Steve Trim's Short Cut Computers

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

East Site Survey Your Wireless Networks

Ever wanted to do your own wireless network site survey ? Well there are two excellent software products on the market. One of which has been around for some time. It is called Netstumbler.

It is a brilliant little software tool that analyses all the required information for you to work out your best signal strength. It also gives you a complete list of best channels to use, checks your current security settings, signal strength, broadcast channels etc.

Up until recent there was little alternatives for windows based users to choose from. This changed recently when a new product called inSSIDer was released. It has a similiar interface to Netstumbler but offers better support for Windows Vista users and support for 64 bit versions of windows also. Both software programs are currently free to download.

We are so impressed with the new software we are linking it to the Shortcut Computers newsletter for November 2009.

Mine the pockets of the middle class the pollies are told. They can bloody well keep their minding to their own business!

Short Cut Computers for quick installation and service at your home or office

Barcode Solutions for quick-turnaround barcodes and innovative ideas.

Wireless Links

Shortcut Computers is currently developing a new line of products in the wifi 802.11g & 802.11n standards. Due to customer demands we are partnered with major distributors to offer non standard wireless network solutions.

These might include situations where you may want to broadcast a wireless network to a neighbor down the street or across the road, transmit your signal around a caravan park or a block of flats or even offer a simple solution for a motel block of suits.

We have received recent interest in offering Bed & Breakfast solutions where they may have a few rooms to provide a wireless connection to the internet.

There are a number of options for small business wanting to resell there connection in small lease time packets or issue a coupon with a 24 hour expiry. We can listen to customer demands and offer a solution best suited for you.

Wednesday, September 02, 2009

Shortcut Computers Work Experience Program

To assist in training young IT enthusiasts still at school we have been supporting the local south east schools in Melbourne now for the last two years. By providing hands on skills and on site training in the work force with real computer hardware, software and network issues.

Shortcut Computers has been dealing with computer IT support issues now for 20 years from basic computer training to small business support, installing wired or wireless networks, adsl install and troubleshooting to custom built business grade pc systems.

Our customer base is constantly growing so we are generally happy to have additional hands to help process our work load when times are extremely busy. Our latest projects have been assisted by some school students in configuring a number of small business networks and have been a great success. We offer students training on a number of software and hardware skills to give them the opportunity to better themselves and generally boost self confidence within the work place.

Short Cut Computers for quick installation and service at your home or office

Barcode Solutions for quick-turnaround barcodes and innovative ideas.

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Shortcut Computer Hotspot

We are currently in testing mode for our new Langwarrin wireless hot spot. Our equipment was installed in August 09 and are currently fine tuning the signal strength and customizing the log in interface. We hope to finalize this within 4 to 6 weeks and will offer the network to the public and surrounding neighbors.

Our equipment chosen was not off the shelf but custom built. We have chosen to use and install a panel antenna, low loss CFD400 3 Metre Coax Cable connected via a Linux based firmware driven Access Point. (See attached photo of our wireless hot spot)

We have installed a few of these wireless networks throughout the South East Suburbs with excellent results. One of our most successful networks installed is still being used at The Bear House in Cranbourne on Sladen Street.

With several other wireless networks installed already we have been able to provide small business and recently farmers a way of cheaply extended there internet coverage without major expense of laying data cables.

Recently we overcome one of our customers requests to setup and install a wireless network of several buildings on a small hobby farm. The wireless network provides internet access over a distance of 250 meters or more allowing the customer to move around different packing sheds and get access to there database via a remote internet server. All our networks we install need to be inspected prior to any wireless network install is taken place.

Short Cut Computers for quick installation and service at your home or office

Barcode Solutions for quick-turnaround barcodes and innovative ideas.

Friday, August 28, 2009

Have you Wanted to Connect a Second Monitor ?

Ever thought of connecting a second monitor to your computer ?

Well now you can with a little adapter that allows you to connect a second screen via DVI or even HDMI if you want to connect your LCD or Plasma TV instead.

