FurryBlog

Google Drive - Enough to Drive Me Bonkers?

2012-04-26T12:44:00.001+01:00

Well as you may have heard, Google has released their latest product, Google Drive. Its main intention is to be an online or "cloud" file storage system for you to upload your precious files. It was massively hyped when it was initially announced a couple of months ago. It was kept mainly under wraps, keeping us all guessing about how much storage was available, what features it will have, how well it will tie in with everything Google etc...Well, it's finally here but is it any good?

What is it?

Google drive is basically a cloud storage service, much like DropBox, Box.Net, iCloud and Microsoft's SkyDrive. It is basically an expansion on Google Docs, now with the ability to have a desktop/smartphone counterpart with full sync capabilities. Drive has a range of packages, starting with the free one with 5GB of storage space. Extra space can be rented up to 1TB costing around $50 a month.

Will it work?

Like anything Google, when a large project is spoken about with hushed voices, it almost always turns out to be great. Could it be the whispers which help? Just think of when Gmail was first announced. Not only was it open by invite only, there was a massive delay from when it was first announced. Plus, Google has an advantage...advertising. Google is the home page of a huge percentage of people online, and they will use this advantage to publicize the free online storage. While they're at it, they'll probably be promoting Picasa too, why not, I would!

The Confusion

Hmmm,. I'll be honest with you. As you may not have guessed from most of my other posts, I'm an avid fan of Google. When they bring out a new service, I'm one of the people who hunts for an invite if I can find one. I like to know the ins and outs, the highs and the lows. The main question I want answered is "What is this product for?". Google+ was to revolutionize the process of sharing content, bridging the gap between all Goole products. Gmail was to revolutionize out-dated email. Maps was to revolutionize the way we get directions, with Street View being a huge leap onwards. But Drive? A simple expansion to Google Docs, this time with a desktop counterpart!

Something else which has be banging my head on my desk is why-oh-why have they limited their service? Not only in terms of storage space, but with unification too. If you have signed up to Google+ and have the smartphone counterpart, you'll be interested to know that you now get unlimited storage on Picasa Web Albums. With Drive, I was half expecting to be able to see all my content across the whole range of Google products. It would be nice to have a Pictures folder, and inside I can see my Picasa photos, similarly music that I've uploaded to Google Music, or videos I've posted on YouTube. It all seems a bit too separated to me, not tied in enough with everything Google.

Conclusion

It's still early days with this service. Google certainly have the tech to unify Drive into all their products and I for one hope they do.

Google Play

2012-03-08T09:13:00.000Z

Chances are you've probably heard about Google Play. Sounds like some new site for child games normally hosted on CBBC. Well you'd be wrong, obviously. This is Google we're talking about. Google Play is the new name for the widely-popular Android Market, but it doesn't stop there.

This whole release of Play has bought a few new, much needed features to the existing market, king of which is the new app size limit imposed on developers. Previously, developers were stuck with a limit of 50mb for the application size. Not a lot considering everything is more HD-this and 3D that. This left developers in a bit of a pickle because now they had to use their own servers (wait a minute, so I can develop a cool HD app for free, put it on ~~the market~~ Google Play for free, but now need to invest in some servers to host some content...that's no fun). Not only that, but there was a limit to the amount of additional content that could be downloaded. You were allowed 2 downloads for your app, and each could be no larger than 2GB in size. The new limit imposed by Google is the initial application size can now be up to 4GB, which is a huge leap. You're probably thinking that the existing size, with the downloadable content was exactly the same, but you'd be wrong once again. Everything is now hosted by Google, so no more servers, no more keeping track of who has done what etc...Let the big daddy take care of that.

It doesn't stop there also. Google Play is no longer limited to the Android community (just think, Play was previously known as "Android Market"). Anyone can now download movie rentals, music and eBook purchases. Utilising the power of the cloud, Google is streamlining all purchases no matter where you are. Purchase a book on your Android device, read it on the web. Everything is cloud-based. Music remains in the air, no syncing, just buy and play. That's the kind of new-age I can get used to.

To kick everything off, Google has a promotion going called the "7 Days to Play". Every day there is a new movie rental, music download or app available at a special discounted price. In the UK, apps and movie rentals previously worth more than £1 are discounted to 20p :-), and they have a bunch of apps for a cool 49p each.

