The Non-Profit Tech Guru

I don’t normally do this, but Microsoft just released a totally free anti-virus/anti-malware product that actually works very well – I’m recommending that all home users and some small business users (without centralized A/V management) use it exclusively. It uses very few system resources, updates itself quietly, and is actually free, not just free-but-trying-to-sell-you-an-upgrade (like AVG etc).

So, you can ditch your McAfee, Norton etc., which don’t protect you any better, are a hassle to use, slow your system down, and extort money from you on a yearly basis.

Just remember, you must remove these programs completely before installing the Microsoft Security Essentials client.

Here are links to removal programs – they work much better than doing the uninstall routine from add/remove programs:

Norton/Symantec: Norton Removal Tool
McAfee: McAfee Removal Tool
AVG 32-bit: AVG Removal Tool
AVG 64-bit: AVG Removal Tool

Once you have completed the uninstall, go to the Microsoft Security Essentials site and download the installer – run it, let it do it’s thing and you are good to go….

I crossed paths with a couple of these babies last week – definitely some interesting stuff. Here’s another installment of the good, the bad and the ugly.

Good:
1. The much ballyhooed multi-tasking. Switching apps is a breeze and you are right where you left off when you come back. Come on, Apple!
2. A real keyboard – I have to say after years of the “virtual” keyboard of my iPhone, it’s nice to have some tactile feedback.
3. Turn-by-Turn Navigation w/ GPS. Come on, Apple! Don’t make us pay $99 for Tom-Tom on our 3GS.
4. Google Apps and Microsoft Exchange support. Seamless wireless sync of mail, contacts and calendars. No real smartphone should lack this.

Bad:
1.  Slow. Having more than one app open at a time introduces noticeable slowing to the interface. Opening preference pages makes you wonder if you actually tapped the icon – you’re waiting.
2. Questionable build quality – a definitely plastic-y feel, with a flimsy cover over the usb port – I wonder how it will stand up to daily use.
3. App Store – not ready for prime time, and won’t be for a while. It took Apple a while too. Unfortunately, the Pre is competing with a very mature iPhone app ecosystem.
4. Sprint only – for now. Yes folks, getting a Pre means a 2-year commitment to Sprint – it remains to be seen whether this LTC will end in tears.

Ugly:
1. Self-Signed SSL support. I have had this problem with every Palm smartphone I’ve every worked with. Microsoft Exchange depends on SSL for secure sync of data, and many small businesses and non-profits use a self-signed (i.e. free) SSL certificate to accomplish this. In all cases, this self-signed cert must be manually installed in order for this to function (except with the iPhone, which just asks you to accept it once). Getting a self-signed cert to work on the Pre proved impossible. I had to purchase a public cert (from GoDaddy, $26 a year, get one today) in order for Exchange sync to work. Shame on you, Palm!
2. iTunes dependency for music sync – It’s wonky and weird to depend on your competitor to provide a critical service for your product.

Time will tell if the Pre can successfully compete with the iPhone – I think the App Store is really the crux of it. I think that Sprint also has to prove that they don’t suck as much as AT&T….

Fed’s RFIDiocy pwnd at DefCon

This is funny, because I immediately knew what it meant, making me extremely rare (and geeky). Let’s unpack it a little.

• Fed – the federal government
• RFID – Radio Frequency Identification – a small embedded computer chip that contains information that can be scanned by a multitude of electronic equipment
• -iocy – the blog author’s belief that federal government’s plan to embed identity and security documents with RFID technology is misguided
• pwnd – this was originally a computer gamer term: “To be defeated, especially in an extremely humiliating way”
• at – well, everyone knows what that means
• DefCon – the annual conference of the computer security/hacking community

So, this is funny and ironic, but also very scary – the government wants to put these tags on your passports and drivers licenses, but the security design is so bad that someone can steal your identity and clone your credentials in the time it takes for you to walk through a doorway.

Read the whole thing here: http://blogs.zdnet.com/storage/?p=565

Happy Monday.

This is one sweet ride – and you can plug it in to any electrical outlet. 300 miles on a charge and 0-60 in 5.6 seconds – Yee Haw! 5 adults + 2 kids! 17″ Infotainment TouchScreen! What the hell is that!? I have no idea!

Downsides – this baby runs $50 Grand and won’t be available until 2011. Oh well.

Learn more at http://www.teslamotors.com/models/

I have a client that recently moved their office – have had Comcast Internet for many years and wanted it in the new space. Comcast assured us that it would be no problem – they scheduled the install for 5 days before the move date.

