I have an Ultrabook and a MacBook Air and my non-SSD traditional laptop is getting jealous. It told me that it wants to be more like them, faster booting up and able to launch applications more quickly. “Why can’t I be like those super slim laptops you are always using?” it always asks me. Obviously there is no way for it to compete from a weight or thin-ness perspective, and since there was already a 500 GB hard driving powering it, I could replace that drive with an expensive SSD (Solid State Drive). A 500 GB SSD would  cost upwards of $500, which would be more than 1/2 the cost of the laptop. If I went with a smaller drive, I would have to ditch some of my data or applications on the drive – that doesn’t sound that much of an upgrade to me.

That is where the new Seagate Momentus XT SSHD comes into play. If you were reading carefully, you saw that this is NOT an SSD drive, there is an added “H” in there which stands for Hybrid. In my mind, hybrid means the best of both worlds. In the case of the Seagate drive, you get near-SSD performance, but with the capacity and price of a traditional hard drive. That is a hard bargain to beat.

Seagate kindly gave me a 750 GB Momentus XT SSHD to replace the stock 500GB Western Digital drive in my Acer Aspire Timeline X. A side note here, the Acer Timeline is a stellar laptop with an incredible battery life, so I was hoping that after this upgrade, it would be even more useful!

But I’m always a skeptic when it comes to a “flashy” name like hybrid SSD (sorry, I couldn’t resist that one). The advantages of SSD is that they are flash-based/solid state drives that don’t have any moving parts, unlike traditional hard drives. You can get traditional hard drives that spin at 5400 RPM or 7200 RPM and that have larger cache sizes (16 MB or 32 MB). The larger the cache, the better as the drive will store blocks of data into the cache and be able to send that data to the computer – the more data it can send, the faster is can move the data.

The Momentus XT is a 2.5″, 7200 RPM drive with 32 MB of cache. But it also has some technology inside that allows it to perform almost at the level of an SSD drive. But seeing is believing and I didn’t want to just take the marketing hype as gospel. So I set out to do some somewhat scientific analysis of the Seagate vs the stock WD drive.

I used three rudimentary tests for this analysis: timed boot up, Windows Experience and a benchmark software called Auslogics Benchtown. I did each of these 3 tests prior to removing the stock drive. Then, to ensure as close to an apples to apples comparison, I cloned the stock drive onto the Seagate Momentus using the Seagate DiskWizard (there are some other good Seagate Tools available) and then installed it and ran the same benchmarks.

I have compiled the test results in the video below as well as the installation process (which is probably one of the easiest installs that I have done to date). The video is also available directly on YouTube. I realize that the video is a bit long (sorry), but it does show the before & after boot up tests, the setup of the Momentus before installing, the installation and the post-installation benchmarks.

There were 3 tests that I did in the video: timed boot up, Windows Experience measurement before & after and the Auslogics Benchtown benchmarks (before & after installation).

Here are the side by side test results for the Windows Experience tests. The stock Western Digital drive is on the left and the new Seagate Momentus XT drive results are on the right. As you can see, the overall score didn’t change (because it uses the lowest score as its overall score), but the disk transfer rate increased by 0.1 points.

In terms of boot up speed, you have to watch the video for that. But here is the summary of the results. Pre-installation (with the laptop plugged in), I tested from being completely off to when the login screen appears as taking 40 seconds. After installing the Seagate Momentus, that same process took 30 second – a savings of about 10 seconds. This is all being powered by Seagate’s FAST Factor technology which integrates hardware, firmware and high-speed NAND flash.

The other benchmarking that I did was using the Auslogics Benchtown. This does a full analysis of your systems and you can even share your results and compare against the community. A picture speaks a thousand words here so you can see the results below:

That is a pretty dramatic improvement if you ask me. And speaking about improvements, this Seagate drive has something called “Adaptive Memory” technology which means that over time, it “learns” which applications and data is the most commonly used and then saves that data to the flash memory for faster access and launching. It would, therefore, make sense if the hard drive’s performance seemed to improve over time. I will be watching for this as this is how the SSHD is designed to work – it monitors your usage patterns and simply improves performance over time.

The Seagate Momentus XT comes in two sizes, a 500 GB and a 750 GB. The 500 GB has a 3GB/second SATA interface and the 750 GB has a 6GB/second SATA interface. The 500 GB retails for $135 and the 750 GB goes for $189. You can pick each of these drives up on Amazon currently for $127.79 (500 GB) and for $179.99 (750 GB).

HighTechDad Ratings

If you are looking for a way to give your older laptop a bit of a boost in performance, and you have already maxed out the amount of RAM that it can take, the next thing to consider is upgrading the hard drive to something larger and faster. Given the price point of the Seagate Momentus XT, especially in comparison to a “traditional” laptop hard drive, the Momentus is definitely the better choice. Depending on your laptop, the installation process is pretty easy. The hardest part is the migration or cloning of your hard drive but the supplied, free tools that you can download directly from Seagate for free make the cloning process a snap. Interestingly, the software is by Acronis who is known for their hard drive tools. If you have some older laptops around your house and want to give them to your kids, this is a great upgrade that you can do prior to letting them go crazy with the new speeds. I wouldn’t actually let my kids do the cloning or install process as it does take some time and thought into how you want to do the process (thus the lower score on the “Family Friendly” section). Honestly, it is a bit rare to find a product that improves over time so with the adaptive learning that the Momentus has built into its technology, this is a definite plus – it gets “faster” with usage!

EASY TO GEEK FACTOR – is the device easy to get up and running

FAMILY FRIENDLY – does the device fit well into family environments

RECOMMENDABILITY– would I recommend it to others (more means “yes”)

PRICE POINT – does the price reflect the product function

OVERALL – my general rating

Overall, and especially since I have used the upgraded laptop to do a variety of actions and have definitely noticed a much peppier launching and running of applications, I think the Seagate Momentus XT is a great upgrade. I would recommend getting the larger (750 GB) version because of its larger size but also because of its faster SATA throughput of 6GB/second.

Disclosure Text: I have a material connection because I received a gift or sample of a product for consideration in preparing to write this content. I was/am not expected to return this item or gift after my review period. All opinions within this article are my own. More information can be found in my About page as well as here.   