The adapter can easily be setup to copy your current desktop or extend your windows desktop allowing you to view multiple applications at the same time.

The included graphics drivers is low on computer requirements and offers several different resolutions up to 1600x1200 or 1680x1050. After installing the driver you can then setup your two desktops with little difference in performance between the two screens.

The manufacturers specifications claims it can support up to six simultaneous displays, including Wide screen displays.

Extended Features Included

• DVI , VGA and HDMI Support
• 2.1 Channel Audio Output
• Microphone Support
• Mixed output RCA*2(Left and Right Track) Interface
• Maximum: 1600x1200 or 1680x1050 Digital (@60Hz 32-bit)
• USB 2 Powered - Ultra Low Power
Support for LCD, Projector, Plasma Displays
• Windows Vista Aero Support Included
• Windows XP SP2 & Vista 32bit Support
• Standard & Wide screen Mode
• High-Performance DDR Memory
• Operates from a Virtual Driver
• On board Power and status indicator LED's
• Portable & Light Weight

Requirements

• 1 x USB 2.0 Port
•Windows XP SP2/ Windows Vista

Short Cut Computers for quick installation and service at your home or office

Barcode Solutions for quick-turnaround barcodes and innovative ideas.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Building a Computer On A Budget!

A lot of customers come to me for a budget price computer. This is common for home users that only require certain features and have a price to stick to.

Here is a example of a budget system you can build yourself for about $500. I will list the parts below as a reference.

1. Foxconn G31MV-K Socket 775 Motherboard Retail Price $95

2. Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 2.8 GHZ Processor $119

3. Kingston DDR2 2 GIG PC-6400/800 (2 x 1 GB) CL5 Value Ram $49

4. Seagate SATA II 500 GIG Hard Drive $95

5. Coolermaster Midi Tower Deluxe Case $90

6. Pioneer DVD Burner Sata II Drive $52

So for around $500 you have a complete system with reasonable components used which should last year a while. I have found the Foxconn series motherboards to be of good quality and to have a low failure rate. The new Coolermaster series chasis are among the best value cases i have seen in a long time.

The quality of build, no sharp corners inside, excellent airflow and are simple to clean when required. With the new series Western Digital hard drives released i have found faults in a number of them and have been forced to switch back to using Seagate drives instead. For some reason Seagate hard drives have priced themselves in a higher price range by most retailers although sometimes paying a extra $20 is not so bad. So there you have it a well balanced computer tower for a home user for around $500. For those wanting a new keyboard & mouse then the Logitech OEM series is hard to beat at the moment with a excellent layout and simple usb interface.

Purchasing a External Hard Drive

With the amount of viruses hitting personal and business computers these days it is a must to invest in a external backup drive.

There are hundreds of models to choose from 2.5" External Drives that plug into your usb port and require no external power supply to the full size external hard drives which incorporate a standard Sata hard disk but require a external power adaptor.

Some of the more expensive drives now come with USB 2, Firewire & E-Sata Interface. I have setup and installed several of late and have found problems with the power adaptors on certain models mainly the external 3.5" Western Digital series.

After two failures in 6 months i decided for a new direction and purchased the 2.5" model Western Digital hard drive and so far it has worked a treat although performance always seems slower on the 2.5" drives.

This week i have installed two more models available from several customers and found the Lacie External 500 GIG for $109 and the 1000 GIG model for $149 both in the 3.5" series which i felt was excellent value for money and performance.

After being so impressed with them both i went out to buy a extra one for a job i had on but found no stock was left and they where on back order so i ended up using a Iomega drive instead.

To my suprise i was impressed with the way it was packaged for protection against damage, Actually come with a instruction manual and 3 Backup Licenses for Retrospect Light Version 2.5 for both Windows & Apple Mac OS X.

Considering the cost of the software purchased separately the drive offers excellent value for money with a reasonable backup software thrown in is a bonus for people on a budget. The Iomega external 1 Terabyte drive retails for about $169 and looks similiar to the one in the photo above.

