Blog of the Long Distance Worker Tech - Latest Comments

Re: Netbook Screen Optimisation

adslviettelvietteladsl — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:15:50 -0000

Thanks man, just what I was looking for. Worked like a charm Thanks so much…

Re: WiFi or 3G – Which is best for the mobile worker?

Outer Hebrides — Mon, 25 May 2009 12:10:34 -0000

I forgot to mention that the ISP mentioned charges £450 a month for a 4mb connection so PLEASE can we have 3g?????

Re: WiFi or 3G – Which is best for the mobile worker?

Outer Hebrides — Mon, 25 May 2009 12:09:35 -0000

There are many mobile workers and Internet based businesses in the Outer Hebrides and the lack of 3g is highly frustrating! There have been a few attempts at setting up community wifi networks but most have failed and the creation of a wifi based ISP wiped out those remaining.

Wifi is superb but can suffer in bad weather. Dishes can shift and rain can interfere with signals. Even using "b" I was able to send signals very large distances at a speed of 2mb. Unfortunately, as you say, the Outer Hebrides does not have 3g so I have not had the chance to compare directly :-(

Re: Flying and health

facebook-646164739 — Sun, 10 May 2009 11:08:41 -0000

And it seems that Richard Branson is also trying to make the issue of air quality clear...

http://entrepreneur.virgin.com/2009/05/05/air-q...

Re: Touch screen delights

touch screen — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 15:16:17 -0000

I would lovvve to have a touch screen laptop. That's a nice battery life as well. I wish they made them to be more longer though. Thanks for showing this.

Re: Online Backup - Jungledisk

Robert Haines — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 17:09:16 -0000

I recommend IDrive (www.idrive.com) for online backup. IDrive can utilize the full speed of your broadband connection and has been proven to be significantly faster than competing services, incredibly reliable and quite popular. You can get a 2GB subscription for FREE or get 150GB for $4.95/mo (or $49.50/yr).

Robert Haines
Business Development Manager - IDrive

Re: Redfly – a miss by a mile

nocky100 — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 14:29:48 -0000

Thank you for pointing out that encryption of the main filesystem is possible in WM6.1, although it is limited to those who have the a central enterprise infrastructure based on Active Directory and Windows Server products. Not everyone has that. As for the battery life, that is at best only a moderate advantage as netbook devices today have the ability to run for 5 or more hours - covering most needs in this area.

Re: Better Defrag

nocky100 — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 14:11:13 -0000

I know the technology and original reasoning for defrag to speed up seek times on mechanical media, but you cannot get away from the issue of file fragmentation which still affects SSDs (http://www.rtcmagazine.com/home/article.php?id=...) - software still has to run and search for all file parts when accessing and this is a finite, not zero, time period - particularly because in SSDs you have several layers of abstraction (the lower level write mechanism for flash SSDs has wear levelling in operation which means that there is not a contiguous relationship between file and physical memory storage elements). In my situation, the SSD was seriously file fragmented (may files with >1,000 fragments) and so running a standard fragmentation tool was very needed. I would have preferred a tool optimised for SSD defragmentation, but as yet I have not found one.

That said, I do not recommend continuous or regular defragmentation of SSDs because of the wear issue - only when performance reduction is noted.

Re: Better Defrag

nocky100 — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 14:09:25 -0000

I forgot to mention that there was a marked improvement in performance post defragmentation.

Re: Online Backup - Jungledisk

Joe — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 18:40:48 -0000

You might want to also check out http://www.MyOtherDrive.com for online backup as they support scheduled unattended backup operation and file sharing. The backups can be encrypted and can be set to work even if you are not logged into the machine. For as little as $4.99 per month, you also get 100GB too. Definitely worth a look.

Re: Online Backup - Jungledisk

Peter — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 17:14:46 -0000

Thanks for the article.

I did some search on jungledisk and I found out that it is listed in the top 25 online backup companies here:
http://www.backupreview.info/2009/01/01/top-25-...

Re: Evernote - Your External Brain

nocky100 — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 19:00:10 -0000

Having been a user of Google Notebook for some time, I moved to Evernote last year as it offered so much more, something proven in the recent announcement of the cessation of Google Notebook. For those people moving on from Notebook, Evernote is heartily recommended.