They show up at the scheduled time, and after 1/2 hour of walking around and on the phone with a manager decide that they can’t install it, they need the construction division to install a “mainline” in this commercial building so that they can service the 50+ possible customers in the building. Problem is, it takes 2 months (!) to get this done. Even with a little screaming, they insist that they can’t get it done any time soon.

So, I jaunt on down to the nearest Clear store (on Lovejoy in the Pearl District) and an hour later I have a fully activated Clear modem with 5Mbps down / 512Mbps up and a static ip – a perfect (hopefully temporary) stand-in for our Comcast Business service (we get like 27Mbps down / 7 Mbps up typically).

Fast forward to moving day, I have the servers moved, the network up and running, and Clear internet service working great. This is a Sunday, mind you – the next day is the first official day of work in the new office.

Come Monday morning, guess what? Clear is down. Everyone in the office gets only this annoying splash page that says we can’t activate. I’m on the phone with Clear for 1/2 hour before I hear: “We’re experiencing difficulty with a portion of our network that’s affecting many users – we are working hard to fix it – call back at the end of the day”.

So much for Plan B.

Tuesday morning, still getting the splash page. I reboot the Clear modem, finally it’s working again.

Comcast meanwhile has decided to install a temporary drop to the office while they work on the Mainline. Wednesday afternoon we’re back on Comcast. A collective sigh of relief….

I have to say that Clear has a great marketing campaign – their visibility everywhere has made them the talk of the town. Their speeds are decent, but nowhere near advertised and subject to your proximity to one of their wireless towers. The offer service in Lake Oswego supposedly, but the informal report is that the speed sucks down there.

Too bad they have product problems.

Well, I took the plunge and upgrade my 2-year-old original iPhone to the 3GS model. Here’s the good, the bad and the ugly:

Good:
1. WAY FASTER – especially on cell data – I was trying to get my mail on the Edge network and it took forever – the 3G network and faster hardware make a huge difference.
2. Video camera – this thing takes awesome little videos – I can’t imagine why I would need a separate video camera ever again.
3. Did I say faster? With the same wi-fi connection Safari loads web pages much faster – it’s actually usable. Hallelujah!
4. A working compass… this is neat, however see below.

Bad:
1. Gets pretty warm when using it as a phone.
2. Still no turn-by-turn navigation program, even with a compass.
3. My old iPhone dock doesn’t work, nor do any of my case accessories – they changed the shape of the phone from 2g to 3g revisions – aargh. Fortunately my bluetooth headset paired easily.

Ugly:
1. Battery Life – don’t expect to use this phone heavily without toting around some sort of charger or extended-life battery accessory. The battery is actually worse than my 2-year old iPhone 2G. And yes, I disabled Push. I refuse to turn off 3G to save battery life – what a hassle.

Overall I’d say I’m very happy with it – the only real complaint being that I must strategize my use of it to conserve battery life – may get a car charger soon.

Well it was bound to happen – Google’s gMail, Calendar, Docs and Talk that started out in Beta five years ago are no longer… They’re ready for the enterprise!

Actually, I have been using them with clients for years, so I think they were ready before now. I guess Google finally got the message that selling a suite of services that are officially in Beta is bad for business.

Oddly, even though the Beta designation has been removed from the logo, you can add it back in if you wish. Why?

Read more at http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/google-apps-is-out-of-beta-yes-really.html

Well, I’m one of the nerds who had iTunes open and kept clicking the Check for Update. FINALLY, at 10:06 am PDT, it said that 3.0 was available.

Of course I chose download and update, and of course after 45 minutes of updating the frickin’ phone was stuck on the update bar. So, I unplugged the phone (impatient!) and iTunes complained about abject failure. Anyway, long story short I did a restore and update and now it’s working fine.

1 quirk  -  the E doesn’t change to a Wifi icon when I am connected to WiFi (I have an original iPhone (not 3G).

Anyway, some new features, the biggest of which is system wide cut-and-paste.

Here’s a link to “16 Tips to Become an INSTANT iPhone OS 3.0 Power-User” – handy.

In in-depth review of the new firmware at ArsTechnica is here.

I’ve created a little page that contains some awesome IT services that just happen to be free for non-profits. They are also great for small businesses – cheap, powerful, reliable.

See more at Albee’s Geek Out Page

Google today announced a handy little sync app that allows you to connect Outlook to your Google Apps account and have them sync seamlessly in the background. It offers 95% of the functionality of Exchange without all of the cost and complexity AND you get to keep using Outlook (admit it, you’re addicted).

This little program removed one huge barrier that Google Apps has faced with businesses – that people couldn’t stand to give up Outlook. That’s no longer a deal-breaker.

Read more at http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2009/06/use-microsoft-outlook-with-google-apps.html