You're probably wondering when you're going to get this new Google Play. Well you can, easily too. If you have got Google Music, Google Books or Google Movies on your device, head to your ancient Market and apply the update it is asking for (it will update to Play Music, Play Books or Play Movies). If you haven't, well download one of them anyway. Once you have any of those updates apps, open one of them and click the Store icon. This will take you to the new Google Play Store, prompting you to accept the new terms and conditions. The app will update in the background and then you'll be all set. If you do get any forced closures, head over to the Play Store in Applications under Settings. Clear the data/cache then start the app again should sort you right out.

So for now, go hence-forth and grab a bargain whilst you still can.

FurryPieri

The BIG Brand Bake-off

2012-02-22T13:12:00.000Z

With every day purchases, we are often faced with a choice. Do we go with A or do we go with B. 9 times out of 10 there is no difference between the two products, but years of brand awareness and marketing always makes us lean towards one, even if it is not the wiser choice.
Lets take a look at a few competing brands, their logos, and discuss how and why they have the impact to convince us that their product is the better choice.
Below I have selected a few categories from which I will compare 2 or more brands to compare.

Footwear (Adidas vs Nike)

The instantly recognisable 3 bars of Adidas. These 3 bars have been with the company since 1949 and certainly convey a brand. Such a simple concept, 3 lines, but they mark much more than that. The angle of the lines indicate an incline, indicating a challenge.

Ah the Nike "Swoosh". This is a simple one. It's a graphical representation of the right choice to make. Well that's what we think anyway, but the company, Nike, have a slightly different history. It started back in 1972 for the company, formerly known as Blue Ribbon Sports. This logo is a representation of the wings of the Greek Goddess of Victory, also known as "Nike". Today, though, no-one knows about the original meaning. All we know and see is a Tick, indicating a good thing, surely.

Car Manufacturers (Lamborghini vs Land Rover)

The Italian Bull. Lamborghini use a different approach, and utilise colour to get their message across. Having a black background underlay a gold prancing bull bring your attention more to the bull. The gold indicates that they are more on the exquisite side (and expensive), the prancing bull clearly indicates strength, speed and action.

This brand needs almost no explanation. The colour, Green and Brown gradient, signifies land and dirt. The lettering split over two lines, joined with a sloping line, indicate terrain. Together, you have the best description of a brand inside a circle, ingenious.

Clothing (Emporio Armani vs Gucci)

The mark of supreme clothing. Emporio Armani is not only a brand, but a statement too. As one of the most expensive lines of clothing in the world, their iconic logo needs to reflect this. The eagle looking to the right does this in all its glory by showing us the power and precision of the product. this symbolizes supreme quality and a dominance over the competition.

Gucci, also known as "The House of Gucci" adopted their logo in 1933, which was designed by one of Guccio Gucci's son. The logo is a mark of the founder, Guccio's initials. The font used and spacing signify a smart and elegant style. The thin lettering boasts precision. Together they symbolize an interlocking connection for the family and brand that will never be broken.

To wrap it up

Logos have a much bigger part to play than simply putting something on a letterhead. They are the first thing people see when looking at a brand. An image is a lot easier to remember and recognise than some text.

An example for you. Take someone who has never heard of your company or seen anything about you. Put your logo in front of them. If they can roughly guess the values of your company simply by studying your logo, you have been successful, if not, back to the drawing board I'm afraid.

FurryPieri

Android in 2011 - A year in the pockets of the biggest search giant

2012-01-11T19:09:00.000Z

What a year it has been for Android ey? Going from a mediocre operating system to, quite frankly, the most popular. It's not been an easy ride though, Apple's iOS has also bought some much needed competition to the table. Let's go through some of the key moments in 2011 for these two OS giants and see how far they have come.

Android
February 2011
Probably the earliest point in 2011 was the release of Android 3.0 Honeycomb. This was the first version of Android which focused solely on the larger screens of tablets. This was a major hit for Android as this was the first time a divide developed, sending smartphones down a different route, whilst it looked like the Tablet-orientated version of the OS was the one to move forward.

Some key features of Android 3.0 Honeycomb are:

New UI for tablets, including a new system bar & action bar,
Redesigned keyboard for more accurate and faster entry,
Improved copy/paste selection,
Synchronization via USB without mounting as a mass-storage device,
Support for physical keyboards via Bluetooth or USB,
Tethering via Bluetooth
A slew of updated applications optimised for the larger screen,
Support for multi-core processors, and
Support for high-performance 2D and 3D graphics.

