tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-243336302011-11-28T11:26:16.625+11:00Thoughts and comments about the IT industry and small business.Cranky Technoreply@blogger.comBlogger3431100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-45802213528102392232009-02-02T22:08:00.002+11:002009-02-02T22:24:44.529+11:00

What is it with tech people? For the fourth time this month I've been to a totally inappropriate venue for an industry function.The strangest thing is how organisers keep picking expensive, fashionable bars. All of this is fine if the organisers are paying. However it's a usually a pay bar so it's the guests who pay for the organiser's bad choices.Sometimes the organisers stump up some cash. One

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-45055285479282714372008-11-23T11:17:00.003+11:002008-11-23T11:32:45.254+11:00

Rick Green of the Hartford Courant reports Julie Amero pleaded guilty to a reduced charge to settle the matter against her.Everyone involved in bringing these charges against should hang their heads in shame.The people of Connecticut should also be very concerned about the calibre of the people running the state's schools.What is probably the most disappointing of this entire disgrace is how a

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-70133604342191609262008-09-03T07:22:00.000+10:002008-09-03T07:24:02.040+10:00

I'm typing this on Google Chrome, their new web browser. So far, so good except for it crashing the first time I opened it.We'll see how this goes over the next few weeks.

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-89400055748801832412008-08-27T01:14:00.003+10:002008-08-27T01:56:44.224+10:00

I'm truly amazed at the latest UK data blunder where a second hand server was sold on eBay containing over a million banking records.What is it with the UK and computer records? The Guardian has a list of NINE major blunders in the last twelve month.Now it is possible that UK corporations are a bit more open about the problem than their overseas counterparts, but I somehow doubt it.The big lesson

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-86145007621130158022008-08-08T10:31:00.003+10:002008-08-08T11:01:45.808+10:00

On my Australian Technology Blog I commented about the problems of Commander Communications last January. I thought they were doomed at the time and said so.Today they appointed official receivers for the business.In the last month we've seen the collapse of the Bill Express empire as well which has been well documented in Mark Fletcher's Newsagency Blog.The sad thing is both of these businesses

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-27250412533426393322008-07-21T23:33:00.003+10:002008-07-21T23:57:13.122+10:00

With the new Apple store open in Sydney it's amazing the existing Apple resellers are still messing around their customers.In an article in today's Sydney Morning Herald Dan Kaufman describes his saga of transferring data from an old Windows system to a Mac.Now transferring data to a new computer can be fiddly. I spent 4 hours doing what was a straight forward copy from an XP system to a Vista

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-84946713338073051862008-07-04T21:19:00.003+10:002008-07-04T21:34:40.517+10:00

It's funny how anti virus companies seem to lose the plot so comprehensively. Over the years we've seen this with Norton, McAffee and now Grisoft, the makers of AVG.AVG Free has been a favorite of ours. I've recommended it to thousands of people and happily used it myself.But the Link Scanner function has upset a lot of people. For users it can slow web pages down. Australian web surfers have an

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-81566995781247373762008-06-19T07:49:00.002+10:002008-06-19T08:02:42.688+10:00

Sydney's new Apple store is impressive. A year back I wondered how the existing Apple resellers will survive when it opens.My view now is they won't. The level of service is several steps above what they offer and it's difficult to see how they can compete.Interestingly, I also thought Bondi's Academy Mac reseller would probably survive the Apple store onslaught. Sadly, it didn't make it to the

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-42371626287518288582008-06-03T09:21:00.003+10:002008-06-03T09:40:07.981+10:00

It's great to see the OECD is on the ball.Ten years after spyware started appearing and eight years after it started reaching epidemic proportions, the OECD calls for greater co-operation across the various international communities addressing malware.To call this shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted is an understatement.The OECD are suggesting it might be good idea to check the

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-13361300397249381282008-04-12T08:11:00.002+10:002008-04-12T08:15:59.274+10:00

Is web 2.0 coming to an end? This morning I see the first mention of web 3.0.http://darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/2008/04/the-top-10-made.htmlTher real question is how the end game is going to play out for web 2.0. My guess is the credit crunch means funding will dry up for the freesphere and a lot of business that didn't add value won't survive.Interestingly, Fred Wilson had a comment about

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-55104071137522185262008-03-09T11:58:00.002+11:002008-03-09T14:06:42.038+11:00

I've been writing a review of Office 2008 for the Mac for SmartCompany over the weekend. While I'll spare the details of the review for their site, one thing that did leap out at me is the better integration of the Mac version over the Windows version.Microsoft's Mac business unit seems to get this right in a way Microsoft's other divisions often don't.Another thing I note is there are only three

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-31278749475498936552008-02-27T11:37:00.005+11:002008-02-27T12:59:17.906+11:00

The Freesphere has been bugging me for a long time. For the technology and publishing industries it's a major challenge to see how we are going to make money out of the services people are increasingly expecting to get for free.Fred Wilson has a challenging blog entry on his VC blog on how it can work, he also links back to Chris Anderson's latest entry in Wired.The fallacy in all of this

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-50079891975933094792008-02-24T21:05:00.002+11:002008-02-24T22:12:04.971+11:00

