Hello! I'm back!
I know I've not posted in a while, but that is just evidence of the state of the need for computers and its related services and support. Every year, just after Christmas, there are many people who become introduced to computers and technology products, sometimes for the very first time in their life. New computers, upgrades, trade-ups, xBox 360, cell phones, PDAs, home networking and wireless routers, etc. Are a common reality that comes with each New Year.
Even Microsoft and its MSN homepage, along with MSN search, and hotmail, experience a huge increase in traffic, users, and activity, as many new consumers power-up their new computers for the first time, which most come installed with Windows and Explorer with its homepage set by default to MSN.
In this same way, and for the same reasons, many of these same consumers (and in some cases small businesses) create an increase in the need for technical support. This comes in many form, from a complete set-up to connecting and configuring their network of computers, sometimes through their wireless routers.
This busy period usually begins before Christmas as many shoppers looking to buy the latest computers and equipment come to me to purchase their gifts. Then after Christmas (usually in the first and second week of January) is when the support, service and set-up calls come in. Then as February begins to unravel, many consumers begin to plan for and purchase new computer systems, laptops, and other devices as they consider how to spend their income tax refund.
So, recently I've been busy quoting, building, delivering and setting up new products. This will go on for a few more weeks and should overlap with more need for support and service calls. This should come to a slow down near the end of March.
It is a good thing. Winter tends to see many people "cocooning" at home, and this is a great period of time to discover new technologies, learn how they work, and put them to work for many uses. Once the summer rolls around, many people spend more and more time away from their computers as they spend more and more time out of doors, enjoying the summer weather and travel vacations.
Of course this only creates a shift in the emphasis of the need for support as many people who begin to plan their summer vacations and outings, will come to me to learn about and purchase such portable items as laptops, MP3 and iPod music players, and digital cameras. Then there is a whole new learning curve when they return from these trips and find they have a need to learn how to take those songs and pictures off their devices and return them to their computers, often to then want to send them out to friends and family using e-mail.
Then comes back to school, fall specials and then back to the Christmas shopping season again.
Wow! Thinking ahead, I don't believe I'll ever not be busy. What a wonderful period of time we live in, this Technology Age. It is non-stop, ever changing, and in many ways very beneficial to our way of life, providing memories, conveniences, instant communications ... A whole new way of living.
Science Fiction becomes Science Fact each and every day! Live it, Live!
Saturday, February 18, 2006
Friday, December 16, 2005
Beware the Power Drain of Technology
It's very interesting how a little casual conversation can bring to light an issue that is generally less than obvious to most of us, but which really is a great cause for concern to us all. Let me explain.
In the midst of having a quiet gathering with a few nice friends, we had turned down the lights so we could better see out the window to the beautifully lit trees across the street. It really was a great sight, which added a wonderful ambiance to the atmosphere of the holiday season.
Inside, sitting around a small table in the dim light of a single candle, we began to talk about how quiet our surroundings seem to get whenever electrical items are turned off. For more than a few moments we were all drawn back to the memory of the almost deafening silence of the "Great Blackout" of 2003, when not a single hum from a fan, nor the lulling vibration of a motor or pump, nor a single white noise or light existed.
Most of us are very much aware that in this day and age we rely very heavily, not only on technology and its myriad of devices, but also on the electricity needed to power them. In fact we almost take it for granted, day in and day out, until we experience that instance of clarity which gives us reason to pause and think for more than a fleeting moment - and so we should!
Ironically, this issue was recently related to by one of the largest consumers of electricity in the technology industry today - GOOGLE! A recent article sited an engineer at Google who warned that "if the performance per watt of today's computers doesn't improve, the electrical costs of running them could end up far greater than the initial hardware price tag." Let's look at an example.
Only a few years back the typical home computer system had only a 150-200 watt power supply. Today power supplies are available in up to at least 680 watts (a 450% increase), with the average size being 400 watts in a typical pre-built computer system. Faster and more powerful processors, more fans to cool those processors, higher maximum memory configurations, faster CD/DVD drives for burning, nearly unlimited USB ports for external device connections (drawing their own power) and expansion cards like those used for high-end graphics, have all been contributing to this power drain.