HTD says: I wish that all laptop upgrades were this easy of a choice. With the Seagate Momentus SSHD, you can pretty much be assured that you will get a high-performance, near SSD boost to your hard drive’s performance.

Cloud computing can be very confusing. It can be abstractly discussed but also detailed to intricate levels. A few years ago, part of the reason why people weren’t adopting cloud computing was because they simply didn’t understand it and what it could do for them. And, a few years ago, the technology and services were relatively new and not as built-out and established as they are now.

In my previous posts of this series, I talked about what I thought would come in 2012 for cloud computing, I debunked a few common misstatements about the cloud and, I listed out some ways to make cloud computing work better for people. With this article, I’m going to break down some of the different types of clouds and explain how they might be used.

Because the cloud is relatively new to many businesses and individuals, I typically describe and explain it more as a generalist than a technologist. If you get into the weeds too quickly, you can frequently lose your audience. That is not my goal in this article. If you want to get into the geek speak about which hypervisor you should look for (hint: it doesn’t really matter), what type of I/O performance should you be achieving or how to configure a Cassandra DB cluster that spans multiple data centers with real-time replication, you aren’t going to find that here. I like to keep things moderately simple so that more people can understand and hopefully gain insights into why cloud computing might be the right choice for them.

This list is not complete, but should provide you with some of the most prevalent clouds out there. You, of course, have the daunting task of trying to decide which one works best for your business or personal needs.

Public Cloud

This type of cloud is publicly available to businesses and consumers. Typically, these have multiple data center locations and offer a variety of services. My earlier articles talk about the layers within public cloud: Software, Platform & Infrastructure, so I won’t go into the details of those. An important thing to note is that public clouds are multi-tenant, meaning that whatever virtualized instance you are running, the server exists on shared space with other customers. Because of the way hypervisors (Xen, KVM, VMware & others) are designed, you typically will not notice performance degradation from “noisy neighbors” the way you would in a Virtual Private Server or Shared Hosting environment. But, it is an important consideration to think about given that it is indeed using shared resources. But by sharing resources (bandwidth, CPU, RAM, Storage) you also get the benefit of economies of scale. The hypervisor and the management layer co-exist to ensure that you DON’T have any issues with shared resources. Ok, I got a bit geeky there, sorry. The bottom line is, Public Clouds are a fantastic choice for businesses looking to stop purchasing and managing physical hardware and data centers, and transform this capital expenditure to an operating expenditure. Essentially, you lease compute and/or storage and consume bandwidth, but all without purchasing anything physical.

Private Cloud

When people talk about private clouds, they typically have a need to keep their entire infrastructure and contents therein, private. This could be due to their environment containing sensitive data or having to have enhanced security of their architecture. Simply put, think of a public cloud but in a private environment – one that is dedicated to a single entity or corporation. They are typically pretty expensive, but you are paying for this “privilege” in order to gain privacy or enhance security. Private clouds can come in a variety of flavors, hosted (managed by a provider) and in-house (managed by a customer in their own data center). Obviously, the in-house one will be more expensive, typically because there is a capital outlay to set up the environment. With any type of cloud, large, high-end servers are used with virtualization technology in order to carve our smaller virtual servers, thus the need to purchase (or lease) these higher end servers for private clouds. With a hosted private cloud, there is typically only a management fee associated with the costs and that gets you a private cloud that is maintained by a provider in their own data center or perhaps a rack or cage at a customer’s data center or hosting facility. Regardless, the hosted private cloud is isolated to that specific customer.

Hybrid Cloud

Hybrid clouds are typically two or more clouds that are linked together via a dedicated private connection or VPN (Virtual Private Network). Hybrid clouds could be a linkage between public clouds, a private and a public cloud, or even a physical data center with a cloud. Hybrid clouds can be used to extend a company’s infrastructure for redundancy or disaster recovery, meaning that if there is an issue with one cloud, traffic could be routed to a different cloud. Sometimes hybrid clouds are used for bursting, meaning the primary traffic is handled by one pre-defined cloud and then overflow could be routed to a secondary cloud and scaled back. This is somewhat similar to what can be configured within a single cloud environment, where virtualized servers can be scaled out when demand requires it and scaled back when the demand subsides. The difficulty of setting up and delivering a hybrid cloud environment is that frequently there are differences in architectures of different cloud vendors, especially if they have their own proprietary infrastructure protocols. There are service companies available that provide management consoles or libraries to unify the management of different vendors’ infrastructure services. Hybrid clouds should not be confused with Hybrid Hosting, another practical implementation of cloud computing combined with dedicated, managed physical server environments.

Virtual Private Cloud

You can create a “private cloud” environment within a public cloud and these are known as virtual private clouds. Obviously, these are not true private clouds because they reside within multi-tenant environments (e.g., public clouds). There is a bit of a gray area, in my mind, between a hybrid cloud and a virtual private cloud. Regardless, if the connection between a company’s legacy computing environment and the public cloud is completely private and secured (e.g., using a VPN), this would be considered a virtual private cloud. Typically, the public cloud part of the equation is used to extend a customer’s existing infrastructure. With a virtual private cloud, external access to the public cloud is cut off and all connections travel via the VPN from the customer, or within a VLAN or private network between servers within the public cloud environment.

Cloud Washing

I had to throw this term into the mix because it is an important one to know and remember when you are shopping for cloud solutions. When cloud computing first started out, there were just a few players making any kind of money and establishing a foothold. But as adoption grew, so did the desire to join the ranks of being a cloud provider. The problem was, many of these companies who did “join”, really weren’t providing true cloud computing solutions. They were simply slapping the label of “cloud” on their existing offerings and saying that they were selling “cloud.” Remember, for something to be “cloud”, you have to be able to deploy infrastructure yourself, pay just for what you consume and be able to scale your environments via a management console or programmatically quickly and easily. Also, most clouds are multi-tenant and utilize some sort of virtualization in their compute provisioning and leasing. For example, you might find some Virtual Private Server (VPS) or shared hosting companies say they provide “cloud” because they carve out space on two machines and link them together. That’s NOT cloud. You have to control it and scale it. Just be sure that whichever vendor you choose passes the cloud computing litmus test and has the cloud characteristics that I have (repeatedly) mentioned.