It's funny how we get a stupid email story almost every 12 months.The last big one was fourteen months ago with the Kiwi event manager that called a prospective customer’s wedding “cheap, nasty and tacky”This week we get a Brisbane restaurant that dismissed a customer's comments with a "Your are an idiot we don't want your feedback."It's bad enough it made the Brisbane newspapers but it also made

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-10641132995172203632008-02-18T02:46:00.004+11:002008-02-18T03:19:52.195+11:00

Jumping the shark refers to the Happy Days episode where in a desperate attempt to boost flagging ratings a waterskiing Fonz jumped over a shark.It's quite clear Alex Zaharov-Reutt and IT Wire are doing the same thing with their "Mac invulnerability bubble to pop in 2008?" article.Apart from the fact the story's based on no objective evidence whatsoever, relying on a press release

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-53035774276939444292008-02-16T11:11:00.003+11:002008-02-18T03:31:06.905+11:00

Computer retailers and vendors have to simplify their product lines and marketing. It's too complex for the average buyer.Our radio show a few weeks back had quite a few callers distressed at the difficulty to buy a computer. Then an article crossed my path that mentioned business owners and managers are struggling with the same thing.I found how hard this was first hand over the weekend when I

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-14135124572809555592008-02-12T23:37:00.000+11:002008-02-12T23:54:44.388+11:00

One of the problems I see with web 2.0 apps is the requirement for them to be "always on". System hiccups are simply not an option.Today we see outages with Blackberries, Gmail and Salesforce. No doubt thousands of users of all these services have had a frustrating day.If web 2.0 is really going to revolutionize business applications as its boosters claim, then we'll need the services to be far

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-90704747985421694332008-02-12T22:45:00.000+11:002008-02-12T23:25:22.419+11:00

If you needed an example of why you shouldn't trust computer reviews, I stumbled on this gem in Australian IT this morning.The reason it raises my ire is that I was at client's site last night where a spyware scan came up with ten separate spyware infections, including oldies like Cool Web Search and 180 Search Assistant.That client was running an up to date, fully patched Trend Micro 2007

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-44143213221000780152008-02-05T21:49:00.001+11:002008-02-05T21:49:42.140+11:00

Two hours to install a printer?Idiots.

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-47838257304727557262008-02-05T07:15:00.002+11:002008-02-18T03:33:47.423+11:00

Microsoft have released service pack 1 for manufacture which means we'll start seeing this on the shelves in the next few weeks.The download center won't have it available for six weeks so we won't be seeing it on client computers for a while. This is a handy gap for us techs to get our heads around the changes before it's unleashed on the general public.The next three months will be the make or

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-80531062102643049092008-02-04T05:47:00.000+11:002008-02-04T05:55:59.756+11:00

The Active X flaw in Facebook and Myspace is another example of why you should not use Internet Explorer for day to day websurfing. Once again we see why using Firefox or Opera is essential for safe computing.Another issue raised by this bug is that people are too quick to install Facebook apps, not to mention how much junk appears on the typical 13 year old's MySpace page.The only thing that

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-90625025875831757882008-02-02T07:16:00.000+11:002008-02-04T06:33:33.535+11:00

Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Yahoo! will only end in failure. In fact, this proposal is an admission of failure.One of the things that's often baffled me about the business world is how one struggling company will buy out another to create a bigger struggling company. The AOL and Time-Warner merger is the poster child for this.In this case, Yahoo! is on the decline. Their publisher network

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-77137068029566329922008-01-30T09:20:00.000+11:002008-01-31T07:57:30.247+11:00

I had a play with the trial edition of Webcentral's Promotions Manager as a substitute for our current cranky and unreliable newsletter system.Very quickly I hit the limits of the trial; specifically the limit of ten recipients per email.That's a plain stupid limit. You cannot test a bulk emailing program with a limit of ten users. It's like taking a car for a test drive but being unable to take

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-54623712834659247452008-01-27T13:20:00.001+11:002008-01-27T13:46:05.989+11:00

The Open Source Directory project is a great idea, but it needs more transparency.DMOZ is a free, not for profit version of Yahoo! and Alta Vista. Inclusion in it helps a web site's rating on web searches. It's considered important to getting high listings on your website.The problem with DMOZ is the process of adding a site seems to be arbitrary and totally opaque; submitters have no idea if the

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-2561157560238619042008-01-25T14:09:00.000+11:002008-01-25T14:18:56.939+11:00

On ZDNet John Dvorak tells us productivity gains are BS.John's point seems to be that fact the receptionist is filing her nails it means her productivity can't be improved.Doris on reception or Bruce in Accounts may only do four hours productive work a day, the idea is we make those four hours more productive.Today's office is far more productive than the office of twenty years ago; computers,

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-79791935273440945452008-01-25T07:00:00.000+11:002008-01-25T14:46:29.001+11:00

Are many of the problems too many product ranges, a lack of innovation or too much reliance on planned obsolescence?An article in Baseline Magazine caught my eye this week about GMs decline and suggesting that Apple is going the same way.Basing Apple's decline on reports that Microsoft's poorly named and badly executed Zune has outsold the iPod is a bit flakey in my view. But there are some good

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-45728489686958593092008-01-17T13:24:00.000+11:002008-01-17T13:28:46.215+11:00

Well, it looks like my eyes didn't deceive me; Mac sales are up. It's barely surprising, given how badly Microsoft have dropped the ball with Vista and just how badly PC retailers are bodging the sales process up.