If Moore's Law were to be applied to this inevitable growth and expansion of computer components, it would hardly be undeniable that the warning of Google's engineer should be heeded seriously, and within the next few years. Not only is there a "performance per watt" concern here, but more important is the environmental impact that carries a social responsibility.
I've always firmly believed in educating the public, and even though there are some technological advancements and new technologies in development that promise to address this power draining "crisis", they are not yet widespread enough within the mainstream media to have had much affect on the social conscience of the world's technology users. As computing power consumption grows, the awareness of its consequences dwindle into near obscurity. This has to change, and this change needs to start now.
One of the questions I get asked most frequently is the controversial "should I leave my computer turned on all the time?" My answer is simply "no". Why? Well, in the past there was the sound argument that turning your computer on and off frequently kept repeating the cycle of heating and cooling the computer into a short circuit. Computer chips, cooling devices and temperature controls have all advanced quite far since this school of thinking existed, and though it may still be an issue, the bigger picture today is that leaving a computer on all the time simply uses up electricity. With the increasing growth of computers into every home, consuming much more power each year, the hydro bill has become THE mitigating factor over the years.
It is almost an optical illusion that keeps the awareness of this power drain problem hidden from many of us. Over the years computers have gotten smaller, more powerful, faster, and capable of connecting to many more devices, but smaller does not always mean lower power consumption. In fact, the combined advances of technology going into home computers have conyinued to increase their power consumption, and so to should our understanding of this illusion.
Please Power Off!
Regards,
Troy Roach
OnSite Technology
519-40-GEEKS
519-404-3357
www.onsitetechnology.ca
758/2571
In the midst of having a quiet gathering with a few nice friends, we had turned down the lights so we could better see out the window to the beautifully lit trees across the street. It really was a great sight, which added a wonderful ambiance to the atmosphere of the holiday season.
Inside, sitting around a small table in the dim light of a single candle, we began to talk about how quiet our surroundings seem to get whenever electrical items are turned off. For more than a few moments we were all drawn back to the memory of the almost deafening silence of the "Great Blackout" of 2003, when not a single hum from a fan, nor the lulling vibration of a motor or pump, nor a single white noise or light existed.
Most of us are very much aware that in this day and age we rely very heavily, not only on technology and its myriad of devices, but also on the electricity needed to power them. In fact we almost take it for granted, day in and day out, until we experience that instance of clarity which gives us reason to pause and think for more than a fleeting moment - and so we should!
Ironically, this issue was recently related to by one of the largest consumers of electricity in the technology industry today - GOOGLE! A recent article sited an engineer at Google who warned that "if the performance per watt of today's computers doesn't improve, the electrical costs of running them could end up far greater than the initial hardware price tag." Let's look at an example.
Only a few years back the typical home computer system had only a 150-200 watt power supply. Today power supplies are available in up to at least 680 watts (a 450% increase), with the average size being 400 watts in a typical pre-built computer system. Faster and more powerful processors, more fans to cool those processors, higher maximum memory configurations, faster CD/DVD drives for burning, nearly unlimited USB ports for external device connections (drawing their own power) and expansion cards like those used for high-end graphics, have all been contributing to this power drain.
If Moore's Law were to be applied to this inevitable growth and expansion of computer components, it would hardly be undeniable that the warning of Google's engineer should be heeded seriously, and within the next few years. Not only is there a "performance per watt" concern here, but more important is the environmental impact that carries a social responsibility.
I've always firmly believed in educating the public, and even though there are some technological advancements and new technologies in development that promise to address this power draining "crisis", they are not yet widespread enough within the mainstream media to have had much affect on the social conscience of the world's technology users. As computing power consumption grows, the awareness of its consequences dwindle into near obscurity. This has to change, and this change needs to start now.
One of the questions I get asked most frequently is the controversial "should I leave my computer turned on all the time?" My answer is simply "no". Why? Well, in the past there was the sound argument that turning your computer on and off frequently kept repeating the cycle of heating and cooling the computer into a short circuit. Computer chips, cooling devices and temperature controls have all advanced quite far since this school of thinking existed, and though it may still be an issue, the bigger picture today is that leaving a computer on all the time simply uses up electricity. With the increasing growth of computers into every home, consuming much more power each year, the hydro bill has become THE mitigating factor over the years.