A Cloud For All Seasons

Ok, I lied a bit. I guess I had to geek out a bit to really get into it. The cloud types that I mentioned above are just a few of the many that have emerged. These types are becoming mainstream and being utilized by corporations, developers and IT professionals. The most important thing you can do when shopping and evaluating cloud computing vendors is to first understand what your OWN needs are. If you don’t understand what your company is trying to accomplish from an IT perspective, or even more generally, from a business standpoint, you are not going to have a clue as to which type of cloud to use or build. But you are taking the right first step, that of RESEARCH, by reading this article. And be sure to review my ways to make cloud computing work for you article. Also, talk to the vendors out there. Explain what you want to do. Give them examples. Attend industry trade shows. Basically, become as knowledgeable as you can about your needs and what’s available.

Cloud computing sounds complicated and it can be depending on your requirements and the type of cloud you choose. But it is also a new way to think about computing. It’s here to stay so use it to your advantage and get ahead of the curve.

HTD says: Hopefully your understanding of cloud computing is a bit less “cloudy” in your mind and you can now actually get into the cloud!

This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet.

For a few months now, I have been using the iPhone 4S and enjoying the wonders of Siri. There have been literally thousands of posts on tips and tricks that you can do with Siri (and I’m sure the one that I’m about to mention has been covered in some form or another). For those of you hiding under an anti-technology rock, Siri is a voice activated assistant that can help you find all sorts of information as well as act on a variety of voice commands.

So, I have been scratching my head on trying to find something “different” to use Siri for and I believe that I came up with something interesting and helpful – a spelling assistant.

I’m an absolute horrible speeler – sorry speller (groan). I am so lucky that spell check is built into just about every device around (computers & smart phones specifically). I’m more about simply getting the words down digitally and then fixing the errors after the content has flowed from my brain and to my fingers. Heck, I even type much faster than I can write (I hate hand-writing anything!). So, while it is nice that most words will be caught using a spell checker, sometimes you ARE actually hand writing something, or you know how a word sounds but for the life of you, can’t remember how it is spelled.

One time, after living a few months in Spain and speaking/thinking in Spanish, I actually forgot how to spell “of”. I had hand written “uv”. Wow! More recently, when I was typing out an article, I couldn’t remember how to spell “manure”. Whatever I typed, simply didn’t look right and when I tried to look it up in a Dictionary app, since I was so far off (e.g., “maneuare”) the Dictionary didn’t provide me any help.

So I turned to Siri.

I simply asked it (or “her”), “How do you spell manure”? And she gave me the right answer!

For the spelling process, it uses WolframAlpha as its knowledge base and I got the right answer. And it make sense too, phonetically it’s easier to spell things because you simply speak the words – actually, there is no spelling required.

I decided to put Siri to the test with the following list of “Most Difficult English Words to Spell“. I picked a few (that I actually knew how to say):

1. Bourgeois – got it
   
2. Antidisestablishmentarianism – pretty close so I gave a 1/2  point.
   
3. Queue – didn’t understand difference between letter and word (I even tried the Thesaurus approach)
   
4. Chamois – got it
   
5. Silhouette – got it
   
6. Schizophrenic – got it
   
7. Tchotchke – got it
   
8. Deoxyribonucleic acid – almost (tried twice – I like the “decks oh” part!) – gave 1/2 a point.
   
9. Baccalaureate – got it
   
10. Segue – Siri gives a “tech answer ” – I had to give her a point there for being techie and with no context.
    

And for a bonus, I tried: “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”

So, speaking clearly and without any noise in the room, Siri got a grade of 7/10 and successfully answered the bonus question! #2 above was pretty close as was #8 so I gave those each 1/2 point. And I found it funny that Siri took the “tech” answer for the word “segue” with the answer “Segway”. If I throw in the bonus question, Siri squeaked out an 80% – good enough for a “B” in my book!

Anyway, for the most part, I give Siri a passing grade when it comes to understanding some of the harder spelling words. If you have an iPhone 4S, give it a test (and rumor has it, Siri will be part of the next generation iPads as well).

HTD says: Isn’t it nice to have a spelling assistant everywhere you go?

A few months ago, Sony and Ford Motors invited the Cast of Dads out to the East Coast to participate in a variety of events, one of them was driving a 2011 Ford Explorer (note, link is for the 2012 model) from Boston to NYC. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend the event, and boy was I jealous. Part of my envy came from the fact that I couldn’t drive the Ford Explorer (you can read more about the excursion over at the Cast of Dads). Luckily, over the 2011 holidays, I did have the pleasure of getting behind the wheel of the 2011 Ford Explorer for a road trip to and from Los Angeles from the San Francisco Bay Area.

I’m pretty familiar with Ford and their push to enable technology behind the wheel. I have test driven the Ford Flex and the Lincoln MKX (which is essentially quite similar to the Ford Edge). But being able to experience the Explorer first hand was pretty important to me since it has been a long running model for Ford since 1990.

Image source: Wikipedia.com

Well, we are already in 2012 now, so how does the 2011 Ford Explorer stack up? Pretty darn well. It has plenty of technology to make a gadget-drooling dad happy as I barreled down the super boring stretch of the I-5. (If you haven’t driving the I-5 ever, you definitely aren’t in for any type of treat. It’s really boring and at times your auto is filled with the lovely stench of cow manure as you pass the cattle farms – you can also almost take a nap without turning the wheel as the I-5 seems to stretch on indefinitely.)

The 2011 Ford Explorer that I tested out was the Limited Edition. The monroney (aka “car sticker”) has the MSRP listed at $39,190. With all of the flashy packages (and discounts), the price came to $45,515.

I’m not going to dive it too deep into the engine side or “under the hood” aspects of the Explorer. I’m more about the experience, the drive and how comfortable a family (mine) was in not only a long road trip, but also driving around the city. Visually, I truly liked the interior and exterior design of the Explorer, so I thought I would provide a slideshow video of some of the curves, shiny metal and glass of the Explorer (also available directly on YouTube):

Apart from the photos in this article (and in the video above), you can see some others on my Flickr set.