******************************

June 2011

In June we saw the arrival of Android 3.1 Honeycomb. This version provided additional features and support for tablets. Still not for the smartphones out there.

Some key features of Android 3.1 Honeycomb are:

UI refinements towards navigation and animations,
More USB device support for mice, keyboards and digital cameras,
Resizeable home-screen widgets,
Support for gamepads and joysticks,
Improved stability for Wi-Fi networking,
Updated applications optimised for the larger screen, and
Enterprise support features.

*****************************

July 2011

Not long after the release of Android 3.1, 3.2 arrived. This was a much smaller release, focusing on some small issues found with the previous release.

Some key features of Android 3.2 Honeycomb are:

Direct application access to the SD card,
Compatibility-zoom for fixed-sized applications,
Extended screen API for managing different screen sizes, and
Further enhancements for tablets.

So most of 2011 for Android was completely focused on tablets. You can tell that they want to make their presence felt in this market, bringing some sweat patches to Apple and its iOS. There was one more major event of 2011, however. The release of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich

October 2011

This is where Google noticed their mistakes of making a tablet-only OS. It left smartphone users in the dust with no updates to speak of. Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich bridges the gap between the tablet and the smartphone, bringing both platforms into harmony once and for all.

Some key features of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich are:

A new, refined UI,
Home-screen folders and favourites tray,
Lock-screen actions,
Better handling for calls,
Network data control,
Improvements to social networking, particularly Google+,
New unified calendar,
Camera improvements. Including face detection, image stabilization and snapshots whilst recording,
New browser focusing on the Desktop user agent,
Improved email support,
NFC-based sharing,
Face unlock, and
WiFi-Direct Support.

This release is, without a doubt, the biggest release of Android so far. It's main intention was to merge the 3.x tablets and the 2.x smartphones into a single, unified version. It's not all bells and whistles though. Most older handsets that were lucky to get an upgrade to Android 2.3 will probably be left in the dark, leaving only the more advanced (and more expensive) phones/tablets to be viable for an update.

Apple

Unfortunately for Apply, there was little activity in 2011 in regards to new features and major releases. Their main focus at the start of 2011 was fixes and patches. In fact, up until October 2011 there was new releases for the following:

March 2011 - iOS 4.3 - Fixing the HFS vulnerability
March 2011 - iPad 2 - Released on iOS 4.3.3
April 2011 - iOS 4.2.7 and 4.3.2 - Security and connection issues
April 2011 - iOS 4.3.2 - Various application updates
May 2011 - iOS 4.2.8 and 4.3.3 - Address location tracking controversy
May 2011 - iOS 4.3.3 - Varioud application updates
July 2011 - iOS 4.2.9 and 4.3.4- Patching Jailbreak vulnerabilities

It was not until October that something actually started happening on the Apple front, with the release of iOS 5.

Here are some of the key features of iOS 5

New notification center,
Release of iMessage,
Release of Newsstand,
Release of Reminders,
Integration of Twitter,
Improved camera and access from the lock-screen,
Photo editing,
Updated version of Safari Browser, and
No more requirements to have a PC to activate/update.

**********

Now I know almost all of you will be saying that Android is better, or iOS is better. Lets just take a moment to say that neither OS would be what it is today without its competitors. iOS wouldn't have copy/paste, multitasking, the notification center. Likewise Android wouldn't have...well I'm struggling to think of anything here to be honest.

So there you have it, the major parts of 2011 in the smartphone industry for you all to see. I'm really looking forward to seeing what Android will bring to the table next year, but whatever it may be, I'm sure it will be fantastic.

FurryPieri

Android 4.0.3

2011-12-17T11:32:00.000Z

Yesterday, the big Goog announced an update to the newest sweet in their family. Android 4.0.3. This is a minor release, aimed at a few bug fixes, a couple of improvements and s few API's for developers to use.

Calendar provider enhancements - Apps can now add color to events, for easier tracking, and new attendee types and states are now available.
Social Stream API for Contacts provider - Applications that use social stream data, such as status updates and check-in services, can now sync that data with each of the user's contacts. This provides items in a stream along with photos for each. This new API lets apps show users what the people they know are doing or saying, in addition to their photos and contact information.
New camera capabilities - Apps can now check and manage video stabilization ahd use QVGA resolution profiles where needed.
Accessibility refinements - Improved content access for screen readers and new status and error reporting for text-to-sspeech engines.