Short Cut Computers for quick installation and service at your home or office

Barcode Solutions for quick-turnaround barcodes and innovative ideas.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Troubleshooting Network Issues

Troubleshooting network issues can be very stressful. Today was one of those days!

I went out a few weeks ago to install a new Netgear adsl2+ All in One wireless modem router. The day started with connection problems and the modem would not connect out of the box. I decided very quickly to download a firmware update from manufacturers website using a Next G modem on my laptop. Within a few minutes i had the new firmware loaded, modem connected first go and the network up and running and was pleased with the outcome.

Two weeks passed and i received a call from the customer asking for assistance with a internet connection problem, A Network Problem, A Wireless Problem. Luckily i brought along a spare modem and decided to install it as part of my troubleshooting. This time around Netgear decided to let me know to download a firmware update on the inner packaging so i downloaded the update straight away and got online within a few minutes.

The Netgear DGN2000 was easy to configure and i then proceeded to setup a wireless connection and walk around configuring the computers with a WPA-PSK password key. The workstation had a internal pci wireless card and connected on the first attempt. The HP laptop was not so lucky it intermittently connected then disconnected. I then decided to login to the router again and set up another channel number on the wireless. The laptop found the connection again and signal strength seemed to be better.

Problem Resolved ? Well no, within a few minutes the wired network started dropping packets and causing lengthy ping times. I then proceeded to test the wired computers with new cat 6 network cables and the ping time and performance increased considerably but the problems did not stop there. The hp laptop was dropping the wireless connection again. After some frustration, testing with ping tests & cables i reconnected the original modem with the new network cables and the performance had come good. All machines where working on the network again but on a final note the clients phone line was faulty causing the modems to dropout continually.

I recommended the client to let the isp know and perform a line check. These types of issues can happen with DIY wiring jobs. It always pays to have your phone and network wired by a professional and if you are using a ADSL connection ask for a central filter to be installed.

Short Cut Computers for quick installation and service at your home or office

Barcode Solutions for quick-turnaround barcodes and innovative ideas.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Tips when buying a computer

Tips When Buying A Computer

The number of computer systems on the market today is astounding. The market is constantly growing with demands for new technologies such as Mini, Micro, Midi, Net book and Tablet to name a few.
Depending on your purpose of use it is always safer to purchase a standard manufactured laptop or desktop from companies like HP, Dell, Compaq and IBM. The products are generally sound and well tested prior to be packaged and delivered to the retailers.

For PC users looking at high performance computers then there is little option other then to build your own desktop especially when used for playing games, video editing and desktop publishing. The advantage of build your own PC allows you to pick all your parts and operating system you want to install. Providing your parts come from a reliable reseller you should have little problems with your system for sometime.

Issues that may arrive can generally be fixed with driver updates from the manufacturers, Bios updates and the latest software downloads from Microsoft. I highly recommend you take the cover off your desktop every 6 months to check for dust that may be blocking your cooling fans, check to see there are no loose connections and a general inspection for anything obvious like cables in the way of heat sinks or cooling fans. On a final note. If you have the opportunity to take out a extended warranty at a reasonable price it is generally worth it as repairs can be costly.

Short Cut Computers for quick installation and service at your home or office

Barcode Solutions for quick-turnaround barcodes and innovative ideas.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Computer Services we provide to the community

20 Years ago we started our small business to fill a need for home and small business users to be provided with alternatives to what the big companies where offering.

Shortcut Computers was started in 1989 and over this period of time we have been constantly trying to define what Home & Small Business users where looking for. We believe we may have the answers. A simple 1,2,3 approach is now what our new website is about. We always try to offer Same Day Computer Repairs, Same Day Computer Service, Easy to understand solutions for you and your business.

We hope with our new website we have clearly defined a number of services that we feel where missing or more importantly overlooked by some of our competitors. Over the next few weeks we will be building on a checklist for home & small business users to follow and provide a list of services that you may not thought where necessary but we feel it is the reason why our customers value our services far greater then some of the competitors.