For me, I’m all about the technology available in the Ford Explorer. This is the thing that keeps me “powered” when I’m driving. There is nothing worse, in my mind, than having a “dumb” car. (Just a side note, if you want to see all of the tech innovations that Ford is pushing forward, be sure to check out their Technology page.)

Tech highlights of the Ford Explorer included:

• Ford SYNC – the SYNC has been one of the innovations that has really moved Ford ahead as a technology leader. Voice commands are a much better way to safely control much of the gadgetry within the Explorer. With gadgets and devices becoming even larger distractions than ever before, the Ford SYNC platform helps move towards an elimination of these visual distraction via voice commands and displays that are intuitive.
• MyFord Touch – 4 corners of the touch screen in the center console drive 4 important interactive items: GPS, Phone, Audio and Climate. Do note, newer models of Fords are getting an upgrade to the MyFord Touch interface to make it a bit peppier while increasing the usability. I love the MyFord Touch but did find the response time to be a little lack luster, at times, verging on frustrating on the 2011 Explorer that I test drove. The new software (which can be updated by the end user via a USB key fob) is supposed offload some of the graphics processing to the GPU instead of the CPU, making it more responsive, and the visual redesign is supposed to be much more intuitive.
  
• Adaptive Cruise Control – remember I mentioned how boring driving the I-5 is? Well with the adaptive cruise control, you practically can almost take a nap while you drive (I’m KIDDING). But with this type of cruise control, you simply set the speed that you want to travel and how much padding or distance you want between you and the car in front of you, and you let the adaptive cruise control do the rest. The car will speed up or slow down based on the traffic or vehicles ahead of you.
• Rain Sensing Wipers – when the Explorer senses water on the windshield, it automatically will start and control the wipers, one less thing that you have to think about.
• Auto HID Headlights – similar to the automatic wipers, if you set the headlights on “auto”, when it becomes dark outside or you enter a tunnel or dimly lit area, the headlights will automatically turn on.
  
• Collision Warning – using the same radar array that the adaptive cruise control uses, this is an important safety feature to have in the Explorer. If you are approaching a car ahead of you too quickly (e.g., stopped traffic), an audible alert will sound and a bar of red lights in front of the driver’s windshield/dashboard area will light up to “wake you up” and alert you of the stopped or slowed traffic. It kicked on a couple of times with me and it definitely got the attention of me and my family!
• Active Park Assist – this is such a fun feature to play with. Every time I use it, I’m truly impressed. This is a great option to have if you live in a city and need to squeeze into a tight parallel parking spot. When you are looking for a spot, simply press the Park Assist button and the Explorer will “watch” for a spot that it can fit into. When it finds one, you are notified via an audible alert. Then you follow the visual/audio prompts and pull ahead of the spot. When ready and in reverse, take your foot off of the break and slowly back into the spot, but keep your hands off of the wheel as the Explorer will turn the wheel at the right time, to fit into even the tightest of spots. You do have to apply the brakes though as that is a manual process, otherwise you will crash into the car behind you! It’s pretty amazing how well it works actually.
• Power Liftgate & Rear Seats – while this seems pretty low tech and pretty much a given, I do have to mention the power liftgate which you can open via the keyfob or buttons. Once the back is open, you can adjust the rear seating configurations in order to optimize for the cargo you are carrying. The rear seats are also controlled simply by pushing a button or two.
  
• Blind Spot Monitoring System – I have really come to depend on the blind spot indicators that appear in the side rear-view mirrors, especially when you are driving a larger vehicle like an SUV. Remember, the bigger the auto, the larger the blind spot. So, the Explorer detects when there is a car or motorcycle in those blind spots, and lights up a bright yellow light on the appropriate mirror.
• Remote Start – in many of the higher end trimlines of Ford autos, on the keyless-entry keyfob, there is a button that, if you press it twice, will remote start your car. Based on the temperature outside, your car will either be warmed up or cooled down, prior to your entry. A note though, if you are parked on a hill, this remote start will not work (by design).
• Premium Sony Audio System – it’s always nice to see the Sony logo in a car, to me it means that the sound system will be way above average and that the design with be aesthetically and visually appealing. In the Explorer, this was no different. The entire cabin was blanketed with speakers and the system produced great high-fidelity sound.
  
• Push Button Starter – I’m really becoming a huge fan of push button starters and the ability to just leave your keys in your pockets. It’s so hard to go back to that antiquated “turn the key to start” process!
  
• On-Demand, Changeable 4-Wheel Drive – with this dial, you can quickly change how the Explorer handles different environments without having to get out of the car to lock the wheels or any of that nonsense.
  

But the other important factor that I bring into any article about autos is how it works with my family. We were able to load up luggage for 5 people (2 adults and 3 kids) in a completely packed environment. The configuration that the Explorer Limited edition has was 2-2-2 (front to back seating 6). The independent seats actually are great for a family as it provides a little bit of isolation between the kids. The seats are also quite comfortable with plenty of leg room, even in the way back.

Below is a sampling of the luggage that we managed to load into the Explorer (that plus 5 people).

At the end of the trip, we definitely traveled in comfort, despite having suitcases under the kids’ feet and filling up one of the rear seats with sleeping bags, pillows, homework bags and other items.

My kids enjoyed the 5.5 hour drive on the I-5 – unfortunately, the only thing lacking in this particular trimline was a video/DVD entertainment system for the back seats. Next time, I will definitely look for that option. Oh and one more little tech nugget, there is actually some good networking built into the Explorer. I didn’t have the chance to test it out, but you can connect a wireless device like a tethered cell phone or cellular wifi device and you can set up a private wireless network within the Explorer itself. That is pretty snazzy!

Overall, I enjoyed the Explorer not only from the looks, feel and styling, but also from the performance. You can use it pretty well just hopping around town, but also the Explorer is great for going camping or skiing or towing things around. I averaged about 19 miles to the gallon which isn’t that bad for an SUV. The handling was not sluggish and the acceleration solid.

I’d say, if you are ready to replace the aging family minivan as your kids grow up, the Ford Explorer is a great upgrade, technologically but also in terms of style. As your life style becomes more active, the Explorer is there to lead the way.