There has also been improvements in graphics, spell checking, databases and Bluetooth.

4.0.3 is set to start rolling out to ICS devices over the next few weeks.

Furry

Android 4.0 - Ice Cream Sandwich

2011-12-16T21:01:00.000Z

Android 4.0, or how it's codenamed "Ice Cream Sandwich", is Google's latest iteration of its mobile operating system. With this, Google brings a whole slew of new and improved features, most noticeably the unification that comes with this new freezing goodness.

Background

Before, Android releases were a bit "patchy", and manufacturers would only release the new versions to their handsets if it a. didn't cost them too much time, and b. it would actually improve the device. This resulted in a somewhat fragmented market, where some devices were stuck on lets say 1.6 (codenamed "Donut"), whilst other devices were upgraded to 2.2 (codenamed "Froyo"). Froyo was a major release, which enabled developers to do much more with their applications. And thus fragmentation started. Let's say I want to make an Android app, using most popular build, which at the time was Froyo. I'd make use of all these new cool features, release it to the market, only to find that quite a large range of devices weren't supported. Bugger. ICS is here to bridge that gap, bringing a wide range of devices onto the same playing-field...we hope.

Features

Resizable widgets - If you've had a Samsung Galaxy S2/Tab device, you'll already be familiar with this since Samsung built this feature into their interface. This gives the user the ability to resize their home screen widgets, meaning that more information can be displayed for a given application.

Lock-screen actions - From the lock screen, you can quickly jump to an application by highlighting the icon whilst you unlock. Imagine you want to take a photo. You unlock the phone, find the screen with the shortcut then open it up. With this new feature, it's all done in one swipe.

Always-open microphone - Not sure if this beats Siri for the iPhone 4S, but it's the next step. Your phone will always be listening for your commands, saving you the hassle of hitting the dictate options.

Android Beam - For the NFC (Near-Field Communication) devices running ICS, you can "bump" the phones together to share apps, music, contacts etc.

Face unlock - Probably the most out-there feature is the ability to unlock your phone my using the forward-facing camera. Be aware that this does work with a photo, but apparently not a lookalike.

Redefined UI - It just wouldn't cut it if Android was bought into the next generation whilst leaving its UI behind. Although the back-to-basics UI is nothing to be ashamed about, but you want to be showing off the ooOOoo factor. The new UI is smooth, crisp, smart and above all, easier to navigate around.

Will I get it?

This is the question most of you have been asking. For some, yes, for others not such a positive answer. At the moment, the line-up is as follows...

Confirmed

ASUS Padfone
ASUS Transformer Prime
ASUS Eee Pad Transformer
HTC Evo 3D
HTC Rezound
HTC Sensation
HTC Sensation XL
LG Optimus 2X
LG Optimus 3D
LG Optimus Black
LG Optimus LTE
Motorola Droid RAZR
Motorola Xoom
Motorola Xoom 2 (inc. Media Edition)
Samsung Galaxy SII
Samsung Nexus S
Sony Ericsson Xperia

Denied

HTC Nexus One

Note: If you've device isn't in this list, it's just because the manufacturer has not confirmed nor denied.

Disaster Recovery on a Budget

2011-12-14T13:00:00.002Z

Background

Many challenges facing ICT Engineers and Systems Managers now-a-days all revolve around Disaster Recovery. How can I create a good DR strategy with as little money as possible? First, you need to consider what, and why you will want a DR strategy. It all boils down to keeping your business online for as long as possible, saving you from loss of income. Many people think that if you want to save money (keep that loss of income down to a minimum), you'll need to spend money. For some organizations this may be right, but for the small to medium business, not so true.

The Challenge
Just to give you an example, I work for a small company and I was recently asked to re-think our DR strategy from the ground up. We had an expensive solution in place that wasn't doing its job (that's another story for another time), so I had to come up with a better solution for the fraction of the price. What could I do? With little money to spend, and to come up with a new strategy so quick seemed an impossible challenge.