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-61654045908781621832008-01-17T08:16:00.000+11:002008-01-17T09:33:23.321+11:00

Following up my post on the curse of the free, Alex Isgold of the Read Write Web blog raises similar concerns.Alex's points are quite right and I agree with most of them, where I disagree is that teens are to blame for this; this is a far deeper, more entrenched mentality that goes back to the roots of the PC and the homebrew hobbyists.The comments in reply to Alex's post are instructive for the

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-82670365445971179212008-01-13T14:18:00.000+11:002008-01-14T07:09:24.816+11:00

If we needed any evidence of the dot com 2 boom being at it's top it's this article in the New York Times.It's not that plenty of fish's founder, Markus Frind, is making a killing with the web site, I admire him and wish the best.What I think indicates we're at the top of the market is the fact his advertisers are paying affiliate commissions of 100%. That is just plain silly and clearly

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-56255578714292443612008-01-11T09:05:00.000+11:002008-01-14T05:07:55.590+11:00

I've read a few of Bruce Schneier's articles in the past and I'll certainly defer to him on specific matters of security.However I have to disagree with his steal this wi-fi article.Quite simply, Bruce is wrong on not securing his wireless network. He alludes to it himself,I know people who rarely lock their front door, who drive in the rain (and, while using a cellphone) and

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-44854561072286484832008-01-08T11:13:00.000+11:002008-01-10T13:12:43.772+11:00

The talk of the United States going into recession really focuses the mind on how this is going to affect the IT industry.Greg Linden in his Geeking with Greg blog has a very good take on some of the effects on the industry. I particularly like his view that the 2001 dot com crash was part of the reason for the spyware explosion.Personally though, I think Greg is understating the effects of a

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-85776953641630301932008-01-04T09:32:00.001+11:002008-02-27T12:00:48.997+11:00

One of the toughest problems for IT businesses is the fact computer users, both consumers and small businesses, expect many products and services for free. This makes it difficult for anyone trying to make a living in the IT industry.A recent question on our IT Queries site is a good example. A lady asked what free programs she can use to remove popups.You can see the problem here. The customer

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-15293631599597361232007-12-31T05:10:00.000+11:002007-12-31T10:33:12.105+11:00

One of the things that really gets me cranky is the "reformat your computer" solution to software problems. A question we have on our IT queries website is from a gentleman who has been told he should reformat his computer to reinstall Pinnacle.What a load of rubbish! The thing with this blind "reformat your computer" advice is that it's the IT equivalent of a doctor telling you to "take two

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-78563585986090263252007-12-28T09:00:00.000+11:002007-12-28T09:08:26.330+11:00

It's always risky updating your website as you never know what will break. I changed the layout of my IT Queries site a week back and promptly messed up the ads and Google Analytics.So it's with sympathy I note the problems on the Newsagent's blog, particularly with posting comments and linking to posts.This is why the PC Rescue site looks so bloody awful. I designed it in 1999 (if design is the

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-74225536873561370352007-12-28T08:35:00.000+11:002007-12-28T08:54:32.356+11:00

One thing I noticed when I went to Myers to look at the Eee PC was the difference between the PC and Apple departments.The PC sections were dingy and unimaginative while the Mac areas were lively and well lit.More importantly the Apple staff were bright, cheery and helpful while the PC staff gave the impression they'd rather be in working in the menswear section.It can't be understated how

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-86537373310908570982007-12-28T07:06:00.000+11:002007-12-28T13:46:49.545+11:00

One thing that's jumped out at me over the Christmas break is how hot the Apple Mac currently is.I noticed this first hand when I popped into Myer to have a look at the EeePC, there was a reasonable number of people looking at the Asus device, but the real crowds were in the Apple section. The PC section was very quiet indeed.The experience of Peter Kafka at Silicon Alley Insider over Christmas

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-56730996309464020822007-12-27T15:15:00.000+11:002007-12-27T15:23:48.113+11:00

Like many others, I swallowed the line that the Eee PC was completely sold out.Apparently not. The Sydney CBD Myer store had a sign announcing a limit of four per customer.So supplies can't be too short if there's only four per customer.Making an artificial shortage of stock is one of Steve Job's old tricks. By restricting supply, it only makes the product more desired. This also worked for

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-22677409866817612922007-12-25T12:42:00.000+11:002007-12-25T12:44:47.109+11:00

A Merry Christmas from the Cranky Tech.One thing that gets all techs cranky are phone calls from upset computer users on Christmas day.So we've put our tips on how to avoid Christmas Day tech disasters on our PC Rescue website.Happy holidays.

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-77498196190838433952007-12-18T23:25:00.000+11:002007-12-18T23:35:20.835+11:00

I'm currently working on getting the PC Rescue newsletter out, one of the things I'm mentioning is how home users shouldn't play with beta software.One of the things I can't believe is it's been over three years since the last service pack for XP was released.