Disclosure Text: Apart from the 10-day loan of the 2011 Ford Explorer, I have not received any compensation for writing this content and I have no material connection to the brands, topics and/or products that are mentioned herein. More information can be found in my About page as well as here.

HTD says: It’s always hard to give back a loaner car at the end of a review period. The funny thing is, I could really see myself behind the wheel of an Explorer because of its multifunctional uses.

So you have heard about cloud computing but are not really sure what you can do with it. Or maybe, your only exposure to the cloud is what you have seen in ads or heard in the media. Let me tell you, what you see on TV is only a fraction of the cloud’s true power. I’m obviously a bit biased, as I work for a cloud infrastructure provider. But that also gives me the ability to really focus in on use cases that seem to be popular this day and age.

As I wrote in my previous article, there are some things that the cloud definitely is not. And, I would like to add that it is definitely not some sort of magical concoction that deploys and repairs itself. Cloud computing, just like traditional hosting, can have issues or outages if not approached and worked with properly. Think of it this way, if you were a football coach, you wouldn’t use your playbook at a baseball game, right? Obviously not. When working with the cloud, you need to design and build specifically for the cloud in order to take advantages of its capabilities and strengths.

With this article, I want to provide some ideas on ways to make cloud computing work for you. That is to say, some best practice suggestions and implementation ideas that can get you down the road toward success. The most important thing to remember when embarking on a cloud adventure is to know that no two cloud are the same. So if someone is trying to sell one a “one size fits all” type of solution, you might want to consider a different vendors.

1) Choose the Right Cloud Layer – In my previous article, I briefly outlined the distinct layers of cloud computing: Application, Platform and Infrastructure. When you are thinking about adopting a cloud strategy, you need to be sure that you select the right layer for your architecture as they can be dramatically different. Even within the same layers there are nuances that can change the direction of your IT rollout. Without completely rehashing the previous article, you need to decide what your business needs. Is it merely that you want to have a shared network drive for backups, document storage, remote access and disaster recovery – a cloud storage, if you will? You are most likely looking at a cloud application like Dropbox or Box.net. On the other extreme is the infrastructure side where you can essentially build that cloud storage example above yourself as a business model or for your enterprise, using a variety of infrastructure components like load balancers, servers, firewalls, storage and other appliances. The infrastructure side provide flexibility and a higher degree of control while on the application side, you get a “pre-packaged” solution that, most likely, will not be tailored exactly to your needs. And right in between these two is the platform layer, where you get more flexibility than the application side, but less than the infrastructure side and you only have access to a framework like .NET or Ruby, for example. But, the underlying infrastructure (e.g., patching, distribution of compute, etc.) is managed for you. So figure out what you really need and how you will use it.

2) Design for the Cloud – When I talk to people about cloud computing, the biggest things that bothers me is the desire to make their cloud model an exact mirror of their physical IT environment (that they might be migrating). Don’t do this, people! The cloud has differences that are pretty significant, especially from traditional hosting. Just because your physical data center has X-number of servers, doesn’t mean that you have to do the same thing in the cloud. Often, physical servers sit under-utilized in terms of storage, CPU processing and RAM. In the cloud, specifically with cloud infrastructure, you have the ability to scale your environment based on usage and projections. If you know when you will have spikes of traffic or need more processing power, spin up more cloud servers, when your traffic has ebbed, spin them down. With the cloud, you pay for what you use, unlike traditional physical infrastructure where you have already paid for the hardware and it just sits there depreciating. Look to do geographic optimization, meaning doing some global load balancing so that the content you are serving makes a shorter hop to get to its destination. Your pages serve faster and your customers are happy. With traditional data centers or even colocation hosting, you have capital outlays or monthly/yearly maintenance plans to set up geographically dispersed environments.

3) Test It Out – The great thing about cloud computing is that you can test it out. It’s important to experiment, especially when you are designing for the cloud (see the previous point). Sometimes I refer to cloud infrastructure as “disposable” infrastructure, meaning that you can create and destroy environments in literally minutes. Test a particular configuration, see how it performs or how well it can be managed, make tweaks to it and test it again. With some cloud providers or environments, you can actually clone the virtual servers that you create so that you can deploy instances of servers and do performance tweaks on them, fine-tuning until you find the optimal configuration. And, you are not paying for lengthy contracts while you are doing this, nor are you begging your IT department to requisition physical hardware. Even armed with just a credit card, you can build up Test and Dev environments for a few hours and tear them down when you are done.

4) Use Consumer Clouds – I previously mentioned some cloud storage services like Box.net and DropBox for cloud backups but actually there are hundreds of thousands of cloud applications available. Things like email solutions (Gmail or Windows Live), hosted application solutions (CRM & ERP), rich media sharing sites like Flickr or YouTube, and others comprise an ever-growing list of cloud solutions available to consumers (and businesses). It’s important to familiarize yourself with all different flavors of cloud computing. Most people know about and use Facebook – that is a prime example – social networking as a cloud. The point here is, the more you experience cloud computing, the more educated you are and the better your decision-making process for corporate or enterprise rollouts of clouds you will be. Learn and choose the right layer (see point #1).

5) Research, Read & Reach Out – Since cloud computing is still relatively new, it goes through changes almost daily with new innovations or services being release from various providers. The problem is, it is often very difficult to keep up with this. I recommend doing lots of research (and this is coupled to #3 above) so that you know the company or cloud partner you are choosing, their capabilities and what you can do with these capabilities. There are many trade journals that cover Cloud Computing like GigaOm, ReadWriteWeb, as well as major research firms like Gartner, Forrester and others, the latter group being a bit more geared toward big business. But, there is also a very active blogging and social media community of cloud advocates, users and evangelists (like me), who would be happy to answer questions and provide suggestions to you if you are going down the cloud path.

I guess that the underlying theme here is that cloud computing is much more consumable than other types of IT. It is designed to be tried and evolve in the process. The most important thing is it should not be a daunting endeavor but rather a catalyst for innovation and eventual business success. I encourage dialog, questions and comments as always as I live and breath many forms of cloud in my daily life, both consumer and corporate.