The Solution
Free products. Yes, free products (Given that you already have software installed). Windows Server 2003 R2 and up contain a very useful, but often overlooked, utility/service called Distributed File System - Replication. This little minx monitors your file system in real-time, and if setup correctly, will replicate files to multiple destinations as they are changed. This is an absolute life-saver, meaning that you do not require any third-party bloatware slowing down your systems. It just...works. It does have its drawbacks though. First and foremost, it's a bit tricky in the initial setup, and will often take hours before it will start replicating a thing (for the novice users anyways, advanced users won't even be reading this post). Secondly, reporting is pants, really pants. Unless you setup a scheduled task to do the hard work for you, you'd better get used to opening the console and producing your own report. I have this chap replicate all of our supported servers internally to spares, and also a completely separate office (not to mention to the USA too!!!).
But what about our databases?
Luckily we use SQL Server 2005 and up, and this comes with its own form of replication. This one is a bit trickier and will often involve you having to alter some databases to be able even start replicating, and will sometimes fail of its own accord. But never-the-less, stick with it and sort out all those little piggies and all will be well.
We can't afford R2 :-(
Fear not, there is another utility which we use from Microsoft called RoboCopy (There's probably better ones, but we use it because the name rocks). Better yet, for some reason it is free. I know!!! Who would have thought Microsoft ever giving away something for free. It's a download from their site and is all shell based, but there is a RoboCopy GUI available which can build and execute the commands for you. This is not-so-realtime, but you can run is as often as you like. This little snapper works in roughly the same way as DFS does, and will replicate only files which have changed. There's a lot more powerful features this thing can do, but out of the box it does a fantastic job. We use this on our older servers and have not had a problem since the day we installed it.

To Sum-up
Don't be afraid of Disaster Recovery, be afraid of the documentation. This is the tricky part which i am not going to help you with. That one, you're on your own guys.

Furry

#DOFF - A Design-Off with @DPitt

2011-11-04T12:48:00.000Z

If you've been following me on Twitter recently (@FurryPieri), you may have seen some very random posts which mention the word "doff" in. Don't be alarmed, I am still sane (within reason).

What and why is "doff"?
In short, a "Design-Off". In long? Well for the past week, me and David Pitt (@DPitt) have been having a doff. The aim? To design the best twitter backgrounds we can with the tools available to us. David, going down the Open Source route, has opted for Paint.NET. Whereas myself, well I've been using a mixture of Adobe Photoshop and Fireworks.

What's so tricky?
It may sound simple, but the hardest thing to do with design is the actual design! If you've got a creative mind, all is well and good in the land of visual greatness. If, however, you are like me and David, not so simple. The initial thought is the one which will grow into something great, something that can be extended and improved. If you haven't got a good starting point, it's useless.

So come on then!
Before I jump into the route I am taking, I'll just explain the differences between our ideas. David has gone for a 3D approach, mixing bitmap based images with vector based graphics. The end result is great and shows just how powerful Paint.NET can be. Me? Well I spent a lot longer trying to think of the initial design. Various attempts to put drawing to digital form have failed. Mainly due to my lack of knowledge for Photoshop. None-the-less, I have stuck at it and it's starting to take shape. The theory behind my design is "my life on a desk". Basically, anything to do with me and my interests is in a nice looking image.

Who's this @DPitt...show us some Paint.NET stuff
David, you you can follow here. And his design so far is...

It doesn't look too bad. There's the 3D cube, with reflection which melts into the surface. Then there's added spheres to add depth. Nice attempt.

And what have you got to show for yourself?
As I said before, it thought long and hard about a "viable" design to put as my background, but alas, I have succeeded. Here it is...

It's still very much a work in progress, but I like the way I am portraying myself on a desk. I like coffee and I'm messy. Plus I like to have a little "dig" once in a while.

As you can see, we've both taken a very different route, but we'll still be fighting.

Keep checking back to see how we progress.

FurryPieri

Google+ Remembers When You Dont

2011-10-26T18:29:00.003+01:00

Well well well. Didn't I get into a pickle the other day? Or at least I thought.

I'll give you a bit of a background, hopefully a short one. My better half broke her phone a few days ago and hasn't been able to find a spare phone to use until she manages to get to a phone shop. I thought, "hey, I got a spare HTC Desire knocking around gathering dust, I'll sort that out for you". So off I went, putting some juice in it ready to flash a basic ROM and remove all the crap that I'd left on it.

