On the right is a little chart.  The information junkies gathered the most votes with 42%, but for me what was interesting were the comments, which suggested that irrespective of the answer to question 1, I read that most concluded that the two belong together in some way.  Commenter #5 challenges that there shouldn’t be an emphasis, and for the most, I agree with the thrust of that comment, but only to the extent that it doesn’t devalue specialisation.

I spend a lot of time listening to people (or at least trying – sometimes I get the ears/mouth ratio wrong!).  Do you see a breakdown between business and IT?  Are there better questions that I should  have asked?  I wonder if there is anything academic being done in this space?

I’m leaving the survey open – should it gather further responses, I’ll come back and post.

(As an aside, no-one explicitly said that it was a stupid question, so thanks for that, in addition to your input!)

I’ve shared each of the comments verbatim – there are no changes to the text or emphasis.  They are presented in the order in which they were received.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/B8HL9YH

It has two questions.

If you think it should have more, then you can tell me either here or on Twitter.

I’ll share the results (as percentages based on the last 100 responses – that’s what the free Survey Monkey gives me) via Twitter and this blog.  Hopefully I get some actual responses!

This isn’t a Social Media exercise – I’m just a guy, with some computers and a data fascination, and I’m wondering what others think.

I have lots of hard drives (the WHS is 7.5TB at the moment), but for the purposes of boot drives, I have the following three to choose from:

• A Western Digital 76GB 10,000rpm Raptor
• An Intel 80GB  X25-M G2 SSD
• A Patriot Torqx M28 128GB SSD

Here’s the question:  Which drive goes where?  How do I maximise my bang for buck?

My current theory is to stick the 128GB SSD in the laptop (blend of speed and size), the Intel in the HTPC (raw speed, and there is another disk and a server there for TV recording duties), and the Raptor in the Home Server (by process of elimination).

Have I got it all wrong?

HTC, sensing (pun not originally intended) the market, launched a HTCSense.com to offer this precise service to their customers. #WIN! And then, restricted it to only their handsets, the Desire HD, the Desire Z, and the Inspire 4G (in Australia at least). #FAIL

It appears that there was some confusion as to the scope of the new service (http://www.abc.net.au/technology/articles/2010/10/28/3050954.htm), which follows so closely to the debacle that was the release of Android v2.2 in Australia.

If this service is easily available for iPhone and Windows Phone 7 users, why is the Desire being left out in the cold?  Setting up MobileMe on the iPad was a 2 minute job, and I was using the iPad at the time (in other words – that’s the way it should be, unlike the whole tethered startup experience).

Slowly, my internal business case for a #WP7 builds itself.   It also jeopardises the Android tablet that was planned for this year.   There has been no talk as to whether the Motorola Xoom carries this feature.

Perhaps I should wait for the specs for the iPad 2.

</rant>

(OK – this post has been sitting in draft for a while – so I updated and posted today.)

In Apples infinite wisdom, it appears that on upgrade to iOS4.2, the switch gets remapped to being a mute button, even though a press and hold on volume down will achieve this for you already in double quick time.

Can I get a WTF?

The screen orientation lock was such magnificent discovery when I found it, that I’ve been wishing for one on my HTC Desire ever since.

At this stage, this means that I’ll be putting off applying the 4.2
upgrade for as long as possible. I know that this will cost me multi-tasking, but that’s ok for the moment, based on my current usage model.

Dear Apple & Steve Jobs: Please don’t ruin my iPad. Can you make the button assignment optional in Settings please?

Feature of the week for me over the course of this month has been instant on.  I love the no-wait, absolutely instant access to internet, email and Twitter. I’m still working out the applications that are useful to me to do all the things that I want to be able to do on the bus.  I’ll talk about typing on it, and reading and double clicking, and the inability to store my files on my piece of hardware, but for the moment, instant on is the magical feature.

Now that I’ve had time with the iPad, I bought a case today – it’s an Elano from Next Byte. I can’t find a website for the case (and the picture is merely something that looks very similar), but the decision point was the little metal clips on the bottom and both sides that retain the iPad in place, rather than the loose leather pouch arrangement that many sport. The end result is a very clean and tidy installation.  Similar to the original Apple case, the case can be arranged for a variety of typing and viewing angles.  It’s black leather(ette probably), and also available in store in brown and read.  It is so very hard to find perfection. This one was on special at AUD$50.

Business case?

We have a few computers and internet devices in our house.  About half of them are discussed on this blog.  Others include the Chumby in the bedroom, our phones and so on. So any addition requires some careful thinking.  If nothing else, I’m running out of places to plug stuff in!

So – business case:

• Reading on the bus
• Entertaining the kids on long drives
• Kitchen duties for recipes
• Couch surfing

This means a couple of changes in our set up.  We’ll be rationalising the laptops we have at home, and buying some accessories for the iPad to meet the needs outlined aboves.

So, there are some articles coming.  A new laptop form home, some talk on the accessories for the uses outlined above, some articles on the iPad itself, and shameless ads for the laptops that I’m selling.

Thanks for reading.