HTD says: Cloud computing is a tool for innovation. While careful planning should take place with any cloud implementation, the benefits, in my opinion, far outweigh the risks.

This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet.

I have been in search of a really good way to wrap up my MagSafe power adapter for both my MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. The reason being, if you simply wrap them up the “conventional” way, you run the risk of fraying the connections which increases the risks of electrical shocks or shorting out your power adapters. And to replace the power supplies, be prepared to pay around $80 (and I do recommend getting authentic Apple products if you DO have to replace them).

I watched a few videos of people working with the “shortened” version of the power supply, where you utilize the flip out prongs that are built into the brick. Personally, I found these to just be an “OK” solution but not really good for those people, like me, who use the full cord that includes the 3-pronged plug and the heavy cable.

So, I came up with an extremely inexpensive solution and process that allows you to have some pretty good cord management while also preventing those dangerous fraying of your power cords. Before I dive into my solution, below is a picture of my old, Band-Aid solution, which in the end, actually didn’t work because my power supply shorted out and wouldn’t work any more.

Does that picture look familiar? Here’s what is under the duct tape:

Ugly (and dangerous) isn’t it! You would think that Apple might be able to design an elegant solution that would prevent this from happening. Obviously they focused on making the devices connected to these power supplies elegant and functional.

The “Low Tech” HighTechDad Solution

So, here is my “patent pending” (kidding) solution that involves a combination of using zip-ties and cord management that will both prevent (or extend the prevention) of having frayed power supplies while also creating a more compact and tangle-free power supply good for transporting your cords.

Before I go into the process for creating the solution, take a look at the video below (also available on YouTube directly) to see how it all works when you are finished:

I’m sure that just by watching the video, you can probably figure out how to do this, but in case you need more directions, here is the step by step process for setting up your cords and then how I personally wrap them. I’m open to suggestions on how to improve this or other ways to wrap the cords but I have been using this process now for a couple of months without issue. (I did have to replace one zip-tie as it became a bit loose).

How to Prepare the Cords

Materials:

• 2 small zip ties
• Pliers
• Wire cutter (to trim zip ties)
• File

Here are the steps to prepare your Power Adapter.

1) Select 2 smaller sized zip ties about 5 inches in length

2) Loop one of the power cords (it doesn’t matter which one) but make the loop about 2.5″ in diameter.

3) Tighten the zip tie very close to where the cord goes into the power supply “brick”. This will prevent the cord from twisting, torquing and hopefully fraying. You want to use both cords together to provide more rigidity to stop them from bending.

4) Use the pliers to pull the zip tie pretty tight. DON’T over tighten because you don’t want it to cut into the cord. But it should be tight enough to prevent the zip tie from slipping.

5) Once it is tightened, use the wire cutters to trim the zip tie as close as possible.

6) Use a file to smooth down the area that you just trimmed to prevent you from cutting or poking your hands later.

That’s it in terms of preparation. Now on to how your wrap your cord.

How to Wrap the Cords

1) Hold the thin and thick power cords in your hand together.

2) Wrap 2 or 3 loops of cords (this will depend on how big you want the loop to be as well as how much “extra” cord you need for the next steps.

3) Loop the extra cords now through the loops that you did in step #2.

4) Take the ends of the power cord and then pass it through the zip tie loops. Start with the larger cord loop and then end with the smaller cord loop. This step is optional but I find that I usually do it.

Then you are left with a compact and organized power supply and cords. You can almost use the cord between the loops as a handle.

There you have it! This is the first time that I have publicly shared this process so I’m hoping to get feedback and possible other ways to do this. Test it out and leave me a comment on how it works!

If you do use this and share it, it would be great if you could call it the “HighTechDad method” or “HTD method” or something like that…but honestly, just me knowing that it works would make me happy!

HTD says: Sometimes there are really simple solutions for commonplace problems.

Remember when netbooks were the “next big thing”? A few years ago, everyone wanted one of these small, compact and seemingly essential computers. But after a few years, the fog lifted from people’s eyes as they realized that the small form factor wasn’t the only thing that people needed. They wanted the best of all worlds, a small, lightweight, portable laptop that is fast and boast solid performance, has stellar battery life and looks slim, sleek and edgy. This new form-factor, based on a reference design from Intel, actually now has a name - Ultrabooks - and you will be hearing more and more about them in 2012, especially over the next few weeks with CES 2012 upon us.

Over the past few weeks, I have had quite a bit of hands on time with an ASUS Zenbook UX31E, which, for all intents and purposes, is a perfect example of an Ultrabook. It has a sharp-looking design, weighs next to nothing and does not compromise on performance, given that it is powered by a second generation Intel Core i5 processor. The Ultrabook is no netbook. It’s not even close.

Some UltrabookDads Videos

Instead of reading, I have a couple of videos that you should watch instead, one by me and one by Jeff Sass. (Jeff and I go back quit a few years to some Sony project work we did together. More recently we have participated in the Intel Advisor programs and events, and we both are part of the Cast of Dads.)

Here’s my review of the ASUS Zenbook UX31E Ultrabook (also available directly on YouTube):

And for another perspective, here is Jeff’s video (also available directly on YouTube).

I hope you enjoyed those videos.

This post is the other bookend to my first one (“I’ve Become an UltrabookDad!“). These past weeks have confirmed my original thoughts about Ultrabooks – that they are the next hot thing. And honestly, I don’t see them being a passing fad. There is a definite need in the marketplace for lightweight, high-performance portability. While Tablets, too, seem to be an up and rising consumer electronic item, they are not a replacement for a desktop or even a laptop. They do fill a need of a media consumption device, but lack the characteristics to be a true replacement like a physical keyboard or full-speed CPU. Ultrabooks have many of the important characteristics that tablets have like being lightweight and fast booting, but they don’t have the performance that a true computer has. I call Ultrabooks more of a rich media creation device for people on the go. I wouldn’t be surprised if the next iterations of Ultrabooks will have swiveling displays that fold into a tablet form-factor and that the screens will be touch-enabled.

Jeff and I shared the magic of the ASUS Zenbook Ultrabook to a lucky winner of a giveaway that we held, sponsored by Intel. Congrats again to Rocky Lee Dhabolt of Des Moines, IA.