So I found a suitable ROM which looked good enough for the job but with one condition...the SD card needed to be partitioned with ext2/3/4 so that it could install. Oh, I thought, trickier than I initially assumed. So found a spare SD card lying around, put it in my Galaxy S2, then went to format the SD card from within the settings ready for partitioning on my Ubuntu box. All seemed well until I wondered where my contact photos had gone. Oh bother, I'd wiped the internal memory of the Galaxy S2 instead of the card. All my photos, music, downloads etc had vanished. It had been months since I ran a backup of the phone. I feared the worst.

Then, later that day I received a notification about someone adding me on Google+. I didn't care, I was in a mood from losing all my photos. Then it dawned on me that I had Google Instant Upload. Oh my saviour. With a quick logon to my Picasa Web Albums, I located every single photo ever taken. How pleased was I. With a quick download to Picasa, and a quicker transfer to my phone, everything was back to normal again :-D

In short. Even if you don't use Google+, definitely sign up for an account so you can utilise Instant Upload. Every photo you take will...instantly upload. duh

FurryPieri

Page Speed - CSS Sprites

2011-10-22T18:37:00.002+01:00

Good afternoon people and welcome to another insight of mine. This time, CSS Sprites and PageSpeed. Sounds boring, doesn't it. Well in truth it is, but fun at the same time. I make no sense...welcome!

0-100 in a never-ending ball of dust
"Page Speed is an open source project started at Google to help developers optimize their web pages by applying web performance best practices". There, blog over.
In the past, I've never really been concerned about the performance of my pages. I always used to be one of the "As long as it loaded, and looked ok, who gives!" Well, after I was asked to look into the loading times of our website, it soon came to light how important it is to take note of what is slowing you down, and if possible, take the necessary measures to ensure you fix the bottleneck.
In April 2010, Google announced that it will be incorporating site speed to aid in determining search rankings. So with this in mind, it's key to do all you can to get some racing stripes and a bigger turbo on that site of yours.
Most of the entries I saw in the my results were all server-based, meaning that the issue lies with your host rather than your actual website. I wasn't out of the dark yet though. Introducing...

CSS Sprites
Yes, those very Sprites of the Cascading Style Sheet world have finally caught up with me and are poking me. I feel used.
For those of you who do not know, CSS Sprites are basically an index of your images. Their sole intention is to reduce 1. your hair and 2. the number of HTTP requests made to the server, thus reducing load times of your site, and increasing baldness on your head. As an example, imagine you have an image and when you hover over it, you use some javascript to change the image. You'll notice that the first time you do it, it'll wink at you. This is the web-page going back to the server to get that image so it can serve it. With CSS Sprites, it will pre-load that single index of your images once, and simply "move" it so you see a different portion of it.

When to use them
It's all well and good changing your entire site to rely on Sprites, but wait. Stop and think. Sometimes you want (and need) those IMG tags. Consider these as generic rules to follow. Obviously you will require your own set with your own site, but bare these in mind.

To use

Use when you have background images
Use if your menus have backgrounds
Use on roll-overs to reduce winks and flickers

Or not to use

Do not use when you have photos (Both staff and stock)
When it is fundamental for SEO (You are relying on the alt tag)

There's definitely some more that ought to be here, but remember these are the basics that I've learnt.

Learn to give up

Working with Page Speed can be deadly. you're desperately trying to reach that score of 100 and you're absolutely butchering your site to get there. Just chill. The average score is in the low 90's at best. I've managed to get our home page from about 78/100 all the way up to 96/100, all by optimising images and using Sprites.

So, with this in mind, check out your site speed using Page Speed and see how you can make your own improvements. My first suggestion to you is definitely losslessly compressing your images and using Sprites. Give it a go and let me know how you get on.

FurryPieri

Internet Acceptable Use Policy - Why?

2011-09-16T20:11:00.001+01:00

Many of you would have not even heard of an Internet Acceptable Use Policy (AUP from here on in), but let me tell you this. If you're the ICT Engineer for a company, you better get one in quick. Why? In a nutshell, it protects both employees and your company against misuse of the technical equipment in your office. It is not just limited to the use of Internet, it can include email, instant messaging and your network too. It's all designed to have some rules in-place, so if anything was to arise, you have proof that they have agreed to the terms.

Consider this
Employee A was caught snooping at some, lets say "explicit" content on the Internet. We all know it's wrong, we all (well most) know not to do it. You approach said employee and hand out some disciplinary action, and a lolly. While they are scoffing down that very nice ice lolly they reply with "That's a bit unfair as there's nothing telling me that I can't"

Snookered.