Re: So you got a Netbook, what now?

mobile — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 20:00:58 -0000

555 btw i've change back to winxp lately :)

Re: So you got a Netbook, what now?

dvd — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 19:59:21 -0000

maybe it's right, but i still use winxp :)

Re: Netbook Screen Optimisation

tony — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 05:04:53 -0000

Looking for more netbook reviews? take a look for my netbook review http://www.thelaptopadvice.com

Re: Password Management - Epilogue

nocky100 — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 11:44:40 -0000

and now Facebook Connect powered... along with Disqus and Google Friend Connect.

Re: Password Management

Matt Selbie — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 13:12:38 -0000

Nice article that highlights the growing need for usable security products on the internet. Longer password strings are not however the solution as they can still be keystroke logged. We also know the more complex the password the higher the probability of forgetting. Its ironic that the internet provides a huge efficiency opportunity yet relies on technology that increasingly confounds the beneficiary.
We know from lots of research that people prefer pictures to words and from our own research at Vidoop, that by far the majority of US adults on-line are very frustrated with remembering and organizing passwords. So we developed a visual login that eliminates passwords and yet is effective against the prevalent forms of hacking. Its free, usable, secure and works on multiple computers. It remembers the passwords that the average user can’t.
Check out the frisbee catching tortoise video at www.vidoop.com

Re: Better Defrag

donor — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 08:07:30 -0000

The irony is, you don't need any defrag on SSD.
The point of defrag is to put every part of a file in one place, so that HDD can find the file once, and then read the whole file, rather than search multiple chunks of a single file, splittered across the hard drive. Searching for a file chunk takes time on HDD (the plate has to spin, the magnetic head has to move).
On SSD, defrag doesn't give a performance boost. There's no mechanical parts in SSD, so search is instant.

Re: Experiments with Social Networking

tsudohnimh — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 13:07:09 -0000

Very glad to find you on friendfeed.

Re: Better Defrag

tsudohnimh — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 12:57:44 -0000

I'm trying this defragger but I still have to recommend JkDefrag as the best defrag software I've ever used. Simple, efficient, and no attempt to install Yahoo toolbar. Thanks for the recommendation though. I'm always looking for good system maintenance apps to add to my master Tools list. http://tr.im/2wxz

I really like your blog (just discovered via Friendfeed) you can count me as a subscriber. Thanks

Tsudohnimh
website: http://Knowthenetwork.com
follow me on Twitter http://twitter.com/tsudo
connect with me on Friendfeed http://friendfeed.com/tsudohnimh

Re: Netbooks for the enterprise

Xavier — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 01:59:54 -0000

Ian, thanks for linking to my review of the Mini 1000. I don't consider my comment about netbooks not being ready for the enterprise a "throwaway comment." Enterprise clients have specific needs that are addressed by Dell, Lenovo, HP, etc. in their business-grade notebooks. Enterprise clients require durability, image stability, compatibility with their current notebook ecosystems and extended battery-life for ultra-portables.

I've used virtually every netbook on the market and can assure you that none of them are ready for prime time in the enterprise. Yes, they can perform web/productivity tasks just fine, but none of them (except the HP Mini 2133) has a shell that's going to stand up to 3-4 years of use.

You're right that enterprises will require XP Pro and/or Vista Business. The good news is that a new year is bringing version 2 of many netbooks and at least a couple of them will be business ready. Stay tuned to Notebooks.com and as I've already seen the future and I think you'll really like what's coming at CES.

Re: Dedicated Video Conferencing

EirePreneur — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 06:25:14 -0000

I've got a netbook too - the Dell Mini 9 - and love it to bits. BUT, for my social project (bringing video calling to the elderly, disabled and other socially isolated groups) there is simply no comparison between a netbook and an AiGuru. I gaved a 7 year old and a 70 old two minutes instruction on making a video call on the AiGuru yesterday and then turned it off. Both of them were able to turn it on, navigate the menu and place calls without problem. Try training a 70-year old to do the same with a netbook of any kind. It's horses for courses :-)

Re: Spambayes – Spam filtering

Gary — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 18:42:14 -0000

I have found spam bayes to be pretty solid. SpamBull is also decent for Bayesian filtering. A few more features. But both are top notch. Have saved me time!

Re: Openproj - Project Management software without the cost

Arturas — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 05:25:36 -0000

I like the description of your blog, knowledge is the most valuable thing people have. And we at http://www.comindwork.com believe in knowledge based organizations and that is why we are developing our own project and knowldge management software.

Re: Redfly – a miss by a mile

Surur — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:22:28 -0000

"can you encrypt the entire storage of a Windows Mobile Phone?!"

Yes you can. You really should have done some research first. Its a built-in fuunction of WM6.1.

You do not mention advantages like battery life at all.