The Ultrabook that is seen in the videos above is the ASUS Zenbook UX31E which can be found at many online retailers. The ASUS Zenbook UX31E currently retails on Amazon for $999.95.

Some quick specs on the ASUS Ultrabook:

• CPU: 2nd generation Intel® Core™ i3, i5, i7 processor
• Screen Size: 13.3”, 1366 x 768
• Weight: 2.87 lbs.
• Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 3000
• Battery Life: Up to 7 hours
• Operating System: 64-bit Windows® 7 Home Premium
• RAM: 4 GB
• Hard drive: 128 GB SSD (Solid State Drive)
• Size (LWH): 12.9 inches, 8.9 inches, 0.78 inches

If you research other manufacturers’ Ultrabook offerings, you will see that they are very consistent. They are all lightweight (typically 3 lbs and under), they use 2^nd Generation Intel Core i3, i5 or i7 processors, they are very thin, they use Solid State Drives (SSDs) and they have sharp, elegant designs (ok, that last one is just my own personal opinion).

Personally, I would love to find out what you think are the best features of the Ultrabook. Is it the fact that it is high-performance? Or that it has a very long battery-life? (I got almost 6 hours or more.) Or is it because it is incredibly light-weight? What about the design and small form-factor, or the fact that there is no skimping on features or the size of the screen or keyboard. Leave a comment and share your opinions on Ultrabooks.

Disclosure: In accordance to the FTC Guidelines and WOMMA Code of Ethics, I am disclosing that Intel Corporation is a client and I am being compensated for the content that is being created. My opinions about Intel, ASUS, and Ultrabooks and my writing are entirely my own and not those of Intel, nor subject to their editorial approval. Additionally, I have a material connection because I received a gift or sample of a product for consideration in preparing to write this content. I was/am not expected to return this item or gift after my review period. More information can be found in my About page as well as here.

HTD says: This new generation of computing gets the pleasure of a new entrant – the Ultrabook – which will quickly prove its value through its compelling features.

A few years ago, I had the pleasure of visiting a local San Francisco business to see their craft in action. The company is Rickshaw Bagworks and they built, based on my choice of color and material, one of the best blogger backpacks that I have owned. My full review from back in 2009 goes into the details of materials and color selection and shows the manufacturing process photographically.

This year, I received a couple of really cool products from them, again completely hand-crafted in San Francisco. And one of them was the first-ever production of a carrying case for the new Kindle Touch. (The screen shot below is from the Rickshaw Bagworks homepage and it shows the new sleeve case for the Kindle Touch – the one that they custom-built for my wife.)

Here is the color version of the Kindle Touch sleeve above:

Rickshaw makes a variety of custom and pre-made cases, bags, sleeves and folios for all different types of gadgets and uses. While you can choose from a series pre-made configurations, designs and colors, one of the really great things about their customized service is that you can use their “Customizer” to choose colors, styles (e.g., vertical or horizontal openings on slip cases), fabrics, interior and bindings and other items.

Here is the custom MacBook Air case that was made based on my specifications. I wanted it to match the backpack they had made a few years before.

Let’s walk through the Customizer process that I used to configure my MacBook Air sleeve:

Step One – Select the product and orientation (may depend on the product)

Step Two – Choose the fabric and colors

That’s it, unless you want to accessorize and they have plenty of options for that like Folios and Moleskines.

The order is then hand-crafted at Rickshaw which is located in the Dog Patch area of San Francisco and the assembly begins. Below is a video, also available on YouTube, that shows the manufacturing process of my specific sleeve for the MacBook Air as well as some product shot photos.

Rickshaw has a wide assortment of offerings, all reasonably priced, especially given the fact that they are hand-made in the United States. Rickshaw was “inspired by the creative energy of our city, urban cycling and a desire to make great products” and you can see this passion in each and every bag.

The two products that I received for this review, the sleeves for the Kindle Touch and the MacBook Air, show solid craftsmanship and attention to detail. I especially like the soft, “furry” interior of both of the cases that pad and protect the devices within. The fact that a customer can choose to personalize a large portion of their order, including, if they want to supply their own materials or fabric, makes a Rickshaw Bagwork’s product very individual and specific to the buyer.

I love the fact that I have a matching case to complement my 2+ year old backpack originally crafted by them.

HighTechDad Rating

I encourage you to explore the multitude of products and customization offerings available at the Rickshaw Bagworks site as well as take a look at their factory tour video to get an idea of what the company does. While not exactly a “technology product”, I felt it important to rate the 2 sleeves that I received. There is really not any “geek” to calculate in the ratings, but when you think about the fact that these products are actually “protecting your geek” from everyday wear and tear and during the transportation of these devices, I have to give Rickshaw high marks here. Obviously, given the customization available, their products work well in a family environment, especially if family members received a non-personalized gadget as a gift. What Rickshaw offers is the ability to say “here’s a gift that I not only hand-picked for you but customized to match your personality.” The price point is reasonable given the customization and the fact that their hand-crafted products are made in the USA.

From my 2+ years experience using the backpack they made for me, I can attest that their products do stand up to the tests of time. I use my blogger backpack every day, to and from work. I’m sure that the sleeves will hold up just as well.

EASY TO GEEK FACTOR – is the device easy to get up and running

FAMILY FRIENDLY – does the device fit well into family environments

RECOMMENDABILITY– would I recommend it to others (more means “yes”)

PRICE POINT – does the price reflect the product function

OVERALL – my general rating

Disclosure Text : I have a material connection because I received a gift or sample of a product for consideration in preparing to write this content. I was/am not expected to return this item or gift after my review period. All opinions within this article are my own. More information can be found in my About page as well as here.

HTD says: I’ve always been a big fan of Rickshaw Bagworks, from their attention to detail to the plethora of customization options available. It’s really hard to go wrong with a case or bag from them!

A few weeks ago, I laid out my predictions for 2012, casting seeds into the wind to see where clouds and businesses may crop up. But there are still skeptics out there, people who believe that cloud computing is just a passing phase or that it really isn’t that much different than traditional infrastructure. Having lived and breathed cloud for over 4 years, I believe that I have seen it all and heard many of the arguments that say that the cloud isn’t really a game changer.

