The other day I was reading a book (yes – physical paper) about Access 2010 and discovered some new basic things. Most of my learning about computer stuff has been informal – it’s learning by doing – looking up references, etc. – not a formal process. It’s mainly been driven by having a need to do something – as it forces you to really learn (it’s no longer an academic prospect).
When reading this book I realized there still is a value in formal learning – instead of just figuring it out. I read about some basic debugging techniques that I didn’t know about – simple stuff – that could help me do my job. This surprised me and made me wonder if I’m having the right balance of formal learning – of taking the time to learn instead of just do. I still believe highly in learning through doing – as it forces us to make mistakes – which teach us so much more.
I think this is relevant though – as our world is changing -where formal learning is not as valued as it used to be. I wonder when it’s cost effective and when it isn’t – as frankly some formal learning is pretty weak – not a lot of depth. I’m thinking this is when formal learning is effective:
- It’s a totally new concept – as this helps you get a leg up.
- What you are doing isn’t working – you need to think better about what you are doing.
- The web doesn’t have quite what you need (yes – it’s possible).
- When you know a lot – but need to fill in the gaps (like I’m doing with Access)
- When it’s not really technical – but a general learning concept (like coding patterns independent of language and implementation)
That said – I don’t recommend just reading a book without doing anything – as it’s just academic now. Some process needs to go along with it – write some code, discuss with someone, write a blog post about it, etc. One of the frustrating things about learning to me is when it just goes away – it’s in my head but never reinforced. That’s why I really enjoyed the Dale Carnegie classes – as they made application a part of the class – not just spoon-feeding information (and they are over a long time span to get a chance for it to stick).
I’ve been amazed lately at how amazing the prices are now for computer stuff – at least hardware. I get an e-mail from Microcenter often with special deals, etc. The other day I noticed now that I can get 1 TB Hard Drive for $60 (http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0340477) – which to me is amazing. The amount of space on the hard drive vs. the priced keeps getting better – with the ability to get more space for less money! I thought I was doing good with a 500 gb hard drive I bought last year – but then again I think that’s about what I paid so I think it shows how aggressive the pricing is.
I’m also amazed by how much computers cost now – as I got my wife a new laptop for about $300 – and not netbook. While not a screamer this was a basic laptop that seems to perform well – it was what she needed. I also bought a new desktop for about the same price – $300! About 3 1/2 years ago I bought this Dell 640m for $749 dollars off e-bay – and that was a good deal at the time.
Maybe I’ve just been around for too long – but I find this amazing (have I used that word enough?) – how much the prices have dropped over the years for better and better hardware. I’m not sure that software is keeping pace -as now that can be more expensive than hardware – but it’s stil wonderful how much better things are now..
Today I read Google’s response to criticism of it’s policy proposal with Verizon. I generally like to give Google a lot of credit – a large benefit of the doubt – as they generally are aligned with consumer’s interests. But on this “net neutrality” issue I just can’t agree.
I’ll give them a little bit of credit in that they didn’t intentionally want to threaten the future of the Internet – and they struggled with Verizon on coming up with something to be agreed to. But I can’t agree with them that Wireless Internet should be treated any differently than wireline Internet.
As a believer in the Free Market I believe that Net Neutrality is important for our economy – as the “net” companies are a major driver of the economy now. Were in a recession now – a bad one – with unemployment being very high. I believe one of the drivers to creating jobs will be small business – which are generally low capital organizations.
The lower capital requirements that the Internet provides to business can and is a big driver to our economy. I don’t want those business spending lots and lots of money on bandwidth – I want them spending on on labor – i.e. jobs here in the U.S. The Internet has become nearly a public utility – in terms of it’s usefulness to the world.
Sorry Google but I can’t go along with what you are saying – even though I acknowledge wireless networks are more constrained than by wired networks – but bandwidth continues to grow each year – and technology takes care of that. I believe the “cloud” will be a major part of the upcoming world – with a fast Internet connection being an essential part of it.
Is Net Neutrality an easy thing – NO! It’s going to be very difficult to preserve it – but I think it’s essential for our economy. I’m not sure that I want a “utility” for the Internet – but it’s close to that in terms of how important I believe it is (it’s has a similar multiplier effect that electricity did).
Google please don’t be evil – stand up for us – for the future of the Internet – for the future of the US (and world) economy. Defend a free and unfettered Internet – one for the rich and poor – one that keeps growing.
