Special HP/Microsoft/Intel Event in Los Angeles Area!

Howdy everyone!

I wanted to pass this along to all of you...even if you aren't in the immediate area, because it's good to see that these manufacturers are working together.  Here's a link to sign up for this event, and the picture below.

Who's worried about Java? Not this coffee lover!

I always find it amazing when I read negative commentary that "people are worried" about X, Y or Z.  Please...stop losing sleep over if Oracle's patch to Java can protect your computer  from a "serious vulnerability."  I think the average user of a computer is so darn afraid now to do anything they're paralyzed when it comes to updating.  My own tech-savvy mother even wasn't sure about some programs that Microsoft was suggesting to her.  MICROSOFT!

Look, just do the update and let Java fix the two exploits and turn its settings to HIGH.  Then nothing will run without your permission.  If you aren't sure...don't run it right?  Tell your employees that they might not get to play games on their desktop at lunch.  (how about a walk outside instead?)   If you're truly concerned, disable it and wait...don't worry, think, do and be happy. :)

Anyone else note in that Daily Breeze article it was some guy from a German anti-virus company that you've never heard of?   As my younger friends would say, "lulz". ;)

[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/6481448" params="" width=" 100%" height="166" iframe="true" /]

Possible Dell Buyout...

Wow.  Pretty big potential news.  Here's the primary article over on Bloomberg.

Now there's going to be a LOT of speculation, and a lot of "smart" people are going to say anything to get attention (my current favorite monkey-statement is "windows 8 is what's killing them"  really?  Honestly, I can't even say my real opinion here...email me and we'll talk.)   Most importantly, it is about change...and it scares people.  Heck, PCM just changed its name and people got worried.  We're one of many companies in this role in the channel, and people thought we were going to change everything we did.

Nope...still here doing the same job I was last year. :)

Point is, don't panic.  Let's see how this goes...it could be great for Dell for all we know.

 

Remember, don't be a Button Monkey.  :)

CES Winding down & "brain 'sploded"

Howdy!

I apologize for the lack of posts this week...one of our team is a new daddy (everybody congratulate Josh Fisher and his wife on their new child!)  and I've been backing up his desk while covering mine at the same time.  It's kind of like juggling bowling balls, and having someone toss in a couple of chainsaws. ;)

Originally I meant to cover CES, but double the work meant I had to cut back on posting this week.  Thankfully with 24 min on the clock, I have enough time to jam out a post for y'all. :)

After looking at what might be cool to show off to y'all who didn't go, I skipped all of the Televisions and other gadgets that just seemed the same from last year...and there was a LOT of that.  What I wanted to focus on was 3D printing, which if you haven't seen it yet, this is a field to get into ASAP.  Take a look here over on CNet with this article on the CubeX 3D printer.  While it's not the best of the class, it still can get people interested in it.  Being able to print ANYTHING  (shapeways.com is a pretty cool little site btw look at it) out of plastic feels like something out of Star Trek...and give that time too.

Have a wonderful weekend and we'll get back on track with tech next week! :D

 

ML

Jailbreakers are locked out!

One of the more interesting news items that's come down the pike in the past week was the note that iOS jailbreaking site, Hackulous, shut itself down.  Claiming that their forums are too difficult to maintain because they're a "ghost town" seems a bit nonsensical...so I'm willing to agree with this article here that it's likely because there is no ability to jailbreak into iOS 6.

For those of you who don't fully understand, people "jailbreak" their iPhones in order to put unapproved apps, and pirated apps onto their phone for free.  Illegal and immoral, yes.  Not to mention a great way to brick your phone and make it more useless.

If you can't use it as the manufacturer intended, you should move over to Android since there's a ton of apps for that, and plenty of ways to circumvent that system without creating trouble for yourself.

 

Or...maybe...JUST MAYBE...use the phone like you're supposed to.  I've done my time breaking systems...it doesn't do you any good when you destroy the device you own AND get yourself in trouble.  :)

"Engage" with a new Bluetooth device

Normally I'm not a Star Trek geek or even a fan...but it is a failing of some folks to recognize how those different TV series have affected our technology.  From the flip cellphone, to tablets, it's touched all of us.  Now, these folks here at Indiegogo have created a bluetooth speaker/microphone that mimics the famous Comm Badges from that series...take a look.