It is almost an optical illusion that keeps the awareness of this power drain problem hidden from many of us. Over the years computers have gotten smaller, more powerful, faster, and capable of connecting to many more devices, but smaller does not always mean lower power consumption. In fact, the combined advances of technology going into home computers have conyinued to increase their power consumption, and so to should our understanding of this illusion.
Please Power Off!
Regards,
Troy Roach
OnSite Technology
519-40-GEEKS
519-404-3357
www.onsitetechnology.ca
758/2571
Friday, December 09, 2005
"e" is for Everything
Certainly everyone has heard of "eBooks". If you have not, they are digitally published texts that you can read right on your computer screen. Well, up until recently, I had only ever thought that ebooks were digital copies of books that existed in print which you would find in a local book store or library...I was wrong.
A few weeks ago I discovered that many internet marketers create their own ebooks to offer to anyone interested in hearing about their success, secrets, strategys and tips. Well the digital text does not stop there.
While searching on eBay today for an inexpensive alternative for business forms, I came across some ebooks in my search results. One or two peaked my interest and before I knew it I was deep in the vault of ebook-dom. There was a book here, and another one there, and yet another one again. Every click seemed to turn up more and more ebooks on more and more topics.
I began to wonder if there was no limit to these available topics. Then I came across listings offering "bulk" ebooks, dozens or hundreds of different ebooks for mere dollars...and they even came with resell rights so that I could create my own listing, auction, or webpage to sell them too.
This got me curious, and I clicked some more, finding more and more "libraries"... 2,000 ebooks... 6,000 ebooks... 8,000 ebooks... WOW! I could not contain the interest anymore.
I had to purchase one of these libraries and see for myself. Why not? It was only an investment of a few dollars, and I would get the library nearly instantly.
So I made the purchase and I got the library. I opened it up and then... I got overwhelmed. Information overload, or certainly a potential case for it. While skimming some of the titles, and some of the other web sites linked to several titles, and skimming some more, I discovered that there are titles that exist on practically every topic imaginable.
Not only was there internet and auction marketing, but there was love & life, health & beauty, new age & occult, religious & spiritual, arts & crafts, etc., etc. Now I know that these available topics are not surprising, but keep in mind most of these type of ebooks are not "published" works. Essentially anyone can be digitally published. Anyone can write an ebook. Hopefully these writers have some sort of insight, experience, knowledge, education, or training, but the choices seem endless.
Some of the titles and topics that surprised me were "Become an Instant Chef", and "Dream Psychology by Freud", or Reincarnation Vedanta Philosophy", and "Helping Your Children Learn Geography". I know there never is a shortage of topics for books in a library, and certainly in a book store, but now it has reached to the digital world.
One of my personal long time favourite writers, Jeff Harrow of The Harrow Group, who writes "The Harrow Technology Report" for his website each month and for other publications such as Future Brief, sited a quotation from Spectrum Online entitled "Eternal Bits" which had this to say about the world's current state of digital data storage and creation:
"It took two centuries to fill the U.S. Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. with more than 29 million books and periodicals, 2.7 million recordings, 12 million photographs, 4.8 million maps, and 57 million manuscripts. Today it takes about 15 minutes for the world to churn out an equivalent amount of new digital information. It does so about 100 times every day, for a grand total of five exabytes annually. That's an amount equal to all the words ever spoken by humans, according to Roy Williams, who heads the Center for Advanced Computing Research at the California Institute of Technology, in Pasadena."
Jeff goes on to say "For example, in 2003 we generated enough data to fill a half-million Libraries of Congress -- that's five-million terabytes, or 5 exabytes. In just one year!"
WOW! Who has time to read any of that, even 1/10th of 1% of it. We are inundated with information everyday, and even more of it, exabytes more, and are available to us literally at our fingertips at any time we need or want it.
Once Google is able to move ahead with their print service, that amount of data will grow exponentially. The good thing is that books, documents and other texts in print which are old and at risk of deteriorating from existence (and which are limited in their availability and access) will be preserved and be much more accessible... by everyone.
The bad news... how long can this data be stored electronically before it deteriorates, or before the media we use today becomes obsolete and has to be transferred to a newer media in the future. It will be a huge task to maintain this data, and a huge industry surrounding it.
At the risk of perpetuating the very phenomenon I am discussing, I will end this blog post here, leaving you to your thoughts. Please feel free to add your comments at any time.
Thanks for reading, and please remember to visit my website at http://www.onsitetechnology.ca/ for great deals, articles, information and links, or my eBay consignment shop at http://www.udropcanada.com/.
Troy Roach
OnSite Technology
Stratford, Ontario
519-404-3357
519-40-GEEKS
http://www.onsitetechnology.ca/
889/1792
A few weeks ago I discovered that many internet marketers create their own ebooks to offer to anyone interested in hearing about their success, secrets, strategys and tips. Well the digital text does not stop there.
While searching on eBay today for an inexpensive alternative for business forms, I came across some ebooks in my search results. One or two peaked my interest and before I knew it I was deep in the vault of ebook-dom. There was a book here, and another one there, and yet another one again. Every click seemed to turn up more and more ebooks on more and more topics.
I began to wonder if there was no limit to these available topics. Then I came across listings offering "bulk" ebooks, dozens or hundreds of different ebooks for mere dollars...and they even came with resell rights so that I could create my own listing, auction, or webpage to sell them too.
This got me curious, and I clicked some more, finding more and more "libraries"... 2,000 ebooks... 6,000 ebooks... 8,000 ebooks... WOW! I could not contain the interest anymore.
I had to purchase one of these libraries and see for myself. Why not? It was only an investment of a few dollars, and I would get the library nearly instantly.
So I made the purchase and I got the library. I opened it up and then... I got overwhelmed. Information overload, or certainly a potential case for it. While skimming some of the titles, and some of the other web sites linked to several titles, and skimming some more, I discovered that there are titles that exist on practically every topic imaginable.
Not only was there internet and auction marketing, but there was love & life, health & beauty, new age & occult, religious & spiritual, arts & crafts, etc., etc. Now I know that these available topics are not surprising, but keep in mind most of these type of ebooks are not "published" works. Essentially anyone can be digitally published. Anyone can write an ebook. Hopefully these writers have some sort of insight, experience, knowledge, education, or training, but the choices seem endless.
Some of the titles and topics that surprised me were "Become an Instant Chef", and "Dream Psychology by Freud", or Reincarnation Vedanta Philosophy", and "Helping Your Children Learn Geography". I know there never is a shortage of topics for books in a library, and certainly in a book store, but now it has reached to the digital world.
One of my personal long time favourite writers, Jeff Harrow of The Harrow Group, who writes "The Harrow Technology Report" for his website each month and for other publications such as Future Brief, sited a quotation from Spectrum Online entitled "Eternal Bits" which had this to say about the world's current state of digital data storage and creation:
"It took two centuries to fill the U.S. Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. with more than 29 million books and periodicals, 2.7 million recordings, 12 million photographs, 4.8 million maps, and 57 million manuscripts. Today it takes about 15 minutes for the world to churn out an equivalent amount of new digital information. It does so about 100 times every day, for a grand total of five exabytes annually. That's an amount equal to all the words ever spoken by humans, according to Roy Williams, who heads the Center for Advanced Computing Research at the California Institute of Technology, in Pasadena."
Jeff goes on to say "For example, in 2003 we generated enough data to fill a half-million Libraries of Congress -- that's five-million terabytes, or 5 exabytes. In just one year!"
WOW! Who has time to read any of that, even 1/10th of 1% of it. We are inundated with information everyday, and even more of it, exabytes more, and are available to us literally at our fingertips at any time we need or want it.
Once Google is able to move ahead with their print service, that amount of data will grow exponentially. The good thing is that books, documents and other texts in print which are old and at risk of deteriorating from existence (and which are limited in their availability and access) will be preserved and be much more accessible... by everyone.
The bad news... how long can this data be stored electronically before it deteriorates, or before the media we use today becomes obsolete and has to be transferred to a newer media in the future. It will be a huge task to maintain this data, and a huge industry surrounding it.
At the risk of perpetuating the very phenomenon I am discussing, I will end this blog post here, leaving you to your thoughts. Please feel free to add your comments at any time.
Thanks for reading, and please remember to visit my website at http://www.onsitetechnology.ca/ for great deals, articles, information and links, or my eBay consignment shop at http://www.udropcanada.com/.
Troy Roach
OnSite Technology
Stratford, Ontario
519-404-3357
519-40-GEEKS
http://www.onsitetechnology.ca/
889/1792
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Speed Isn't Everything!
