TechVirtuoso

Get the most out of Evernote

December 8th, 2010 at 2:09 PM  7 Comments

I’m a huge fan of Evernote. It ranks right up there with Gmail in terms of applications I live my life in. When people sit down with it for a while and begin to use it, or have someone explain all the interesting ways it can enhance their productivity, it doesn’t surprise me that they become as hooked to it as I am.

I first became exposed to it when I got an iPhone 3G in 2008. It had existed as a platform a couple years before that and was popular with the Windows Mobile & Tablet PC crowd, but wasn’t really on my radar. At the time, I dismissed it as nothing more than a note taking app for the iPhone. The only reason I started using it was because I wanted something that would sync the notes on my iPhone to another system, since iTunes didn’t do it at the time. Not really something I’d adjust my workflow around.

Sure I’d used it off and on, but it hasn’t been until the last few months that I’ve come to realize all the ways it can be used. It’s more than just a simple mobile app, it exists on nearly every platform and helps sync your documents, notes, images and throughts between computers and between mobile devices. Their cloud keeps all your clients linked together and helps put the data and knowledge you keep in their service ready for use at any time.

I’ve decided to share some of the exciting ways I use (or have seen it used) to make myself more organized, more productive and less scatter brained.

Evernote has begun to replace my normal Windows file system for keeping track of data. Now obviously, when I say everything I don’t mean put your iTunes library in Evernote, or your Adobe Lightroom catalog. No, I’m talking about all your text files, PDFs and screenshots. The stuff that the normal system administrator has scattered all around their hard drives, but would greatly benefit from a centralize repository.

(more…)

Google announces Nexus S, intros with motion sickness inducing video

December 6th, 2010 at 11:46 AM  1 Comment

Google has announced their new platform phone, the Nexus S. Based on the Samsung Galaxy S series of phones, it’s the successor to the HTC built Nexus One.

Beyond the typical stuff, the phone specs/features:

  • 1GHz Cortex A8 (Hummingbird) processor
  • 16GB of internal storage
  • 512MB of RAM
  • 4″ WVGA (800 x 480) screen with Contour Display (curved glass screen) on Super AMOLED
  • Dual cameras (Back-facing: 5 megapixels 2560×1920 with auto focus and flash, front-facing: VGA 640×480
  • Near Field Communication (NFC) hardware
  • Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)

According to Google, starting December 16, Nexus S will be sold unlocked and carrier-independent initially through Best Buy stores in the U.S. and after December 20 at Carphone Warehouse stores in the UK.

Its quad-band GSM (850, 900, 1800, 1900) and tri-band HSPA (900, 2100, 1700) which means it will only have 3G service on T-Mobile in the U.S., and EDGE on AT&T.

(BTW, seriously, don’t watch the video above if you get motion sickness. It made me a little sick to my stomach to try and make it all the way though.)

New contributor at TechVirtuoso

December 5th, 2010 at 10:28 PM  1 Comment

A quick programming note, there’s a new name around the site these days. Brad Butner has joined the TechVirtuoso team. I’ve known Brad for over 10 years now, and worked with him at Neowin and on another website before that. He’s currently a developer for a major nationwide ISP, living in Washington state. We look forward to his valuable input.

On another note, I want to apologize for the lack of updates recently. A variety of personal/work issues have kept us all away from regular postings, that should all change next week.

Google releases Chrome 8

December 3rd, 2010 at 2:01 PM  4 Comments

Google has released the latest major (stable) version of their Chrome browser to the public, version 8.0.552.215. Along with 800+ bug fixes, Chrome now also includes a PDF viewer built into the browser inside a sandbox. One less reason to install Adobe Reader!

The version 9 (dev) branch of Chrome now also includes Adobe Flash running inside a browser sandbox. It was released on Wednesday and also includes improvements to the GPU acceleration features, and fixes some problems with Google Instant search.

You can download Google Chrome from their servers, or if you want to live on the edge adjust your update settings to get access to the beta or dev channels here.

Verizon now offering 150/35Mbit FiOS service

November 22nd, 2010 at 12:02 PM  1 Comment

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQjIsaf3S2A

Verizon is now offering FiOS customers a 150 Mbit down and 35 Mbit up connection. Honestly, I’d be happy with just more uplink on my broadband, but this will work.

Becoming (or staying) an organized sysadmin (contest with free stuff)

November 18th, 2010 at 11:31 AM  4 Comments

Most system administrators can tell you about the importance of being organized but few can pull it off very well. We’re always being pulled in different directions, by different people. There are always those fires that need to be put out ASAP, sometimes at the least opportune times. So it’s hard to always make the most efficient use of your time and keep things organized.