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-11511453488588354692007-12-14T09:23:00.000+11:002007-12-14T09:36:48.812+11:00

I've just read the Forrester Research findings in this week's Fortune magazine on why IT departments won't support the iPhone.All the reasons are good, but it misses the point about modern IT.IT departments don't dictate what users use, users decide. Fake Steve Jobs makes this point very well.While all the points made in the Forrester paper are true. I'd suggest that these limitations need to be

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-29118482289834067662007-12-14T03:12:00.000+11:002007-12-14T03:21:27.610+11:00

I previously mentioned my scam chats from Skype. These seem to be getting more sophisticated as Jeremy Wagstaff in the Loose Wire Blog found in his chat with sexy Veronica.Skype don't seem to be too concerned about this. They darned well should be. Nothing will kill a service's reputation quicker than than spammers and scammers infesting it.I'm wondering if Jeremy's chat was related to this

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-59415147907842006792007-12-11T08:02:00.000+11:002007-12-11T08:51:26.269+11:00

Forbes magazine describes how Dell is going to reinvent itself. Central to the idea of the resurgence is services. Now I have a problem with this on two fronts.The first is channel conflict. Dell's move into services directly cuts into the business of resellers and integrators. Given the channel is key to growing their sales into the SMB sector, they will have a serious problem getting the local

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-8338781263928602022007-12-09T08:24:00.000+11:002007-12-09T08:58:10.097+11:00

Angus Kidman thinks data loss is a big joke. Angus once nearly lost data when he poured booze on his laptop. He thinks thats funny.Angus, the joke is on you. As a professional tech writer you should know better.For computer techs, dealing with data losses are the most stressful moments of their job. In my small business talks I describe data protection as the most distressing subject of the

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-53157547542840412202007-12-08T22:56:00.000+11:002008-12-12T05:23:31.740+11:00

Before tomorrow's show, I've had a play with ABC Now. It's a useful little tool for bringing together all the ABC media streams.You can download files and podcasts the old way.It's important to choose the right media player. Personally I prefer Real Player, but it can be a pain with all the pop ups and advertising.It's easy to change preferences later as the options settings are nice and cleanIt

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-10231738765450047592007-12-08T16:20:00.000+11:002007-12-08T16:51:07.973+11:00

I've previously mentioned how I stopped going to my local newsagents because of lousy service.Recently I started going back to the nearest one (the one that refused me a credit account) simply because it's a nice Saturday morning walk up to the shops and the adjoining bakery does a nice cherry Danish to munch on the way home.Normally I'd pay cash for two papers and wander off but this morning I

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-10684199695004059882007-12-05T09:53:00.000+11:002007-12-08T15:56:06.271+11:00

The Asus Eee PC is an interesting beast. A cheap, lightweight and robust laptop is the sort of device the market is crying out for and it's not surprising it sold out across Australia.While the device is fascinating and it opens up some interesting markets that previously wouldn't have considered PCs, there's a few problems with the product.Bundling the unit with Linux is a terrible idea if you

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-90876207914299381122007-12-03T07:56:00.000+11:002007-12-08T15:25:23.276+11:00

Over the weekend I've updated our choosing a computer page. I've added the pros and cons of OEM software.In reviewing the different versions of MS Office page, I also realised I'd missed the added option of academic versions.This only illustrates my earlier rant about just how confusing the whole Microsoft Office Product range is.

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-52629655421611612102007-12-02T04:05:00.000+11:002007-12-02T04:13:42.591+11:00

Following my rant about the versions of MS Office, I'm completing my write up for the PC Rescue website.While researching it, one of the things I stumbled on was the Publisher blog at the MSDN website.It hasn't been updated since September 2006. So I think we can safely say the poor beast probably won't make it into the next version of Office.One of the things that killed Publisher was the

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-51575939734122411702007-11-29T16:02:00.000+11:002007-12-02T21:19:21.581+11:00

I'm a bit baffled at the term c-change in Stan Beer's article on Apple's share of the computer market but he makes some good points about whether Apple's market share is actually higher than the statistics suggest.Web views aren't a bad measure, although they can very between sites. PC Rescue has a surprisingly low 2% visits from Apple users, while this blog has 12%. So we have to be cautious

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-60607005517644209132007-11-27T19:50:00.000+11:002007-11-27T20:18:30.451+11:00

I've previously ranted about Microsoft's confusing the market with too many versions of Office and Windows but today I stumbled on another problem; Office 2007's Home and Student edition doesn't come with Microsoft Outlook.Thankfully, I hadn't sold it or recommended it to the fellow I was discussing this with, but he made a very good point that at a time when are looking at alternatives like

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-78548771113954923192007-11-25T22:28:00.000+11:002007-11-25T22:50:42.335+11:00

I've spent the last week at the Sydney Gartner ITxpo which was a very useful, if exhausting week.Despite being critical of Gartner surveys in the past, I found a lot of the analyst's comments to be very interesting and thought provoking.Two of the themes that really stood out to me were education and Green IT: where the IT industry has to come to grips with the issues of global warming,

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-6083436394472429212007-11-12T06:00:00.000+11:002007-11-12T07:18:52.935+11:00