I discovered today that my internet speed and bandwidth was not what I thought it was. A few weeks ago I upgraded to Roger's new 6Mbps service, and within an hour I saw a big increase in how fast my internet was.
DON'T LET THAT FOOL YOU!
My girlfriend Deneen, of Diamond Decor Decorating (www.diamond-decor.com) was working on her website at the same time as me, both of us wireless, when she commented "I don't think we're getting all that speed we're supposed to."
So I quickly "googled" for an internet speed test and came across one of the best at www.pcpitstop.com (though they limit you to several tests in one session). Lo and behold it turns out their test showed my connection was only transferring at 50% (or 3Mbps).
I quickly called Roger's tech support who verified that my modem is receiving 6Mbps, and they suggested I try several things.
1. Disconnect from the wireless and the router and connect direct to the modem and run the internet test again.
2. Change the Ethernet cable between the router and modem (as sometimes that can make a difference).
3. Use a straight-through Ethernet cable between the modem and router (apparently a cross-over cable affects the bandwidth).
So I go and connect direct to the modem (with a regular cross-over Ethernet cable) and I re-ran the test at www.pcpitstop.com. WOW! There it was! 5Mbps! Was I glad to see that improvement, but it was still not the 6Mbps I wanted to see.
Again I "googled" for "tweaking internet connection speed and bandwidth". After reading through several sites I came across www.speedguide.net and their great little free tool called TCPOptimizer.exe which shows you you're current settings, what your optimized settings should be, and allows for your own custom settings. After applying the optimized settings, and a few more other tweaks I read in the pages of their web site, I rebooted my system and waited.
Once my system loaded back up again I was anxious to test my internet connection speed now that I had optimized it. To my disappointment, I was not able to use pcpitstop again because og their "limits". So I set out to "google" another site that would allow me to test my internet connection speed. After checking a few more web sites I discovered a test at www.speakeasy.com. This site (as far as I can tell) does not limit the number of times you can run the test, and the animated graphics during the test gives a great visual picture of what is happening during the test.
WOW! To my surprise and excitement, my internet connection speed came in at over 5Mbps. A definite increase from before the tweaking. Then on to the next level of testing. I reconnected my modem to the router and the router to my laptop and ran the test again. BAM!! Another increase. I was now clocking in at nearly 6Mbps.
That left me with testing my connection over the wireless 802.11b. Now this is where the topic title of today's blog entry comes from, "Speed Isn't Everything!". It was always my belief, and something I've always told my customers, that there is little reason to pay for 54Mbps or 108Mbps wireless for 1 or 2 users when no ISP provides higher than 6Mps (right now), especially when 802.11b (11Mbps) wireless hardware is cheap and still available on the market (though probably not for long). Well...today I've been corrected - or at least clarified, and re-educated.
Apparently, from what I have read (and since researched) it seems the typical average speed of 802.11b (11Mbps) wireless is really around 5Mbps. This would be fine for 2-3 users with only 1.5Mbps or 3Mbps or a single user with 5Mbps internet service. In my case there are two of us with 802.11b (11Mbps) wireless cards using a 6Mbps internet connection. When I ran the above speed test on my wireless laptop, my speed had certainly increased, but now to only around 4Mbps.
Deneen's laptop was only getting around 1Mbps to 1.5Mbps until I applied the above tweaks found at www.speedguide.net, and then it bumped up to around 4Mbps as well.
The lesson here is that if we want to get the full speed benefit of 6Mbps over wireless, we are going to have to use at least 802.11g (54Mbps). For now, we will continue to use our new found speed. 6Mbps is equivalent to a T3 line, and even at 4Mbps over wireless, it is still better then when we had 3Mbps service.
Besides, I'm not always running wireless in my home. Whenever I'm in the shop area of my home I connect direct to Ethernet, as I do when working on a customer's computer that I have to connect to the internet. So I'm getting a fair bit of use out of the entire bandwidth, and I must say 6Mbps...rocks!!
Thanks for reading, and please remember to visit my website at www.onsitetechnology.ca for great deals, articles, information and links, or my eBay consignment shop at www.udropcanada.com.
Troy Roach
519-404-3357
519-40-GEEKS
847/903
DON'T LET THAT FOOL YOU!
