SteveMart.in

It’s that time again. Time for 10 consecutive days of deals from Dell on various electronics. Each day they will have special promotions on different items so it’s best to check back daily to see if the new deal is something you are in need of. Just click on the Dell image each day and it will be updated with that day’s deal. You will see great deals on desktop and laptop computers, flat panel TVs, digital cameras, home theater systems, Blu-Ray Players and more. Each day’s deals lasts for one day only so be sure to check it out. The deals start today and end on the 23rd.

Posted in Computer Networking | No Comments »

I believe that it is a fact that all hard drives will eventually crash. This is why I make sure that I setup some kind of a backup for my clients. It is extremely important to have some kind of a regular backup in place. If you are manually backing up your data, make sure you do it regularly. DON’T FORGET! It would be best to setup your backup to automatically happen on a regular schedule. This will save you all kinds of pain, frustration, time, financial loss, blood, sweat, and tears. As soon as you start using a computer, start backing up your data. I have seen the hard drives of some clients last years and years. But, The hard drives in two different servers lost a RAID 5 hard drive (this means that no data was lost as we just needed to replace the missing drive in the array) after about 2 years. another client’s hard drive lasted about 4 years (not in a RAID 5 array) before it died. He luckily had most of a backup and lost very little data. I have also had a couple of workstations lose a hard drive after only a couple of months. In the workplace users will typically save their data to the server which is backed up and therefore we don’t backup the individual workstations. So, while these two workstations didn’t really lose much data, it could have been much worse.

I recently had one of my movie storage hard drives fail. It was a 500 GB external hard drive and it was pretty much FULL of movies. Did I have this hard drive backed up? Nope. In this particular case, the data was not all that valuable as I can easily redo the movies since I still have all the original DVDs. But, it will cost me a lot of time to redo all of them. It is a very good time to reflect on my backup practices though.

A while back, I ran across a very unique product targeting backup, although it may be reliable enough to use for everyday file usage and storage. It is called drobo and is short for “Data Robot”. It is basically an intelligent external hard drive.

It is a small box that can hold 4 Sata hard drives of any capacity. It has a unique new proprietary kind of RAID protection built in. It makes sure that if one of the hard drives inside it fails, your data stays completely in tact. And, not only that, but it lets you continue to work as if nothing happened. It alerts you by the lights on the front that something is wrong. You would then simply replace the failed hard drive with a new Sata drive of any capacity and it re-adjusts to provide you the additional space of the newly inserted drive.

I have known about the drobo since the first version and held off buying one for a few reasons:

• First, price. This little baby costs $500 without any hard drives in it. While that isn’t a ton of money for this kind of protection (it’s actually kind of cheap when you look at the inferior competitors) it is enough to make you think twice about whether or not you really need this device instead of a couple of standard (stupid) external hard drives.
• Second, version one was a bit slow in reading and writing to the device. If I am going to use this for daily use of files, I need it to be decently fast. They fixed this in version two. Reading and writing are now approximately twice as fast as version one. (If you just want to use the drobo as a backup device, you can still pick up version one for around $350 while they close them out.)
• Third, I wanted a network attached storage device so that I didn’t have to leave a computer on in order to access the files. I could simply attach it to the network via a network cable and my files would be available to any of the devices on my network. Droboshare took care of this. Droboshare is a small attachment with an Ethernet port that connects to the drobo via a USB cable. It then makes all of the files on the drobo available to the other network devices. This also means a bit more expense though.

So, because of my crashed drive, I am going to purchase a drobo to test it out. I may start with just the drobo and add the droboshare later. I will start out with my existing hard drives and add more as my capacity needs grow. The second generation drobo can handle as much as 16 TB of data (first generation could handle up to 4 TB) so, it may be a while before I reach those kinds of capacities. If I fill all of the drive bays with drives and find that I need more capacity, I simply remove the smallest drive and replace it with a larger capacity drive. Drobo works in the background to re-configure everything so that my data is safe and I can begin using the extra capacity. This is not possible with standard RAID 5 configurations on other devices as the replacement drive must be the same size as the lost drive or the RAID array will not recognize the new drive.

I will let you know whether I like the drobo or not once I have one in my hot little hands to test. I plan on putting it through it’s paces to make sure it is a valuable investment. I may become a reseller of theirs if I am pleased with the results. Either way, backing up your data is crucial. If you haven’t thought about backing up your data, why don’t you go get started right now. You never know when your hard drive will crash.

Posted in Computer Networking | 1 Comment »

Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Smart Technology Receives 2008 Best of Riverton Award

U.S. Local Business Association’s Award Plaque Honors the Achievement

WASHINGTON D.C., October 10, 2008 — Smart Technology has been selected for the 2008 Best of Riverton Award in the Computer Consultants category by the U.S. Local Business Association (USLBA).