Stan Beer's column on using Linux at home raises some interesting points, but I'm still not convinced that Linux is right for most homes.One of the compelling reasons for ditching Windows at home is security. There's no doubt about it, kids are the best way to get your computer infected with malware.The stupid thing is Windows can be locked down, it's a simple matter of setting up the kids (and

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-1010859284844008972007-11-09T07:24:00.000+11:002007-11-09T08:02:26.678+11:00

Further to my Aus Tech Blog post on the TIO annual report, Dan Warne picks up on Dodo's problems with the TIO. While Dodo hasn't covered itself in glory with it's "free" Internet plans and support that does leave a lot to be desired, I do have a little sympathy for them.Dodo has chosen to chase the cheapest customers. This is a mistake for anyone in the tech services sector.The simple fact is if

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-25582548902363234902007-11-08T07:09:00.000+11:002007-11-08T07:42:47.548+11:00

We've starting hearing stories from customers who've been duped into Internet contracts by door to door salespeople. The common theme is the salesdroid has made ridiculous and impossible claims about the service.In some cases the client's been on a much better older plan and has found the new plan doesn't give them the same data limits as the old plan. When they try to go back, they are told "

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-12822094639316506452007-11-05T07:52:00.000+11:002007-11-12T07:35:21.795+11:00

I suppose it was predictable that the revelation of a virus aimed at OSX would start the choruses of that Macs are now as vulnerable to malware as Windows users.This "security through obsurity" argument is absolute tripe. The simple fact is that if the Mac OS was easy to exploit, it would be. A 1, 2 or 5% share of the computing world is still a lot of computers.Should you encounter any "security

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-69994921835940502292007-11-04T12:44:00.000+11:002007-11-04T14:26:49.124+11:00

I last mentioned rebates over a year ago. I notice this week that a lot of advertising for cheap computers, with offers of "cashbacks" for anything up to $250 per computer.I hate rebate schemes; they stink of excessive red tape and you can't shake the feeling the whole business case for these schemes is that a large proportion of customers will fail to claim their cashback.For the customer trying

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-36779158606067826272007-11-03T09:18:00.000+11:002007-11-03T09:24:22.268+11:00

Further to my post about Epson software last week, we now found Logitech software is causing many of the problems with the Leopard Mac OS.Like Epson, Logitech debase good hardware with poorly written, cumbersome and intrusive software. More than a few times I've had to recommend posters give up trying to use an excellent piece of Logitech equipment simply because the software is screwing with

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-90979583798566283002007-11-02T21:00:00.000+11:002007-11-02T21:08:18.137+11:00

A client of mine asked me about a laptop the other day. I gave them some recommendations on specs and brands, specifically Toshiba, Lenovo and the mid-priced Dells.Today they visited their local computer superstore. Afterwards they emailed me with the specifications of a Sony Vaio.Their reason for Sony?"I am told that the Toshiba one is twice as big and has half the firepower....."Am I cynical to

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-84457356571075863092007-10-29T06:25:00.000+11:002007-11-03T09:17:21.328+11:00

We have the Weekend show summary up on the website. We didn't get to cover safe shopping online, but we did have a chat about Leopard and covered a good range of questions.

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-92179006859256979582007-10-28T08:18:00.000+11:002007-10-28T08:24:36.188+11:00

Mike Arrington at Telecrunch has an entertaining article on how Epson's new website sucks. He sums it up, "The last time I bought one of your printers the software screwed it up so badly I had to reformat the hard drive just to get it to work again. Since then, I’ve stuck with HP’s. Fire the consultants, stop trying to be a conversational marketer and just get back to the basics."He's quite

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-29559821138441621532007-10-26T11:21:00.000+10:002007-10-26T17:33:12.074+10:00

One of the common questions I get from customers and on the radio shows are from people who are confused about the different types of wireless technologies.On the last Nightlife spot Tony fell for this and yesterday's Gadget Guy newsletter does as well. It surprises me with Gadget Guy as this stuff is Peter Blasina's bread and butter.Here's the basic differences;Wireless Internet is a way of

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-75195907950006920212007-10-25T09:35:00.000+10:002007-10-26T11:20:56.719+10:00

One of the reasons we re-write PCs for Dummies for Australian users is the risk of people trying to get around the standard, US based settings. A story in the SMH tech section has a good example of this.What does bug me with this story is the underlying assumption is that the software company, Microsoft, the laptop manufacturer, Toshiba, or the retailer, Domayne, were responsible for this.In this

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-85895043867390303142007-10-24T10:00:00.000+10:002007-10-24T10:47:19.280+10:00

It's always good to see an Aussie website at the top of Techmeme however of the topic of today's Australian Personal Computer article on changing drivers triggering Windows locking him out of his own computer is not something to celebrate.While James Brennan's story of updating drivers prompting Windows to lock him out of his system is disturbing, the comments are even more worrying.Readers have

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-44068094730677788092007-10-23T09:02:00.000+10:002007-10-23T09:25:42.606+10:00

Choice magazine's Internet satisfaction survey gave a big whack to Australia's Internet industry.While the headline shows the dissatisfaction with Bigpond, Optus also gets a whack about it's slow and incompetent support which is fair enough as well.It's interesting how Choice claims cost is the biggest factor. One thing I've criticised Choice for is it's unrealistic conclusions in IT related

