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Posts in category Tech

White iPhone? No thanks!

Apr25
2011 1 Comment Written by hotrao

I’ve been away (better: I’ve never went away but needed to fix my PC) for a while and when I started again reading RSS feeds I realized that there were at least 20 articles talking (again) on white iPhone.

TOC TOC TOC! There’s anybody in the house? But am I the only one to understand that is just a color (no new tech inside).

I understand all the articles on iPhone 5 (is some marketing blended with natural curiosity), but really I cannot tolerate anymore the rumors on white  iPhone.

If someone would like to explain me the trill behind this myth, I’m here.

Posted in Economy, Other - Tagged , , , , ,

Email revising

Apr19
2011 4 Comments Written by hotrao

In this times of busy then ever people and communication pushed to the limits, is easy to forget that email communication is, well the name says, a form of communication.

Email has in common with voice immediateness and velocity of delivery, but differs a lot in expressing a mood, a sense of concept or expressing something. These last are delegated and imposed by the ability and accuracy of the writer.
I was reading an article from David Silverman at Harvard Business (full article here), where are given some useful rules for revising emails in order to focus and maintain people attention.
David says that “[...] I’ve found that for your average email, the number of revisions largely depends on the number of recipients. Here’s my experience:
  • 1 to 5 recipients = 2 to 4 revisions
  • 5 to 10 recipients = 8 to 12 revisions
  • Company-wide or to Executive Committee = 30 to 50 revisions
[...]“
I agree on the numbers and much more on the concept underlying: a mail requires clearness, revisions and enough attention before sending.
What follows are David comments with my suggestions:
1. Delete redundancies. And prefer direct and simple sentences. Remember that differently from verbal communication, email do not allow you more explanation than what you wrote.
2. Use numbers and specifics instead of adverbs and adjectives. Same as above: quantity, being specific and simplicity are the key factors
3. Add missing context. And be concise, avoiding to give a business plan as introduction, but focus on key context elements
4. Focus on the strongest argument. And possibly put other arguments in priority, so that the reader knows what and why is reading what you’re writing
5. Delete off-topic material. Really agree on this. Is better to write 10 mail with different topics (and that maybe need differently timed responses) than a general one or one condensing 10 themes
6. Seek out equivocation and remove it.  You won’t be able to hope that reader forgets the previous concept and will override it with your fresh one.
7. Kill your favorites.  True.
8. Delete anything written in the heat of emotion. Email will remain and emotion is not a wise counselor.
9. Shorten. and then shorten again
10. Give it a day. or defer sending if not in a hurry
This post as a comment also here

 

Posted in communication, Other - Tagged , , , , , ,

Email etiquette

Apr16
2011 3 Comments Written by hotrao

I was doing spring cleaning in my computer (well, actually I started just looking for a doc and finished putting in order all the mess there… ;-) ) and I found a very old post from Marci Alboher at Yahoo Shine (full article here).

Marci puts some points in her article I really appreciate. My comments in line.

  • Change the subject line every time you start a new conversation: really true. Too much times there are mails “re-used” that only confuse the receiver and after some periods also the sender who needs them.
  • Don’t use email when another medium makes more sense. : email is abused. Though I admit email is fast, IMHO sometimes a call is more effective (think of those crowded in-boxes where your email will reside
  • Answer questions inline. : If possible and makes sense, otherwise use bulleting and paragraphs to clarify
  • Don’t get the last word in. : email should be fast, synthetic and effective, no reason to go on with cheers when email objective is reached
  • Use the cc function sparingly. : and use it wisely. Same thing for BCC. Put people in an order (alphabetic sorting with clients first for me makes sense)
  • Keep it brief. : true and avoid nested sentences, Is better to have a list than a long spare text.
  • Ask whether people prefer attachments or inline pasting.: or if it makes sense. Sometimes people think that the all the receivers are in office and attach 20 mb of attachments while you’re on the road with in-boxes not so easily manageable
  • Give up cutesy handles. : or at least limit them to your personal writing.
  • Use personal email for personal correspondence.: true all times
  • Say no to chain letters and jokes. : see above

This post as a comment also here

Posted in behaviour, communication, Other - Tagged , , , ,

iOS 4.3.2 out for delivery

Apr15
2011 3 Comments Written by hotrao

Vlad Savos at engadget reports that Apple has just released “[...] version 4.3.2 of iOS is now available for downloadin’ and updatin’. Fixes for occasional “blank or frozen” FaceTime video and iPad 3G issues get top billing, while the obligatory security updates fill out the rest. The size of this mighty software drop? A hefty 666.2MB [...]“.

Just plug your device into iTunes and install it, but I’m still convinced that releasing a new OS version every 2 weeks is a little bit too much….

This post as a comment also here

Posted in Other - Tagged , , , , , ,

Google has relased a new stable version of Chrome

Apr15
2011 3 Comments Written by hotrao

Google has just released a new stable version of Chrome, upgrading to version 10.0.658.205.

According to Martin Brinkmann at ghacks.net (full article here), “[...]