Never fear
Not all is lost, for HR is at the rescue. See, when an employee starts, they sign all sorts of contracts and documents etc etc, one of which should hopefully be your Company Handbook (Very handy document listing what is what in the company). This you have to fall back on, but it can be very vague and not go into much detail effectively putting most decisions in the hands of the employee, not the employer.

Come forth, young AUP
This is where the very detailed Acceptable Use Policy comes into play. This nice, lengthy, pain-in-the-arse-document-to-write lists the do's and dont's of your corporate broadband, website, networking and equipment, even the websites they contribute to during office hours.

Do I really need one? I trust my guys
Yes. Simple. In my experience you can trust all you like but that doesn't mean they're not going to abuse your services. In a recent survey, 20-29 year old's waste 1.5 hours out of their working day for personal browsing. That's 7.5 hours a week...THAT'S 1 DAY A WEEK!

Having this *signed* document in place (It's all well and good having a AUP but it's no good if your employees don't see and agree to it) protects you. Stating that they will be dished disciplinary action (and possibly dismissal dependant on the violation), this protects the employer from a potential lawsuit.

How does it protect the employee?
OK, so you've heard how it can protect the employer, but what about the employee? As stated before, the Internet AUP is not limited to the Internet. It can be as broad as you like, but mainly focused on anything electrical being used by your company during office hours. So that is the Internet, your network, Instant Messaging software, your equipment, any websites visited, how they get to those websites and the list really can go on. For an employee, the main defence is the Instant Messaging software. Let's say during the day there's some sexual harassment going on to one of your other employees. Normally this would be covered in vague terms in your Handbook, but if detailed correctly in the AUP then the offender could lose their job.

There is really no company who should not implement, or be in the process of implementing an AUP. It can save time, money and jobs.

FurryPieri

Windows Server Update Service

2011-09-09T12:58:00.001+01:00

As any network administrator will face at some point in their career, knowing that all hardware on their network is up to date with the latest updates/patches is key for security and safety. Windows Server Update Service (WSUS from here on in) is a useful bit of kit if you get it right.

What is it?
WSUS is a service which runs on any Windows-based server (typically Windows Server 2000/2003 are the lowest supported), and its job is to download updates for pre-defined software packages/hardware drivers/security updates etc. It is then presented with the task of distributing said updates to the equipment on the network. Built with full reporting, it's fairly easy to see if a workstation is falling behind on important updates.

Why would I need it?
Why wouldn't you? In-fact, there is no reason why you wouldn't want to implement such a key solution which patches the security concern in your network. Admittedly, the company I work for did not have this installed at all. My-fault mainly, as part of my role is to ensuring that all equipment on the network has the very latest security patches installed to get rid of those pesky flaws. You can even specify a test group if you are not comfortable with releasing an update to your organization.

How would I get it?
First, you need to download WSUS from the Microsoft Technet website (http://goo.gl/RlrI0). Once downloaded, select an appropriate server to install it on. Be sure to select the "Full server installation including Administrative Console" when you are asked. The help documentation that accompanies the software is very in-depth and easy to follow.

How do I use it?
Once installed, you have a few approaches you can take to get up and running. Assuming you have gone through the configuration wizard and selected the products & classifications you want to distribute updates for, you can continue by adding computers. I'm not going to go through every different process of adding computers, I will list what I have done.
We took the approach of implementing Group Policy for this task. You can specify the policies under Computer Configuration > Administrative Template > Microsoft > Windows Updates. The main policy you want to concentrate on is the "Specify intranet Microsoft update service location". This is where you specify the location of your WSUS service (remember any custom ports you assigned too). Another policy you may be interested in is the "Enable client-side targeting", with this enabled, your WSUS service will automatically place the computers which this Group Policy applies to in the specified group. Very useful if you have different grades of computers (Generic workstations, development machines, servers, directors etc).

Now what?
To be completely honest, it will take me a very long time to go into detail about all the different ways of using this machine. The best thing to do, once you followed my instructions to get you off the start-line, is to read the documentation available. It is a very powerful tool if configured correctly, and will save you a lot of headache.