One of my concerns of switching to Windows 7 was application compatibility - would my apps and hardware work? Previously when I checked I had some concerns – especially with my Palm Centro – which didn’t have Windows 7 drivers.
When my desktop broke I was pretty much forced down the Windows 7 path (as most computers today come with it) – also knowing that I needed to understand it. Many of the hardware concerns had gone away – as it was a new computer and I had a Palm Pre.
I was still concerned about my software – but I had an XP laptop to use for the most part (I use my desktop as more a server than as a PC) to use. To my pleasant surprise almost all my software – Pinnacle Studio, Dreamweaver, etc. – installed and works. I wasn’t expecting this – I was only down to one program that really wouldn’t install – Adobe Photoshop Elements. Probably because I was using Adobe Photoshop Elements 4 – which is kinda old.
So overall I’ve been very impressed with how backward compatible Windows 7 is – in that it just works. It has some compatibility modes also – which gives you even more options. Again, Microsoft really did a good job on this one…
The other day when I was setting up my new computer – so was using IE as it came pre-loaded with Windows 7 (I hadn’t installed Chrome yet – my preferred browser). I needed to re-install my security software -from eset. This software has a user id and password required – which was in my gmail account (as they e-mailed it to me). So I opened up a gmail tab and found the e-mail – so I could cut and paste the user and password. But an interesting thing happened – I couldn’t cut and paste.
I had the eset download site open in another tab and it prompted me for a user id and password in order to download the new version. From this screen I attempted to click back on my gmail tab – but it wouldn’t let me. The user id/password screen was occupying the browser’s complete attention.
I then downloaded chrome and tried it again – and guess what – it worked. So there is a real usability difference between IE and chrome – in that the tabs are very independent in chrome – vs. interdependent in IE. I had forgotten this difference – but it made things more difficult for me….
I thought I’d write a little more about Windows 7 – talking (interesting how I used that word) about the interface. Windows 7 has this spiffy new Aero interface – which actually is kinda nice. This spiffy new computer of mine (but no lemon fresh scent) can handle the graphics well enough so it looks nice.
But it’s more than just nice looking – it’s actually pretty useful in the way it works. I have a shot of my pictures folder – which actually consists of three libraries (a neat concept where multiple folders tie together – in my case I have my main pictures in a separate drive – but I just added that to the Pictures folder). In this case the images provide a neat preview of the folders – and along the top of the folder if you drill into the folders it shows you your path. 
I know this can be a useful feature – as sometimes it’s very difficult to know where you are – especially if you have sub folders with the same name. This will help me understand where I am – and help me to easily go back in the hierarchy – much like the breadcrumbs on a web page. I also just noticed how the search bar is now built in (sometimes that can be fun to find on some types of folders in XP). What’s cool is that you’re searching from this place – instead of having to navigate again in the search tool.
Another think I liked was how the open windows behave in the task bar (I think they “re-used” some of this look from Apple). Your taskbar isn’t overwhelming and groups like items together – but unlike XP it’s a lot easier to tell which is which – simply hover over and get a preview of the window – so I know the correct one to pick. I’m also experimenting with “pin”ing an item to the taskbar – so it’s easy to get to. I don’t want to have too much stuff here – like on a mac – as I find that overwhelming. But the apps I use a lot down there could be quite useful – and I can tell if they are open by hovering over the icon (which is bigger and brighter than on XP).
Overall I think the interface is pretty intuitive – windows has come a long way and I’m impressed with Windows 7. I also just noticed an interesting thing – on the taskbar when I hover the different options it changes the icon at the top – to reflect the different options – for music it shows a note, for documents it shows, well a document. My wife also just pointed out a cool thing – for Google Chrome at the top of the taskbar is an little arrow to the right. Click on that and it gives you a list of the documents you most recently accessed, etc. She uses this for Microsoft word now a lot – making things easier and quicker for her each day.
I think an even better test of Windows 7 is that my non-technical wife (which is good for me!) is starting to like it. They’ve really done a good job on this one – making it a much more enjoyable experience. I don’t have any long term test, but what I’ve heard and seen so far is good.
I finally broke down and upgraded my desktop (the old one was acting up and when I tried to re-load windows it decided to endlessly reboot). Part of that upgrade was converting from Windows XP to Windows 7. I had been reluctant to consider upgrading to Vista – but heard and saw good things about Windows 7 so I was looking forward to it.
Now I have this spiffy new desktop with Windows 7 on it.. 