This is pretty cool stuff for those of us who cannot stand wearing an earpiece...I've tried for years, and the weight on my ear and something stuffed into it feels wrong.  This little unit seems to be incredibly cool.  Sad thing is that people don't know about this...and I know that if those of us who do know about it should be spreading the word.

For a $75 buy-in on a product like this, it's a steal.  (Note i'm not being paid to endorse this product, I just think it's darn cool and worth being made.)

Enjoy this video and let me know what you think!

[youtube=http://youtu.be/45jOLNy5Yhg]

It's The End Of The Year As We Know It...

And I feel fine...

Here's  a little tech year in review for you from the  folks at Engadget. :)  Really though, I don't get to toot the Meraki horn enough on this blog...but I get to say in IT this was definitely the year of Meraki and real Cloud Computing.

The notion of Cloud Computing isn't new, and a lot of the stuff we're seeing now are actually better envisioned things of the past.  As far back as 1968, developers were talking about a shared data experience...but they had no idea what would occur just over 3o years later.  Many of us now in our daily lives store documents, music and photos in a form of online storage.  (Heck I use Box.net, Dropbox AND SkyDrive!  What can I say, I've got consolidation issues.)

But with Meraki's Cloud Networking model taking off 4  years ago, and then exploding all over the scene in 2011 with their Wireless Cloud Networking, and then expanding into switches and security appliances in 2012...they had hit on something that wasn't just forward thinking.  You see, Forward Thinking will either put yourself out of business, or get you laughed at until the idea actually catches on.  What they did was to make less work for IT people...a natural way to get a product adopted.  With that mantra of less time spent managing routers, switches and the wireless routers...early adopters of Meraki became its advocates as much as we salespeople are.

Now here they stand, being purchased by Cisco (who wants to maintain their leadership of the IT World by having the best technologies available) for $1.26 Billion dollars...and in all honesty, Cisco is going to make that money back in a year.  Everybody wins.

So this little company that I took a chance on (thanks to my now good friend at Meraki, James Enston) has grabbed the brass ring and held on tightly.  The reason is because through them we can see a glimpse of the future where things were just a bit easier on IT personnel...and they could run things smarter.

I may not be right all of the time...but when I'm right, I hit it on the head with a 10lb sledgehammer. :)

Happy New Year!

 

Holiday Hangover

Hello everyone!  Man...it's been awhile.  First, let me apologize for such a delay in posting.  The holidays mixed with a massive amount of business these past two months (and losing a member of the Dragontech team) kept me from posting at the pace I had set for myself.  This is always the case right?  We get going on things, and are then sidelined/sidetracked by things outside our control.  We're still here...working hard at making this tech blog useful to you as a resource, and a place to bring you our wacky senses of fun.

So, first things first.  You'll see above that we've changed our name from PCMallDragontech to PCMDragontech.    With PCMall changing how it operates with the many brands and companies underneath that banner...we as a company opted to change our name to PCM.  The name reflects a new outlook on our company, and a change from how we were under the former name.  We're bigger, badder, better prepared, and moving with the times under this new name...and 2013 is going to be a great year, I can just tell.

Something came up recently while I was asked to guest blog on another site.  They were concerned that I was going to pitch specific products designed to make me money and take advantage of their users.  So to answer a few things here...

Do we sell tech?  Yes.  We the members of Dragontech work for PCM.  (Formerly known as PC Mall)

Do we promote particular items because we're paid to? Absolutely not.  I've maintained a strict standard of bringing deals that we have to you our clients and readers, that are a win for you...even if they're a detriment to me.  

What are we then?  We're a solutions provider...we talk with clients, understand what they want to do, and get them the help to make it happen...what my friend Des called "tech enablers". :)

So in closing...if you're reading this and you're a client of the Dragontech team, CALL US TODAY.  Why?  Hey...we're working today to support you and all of our other clients.  We'd love to hear from you, even if it's a "happy new year"...you all mean a lot to us.   Don't want to call?  There's always the contact page.  We'd love to hear from you always.

That's all for now...you'll see many more posts in the days to come.

