I managed to snag a Google+ account though an online acquaintance. (Score!) After playing with it for a while I am very encouraged by what I am seeing. It is most definitely in beta so little glitches can certainly be overlooked.
Google Plus clones the basic idea of Facebook (as Facebook did with Friendster/Myspace and the like) without stealing anything that could invoke lawsuits and totally integrated it with Google's other services like search, gmail, blogging, etc. Google has also added a video 'hangout' feature which I haven't been able to test completely since there aren't many folks on Google+ yet. I clicked on "Start a Hangout" and was brought to a popup window where I could "check my hair and make sure my mike works" which I did. I could also choose which "Circles" I was willing to 'Google Hang' with. Of course nobody was available since I only have one "friend" at the moment.
Circles are something that Facebook doesn't have that could give Google the edge. (I know similar functionality is possible in Facebook, but it isn't intuative and it isn't easy). Circles are groups of people. Just like in real life you have work friends, recreational friends, family, there may be things that you want to share with your drinking buddies that you may not want your bosss or your mother reading. Circles gives you an easy way to organize your people and who see's what.
Inversely you can filter out circles in your view. So if you aren't interested in reading about what your coworkers are doing you can turn off the coworkers circle. Simple right?
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011
Spiceworks - A FREE (ad supported) complete network management and inventory system
I've started testing out Spiceworks on our campus network. Spiceworks is an IT inventory, monitoring and help desk system. It has a dizzying array of features which you can read about on their web site, and that I'm sure I'll get around to describing on this blog eventually. I really like what I have seen so far.
The most interesting thing to me is that Spiceworks has adopted a much different business model than some of the other companies; an ad supported model that is completely free to the enduser. Since my boss told me my budget for an inventory system might be "something like $300" I immediately started looking for a free system to track our IT assets.
All interaction with Spiceworks is entirely done through a web browser (Chrome works great) and there are advertisements to the right of the actual interface. The ads are not too intrusive and are actually sometimes interesting, but they can easily be ignored while you focus on the task at hand.
So far I have scanned my entire network for devices. With some small amount of configuration it will detect switches, routers, PC, Macs, WiFi access points, VMware servers, printers and nearly anything else that can have an ip address. Spiceworks manages to do this without any client side agents through a combination of SNMP, Windows Authentication, WMI, and SSH. It can do a network wide software inventory, and backup configurations of Cisco equipment to a built in TFTP server on a schedule.
I have just started to scratch the surface of what Spiceworks can do, I have yet to explore the trouble ticket system or some of the more advanced control features possible with SNMP.
I'll definately be doing more posts about Spiceworks in the future, but if you are looking for and IT inventory and control system I would say that Spiceworks is worth a look.
The most interesting thing to me is that Spiceworks has adopted a much different business model than some of the other companies; an ad supported model that is completely free to the enduser. Since my boss told me my budget for an inventory system might be "something like $300" I immediately started looking for a free system to track our IT assets.
All interaction with Spiceworks is entirely done through a web browser (Chrome works great) and there are advertisements to the right of the actual interface. The ads are not too intrusive and are actually sometimes interesting, but they can easily be ignored while you focus on the task at hand.
So far I have scanned my entire network for devices. With some small amount of configuration it will detect switches, routers, PC, Macs, WiFi access points, VMware servers, printers and nearly anything else that can have an ip address. Spiceworks manages to do this without any client side agents through a combination of SNMP, Windows Authentication, WMI, and SSH. It can do a network wide software inventory, and backup configurations of Cisco equipment to a built in TFTP server on a schedule.
I have just started to scratch the surface of what Spiceworks can do, I have yet to explore the trouble ticket system or some of the more advanced control features possible with SNMP.
I'll definately be doing more posts about Spiceworks in the future, but if you are looking for and IT inventory and control system I would say that Spiceworks is worth a look.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Migrating from Exchange Server to Google Apps for Business or Google Apps for Education
Last winter break I migrated our entire school from our aging Exchange 2003 Server to Google Apps for Education. Google Apps for Education is essentially the same service as Google Apps for Business except it has the added bonus of being totally and completely FREE to educational institutions. Forever.
The financial reasons for adopting this new platform are obvious, but how do I feel about the adoption of GAfE six months later?
Really good actually. I've saved the school money already by eliminating the need for purchasing another server. I have no more patches, security worries, backup or configuration concerns. Every single person on campus is using the same interface whereas before I had a half dozen different email clients plus the exchange web access to deal with- support calls for email have gone way down.