The USLBA “Best of Local Business” Award Program recognizes outstanding local businesses throughout the country. Each year, the USLBA identifies companies that they believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and community.

Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2008 USLBA Award Program focused on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the USLBA and data provided by third parties.

About U.S. Local Business Association (USLBA)

U.S. Local Business Association (USLBA) is a Washington D.C. based organization funded by local businesses operating in towns, large and small, across America. The purpose of USLBA is to promote local business through public relations, marketing and advertising.

The USLBA was established to recognize the best of local businesses in their community. Our organization works exclusively with local business owners, trade groups, professional associations, chambers of commerce and other business advertising and marketing groups. Our mission is to be an advocate for small and medium size businesses and business entrepreneurs across America.

SOURCE: U.S. Local Business Association

CONTACT:
U.S. Local Business Association
Email: PublicRelations@USLBA.net
URL: http://www.USLBA.net

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Pretty amazng right? Well, it is kind of a joke. I received this notification in my inbox this morning. I checked the company’s website that awarded this to me. If I want to receive the plaque, I have to pay for it. I didn’t even bother to find out how much they wanted. Maybe I should start giving out awards to companies and charging them for the awards. I could make a lot of money. Here is a link to their “official” press release. It’s amazing what people will do to trick you into giving them money. Beware people.

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

Why is it that babies have this uncontrollable urge to move around when you are trying to feed them? I am not quite sure what the disgusting mixture is that I was feeding her and I don’t think I want to know. She seemed to be enjoying it even though it looks like she wasn’t. I am amazed at how quickly an arm or even a leg can swat out as I am moving the spoon toward her mouth. She was in big trouble and she knew it but she still let out a big grin when I brought the camera out to capture her messiness on “film”. It is very hard to stay mad at her when she gives you a grin like that. There was green stuff on the backrest, the side and all inside the buckle. It was gross. It’s a good thing she’s cute.

Posted in Family | 3 Comments »

I have setup a bunch of WordPress blogs for family and friends and have actually had several people abandon these blogs because they could not control who sees them. Some might be a little paranoid but still. They would like to be able to control who can see which posts. I know it is possible to make a blog private by requiring a user account and make it all or nothing but I would like to see more control than that.

When you write a post, on the right you have a checkbox to make the post private. That is great but I think we should add several more checkboxes such as Everyone (anyone visiting can see that post without having to log in), Family (Only logged in users that have been marked as family can read these posts), Friends (Only logged in users that have been marked as friends can read these posts), Co-Workers (Only logged in users that have been marked as Co-Workes can read these posts), etc. The group names could be customizable but you get the point. You should be able to mark a post for multiple groups unless one of those groups is Everyone or Private. These two would trump anything else. Private posts would remain visible to the author of that post and admins only.

These groups are completely different than the user rights currently in WordPress as these would only control who could READ individual posts. The ones currently in Wordress control user rights and what they can DO in Worpress.

For me, I don’t care who reads what, but I have been asked about setting something like this up for several users and have not found any plugin that can do this. It seems very simple but I am no code guy and I actually do not think this should be a plugin but actually part of the WordPress core. Although I personally wouldn’t really have a need for it. I can definitely see the benefits of such abilities and can see how some of my clients and family and friends could utilize it.

For example, if you have a WordPress blog setup in a business environment, you could allow only certain departments to read certain posts. You may want to setup your groups as Accounting, HR, PR, Manufacturing, Sales, etc. That way, each department head can write things specific to their department and only their department would be able to read it when they were logged in (saves other departments having to wade through a bunch of irrelevant info to find info pertaining to them too). Any post aimed at everyone in the company would be marked with all the departments checked. They could mark anything they want the general public to be able to see as Everyone. So, it could be used for both internal and external visibility.

I guess this is more of a post control wish than user control. Each user in WordPress would then have to be put into one or more post category group. Users could be in more than one post category group but typically they would probably be in just one. A CEO would probably be in every post category group.

Anyway, that is my BIG feature request for the WordPress developers. If you like my idea, vote for it here.

Posted in Computer Networking | 4 Comments »

I’m not exactly sure how it started. I think I laid down on Abby’s bed after prayers and saying goodnight and we just talked for a little bit. I then did the same thing with Tyler. Now, they ask for it every night. Abby calls it talk time and Tyler just asks if I can lay with him for a little bit. I enjoy it. After a busy day of every imaginable distraction, it is nice to just lay down and talk individually with my two oldest for a little bit. I think they enjoy the one on one time they get. After I am done talking to them they now repeat the process with Jenny. I think she likes it too. Be warned, if you have a lot of kids, this could become a very time consuming tradition to start. I only have two kids old enough to do this with and they don’t have any problem making this one on one time last a little while. It brings out the talkiness in them. I guess we’ll just have to be done having kids.