Good luck

Online Social Presence - Think About It

2011-08-24T08:18:00.003+01:00

Now-a-days, everything seems to be moving online. Gone of the days where you used to get your old photo films developed, they are now hosted online in various places. The same statement stands for music too. I remember the days where you used to go and buy an album or single and play it on your portable CD player. Now, you've got iTunes, Google Music Beta (US only), Amazon MP3 and lots more.

What's so good about it?
Meet like-minded people
Take Twitter for example. When you sign up, based on the information you have entered and the items you like to share, they will suggest users that you may find interesting.

How can that help me?
Of those suggested people, if one of them posts, lets say a handy how-to item, you will know about it. This helps you expand your knowledge in those areas. If you are already interested in it, then there's no-doubt you'll appreciate the comments.

What if Twitter isn't enough?
If you're like me, you'll soon notice that 140 characters for yourself just isn't enough. Blogging is a great way to build up your online social presence. It drives traffic, provides links, is useful to people and is a great way to express yourself. WordPress and Blogger are probably the best free blogging platforms available. The former has a self-hosted platform available for those of you who like more customization available to you, whereas the latter is a simple platform, with SEO in mind and also owned by Google.
You don't need to stop there. There's Facebook and the recently released Google+ which are great ways to express yourself.

With all these places, how will people know
That's where websites specialising in a "Single Online Identity" come in. These sites are basically a portal to all of your social spaces. They can link to your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, WordPress, Blogger...and lots more. Unfortunately, at the time of writing this, Google+ has not been implemented for two reasons. First, it is still in beta/invite stage (and knowing Google, it will stay that way for some time), and secondly it is constantly changing.
Two great sites which could be useful to you are About.Me and Flavors.Me. Both have their benefits, with Flavors.Me having more premium features. You'll find lots of examples on each site, but just to start you off, here's mine.

Ok, so what's the drawbacks
It's all too much for me
Everything in life has its downfalls. The main drawback of having multiple social sites is having multiple social sites. To drive traffic, they need to change quite often, and if you have many places to update, it can take up quite a lot of your time.

But who can I limit
No-one, that's the point. Once your information is online, you are sharing it with the world. Yes, some sites have privacy settings which allow you to exclude people who you do not know, but that contradicts the reasons in trying to build your online presence.
With all of this in mind, hopefully you'll have enough information at hand to help you decide if you want to build up your online presence, and if so, have the tools to do so.

Good luck

FurryPieri

3D - Is it Revolutionary or Pointless

2011-08-22T12:43:00.001+01:00

In short, it's pointless.
Now I should really give a bit of background here before jumping straight in. 3D has been around since the 80's, and has only really become "popular" and labelled as "the next big thing" from 2010. After many, many years of trying to bring it into the mainstream, all attempts have failed and 3D was demoted to the likes of Disney-Land, and that is where it should stay.
The last time I went to see a 3D film was The Green Lantern and if I'm honest, it spoilt the entire film. I kept having to take those crappy glasses off (Don't even get me started on those), just to scratch my eyes off! And even then those bits of the film weren't even in 3D..

Should I be buying a HD3D-TV?
If you want old tech in 3 years, go right ahead. The thing is, major manufacturers and film studios are trying to force 3D into our lives. Now when you go to the cinema you'll be lucky to get a 2D (which I'll refer to as "normal" from here on in) at a good time as all the prime-time showings and larger screens are taken up by the 3D versions.
Each television manufacturer is going at it in different ways. There's Toshiba & Sony making a pass at creating 3D without the glasses (That already exists now though. Watch the thing live), and then there's the likes of Panasonic who are going down the more traditional route where you need the glasses.

Why do I get headaches?
How 3D works (with the glasses) is the screen displays 2 images, one for the left eye and one for the right. Those glasses you wear have a different colour lens for each eye. You may not notice it, it is minute (Remember the retro red/green?). Well these colours correspond to the different images displayed on the screen. This effectively means that you have 2 images on the screen, both of which are at the same frame rate as a normal TV/cinema screen. This means that your head needs to take in double the data in order to show you the 3D.

Can I watch 3D with my normal TV?
Kind of. Budged 3D items, with the retro red/green glasses will probably play fine on your TV, but the more recent films released on DVD is a definite no-no. Firstly, you need a special player to decode the 3D signal. Secondly, you need a TV capable of displaying pictures at a much larger frame-rate.

What should I do?
Just sit down and enjoy a "normal" film. 3D, once again, is just a phase. For true-3D, the technology has not even been invented. Stick with what works.