We’d like to see what are some of the ways our visitors try and stay organized. What are the tools and methods you use to keep track of projects, your personal calendar, tasks, your files, your notes, etc. We welcome our visitors to post a comment in this thread and let us know what are the ways you keep yourself on track. We’ll gather up the best ones and share them in another post, and for a couple of the best ones we have something special to give away to you. (It’s a secret)

To get you started I’ll give you an example of my personal tools:

There is one program I use on every system and mobile device that helps me keep track of things. The main one is Evernote. It’s a great piece of software that runs on all my Windows boxes, as well as my iPhone and Blackberry. It can keep track of screenshots and sync them into the cloud and to all my other devices. I also have the Chrome plugin installed so when I find something I need to remember (for instance, steps to fix a problem) I can highlight it and with a couple clicks instantly import it into Evernote. Since there are clients on both my iPhone and Blackberry when I’m on the go and need to make a note of something I can write it down or snap a picture and sync it up into the system for later use. Evernote also gives you an email address that you can add to your contacts to forward important emails into the system with. I have that setup with both my personal email and business email, so important emails get dumped into Evernote for quick retrieval. Evernote helps keep my thoughts, findings and important documentation easily accessible.

There you go, it’s that easy. So lets hear how you keep yourself organized!

Microsoft revives Mac vs PC, but in a friendly way

November 12th, 2010 at 1:06 PM  No Comments

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YbmK3Zu0Os

Note to Apple: This is how you can do a Mac vs PC ad, but in a less aggressive way. You can be cute, funny, point out the deficiencies in the other product (like the fact Steve Jobs hates Blu-Ray) but still all be friends in the end.

Facebook is building a massive datacenter in North Carolina too

November 11th, 2010 at 8:44 PM  3 Comments

Facebook announced today they are breaking ground on a half a billion dollar datacenter in the hills of North Carolina. Sound familiar? Apple has one billion dollar facility nearby with construction started on another next door, with space for another across the street. What is it about North Carolina that makes it so attractive to hosting server farms?

According to North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue, the construction is expected to generate 250 jobs during the 18-month building phase. Once that is complete, Facebook expects to have 35-45 employees and contractors working at the site.

“We are proud that Facebook chose to make North Carolina a ‘friend.’  The feeling is certainly mutual,” said Gov. Perdue.

The new building will be built to LEED Gold standards, and is expected to be one of the most energy efficient datacenters in the United States. Facebook is currently constructing a similar facility in Oregon that will feature environmentally friendly features like evaporative cooling systems and power distribution systems.

Why you shouldn’t leak the CONFIDENTIAL memos your CEO sends out

November 11th, 2010 at 12:16 PM  4 Comments

So you’ve got a really great job as an engineer for Google, and it just got better because the CEO sent the entire company an email letting everyone know how much he appreciated them and that they’d be getting a 10% raise and a $1,000 cash bonus. Sounds like a pretty sweet deal.

You decide to let the rest of the world know how great your job is, and how great your CEO is for giving you a raise by sending the email to the press. The press, jumps on it, talking up how great Google is for giving their all their employees an across the board raise in such harsh economic time, etc, etc.

One small problem. That email you forwarded to the press. Yeah, that was confidential.

More specifically:

CONFIDENTIAL: INTERNAL ONLY
GOOGLERS ONLY (FULL TIME AND PART TIME EMPLOYEES)

Eric tracked you down, and guess what. You’re fired.

I’m not sure what Google’s reasoning for doing so was, but it happened. And it should prove as a lesson not to be so direct about forwarding company communications to the press. The funny thing though, is that the news about the leaker being fired, probably came from a leak within Google.

via Business Insider, CNN Money

Firefox 4 beta 7 released, crushes previous versions in benchmarks

November 11th, 2010 at 10:18 AM  5 Comments

Mozilla has released the latest beta of Firefox 4, and it crushes the previous versions in terms of performance.

This release boosts performance in some important ways: it adds the JägerMonkey just-in-time (JIT) JavaScript compiler; adds more support for hardware-accelerated graphics, as well as hardware acceleration for Windows XP and Mac OS X; and enables 3D capabilities, without the need for plug-ins, with WebGL.

It remains to be seen how this release stands up to current reigning speed champion, Google Chrome.

via The Mozilla Blog

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