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We ate dinner out on the deck today since the weather was so nice. Afterward, Abby started getting her blankets and pillows out and made herself a little bed on the lawn. She wanted to sleep outside. Too bad she has school in the morning. Maybe next weekend we can sleep in the backyard. We’d better do it before it starts getting too cold. The other picture is from the other day when they wanted to paint. Tyler is such a crazy boy. But, whenever you call him that, he says “I don’t like to be called that”. We pretend like we had forgotten every time and we just continue to call him crazy.

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I hate to brag, but my baby is just so dang cute. I just can’t get enough of her. Here are a few pictures of her from the past couple of weeks. Do you just love the blonde wig? Abby got it at the primary party. I’m surprised we were able to get those pictures as she really didn’t like having it on.

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Pioneer Children Sang as They Walked and Walked and Walked and Walked. Elementary School Children Scream and Yell as they Walk and Walk and Walk and walk. Abby’s whole elementary school had a walk-a-thon to raise money for the school. Everyone in the whole school participated. Abby hit up some of her aunts and uncles and grandparents for pledges. Her basic approach was “Will you give me money?”. It seemed to work. Maybe I should start trying that. Anyway, Jenny volunteered to help out and would mark the kids’ laps for them to help them keep track. I went over and walked some laps with Abby and Tyler too. Here are a few pictures from the walk-a-thon. Abby and Tyler had a lot of fun and Abby did 25 laps!

My kids are so much fun. I think I’ll keep them.

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First of all, what a crappy picture. I am sitting in my bed and I took this picture from my cell phone. I could have gotten out of bed and gone into the family room to get the “real” digital camera but that would require getting out of bed and it is currently 1:04am so I’m too lazy to do such a thing. Even though my phone takes 2 MP pictures, the color saturation is aweful.

Anyway, back to the subject, TV. I have a Windows Media Center PC in which I installed a TV tuner card several years ago. This allowed us to schedule our TV shows to record automatically and we could watch them at our leisure. Bacially it is Tivo but the Windows flavor of it (and no subscription charges). Well, about two months or so ago I fried the TV tuner card by not shutting the computer down when putting in an eSata slot for an external hard drive. I pulled another device that was using up a slot and set it on top of the tuner card. There was a spark and the lovely smell of burning plastic and….the TV tuner card was toast (Lesson: always turn the computer off if you are opening the case for any reason, end of story). I cursed myself several times and went about researching the newer tuner cards (the one I had was discontinued). I found the one I wanted. It is the WinTV-HVR-2250. It has two twin tuners in it. So, I could record two analog channels and/or two digital channels at the same time. A nice little upgrade since the old tuner could only record two analog channels. I ordered the new tuner card from buy.com on August 21st which should have been plenty of time before the new season of shows started back up.

I was expecting the new card to arrive anytime. But, apparently this new card is new for the manufacturer too and there isn’t a huge supply available just yet. Tonight was the season premier of two of our shows, “Grey’s Anatomy” and “The Office”. We definitely were not prepared for it. Since I had all TV going through the Media Center PC, streamed to our TVs through the network via an Xbox 360, I haven’t actually hooked up cable to anything but the one jack for the Media Center PC and one TV/VCR in the excercise room. So, as you can see from the picture, I grabbed my rabbit ear antenna and hooked it directly into the TV in our bedroom. Both of our shows start at the same time, 8:00pm. We decided to watch Greys and record The Office to watch afterward. So, we searched the house for a VCR tape that we could record “The Office” on while we watched “Grey’s”. Just recording via a VCR is ghetto. You can’t start watching what you are recording until it is completely done recording. How lame is that? We used to purposely start watching one of our scheduled recordings about 10 minutes after it started recording as we could then speed through the commercials and catch up to live TV by the end of the show. We don’t even know where the remote is for our VCR so we actually had to WATCH commercials. Who does that anymore? (and no, we couldn’t just get up off the couch and push the Fast Forward button on the front of the VCR, so shut up!).

It was a pain having to hurry and get home in time to get the kids in bed and be in front of the TV at exactly 8:00pm so we wouldn’t miss anything on Greys. Life without a DVR of some sort is just so much more stressful.

Now, one nice thing was that we got to watch Grey’s in High Def over the air. But, even that was pretty hokey. We found that the digital signal would change depending on where we were sitting on the bed as we watched. I had to sit in just such a way and could not bend my legs. Jenny, on the other hand, had to keep her knees bent. If she would straighten her legs the signal would drop out. I felt like I was 5 years old when we had to put tin foil on the ends of the antennas to get a better signal. I just about did that very thing until we found our special spots that made the signal come through. We stayed in the same positions for two hours while we watched Grey’s. Our legs had cramped up by the end but at least we got to finish the show.

I hope and pray that the new TV tuner card will ship soon. While we don’t watch very much TV, it is so nice to have what few shows we do watch automatically get recorded and not have to think twice about it. Long live the DVR!

Posted in Family | 4 Comments »