This is actually the 64 bit version of Windows 7 – which most new computers seem to come with (not the 32 bit). I only have 3 gig of RAM in this computer – but at least with a 64 bit operating system I know I can expand beyond that (more than 3 gig on a 32 bit operating system is somewhat useless).
Overall I’ve been pretty happy with Windows 7 – it seems to flow smoothly, looks nice, behaves nice – a good solid upgrade to the old windows OS. I felt like I was able to get things up and running pretty quickly – including setting up a network (I also got a new laptop for my wife as I’ve been monopolizing our other laptop). After a little bit of work I was able to get my XP laptop to connect to the network drive (I use my desktop computer almost more as a server than a personal computer).
So my first impressions are good on my new desktop with nearly a terrabyte of storage (doesn’t that sound crazy)……
This weekend I was replacing my desktop with a new one (as the old one was acting up) and ran into a strange problem. I was making progress re-loading software, downloading updates, etc. – but it wouldn’t turn on again. I was completely puzzled, but then again I was dealing with a lot of cords around this computer – some of which I wasn’t sure what they were for. So I plugged my computer directly into the wall – instead of into the power strip my computer cabinet came with. And then the computer was working….
I pulled the power strip (surge protector) and plugged into another outlet that was actually grounded (old house so the one where my computer is doesn’t have a ground) and the light came on. So I was puzzled – what’s going on with this thing? The way this thing was designed was that there are outlets on the back and switches on the front – for a nice look in the cabinet. There is also an unswitched outlet on the back – and that was one was working. For some reason the switched outlets stopped working…..
So what I learned from this was that the simple things like a power strip not working can cause problems.
TIP: 
Do you have a lot of those blocky power adapter for all your accessories – so that you have trouble plugging them all into your power strip? A great way to handle that is to use one of the Y adapters (picture on right) I have in order to allow you to not need many power strips. I still have this horrible mess of cables in my cabinet – but I only need one power strip as these cables fit into the strip – and then the blocky power adapters plug into these…
Recently I was out of town on vacation – so my internet connectivity was limited to my Palm Pre smartphone. With this smartphone I had access to e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, Pandora – even Amazon MP3. I already use the phone extensively for e-mail – which is why I switched to Gmail. Other than for some writing I really didn’t open up the laptop. Then again, the smartphone had connectivity but the laptop didn’t (which makes it much less useful). I was actually a little surprised by this – as often I’m quite attached to my laptop…
One day on TWIT I heard Leo Laporte going on about this iPad – indicating that he had less need for his laptop now that he had his iPad. I was somewhat unconvinced of this – as I wasn’t that impressed by the iPad myself. After my experience over the long weekend I started re-thinking this. Sometimes I use my phone instead of the computer as it’s just more convenient – sometimes going to my computers can be an exercise in patience – as they take a while to boot up, lock up, etc (especially my desktop lately).
Then I read this article on CNN Money yesterday – which questioned the future of the desktop PC. Things are becoming different – tablets are becoming the real deal, smartphones are very usable, netbooks are popular and most people want to buy a laptop over a desktop. The internet also changes the nature of computers – as they feel useless without any connectivity. I get antsy without Internet connectivity.
So what will the future be like? Will we have the Dick Tracy phones (the iPhone 4 is introducing video chat)? Will have the Star Trek pads? Or will computers just become something cool and useful?
The other day I was reading a book (yes – physical paper) about Access 2010 and discovered some new basic things. Most of my learning about computer stuff has been informal – it’s learning by doing – looking up references, etc. – not a formal process. It’s mainly been driven by having a need to do something – as it forces you to really learn (it’s no longer an academic prospect).
Where are the comments?
I realized that social media today has changed how I view most web pages now – as I expect comments. Sometimes when reading a Techcrunch article I enjoy reading the comments as much as the article. So today when I was reading some web pages I scrolled down out of habit to the comments – and there were none. It’s like I expect all web pages now to allow comments…
Maybe this is something about the web today – that I don’t just want to be told – but I want to interact. That’s one of the nice things about a WordPress blog like this – in that it supports comments out of the box (not that I get a lot). There’s a power in dynamic content -but a weakness too. Typing in a post like this limits the layout I can do – simple things like putting pictures in a certain way become frustrating. So most of the website I work are not dynamic – but are mostly static html. That said, I do put in a lot of photo galleries and forums – as they work well for their function. Also having a Facebook FAN page can also add some interactive content to a company – just in a different way.
So the web is changing before my eyes – and I’m a part of that in what I expect now…