"Our New Slogan for 2009" We fix what the others may overlook!

Short Cut Computers for quick installation and service at your home or office

Barcode Solutions for quick-turnaround barcodes and innovative ideas.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Updates To Our Website

On the 1st August we decided it was time for a new approach in providing on site computer support services to Melbourne and the South East Suburbs of Victoria where we do most of our work.
It has been several years since we had a complete new look and feel on our website and we are looking to fill a market opportunity to home and small business clients in the area with the need to have support only a phone call away.

We specialize in ADSL Broadband, Wireless Networks, Computer Repairs & Servicing and Maintenance Agreements. A lot of our work is performed remotely these days using our high speed broadband network. We also feel our new Book A Job Function built into our website will be a great success for all our existing customers.

We look forward to the release of the new Windows 7 operating system soon to be available and highly recommend you update to it when it is finally released.

Mine the pockets of the middle class the pollies are told. They can bloody well keep their minding to their own business!

Short Cut Computers for quick installation and service at your home or office

Barcode Solutions for quick-turnaround barcodes and innovative ideas.

Thursday, June 04, 2009

MIcrosoft installs annoyance (and severe vulnerability) on Firefox!

Remove the Microsoft .NET Framework Assistant (ClickOnce) Firefox Extension

Intended For

Windows 2000

Windows 7

Windows XP

Windows Vista

The Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 update, pushed through the Windows Update service to all recent editions of Windows in February 2009, installs the Microsoft .NET Framework Assistant firefox extension without asking your permission.

This update adds to Firefox one of the most dangerous vulnerabilities present in all versions of Internet Explorer: the ability for websites to easily and quietly install software on your PC. Since this design flaw is one of the reasons you may've originally choosen to abandon IE in favor of a safer browser like Firefox, you may wish to remove this extension with all due haste.

Unfortunately, Microsoft in their infinite wisdom has taken steps to make the removal of this extension particularly difficult - open the Add-ons window in Firefox, and you'll notice the Uninstall button next to their extension is grayed out! Their reasoning, according to Microsoft blogger Brad Abrams, is that the extension needed "support at the machine level in order to enable the feature for all users on the machine," which, of course, is precisely the reason this add-on is bad news for all Firefox users.

Here's the bafflingly-convoluted procedure required to remove this garbage from Firefox:

Open Registry Editor (type regedit in the Start menu Search box in Vista/Windows 7, or in XP's Run window).
Expand the branches to the following key:
- On 32-bit systems: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Mozilla \ Firefox \ Extensions
- On x64 systems: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Wow6432Node \ Mozilla \ Firefox \ Extensions
Delete the value named {20a82645-c095-46ed-80e3-08825760534b} from the right pane.
Close the Registry Editor when you're done.
Open a new Firefox window, and in the address bar, type about:config and press Enter.
Type microsoftdotnet in the Filter field to quickly find the general.useragent.extra.microsoftdotnet setting.
Right-click general.useragent.extra.microsoftdotnet and select Reset.
Restart Firefox.
Open Windows Explorer, and navigate to %SYSTEMDRIVE%\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5\Windows Presentation Foundation.
Delete the DotNetAssistantExtension folder entirely.
Open the Add-ons window in Firefox to confirm that the Microsoft .NET Framework Assistant extension has been removed.

More detail here from TechRepublic..

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

GE breakthrough: 100 DVDs on a disk

General Electric says it has achieved a breakthrough in digital storage technology that will allow standard-size discs to hold the equivalent of 100 DVDs.
Enlarge This Image
Nathaniel Brooks for The New York Times
Brian Lawrence leads G.E.’s holographic storage program.
The storage advance, which G.E. is announcing on Monday, is just a laboratory success at this stage. The new technology must be made to work in products that can be mass-produced at affordable prices.

Devices for the new technology will be able to read CD, DVD, and BluRay, too. Holograms are not just for kids stickers anymore, I suppose.

I wonder how long it will be before a disk like this can project messages from a cell phone?