Remote access has become a no-brainer. Google docs makes sharing and collaborating easy for everyone on (and off) campus. The calendaring is as good or better than anything Exchange ever offered. And while I have kept this a guarded secret; it is entirely possible to use Outlook with Google Apps in an entirely seamless way- you honestly can't tell the difference from an end user perspective. So the few users that have a need for it (scripts that call Outlook for sending emails for example) can still use Outlook without a hitch.
My only advice to someone considering migrating away from Exchange to Google Apps for Edu/Bus is to do a very small and very short test run with a select group of users. Do not attempt to do a phased migration or a long drawn out testing period. I might advise that you use a gmail account yourself for a month or so an explore all it has to offer and discover it's quirks.
While it is possible to do split delivery (some emails for a domain go to google and some go to your exchange server) it's a configuration nightmare and frankly not really worth it. If I had to do it over again I would create a few accounts on the new Gmail server and forward emails from the exchange server to the new accounts. That would be the extent of my testing/ focus group.
After maybe a week of that I would just jump in with the transfer. Google has amazing tools that makes migration very quick and painless without any emails getting lost and they do have very good email support as well (phone support not so much). Read everything you can on the google support site and have a written plan so that you don't get lost along the way.
Make the announcement, do short training intro session(s)- and just jump into the transfer late on a Friday afternoon if you can. Remind people that their accounts will be available right away but that it may take some time for all of their old mail to show up (Get ready for lots of questions about folders/labels or be sure to cover this in the intro sessions).
Despite the occasional headlines about Gmail being down, it is a very reliable service. I've not had a single problem with it that lasted more than a few minutes and not many of those. For those concerned about backups and retention retirements there are reasonably priced services available to backup and archive Google Apps Gmail to a searchable and recoverable database.
For and educational institution it is hands down the correct choice. I can't say if it would be worth it in a business environment however I suspect that if you run the numbers Google Apps would come out ahead of an in house Exchange server.
The financial reasons for adopting this new platform are obvious, but how do I feel about the adoption of GAfE six months later?
Really good actually. I've saved the school money already by eliminating the need for purchasing another server. I have no more patches, security worries, backup or configuration concerns. Every single person on campus is using the same interface whereas before I had a half dozen different email clients plus the exchange web access to deal with- support calls for email have gone way down.
Remote access has become a no-brainer. Google docs makes sharing and collaborating easy for everyone on (and off) campus. The calendaring is as good or better than anything Exchange ever offered. And while I have kept this a guarded secret; it is entirely possible to use Outlook with Google Apps in an entirely seamless way- you honestly can't tell the difference from an end user perspective. So the few users that have a need for it (scripts that call Outlook for sending emails for example) can still use Outlook without a hitch.
My only advice to someone considering migrating away from Exchange to Google Apps for Edu/Bus is to do a very small and very short test run with a select group of users. Do not attempt to do a phased migration or a long drawn out testing period. I might advise that you use a gmail account yourself for a month or so an explore all it has to offer and discover it's quirks.
While it is possible to do split delivery (some emails for a domain go to google and some go to your exchange server) it's a configuration nightmare and frankly not really worth it. If I had to do it over again I would create a few accounts on the new Gmail server and forward emails from the exchange server to the new accounts. That would be the extent of my testing/ focus group.
After maybe a week of that I would just jump in with the transfer. Google has amazing tools that makes migration very quick and painless without any emails getting lost and they do have very good email support as well (phone support not so much). Read everything you can on the google support site and have a written plan so that you don't get lost along the way.
Make the announcement, do short training intro session(s)- and just jump into the transfer late on a Friday afternoon if you can. Remind people that their accounts will be available right away but that it may take some time for all of their old mail to show up (Get ready for lots of questions about folders/labels or be sure to cover this in the intro sessions).
Despite the occasional headlines about Gmail being down, it is a very reliable service. I've not had a single problem with it that lasted more than a few minutes and not many of those. For those concerned about backups and retention retirements there are reasonably priced services available to backup and archive Google Apps Gmail to a searchable and recoverable database.
For and educational institution it is hands down the correct choice. I can't say if it would be worth it in a business environment however I suspect that if you run the numbers Google Apps would come out ahead of an in house Exchange server.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Samsung Galaxy Prevail on Boost Mobile. My review.
This blog is supposed to be dedicated to my life and career in relation to technology, but my first post is going to be about my new Samsung Galaxy Prevail smart-phone from Boost Mobile.