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-64013256594320044422007-10-22T15:55:00.000+10:002007-10-23T09:02:03.409+10:00

Stan Beer at IT Wire reports software company 2Clix, notorious for suing the Whirlpool website, has gone under.It's sad to hear of any company folding. As a business owner myself I appreciate just how hard it is to keep a business running, particularly in the technology sector.But you can't help but think the management bought negative karma down upon themselves with their legal stunt. What's

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-59303634548037460342007-10-22T06:14:00.000+10:002007-10-22T13:57:14.704+10:00

Like Darren Rowse at Problogger, I'm finding Google Adsense isn't quite doing the job for the IT Queries website.The problem is Google does its job too well. The content of the site means the Google Ads are largely for dodgy spyware checkers and registry cleaners.Funny enough, some of them being ones I rant about on this site.I want to sign up with commission junction, but they make it impossible

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-34968760682291542552007-10-14T11:38:00.000+10:002007-10-22T13:45:06.342+10:00

I'm working on the keyboard chapter of the Australian PC for Dummies this morning.While working on it, I start finding the keyboard doesn't respond to every keystroke which means I'm dropping letters. To say this is really, really frustrating is an understatement.So I start my keyboard troubleshooting.1. Do a couple of reboots, same problem2. Redetect the keyboard. Same problem3. Change batteries

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-89862761786878571302007-10-11T11:53:00.000+10:002007-10-13T23:37:01.828+10:00

I'm back on deck after a week away and ploughing through the zillion emails, subscriptions and blog entries that I've missed.One post that caught my eye was an entry in the Sydney Morning Herald Enterprise Blog about "being too honest in your business", Valerie Khoo encountered an e-commerce site that outright stated they won't answer their phones.I can understand this. Coming back from holidays

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-23735145919384741832007-10-04T01:24:00.000+10:002007-10-04T01:36:07.414+10:00

It's 1.24am and I'm driving up the coast with a car full of kids later this morning. So I'm in a particularly cranky mood right now.That is just the frame of mind to be in when confronted with garbage like this.In Googling this wonderful product that detects malware on Macs, I stumbled on the Download.com review. This is what the reviewer has to say about Scan and Repair Utilities 2007,The

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-61912951917148336202007-10-04T01:12:00.000+10:002007-10-04T01:23:59.363+10:00

In doing some further research on the Skype spam I thought I'd run the online test on my Mac.Sure enough, it operates exactly the same way in Safari as it does on a Windows Box.According to this wonderful piece of software, my iMac is infected with the following malware.Backdoor:Win32/NT RootBackdoor: Win32/SivuxaTrojan.CaijingFunny enough, that's exactly what my Windows machine has according to

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-86079953145130969152007-10-03T20:58:00.000+10:002007-10-03T22:00:07.746+10:00

One of my computers has Skype Chat turned on. This afternoon I received a message from Security Center ® (Offline) Skype™ Chat (yes those registration marks are what was there) warning me that WINDOWS REQUIRES IMMEDIATE ATTENTION.The warning directs the reader to "download the patch" from a website calling itself Onlinealert.Normally I'd disregard this but this is my test machine that I know is

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-76288767986519779862007-10-03T12:09:00.000+10:002007-10-03T12:11:45.851+10:00

I was going through my old files today and found the fax that started my ABC Radio spots.I didn't realise it, but sometime last month I passed the ten years mark of doing the Weekend show.I feel old.

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-2858825530768359082007-10-03T12:02:00.000+10:002007-10-03T12:08:26.278+10:00

A new blog is born to join the other seven million created every day.I've set up the Australian Technology Blog to discuss technology issues and how they affect Australians, both individuals and businesses.This blog will continue as my outlet for non-technology issues and generally venting my spleen.I hope you can visit both.

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-3639290557856255852007-10-02T13:26:00.000+10:002007-10-02T13:46:08.010+10:00

In my days of backpacking through the mid and late 80s, Lonely Planet books were by far the most reliable guidebooks to Asia and the more out of the way locations. Since the arrival of the Internet, their Thorn Tree forums have been invaluable when trying to find information on obscure destinations.So it's heartening to hear the founders, Peter and Maureen Wheeler, have sold 40% of their stake to

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-70566209127223321212007-10-01T17:20:00.000+10:002007-10-01T17:25:03.947+10:00

I had to chuckle reading the Australian IT profile of Gus Kollar, the chief of IT during the Sydney APEC conference.The older operating system didn't trouble Kollar too much, but the apprehension in his voice was evident when Vista was mentioned. "We were so courageous to dive deep into Vista," he says. "Surprisingly, there weren't too many issues."Phew! I'd hate the software to confuse

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-40128635408844466792007-10-01T12:38:00.000+10:002007-10-01T17:51:58.292+10:00

Telstra's clumsy attempt to buy into the Federal election campaign has prompted a predictably fierce response from the minister.Helen Coonan is quite right, in her own words; "It could have stepped up to the plate. It could have been a leader in rolling out broadband".Telstra could have been the world leader. Instead Telstra spent ten years doing everything it could to protect its revenues and

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-10007009623220418382007-09-29T08:33:00.000+10:002007-09-29T08:45:55.194+10:00

While browsing the web I stumbled on the promo for the Bob Dylan compilation due out next week. The create your own message feature is pure marketing genius.Thanks to the Bookchase Blog for putting me onto this. The promo certainly worked for me, I'll be buying the album.