My girlfriend Deneen, of Diamond Decor Decorating (www.diamond-decor.com) was working on her website at the same time as me, both of us wireless, when she commented "I don't think we're getting all that speed we're supposed to."
So I quickly "googled" for an internet speed test and came across one of the best at www.pcpitstop.com (though they limit you to several tests in one session). Lo and behold it turns out their test showed my connection was only transferring at 50% (or 3Mbps).
I quickly called Roger's tech support who verified that my modem is receiving 6Mbps, and they suggested I try several things.
1. Disconnect from the wireless and the router and connect direct to the modem and run the internet test again.
2. Change the Ethernet cable between the router and modem (as sometimes that can make a difference).
3. Use a straight-through Ethernet cable between the modem and router (apparently a cross-over cable affects the bandwidth).
So I go and connect direct to the modem (with a regular cross-over Ethernet cable) and I re-ran the test at www.pcpitstop.com. WOW! There it was! 5Mbps! Was I glad to see that improvement, but it was still not the 6Mbps I wanted to see.
Again I "googled" for "tweaking internet connection speed and bandwidth". After reading through several sites I came across www.speedguide.net and their great little free tool called TCPOptimizer.exe which shows you you're current settings, what your optimized settings should be, and allows for your own custom settings. After applying the optimized settings, and a few more other tweaks I read in the pages of their web site, I rebooted my system and waited.
Once my system loaded back up again I was anxious to test my internet connection speed now that I had optimized it. To my disappointment, I was not able to use pcpitstop again because og their "limits". So I set out to "google" another site that would allow me to test my internet connection speed. After checking a few more web sites I discovered a test at www.speakeasy.com. This site (as far as I can tell) does not limit the number of times you can run the test, and the animated graphics during the test gives a great visual picture of what is happening during the test.
WOW! To my surprise and excitement, my internet connection speed came in at over 5Mbps. A definite increase from before the tweaking. Then on to the next level of testing. I reconnected my modem to the router and the router to my laptop and ran the test again. BAM!! Another increase. I was now clocking in at nearly 6Mbps.
That left me with testing my connection over the wireless 802.11b. Now this is where the topic title of today's blog entry comes from, "Speed Isn't Everything!". It was always my belief, and something I've always told my customers, that there is little reason to pay for 54Mbps or 108Mbps wireless for 1 or 2 users when no ISP provides higher than 6Mps (right now), especially when 802.11b (11Mbps) wireless hardware is cheap and still available on the market (though probably not for long). Well...today I've been corrected - or at least clarified, and re-educated.
Apparently, from what I have read (and since researched) it seems the typical average speed of 802.11b (11Mbps) wireless is really around 5Mbps. This would be fine for 2-3 users with only 1.5Mbps or 3Mbps or a single user with 5Mbps internet service. In my case there are two of us with 802.11b (11Mbps) wireless cards using a 6Mbps internet connection. When I ran the above speed test on my wireless laptop, my speed had certainly increased, but now to only around 4Mbps.
Deneen's laptop was only getting around 1Mbps to 1.5Mbps until I applied the above tweaks found at www.speedguide.net, and then it bumped up to around 4Mbps as well.
The lesson here is that if we want to get the full speed benefit of 6Mbps over wireless, we are going to have to use at least 802.11g (54Mbps). For now, we will continue to use our new found speed. 6Mbps is equivalent to a T3 line, and even at 4Mbps over wireless, it is still better then when we had 3Mbps service.
Besides, I'm not always running wireless in my home. Whenever I'm in the shop area of my home I connect direct to Ethernet, as I do when working on a customer's computer that I have to connect to the internet. So I'm getting a fair bit of use out of the entire bandwidth, and I must say 6Mbps...rocks!!
Thanks for reading, and please remember to visit my website at www.onsitetechnology.ca for great deals, articles, information and links, or my eBay consignment shop at www.udropcanada.com.
Troy Roach
519-404-3357
519-40-GEEKS
847/903
Monday, February 14, 2005
Welcome to our blog
Hey all! Thanks for stopping by and checking out our first blog site. We'll try to make updates as often as possible, usually when some interesting news warrants a comment, or when we find a cool website or new technology or gadgets. Of course we greatly encourage your own feedback, comments, cool stuff and websites too.
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