Happy 2nd to last business day of 2012! :)

 

Most Infamous Day...

Normally I don't do political or even patriotic posts...but this one is something that resonates with me.  December 7th, 1941 will as President FDR said, "...live in infamy."  There's a lot of speculation still that we knew the attack was coming and used it to to get into WWII and help our allies...but even our military command couldn't have predicted the full-scale massacre that happened.

What is done is done...but the brutal attack by the Imperial Japanese pilots on the naval bases has been talked about, movies made, even romanticized....but at least the sacrifice of those soldiers and naval personnel has never been forgotten.   My grandfather served proudly in the Navy during those turbulent times, and he always had very interesting and action packed stories to tell my brother and I as kids...something I"ll never forget.

It's my hope in this day and age, after suffering through the Vietnam Conflict, multiple wars in the middle east and Afghanistan, we would not forget those soldiers there as well.  They signed up to be the closed fist of our country, right or wrong...and doing some thing that many of us could never do.  I know I couldn't...so I've always respected them for that kind of bravery.  Remember to thank them when you see them...help them to find jobs...show them the respect that they deserve because they've earned it through trial by fire.

I'll end with a spoken word song from the great Johnny Cash...

 

"Ragged Old Flag"
by Johnny Cash

I walked through a county courthouse square
On a park bench, an old man was sittin' there.
I said, "Your old court house is kinda run down,
He said, "Naw, it'll do for our little town".
I said, "Your old flag pole is leaned a little bit,
And that's a ragged old flag you got hangin' on it".
He said, "Have a seat", and I sat down,
"Is this the first time you've been to our little town"
I said, "I think it is"
He said "I don't like to brag, but we're kinda proud of
That Ragged Old Flag

"You see, we got a little hole in that flag there,
When Washington took it across the Delaware.
and It got powder burned the night Francis Scott Key sat watching it,
writing "Say Can You See"
It got a rip in New Orleans, with Packingham & Jackson
tugging at its seams.
and It almost fell at the Alamo
beside the Texas flag,
But she waved on though.
She got cut with a sword at Chancellorsville,
And she got cut again at Shiloh Hill.
There was Robert E. Lee and Beauregard and Bragg,
And the south wind blew hard on
That Ragged Old Flag

"On Flanders Field in World War I,
She got a big hole from a Bertha Gun,
She turned blood red in World War II
She hung limp, and low, a time or two,
She was in Korea, Vietnam, She went where she was sent
by her Uncle Sam.
She waved from our ships upon the briny foam
and now they've about quit wavin' back here at home
in her own good land here She's been abused,
She's been burned, dishonored, denied an' refused,
And the government for which she stands
Has been scandalized throughout out the land.
And she's getting thread bare, and she's wearin' thin,
But she's in good shape, for the shape she's in.
Cause she's been through the fire before
and i believe she can take a whole lot more.

"So we raise her up every morning
And we bring her down slow every night,
We don't let her touch the ground,
And we fold her up right.
On second thought
I *do* like to brag
Cause I'm mighty proud of
That Ragged Old Flag"

Windows Server 2012...*blink blink*

*Raises his head from the smoldering ashes of November*

"Where am I?"

Wow...Last week flew by in a torrent of post Thanksgiving madness, and December is starting to show the same kind of horse kick.  So, I need to get back on the horse here and let you folks know I've not forgotten you. :)

First off this month...how to plan for and deploy Windows Server 2012...the operating system built for the cloud...courtesy of my friends at TechNet.

This website here breaks it down...and gives you access to documentation on the hows and whys you should upgrade to Server 2012.  Granted it's Microsoft's article and their opinion...so let me share with you someone else's opinion of Server 2012.  This great article on Techrepublic back in August sort of tells the story...with some compelling reasons to get Server 2012.  Here are some examples from there...

Dynamic Access Control - a sort of baked in centralized security setup.

Hyper-V Replica - This will be something for Small/Medium businesses who really can't deploy a replication solution.

DirectAccess becomes kickass! - Now DA will actually work with IPv4 and can be virtualized.

 

There's a start at least.  I"m out a little early today...but I'll be back to update the deals page tomorrow with some HO HO HO! :)