First let me say that I have never owned a smart-phone before. I have an iPod Touch and I've played with a lot of other folks smartphones but this is my first experience living with one as my primary phone. Overall I have to say that I am pleased, but that may be only because I haven't been spoiled by some of the higher end smart phones on faster networks.
The Galaxy Prevail is small, I can actually fit it in the "third pocket" of my jeans, its roughly the same size as my ipod touch and nearly twice as thick. The screen is bright and clear and it has all of the features a smart phone is supposed to have, wifi, gps, G3, a memory card reader, bluetooth and Andriod 2.2 which runs very adequately on the 800mhz processor.
I am cheap so the monthly cost is important to me. The $50 a month plan includes everything- and I mean everything unlimited. There are no hidden fees, charges, taxes, blah blah blah. $50= $50= $50 per month unlimited. I REALLY like that, and if I pay on time for six months it goes down to $45/month, I pay on time for a year it goes down to $40 and so on till it reaches $35 a month for unlimited everything. This is the best possible deal you can get as far as I know. Like I said: I am cheap.
There are downsides:
1. Customer service sucks. You have to search the internet for the right sequence of keys to press to talk to a human.
2. The bluetooth tends to spike the CPU usage on the phone to 100% when used for more than half and hour or so- a reboot of the phone is required to fix the problem. This might be a firmware issue that will be fixed later..
3. The service is spotty. Whether this is the fault of the phone or the carrier (which I believe is actually Sprint in disguise) I cannot say. I suspect the phone is not the best at picking up signals and/or Sprint prioritizes it's contract customers over the prepaid losers like me.
That said the phone works for my purposes. In the city I never lose a signal and near freeways it works just fine. The data rate can be slow (256 down 128 up in one test) but I don't use it for anything but quick email checks and streaming Pandora Radio which works just fine. Texting seems to go through in a reasonable amount of time, they always go through within a minute usually faster.
The phone itself is $170 but there are no contracts so if you hate the service you can sell the phone on ebay right quick I reckon. I actually would recommend this phone for other cheap bastards like me who need a gadget fix and a phone to use in the city. If you are worried about getting service when your car breaks down in them middle of nowhere, you should probably pick something else, or buy a signal booster for your car, which I am considering myself in case I get stranded.
Overall the Samsung Galaxy Prevail offers a good value for my purposes.
First let me say that I have never owned a smart-phone before. I have an iPod Touch and I've played with a lot of other folks smartphones but this is my first experience living with one as my primary phone. Overall I have to say that I am pleased, but that may be only because I haven't been spoiled by some of the higher end smart phones on faster networks.
The Galaxy Prevail is small, I can actually fit it in the "third pocket" of my jeans, its roughly the same size as my ipod touch and nearly twice as thick. The screen is bright and clear and it has all of the features a smart phone is supposed to have, wifi, gps, G3, a memory card reader, bluetooth and Andriod 2.2 which runs very adequately on the 800mhz processor.
I am cheap so the monthly cost is important to me. The $50 a month plan includes everything- and I mean everything unlimited. There are no hidden fees, charges, taxes, blah blah blah. $50= $50= $50 per month unlimited. I REALLY like that, and if I pay on time for six months it goes down to $45/month, I pay on time for a year it goes down to $40 and so on till it reaches $35 a month for unlimited everything. This is the best possible deal you can get as far as I know. Like I said: I am cheap.
There are downsides:
1. Customer service sucks. You have to search the internet for the right sequence of keys to press to talk to a human.
2. The bluetooth tends to spike the CPU usage on the phone to 100% when used for more than half and hour or so- a reboot of the phone is required to fix the problem. This might be a firmware issue that will be fixed later..
3. The service is spotty. Whether this is the fault of the phone or the carrier (which I believe is actually Sprint in disguise) I cannot say. I suspect the phone is not the best at picking up signals and/or Sprint prioritizes it's contract customers over the prepaid losers like me.
That said the phone works for my purposes. In the city I never lose a signal and near freeways it works just fine. The data rate can be slow (256 down 128 up in one test) but I don't use it for anything but quick email checks and streaming Pandora Radio which works just fine. Texting seems to go through in a reasonable amount of time, they always go through within a minute usually faster.
The phone itself is $170 but there are no contracts so if you hate the service you can sell the phone on ebay right quick I reckon. I actually would recommend this phone for other cheap bastards like me who need a gadget fix and a phone to use in the city. If you are worried about getting service when your car breaks down in them middle of nowhere, you should probably pick something else, or buy a signal booster for your car, which I am considering myself in case I get stranded.
Overall the Samsung Galaxy Prevail offers a good value for my purposes.
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