So, I thought that I would present a few Cloud Computing Myths or fallacies that I have come across, to help people better understand what they might be getting themselves into when they go down that cloudy path.

I think that it is important to first outline what experts around the world believe that cloud computing is and then we can look at some of the things that it isn’t. Cloud computing is the on-demand and scalable consumption of IT resources via the internet. It is billed by usage and utilizes standard internet technologies when it is deployed.

Several years ago, there was a lot of confusion as to the characteristics of cloud computing because there were various types of clouds available for consumption. In order to present the “layers” of cloud computing, I developed a graphic called the Cloud Pyramid that graphically represents the multiple layers of the cloud. Over the years, people have accepted this visual depiction of the cloud because it is less abstract than more scientific approaches. Let’s take a look at the layers of Cloud Computing.

There are three primary ones:

• Cloud Applications (known as SaaS)
• Cloud Platforms (known as PaaS)
• Cloud Infrastructure (known as IaaS)

Each of these layers presents different qualities, advantages and disadvantages. The most well know of these layers is called Cloud Applications, otherwise known as SaaS (Software as a Service). Essentially at this level, consumers of SaaS get access to a pre-defined set of functions. An easy to understand example is Gmail. With Gmail, you get exactly one thing, the ability to manage your email in a hosted environment. It doesn’t matter what server you are accessing, especially since it changes depending on when you access it and where you are accessing it from. You basically get the same functionality no matter where you go. But, you can’t go beyond what the application provides to you and you have minimal control over the features contained therein.

Moving further down the Cloud Pyramid, you enter the Cloud Platform or PaaS (Platform as a Service) layer. Within this layer, consumers or businesses have more control over what they can or cannot do with the capabilities. Sometimes, SaaS applications can be built on top of Cloud Platforms. Typically, there are programming frameworks that developers can access like .NET, Ruby on Rails, Java or other languages. Programmers or developers accessing Cloud Platforms are given a bit more flexibility on what they are “allowed” to do with that environment.

Lastly, at the bottom layer, or what I call the “foundation layer” you find Cloud Infrastructure or IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service). This foundation layer is the building blocks for either PaaS or SaaS or anything else where the developer, programmer or IT professional needs access to raw infrastructure. This infrastructure can be in the form of virtual machines, load balancers, firewalls, cloud storage, networking or other appliances. IaaS is typically built upon a virtualization hypervisor like Xen, KVM, or VMware to allow for virtual servers to be deployed or removed in an on-demand nature. Depending on the cloud provider, the functionality be open or more restrictive but for the most part, Infrastructure services can be created, destroyed and managed by the end user either programmatically via an API (Application Programming Interface) or via a web-based portal or control panel. At this layer, one finds the most control over the infrastructure and IaaS provides the most flexibility and adaptability of all of the cloud layers.

Here are 5 things that you need to think about when looking to the cloud. Call them “myths” or “fallacies” but they should be called out, especially as businesses look to cloud computing for their IT.

1. Clouds are bullet-proof – Like any type of IT environment, you need to build in redundancies and design your environments for failure. To err is human and it is important to be sure that you think of as many what-if scenarios when designing and building out your IT environment in the cloud.

2. Clouds can replace all IT environments – I have always said that not every environment is perfect for cloud computing. You simply cannot take your existing physical architecture and migrate it over to the cloud exactly the way that it was. This also depends on the cloud provider that you choose and their capabilities. There are inherent strengths to cloud computing – that of being on-demand and scalable and a smart cloud architect will know how to adapt those capabilities to allow environments to be flexible and robust.

3. Cloud computing will not evolve any more – Cloud computing is one of the hottest technology movements that we have seen in a long time. Over the past few years, it was in an early adopter curve, but now, is becoming a much more established IT practice. Instead of being an alternative, it is becoming the primary way that many companies choose to put their products or services out to the public. And, there are many companies, consumers and creators of the cloud, that are definitely pushing the innovation envelope. Cloud computing is still maturing and will for many years to come as new services are built and existing ones are strengthened and standardized. We are only beginning to see some of the exciting innovations in this space.

4. Cloud computing is more expensive than traditional IT – While one of the huge advantages of the cloud is the movement from high capital expenditures (e.g., purchasing of hardware) to operating expenditure (e.g., leasing compute in an on-demand nature and letting someone else manage it), the cloud is not free. If you leverage it properly, you definitely can save on your CapEx and on-going hardware costs. However, we are not talking bargain-basement pricing here (unless you are choosing a low-end cloud provider). You definitely can better control your costs with cloud computing and utilize only the resources that you need, when you need them. And this is a definite advantage over traditional, physical hardware which is costly, especially when it sits under-utilized. The biggest benefit though of cloud computing is the fact that you CAN follow a pay-as-you-go model. Given that you can create and dispose of infrastructure on-demand and at will, means that you will save money in the long term, and that is the huge appeal of the cloud.

5. Clouds will kill off system administrators and IT professionals – If you think that cloud computing will replace your job as a system administrator or IT professional, you are sorely mistaken. If you are smart and hold one of those positions, you are looking to better understand what cloud computing can do for your job and take advantage of those skills to make yourself indispensable in your company. You can get certified in the best practices of developing cloud environments, even as a generalist. And depending on the layer of the cloud that you are working with or managing, you can position yourself as a cloud expert, knowing exactly what can or cannot be achieved using traditional or cloud environments.

Those are just a few myths that I have come across from speaking with other cloud experts, customers and from the industry. There are plenty of other myths, misnomers and basically incorrect data out there, but the goal of this article is to outline why you shouldn’t be afraid of cloud computing as well as to understand why it is important to train yourself and your peers on this critical IT movement.

If you want to be successful in Cloud Computing, you need to understand all sides of the equation, the good, the bad and the ugly. Be prepared to not be pleased with what you see the first time. Most likely, that is due to a novice cloud player or a cloud sales person who is just trying to meet their quota. True cloud computing is helpful and beneficial and can help businesses of all stages and sizes achieve a more solid bottom line.

HTD says: Do some cloud fallacy busting and ensure that the myths remain purely as myths.

This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet.