needs to strike deals to get that data...but those companies make money with that data. They compete with Google in selling ads (yeah, the capitalistic market does work). So Google could build (or buy- which they did) a social website...a Facebook competitor. A free place you can go and share all your interests with your friends, and more and more family. Oh wait, Google did that, and I doubt you know many people who have heard of it. Orkut.
So, not to be beaten (and I love that about Google), they found another way. If they got the data first, and handed it to the other services...they would see it all. Wow, genius. So, to you, you get the convenience of being able to have one place, close at hand to your email box and your social network. You can share your thoughts and comment with those same friends and family. Google is a good citizen and it ensures your update makes it safely. Win for you....Google gets visibility in handling those messages, so it can index it and place a relevant ad next to it. It keeps it free, and we get to see things we want to buy .
Join me over in Buzz, post a comment here, and share this with your friends. We are watching our environment change, be part of it.