How to remove scratches from DVDs and CDs

This is great.
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Monday, April 27, 2009

The hottest demographic on the Web: Over 70s!!

"Older adults are the fastest growing demographic on the internet," said Professor Vicki Hanson of the School of Computing at Scotland's University of Dundee on the opening day of a global World Wide web conference in Madrid.

While just over one-fourth, or 26 per cent, of 70-75 year olds went online in the United States in 2005, the proportion was 45 per cent last year, according to data from the Pew internet & American Life Project, she said.

The percentage of those aged 76 years and over who surf the web rose during the same period from 17 per cent to 27 per cent.

Britain has experienced similar sharp gains in internet use by people in this age group, said Andrew Arch of the World Wide web Consortium (W3C), the main international standards organisation for the web.

The nowwearetalking blog is usually a Telstra propoganda center. Some of the posts are so blatantly avaricious and Telstra-centric as to be painful. It's rare to find something of common interest, but here is one.

Obviously, this subject has a marketing aspect to it promoting Telstra. It can only be assumed Telstra will launch some sort of campaign to target old folks - but it may be too late. The over-70s are already solidly on the Net.

The over-70s will probably use the Netscape browser. It renders H1-H3 tags in huge black letters no matter what the CSS formatting. - A sort of built in accessibility.

What most young people will find hard to swallow is that's the age group that envisioned and provisioned the Internet in the first place. There is room for a great dialogue here. The irony would be delicious!

Mine the pockets of the middle class the pollies are told. They can bloody well keep their minding to their own business!

Short Cut Computers for quick installation and service at your home or office

Barcode Solutions for quick-turnaround barcodes and innovative ideas.

Friday, April 24, 2009

fon means WiFi everywhere

The Fonera 2.0 made by FON, (the Spanish WiFi sharing people) is released today (barring the occasional retail glitch) for 45 euros. It comes complete with OLPC's mesh-networking system. You can plug it into Ethernet or a 3G dongle. Share your bandwidth with any other router in range that implements OLPC's mesh-networking standard. The Open WRT software is designed to run on just about any hardware so you do not actually have to buy a Fonera to join the fun. The software is based on Open WRT, which in turn is based on the Linksys WRTG54G firmware which the community forced Cisco to open-source (since it made use of Busybox + Linux Kernel). As a result of this we now have a router far more featured than the most expensive access point you can get in the shops, costing a fraction of the price and based on entirely free firmware. With a few of these we could all build community networks like the one from Cory's book."

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Training ROI from scribd

Measuring ROI of Training

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Non-fiction Business-Management

Thursday, April 16, 2009

G20 London Summit - The top ten outcomes

The Prime Minister’s Office has released a statement of the top ten outcomes from the G20 London Summit:

The top ten outcomes from the G20 London Summit - a Global Plan for Recovery and Reform.

EnergyAustralia and IBM Unite for Large-Scale Smart Grid Implementation

"Only through the creation of a smart grid that can sense, communicate, analyze and respond, can Australia build the energy infrastructure it needs to meet the challenges of climate change, globalization, and changing consumer demand."
IBM Smart Grid
IBM is working with clients in nearly 50 Smart Grid engagements across emerging and mature markets around the world. More about IBM's 'Smarter Planet' initiative: its vision to bring a new level of intelligence to how the world works -- how every person, business, organization, government, natural system, and man-made system interacts, can be found here:http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/presskit/26094.wss
EnergyAustralia Intelligent Networks
EnergyAustralia began its intelligent network program in 2006. It was the first utility in the world to build and operate a communications network using carrier grade Internet Protocol (IP) technology. EnergyAustralia has also rolled out 800 kilometres of fibre optic cable to its 200 major substations and depots, installed hundreds of communications switches, and built a trial telecommunications network to allow two-way communication across its electricity network. For more information seehttp://www.energy.com.au/energy/ea.nsf/Content/Splash (

http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/27116.wss

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Australia Moves to Build High-Speed Network

By MERAIAH FOLEY

Published: April 7, 2009

SYDNEY — The Australian government said on Tuesday that it would create a publicly owned company to build a national high-speed broadband network worth 43 billion Australian dollars, or $31 billion, in one of the largest state-sponsored Internet infrastructure upgrades in the world.