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-55975929297356616562007-09-29T04:58:00.000+10:002007-09-29T06:19:18.471+10:00

Finally Microsoft have faced the reality that Vista is not popular with the market and have announced Windows XP will be available beyond the planned January 30, 2008 cut off date.I've ranted enough about Vista's problems enough on this blog but the main reason why Vista has failed is that the benefits of moving up to Vista do not, for most people, outweigh the negatives.In my view, the core

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-28873068350247865902007-09-28T21:15:00.000+10:002008-12-12T05:23:32.348+11:00

Today's question on our IT Queries site was about registry cleaners. My reply was less than enthusiastic about these products as most of them are snake oil and there's perfectly good free tools to do the job.Given my negative reply I had to laugh at what Adwords had inserted at the top of the question.I know it's possible to exclude certain adwords appearing on your page but I'm not sure I can be

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-34937498564860870032007-09-28T07:20:00.000+10:002007-09-28T08:33:44.013+10:00

Nick Gruen writes in his Rough Type blog about the fat guy who can't get his web 2.0 software to work. Salesforce decided to upgrade their software and now it won't synch with Outlook.I'm not a fan of Nick's blog. I'm more a little picture person than a big picture guy, I'm more interested in the small guy's application of new technology. Like my post yesterday of how a three person office

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-15807764072977383692007-09-27T06:07:00.000+10:002007-09-27T07:19:27.681+10:00

One of the fascinating things with the rise of web 2.0 applications is how they are changing business practices. Pretty well every week I see a few new and unexpected ways people are adapting the new tools to their work.Yesterday I visited a hazardous goods consultant. Most of his business involves inspecting warehouses and factories and advising on how they can meet standards and reduce

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-31790221254319784762007-09-26T23:06:00.000+10:002007-09-26T23:11:58.704+10:00

How do you kill a web based service? Sign an exclusivity deal which locks most users out of your service, that's how.MySpace signing an exclusivity deal with Optus and blocking Australian who are with other carriers from accessing the mobile service pretty well kills that app dead here.Mind you, given the average age of an Australian MySpace user is rapidly approaching 12 and that many pre-paid

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-9120961678713606782007-09-26T06:26:00.000+10:002007-09-26T06:37:49.589+10:00

Mark Fletcher's Australian Newsagents Blog has two stories of newsagents locked out of point of sale software.From the posts, I assume this is due to licensing disputes between the store and the software vendor. This is absolutely disgraceful behaviour by the vendor as it cripples the business.Sadly, this sort of thing is not unusual with proprietary database programs. The data is firmly locked

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-43739426960578274112007-09-26T05:45:00.000+10:002007-09-26T06:26:07.118+10:00

When I first heard of there would be five different versions of Vista I thought it would be a support nightmare. Well I was right on that but now I'm finding it messes me up in other ways.I'm midway through adapting Dan Gookin's latest "PCs for Dummies" for the Australian market. One of the things that's really, really irritating me is the version differences.Take for instance the chapter on

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-4918593559175000132007-09-25T07:13:00.000+10:002007-09-25T07:20:31.851+10:00

According to CNet The Globalization Institute, a European think tank, has recommended the EU require all PCs to be sold without preloaded operating systems.I can't see that happening. A bare bones computer is a nightmare, it would send support costs soaring as buyers spend hours installing the operating system and system drivers. Customers want computers to work as soon as they plug them in.Such

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-7726914075051756502007-09-24T09:11:00.000+10:002007-09-26T06:24:58.262+10:00

The SMH discusses the exodus of companies to the suburbs from the cities. To say I'm sceptical about this is an understatement, moving offices away from transport hubs to car dependent suburbs strikes me as a big step backwards. Even more so given the steady rises in oil prices.But along with the usual management justifications for the bean counters bright ideas the SMH article claims a new one;

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-859719812411138832007-09-20T10:33:00.000+10:002007-09-20T10:59:22.776+10:00

I've previously blogged about the threat Google is to the Yellow and White Pages monopolies Sensis currently holds. Thanks to Techmeme and Search Engine Land, I found Google411.While this is currently a US-based experiment you can't help but think this is another threat to Sensis' dominance.If Google launch this in Australia and take a chunk of the directory assistance market it pretty well

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-28156107231810578602007-09-18T05:08:00.000+10:002007-09-20T10:45:22.386+10:00

It certainly appears switching to the Mac has become the flavour of the month. We covered it on the last ABC Sydney radio spot, now Jason Fry of the Wall Street Journal has his story of considering switching which is backed up by Mark Cuban's experience.The message from Mark and Jason's readers is clear, Vista is driving customers away from Microsoft. The only thing restricting Apple's growth is

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-49833124009759424842007-09-16T19:21:00.000+10:002007-09-17T11:19:18.102+10:00

I visited a client on Friday who had bought a new printer. One of the irritations of buying printers is how manufacturers skimp on a couple of dollars by not supplying USB cables which are essential to set up the machine.This should be a great selling opportunity for the sales person to make more profit on the sale, given the fat margins shops make on cables. Yet nearly half the new printers I