The release is a security update that fixes vulnerabilities in all versions of the web browser. Most notably, it includes an early fix for the Adobe Flash vulnerability that has been confirmed by Adobe earlier this week.

Three additional security vulnerabilities are fixed in the latest Google Chrome Stable version. One of the fixed issues is only affecting Chrome on Windows, while the remaining are affected all versions of the Chrome browser.

  • [Windows only] [70070] Critical CVE-2011-1300: Off-by-three in GPU process.
  • [75629] Critical CVE-2011-1301: Use-after-free in the GPU process.
  • [78524] Critical CVE-2011-1302: Heap overflow in the GPU process.

All three vulnerabilities have received a critical rating, the highest possible rating. The Adobe Flash vulnerability was rated critical by Adobe, which means four critical vulnerabilities have been fixed in total in the latest version of Google Chrome.

Google Chrome users can download the latest version of the web browser from the officialGoogle Chrome download page, or with an in-browser update.[...]“.

Also Google sometime is loosing some bugs in their releases… :-)

This post as a comment also here

Posted in Other - Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Dual monitors tools adds power to your monitors

Apr14
2011 2 Comments Written by hotrao

Dual monitor tools helps you managing the dual monitor configuration. ghacks.net says that “[...]  Dual Monitor Tools tries to change that by adding multiple dual-monitor features to the operating system. Supported by the application are all Microsoft operating systems from Windows XP to the very latest version of Windows 7.

Dual Monitor Tools provides access to five core features, they are: Swap Screen, Dual Launcher, Dual Wallpaper, DisMon and Dual Snap. Want to know what each does? Read on then. It first needs to be noted that each feature comes with its own executable which reduces the memory footprint significantly considering that you only need to run the executable of the program that you need.[...]” (full article here and download here)

Tagged , , ,

Google results

Apr14
2011 Leave a Comment Written by hotrao

The guys at geeks are sexy posted a very interesting and humorous interpretation of Google results representation, which I post below (full article here, original post via ilovecharts.com).

Really nice…and representative of how much information is accumulating on the net.

 

This post as a comment also here and here

Posted in communication, Other - Tagged , , ,

Is cloud computing really worth the money?

Apr11
2011 Leave a Comment Written by hotrao

Lucas Mearian at Computerworld (full article here) reports that “[...]

After only two years, Iron Mountain is planning to close its public cloud storage services, having already stopped accepting new customers as of April 1, according to market research firm Gartner.

The company will close its Virtual File Store services, which is targeted at archival of inactive file data, and its Archive Service Platform, which allows software vendors to integrate the Iron Mountain API to leverage the company’s cloud architecture.

Iron Mountains Virtual File Store, offered through the Boston-based vendor’s Digital Division, was marketed as an enterprise-class archiving service that gives users a lower-cost means of storing and managing static data files than keeping them on in-house systems.

Iron Mountain told Gartner that it will continue to offer services to its current cloud storage customers as it also helps them migrate to another provider or return their data. [...] Iron Mountain’s announcement makes it the third public cloud infrastructure as a service (IaaS) provider to abandon the market over the past year, Gartner said. The others that have shut down are: Vaultscape, which launched its service in 2009 and closed in 2010, and EMC, which announced Atmos Online in 2009 and took it offline a year later.[...]“.

This is another proof that cloud isn’t for anybody and that cloud is still to be defined and understood.

I agree on Gartner estimate that was done  a couple of years ago that less than one third of cloud providers would see a return on their investment within 2011.

Cloud is complex and still a buzzword for most of the people involved. Investments needed are high and companies do not feel to be sure within the cloud, mainly because is a so breaking paradigm and every vendor has its own thought on this.

I think we are facing a mood that especially in its more uthopic ways (such as Iaas aka infrastructure as a service) will be difficult to be accepted by the system within reasonable times to justify and investment.

This post as a comment also here

 

Posted in Economy, Other - Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Another iOS (4.3.2) update coming short

Apr08
2011 Leave a Comment Written by hotrao

Jennifer Bergen at geek.com informs us that “[...] t hasn’t even been two full weeks since we saw an iOS update. We reported an iOS 4.3.1 update on March 25, and today we’re hearing rumors of another small release, iOS 4.3.2. This one will supposedly bring bug fixes and other enhancements to people’s iPads, iPhones, and iPod touches. [...]” (full article here)

As as I said in another post, IMHO is not cute to have a bug fix after another every two weeks, also if I consider the fast changing competition that obliges Apple to deliver a revised system a couple of times a year.

But as a end user and IT manager, I cannot think of something coded in a hurry and with lot (much) bugs either if they are not too much visible.

This post as a comment also here.

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Geocoding an address in Google Maps

Apr08
2011 1 Comment Written by hotrao

Wikihow publishes here a step by step tutorial for geocoding an address in Google Maps.

Though is something that not too much people could find useful, demonstrate how wide is the spectrum of things that can be done in Google products.

Posted in Other - Tagged , ,
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