Enlarge This Image

Daniel Munoz/Reuters

The Australian government plans to build a $31 billion broadband network that would upgrade systems like the one this woman is using in a store in Sydney.

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Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the eight-year project would create up to 37,000 jobs at the peak of construction, giving a lift to the economy as retail spending slumps and mining companies cut workers amid weakening demand for Australian metals.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Training for Business pt4

Before we discuss the time frame for measuring ROI, let's consider what training means to a business.

One of the most difficult decisions in an economic downturn is whether to keep staff or let them go.

In small and home based business, there may really be no decision: there just isn't money to pay the staff. A business that loses staff loses resources. Commonly, the staff going is only a little ahead of the customers going - and the business closing won't be far behind.

A wiser decision would be to retain the staff. It might mean cutting back hours. How can a small business make up the difference to their personnel economically. - The answer is training.

Training accomplishes the goals of the business and the staff.

Costs of Training

If you think you can't afford the time and expense of training, think again and consider this:
Untrained users take up to six times longer to perform the same tasks.
Training enhances employee retention. A Louis Harris and Associate Poll says that among employees who say their company offers poor or no training, 41% plan to leave within a year. Of those that say their company offers excellent training, only 12% say they plan to leave.
Studies show that in-house training costs 73% more than outsourced training.
A four-year study by the American Society of Training and Development shows that firms who invest $1500 per employee in training compared to those that spend $125, experience on average: 24% higher gross profit margins and 218% higher income per employee!
Just a 2% increase in productivity has been shown to net a 100% return on investment in outsourced, instructor-lead training  (Shane Warren, Director at International Resilience Institute Sydney citing Training ROI. Avatech Solutions.)

Good Business

When staff or staff time has to be reduced, the business will need the staff to be ever more productive. Generally, remaining staff lose motivation because they "see the handwriting on the wall", and begin looking for other employment.

A business can reverse that attitude and increase productivity of the remaining staff and working time by training staff. It's only good business.

Having calculated the direct financial value of the performance enhancements, it is also necessary, wherever possible, to estimate the value of the more “intangible benefits”, such as:

Increased job satisfaction, and the benefits of increased staff retention and reduced recruitment costs
Increased organisational commitment
Improved teamwork
Improved customer service
Reduced problems and complaints
Reduced conflicts
(from Summary ROI on Training for CEdMA Europe)

Riding out an economic downturn is tough. Businesses that rely on backward-looking planning will fail. Those that look at the downturn as a opportunity to add value to their business have a better chance of being there when its over.

(more to come...)

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Google Chrome takes a little getting used to

Google Chrome takes a little getting used to, then you realize it's doing all the things you wished all browsers would do.

Google Chrome is now my default browser. And I don't make that sort of change lightly!

While IE is trying to catch up with Firefox and Safari, Chrome has breezed past them all when it comes to easy browsing and usability.

Remember, this is Google, so expect minimalism. It takes a little getting used to things being out of the way and doing multiple functions. The address bar, for example, is also the Google search bar.

Bookmarking a page is one click, and it goes to the last folder you used. One more click lets you pick the folder. That's quicker and easier than Firefox!

The best way to understand the sort of changes Chrome offers is to look at the Keyboard Shortcuts.

Chrome makes browsing and researching so much easier and quicker. - Not to mention the fact Chrome is the fastest browser around, bar none.

Keyboard Shortcut Function

This stuff is pretty much standard now:

Ctrl+N Open a new window.

Ctrl+T Open a new tab.

But not this:

Ctrl+Shift+N Open a new window in Incognito mode.

Incognito mode allows you to surf without adding history, cookies, or any tracking.

Ctrl+O then select file Open a file from your computer in Google Chrome.

These are unique to Chrome and make browsing much easier. Most Firefox users will recognize the functions they use from buttons.