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-63298714919719167522007-09-15T09:53:00.000+10:002007-09-17T11:21:53.078+10:00

Roses Only is a business I've admired. The company's founder, James Stevens, has built up a great online business from scratch. So I'm dismayed and disappointed with how they've handled the news their database has been hacked.Putting aside the question of why Roses Only were saving credit card details, the handling of this is disgraceful as we have no information on what has happened and who is

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-73962586128563337012007-09-13T22:45:00.000+10:002007-09-13T23:04:48.739+10:00

Smart Company tech blogger, Brendan Lewis, has a post about switching one of his businesses to Open Office. He has a number of useful tips for anyone else contemplating this switch.We offered this to clients a few years back and it was a disaster.The biggest problem for businesses switching is user resistance. Office staff like having the Big Blue "W" or "X" to click on. We also have to keep in

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-60784296566500664402007-09-12T12:19:00.000+10:002007-09-12T12:32:44.918+10:00

The overwhelming impression I got from yesterday's small business IT seminar it was the tech industry doesn't have the trust of small business; too often they've been burned by bad techs, bad software and bad hardware.One lady told how she gets salespeople to write a personal guarantee before she buys anything, for big ticket items she sometimes gets three signatures on her piece of paper.That's

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-87781997051810003872007-09-12T11:35:00.000+10:002007-09-12T12:19:12.080+10:00

I had my first Top 10 IT Solutions for Small Business at Parramatta yesterday.Given it was the first presentation I've done on the topic it went well, apart from the boring Powerpoint presentation.During the Q&A one thing became very clear, a lot of small business owners are very frustrated with finding competent, reliable and trustworthy techs.There's a lot of reasons for this, the

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-68796803573042081302007-09-12T09:46:00.000+10:002007-09-12T11:17:53.118+10:00

The accounting software company 2Clix is suing Whirlpool, the Australian broadband forum, for malicious falsehood (the corporate equivalent of libel) over a couple of threads in the forum.I'm sure the management of 2Clix have some very good legal advice that such an action will be successful, but from a business point of view this is a disaster.Doing this draws more attention to the problems,

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-10699570245511618652007-09-09T21:08:00.001+10:002007-09-10T14:39:05.961+10:00

I've left disaster recovery for last because it frightens and depresses me. Almost every business I see has some flaw in how they protect their business data.Most businesses don't understand that computer hardware is cheap and easy to replace; it's the data stored on the system that is valuable. For most businesses, losing all their data would be the end of the enterprise.Backing up data is the

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-64031308094370403572007-09-09T20:18:00.000+10:002007-09-10T14:09:19.787+10:00

I never ceased to be amazed at how we don’t train staff on how to use computers. As business owners we wouldn't dream of not training staff to use a forklift or lathe, let alone give a company car to an employee without a driver’s license.Yet almost no staff get training in using computers.I remember clearly the first day I faced a personal computer. I was sat down in front a computer on it and

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-25183169024536093632007-09-09T17:56:00.000+10:002007-09-10T14:02:55.582+10:00

When businesses get online they have little more than an email address. Sadly this is how it remains for many businesses. That's a shame because the net has a huge range of benefits for the small business.Nearly fifteen years ago the New Yorker had a cartoon saying on the Internet nobody knows you're a dog.For a smaller business, the Internet gives you the opportunity to project yourself as a

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-45762955210273108052007-09-09T11:09:00.000+10:002007-09-10T13:59:36.453+10:00

It's not surprising many people get their Internet plans wrong. The range of plans and options are massive and deliberately confusing. Researching ISP deals leaves even the most switched on tech with a headache.The simplest advice for small business owners is to invest in a proper, business grade Internet plan. This cuts out the noise of the consumer plans.The vast majority of Internet plans are

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-8980368600638696402007-09-09T01:59:00.000+10:002007-09-10T13:55:43.334+10:00

Nothing irritates a tech more than missing disks and passwords. This can leave even the most the thick skinned IT god in a speechless rage. It also means big costs and a lot of downtime for the business.Manuals, invoices, disks, registration keys and passwords are like gold. They need to be stored safely and securely.Software disks are valuable. Microsoft Office retails for $700, a specialist

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-65175985947215009352007-09-08T23:49:00.000+10:002007-09-10T13:52:36.583+10:00

I once went to an office where everyone had to shut down their systems when someone wanted to print. Just before someone would send a job to the printer they'd call out "everyone shut down, I'm going to print".Everyone would save their work, shut down their computers and march outside for a smoke or coffee. The guy doing the print job would do it, restart his computer and wander out to join the

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24333630.post-68308633735141454582007-09-08T21:12:00.000+10:002007-09-10T12:52:23.705+10:00

Imagine owning a car and never checking the tyres, oil or water while ignoring any flashing lights on your dashboard.Then imagine, when it breaks down, you desperately flick through the yellow pages to find the cheapest mechanic that can fix it immediately.That's what the vast majority of businesses do with their computer systems.Like the mechanic, a computer tech is a tradesman. When you call a

Cranky Technoreply@blogger.com0