It was clear that the AMD Athlon 3500+ rig that we were running wasn’t up to the task of dealing with 4 HD tuners, a 1920 x 1080p output via HDMI,and the graphics intensive expectations of the background of Windows 7 Media Centre. An inspection of the receipts shows that machine was built just over four years ago, and has been running almost constantly ever since. So, out with the old Asus motherboard, the 2gb of RAM, and in with a new Asus board and i3 processor, and 4gb of RAM. The i3 processor and intel chipsets means that the GPU for the new rig is on the CPU die, and in the absence of anything to compare it to, it seems fine. I have a n210 sitting in the wings if I need it.

If nothing else, the primary difference between the two machines is the variation in the odd behavior on resume from standby. The old video card would shift everything approximately 1000 pixels to the right, meaning that the border was in the middle of the screen, requiring a restart. The i3 sometimes restarts with WMC showing in a small widescreen window in the middle of the monitor. This merely requires a restart of WMC, which I suppose is an improvement. It’s the inability of graphics cards to place nicely with video outputs that are always going to be a stumbling block to the WMC going mainstream. It’s one of the reasons why for the non-technical, I’ll continue to recommend things like the WD Live boxes. After all, all DVD and Blu-Ray players can make nice with a screen via HMDI, why can’t nVidia or Intel? This is one of the reasons why we continue to hold onto our Topfield PVR after all this time. If there is something important on, like a Bledisloe Cup game, I need to know that I’m not going to miss it for any reason short of a power cut.

Rounding out the remainder of the hardware in the refreshed HTPC is the 10Krpm Raptor drive for OS, as well as a reuse of the existing power supply, Pioneer DVDRW, 250gb Samsung spin point (for local recorded TV storage) and the same Antec Fusion case. My TV tuners are a PCI Haupauge, and a PCIe Terratec.

The upgrade has been well worth the effort. Playback is smooth are clear, and the update in the interface adds a newer, more modern feel. I’m not thrilled with some of the changes to the way that media management is done, but I’ll cover off my choices of plugins in a separate post.

At this stage, there is nothing that I have been able find that will take care of everything we want to do through a single interface, but I’d be interested in others experiences in using a PC as their primary home theatre device. What add-Ins are you using? What applications are you using?

Now that the hardware refresh is done, the next maintenance task is to upgrade the server (which holds my photo, music and DVD library and excess recorded television).

Is there anything else that like to know about my rig?

Secondly, there is a completely different level of oversight, which covers almost every facet of running a pre-school, from the number and mix of teachers, the state of the facilities, the maintenance of policies and procedures.

Almost every facet.

There is practically no published or authoritative guidance on what can or should be made available to three and four year olds in the classroom setting. There is no guidance on online curriculum, access to internet, indications of appropriate duration. It’s likely that it’s purely oversight, and yet another example of technology moving faster than our ability to keep up with it.

Community preschools often run on a closely controlled budget, staffed by dedicated teachers invested in their role and the kids in their care. I’ve seen that the maintenance of policies and procedures for all the other factors that need to be controlled in a pre-school is a never-ending and almost full time role.  To respond, we’re developing our own policy, which will cover:

• Use policies for staff and students (similar to the corporate model)
• Installation of software
• Security principles
• Saving and retention of data

In the classrooms, our pre-school runs a timer system and strict supervision. Whilst the teachers machines have network and internet access, this is primarily to store files, or to enable installation of updated definitions and software. Access to the internet for the kids machines is restricted. Each of the machines is password protected.  On each of the machines, the home page is set to google.com.au, and Safe Search is locked on. In a world of automated and outsourced responsibility, our teachers respond with one-on-one supervision while the machines are in use.  I haven’t dived into the office yet – there are systems in place there for now, and once we have the hardware bedded down we’ll look at how we can modernise in there.

Are there other areas that we should be incorporating into a computer usage policy for a school?  I know that there is an army of people and mountain of information for schools, but for pre-schools, we appear to be flying on our own.  I’d welcome the suggestion of precedent if it exists.

(Cross-posted to www.autechheads.com)

My professional life is about operational performance improvement.  I work with clients to understand how they work, and helping them add sustainable value to their business by working to change business systems and process.  So it’s easy to see how I’m going to approach an IT management role for a pre-school. </end pitch>

Circumstances in 2009 had me workshopping with the teachers around what they would like to achieve in the classroom with the kids, and constructing an estimate of what was needed to refresh the hardware. At the time, one of the machines (which has since died a natural) was over ten years old, and took over 30 minutes to boot. On a good day.

Six months after I started the role, I sat down and read John Wood’s ‘Leaving Microsoft to Change the World‘ – the story of the birth of Room to Read.  I don’t for a minute compare my small contribution to the organisation that John Wood created. With kids, a wife, a cat and a mortgage to support, I have other commitments to attend to as well.  Having said that, when I get to future opportunities, it’s clear that there are opportunities to apply what I’ve learned through this process more broadly, and multiply the benefit.  I’d welcome hearing from others that are interested in getting involved.

In addition to learning from those that are interested, I’m interested to hear your feedback on how I can do this better – obviously the more efficiently this can be achieved, the better.

Dependent on interest and feedback, my intention is to cover the following topics:

• Governance & Policy
• Funding & Donations
• Operating Systems & Software
• My current project
• Future opportunities

Now that I near the end of the client side roll out, where we are at is totally different from where I thought I wanted to be.

Are there any other aspects of the journey that you’re interested in hearing about?

C!