Crtl+click a link Open link in a new background tab while
remaining on the current tab.
Ctrl+Shift+click a link Open link in a new tab and switch to the newly opened tab.
Shift+click a link Open link in a new window.

Alt+F4 Close current window.

And these are just for Chrome users:

Ctrl+Shift+T Reopen the last tab you closed. Google Chrome remembers

the last 10 tabs you closed. Drag link to tab

Open link in specified tab.

Drag link to space between tabs

Open link in a new tab in the specified position on the tab strip. Ctrl+1 through Ctrl+8 Switch to the tab at the specified position number.

The number you press represents the position of the tab

on the tab strip.

Ctrl+9 Switch to the last tab.

Ctrl+Tab or Ctrl+PgDown Switch to the next tab.

Ctrl+Shift+Tab or Ctrl+PgUp Switch to the previous tab.

Ctrl+W or Ctrl+F4 Close current tab or pop-up.

Alt+Home Open your home page.

You can move through your History, forward and backward.

Backspace or press Alt+left arrow Go to the previous page in your

browsing history for the tab.

Shift+Backspace or press Alt+right arrow Go to the next page in your

browsing history for the tab.

And do some things with the address bar never available before:

Ctrl+K or Ctrl+E Place a question mark in the address bar.

Type a search term after the question mark to perform

a search using your default search engine.

Place your cursor in the address bar then press

Ctrl+left arrow Jump to the previous word in the address bar.

Place your cursor in the address bar then press

Ctrl+right arrow Jump to the next word in the address bar.

Place your cursor in the address bar then press

Ctrl+Backspace Delete the previous word in the address bar.

Easy scrolling without the mouse is especially handy.

Space bar Scroll down the web page.

Home Go to the top of the page.

End Go to the bottom of the page.

Why is Chrome so fast?

What is Chrome's secret? After all, Chrome is using Java Virtual Machine (JVM), which is hardly revolutionary, right? Wrong! Google created a souped-up version of JVM for use with Chrome called the V8 JavaScript Engine. If you're into cars, or simply even own a car, you can appreciate the message that Google is sending with the V8 moniker.
(from Web Geek's Guide to Google Chrome By: Jerri Ledford; Yvette Davis)

NBN!! $43B and all get it on!

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said on Tuesday the individual bids from Optus and four other groups were not economically viable.
Instead, the NBN will be rolled out by a public company, with up to 49 per cent private investment, resulting in a wholesale open-access network.
Up to $43 billion will be invested over eight years to build a fibre-to-the-home network reaching 90 per cent of Australians.
(Optus director of government and corporate affairs Maha) Krishnapillai said Optus was not disappointed with its failed tender.
"What the government has done is picked up ours and other recommendations and gone straight to the end gains. We think that is a visionary and bold thing to do," he said.

How can I not blog this?

The Rudd government has finally got it right. Don't go for a cheap upgrade from Telstra. Don't bother doing the job half-way with FTTN (fibre to the node).

Just get in there and do it right the first time.

Bravo, Mr Rudd!!

Australia may have finally found itself a real leader.

Friday, April 03, 2009

Technology proves a heart doesn't have to stay broken

Technology is truly a wonderful thing.

It's long been considered a medical fact that the heart doesn't regenerate. Once the damage is done, it's done.
If the heart would regenerate, then the risks of heart attack and a number of other diseases that affect the heart would be considerably lowered.

The way researchers determine the rate of cell regeneration has been to irradiate the cells, then watch how many die and are replaced over time. Unfortunately, irradiating a person's heart is both medically unethical and illegal, so there was no practical means of testing if heart tissue regenerated.
Dr. Piero Anversa of the Harvard Medical School realized that most of the hearts in the world had already been irradiated. The above-ground nuclear tests before 1963 pushed radioactive material into the atmosphere, and that material was consumed in food and water into nearly everyone's heart.

Dr. Anversa did some extensive research to prove heart tissue does regenerate. Based on his research, the heart may regenerate completely up to 7 times by age 80.

.. (from the NY Times) “Now let’s discuss the magnitude of the process, and that will let us think about how we can apply this concept to heart failure,” Dr. Anversa said.
Dr. Frisen said he did not agree that the rate of regeneration had been underestimated. He said it would now be worth trying to understand how the regeneration of heart muscle cells was regulated.
A zebrafish, for instance, can regenerate large regions of its heart after injury, and possibly a similar response could be induced in people. ..

Sounds like all we need to do is capture the hormones or enzymes from the zebrafish to inject into a human heart; or produce clonable cells from stem cells and zebrafish hearts for the regenerating cells to use for a pattern.

All Dr. Anversa proved is something everyone knows: Broken hearts do mend.
Ain't technology wonderful?

Mine the pockets of the middle class the pollies are told. They can bloody well keep their minding to their own business!

Short Cut Computers for quick installation and service at your home or office

Barcode Solutions for quick-turnaround barcodes and innovative ideas.

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

Training for business pt3

In part 1 and 2 of this Training for Business series, we turned Risk Assessment inside out to assess perceived value.
Perceived value is a tricky thing to put into dollars and cents. But the reality is most businesses should look not just at the cost of an upgrade or software project, but to its value. The problem is, it's very, very hard to estimate that value.
Somewhere, you have to find a dollars-and-cents value to work from or the estimate is meaningless.

The usual method takes the cost and assumes the business will have to find that much increased value in the project or upgrade. Although this concept is easier on the accountants, it's counter-intuitive to the perceptions of the users - and the business.

In the previous articles, we suggested estimating the increased value as an ROI goal. Let's look at the ROI in another way, from the perspective of risk. This is an excerpt from ZDNetAsia article "Create a risk contingency budget with Expected Monetary Value" By Tom Mochal.

We will need two numbers for each risk:

P--probability that the risk will occur.

I--the impact to the project if the risk occurs. (This can be broken down further into the cost impact and the schedule impact, but let's just consider a cost contingency budget for now.)

If you use this technique for all of your risks, you can ask for a risk contingency budget to cover the impact to your project if one or more of the risks occur. For example, let's say that you have identified six risks to your project, as follows:

Risk

P (Risk Probability)

I (Cost Impact)

Risk Contingency

A

.8

US$10,000

US$8,000

B

.3

US$30,000

US$9,000

C

.5

US$8,000

US$4,000

D

.10

US$40,000

US$4,000

E

.3

US$20,000

US$6,000

F

.25

US$10,000

US$2,500

Total

US$118,000

US$33,500

Based on the identification of these six risks, the potential impact to your project is US$118,000. However, you can't ask for that level of risk contingency budget. The only reason you would need that much money is if every risk occurred.

Here, the cost of the risk impact is evaluated (I), then a value judgment is made about the probability of it happening (P). Multiplying those two numbers produces an amount to be added to a contingency budget (Risk Contingency).
Mr Mochal states that the costs of all the risks happening would cost $118,000; but since that's probably unlikely, a contingency budget of $33,500 should be added to the project to protect against whatever risks may occur.

Value instead of Risk

If we were to assess value to the company instead of risks, we might come up with similar numbers as in the first two articles in this series. Of course, we'd have to estimate the probability of each value, which is where the survey comes in.

We could use Mr Mochal's contingency planning to compare with the perceived value estimate, and to the actual cost of the project. With these three numbers, we have a means of estimating ROI not only in accounting terms but in terms of the overall value to the company of any training, upgrade or software project.

With Mr Mochal's table, we can even assess the cost of not doing the project. All we need to do is add one more element: a time frame.

(more to come...)

Risk	P (Risk Probability)	I (Cost Impact)	Risk Contingency
A	.8	US$10,000	US$8,000
B	.3	US$30,000	US$9,000
C	.5	US$8,000	US$4,000
D	.10	US$40,000	US$4,000
E	.3	US$20,000	US$6,000
F	.25	US$10,000	US$2,500
Total		US$118,000	US$33,500

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