Spiceworks 5.0 Preview
Posted on | July 23, 2010 | View Comments
Spiceworks has started to unveil the new features for their upcoming 5.0 release. What promises to be their biggest release yet, is shaping up to tackle some long time feature requests. The 19th release brings page load speeds to the table that are 30% faster on average.
Here are some highlights on the new release, slated to launch in September 2010:
- A new TFTP server that can save and restore configuration files for network hardware. You can also compare versions of the backup configurations.
- Improved SNMP device support for a more accurate and detailed network map.
- Hyper-V support for deeper management of virtualized devices.
- Associate your help desk users with assets, and opening up the door for user administration like password resets and session unlocking.
- A unified management console for MSP’s who have multiple clients running a helpdesk, meaning you can work on all of your tickets from one place!
- Improved purchase tracking with updated methods of reporting and calculating costs.
The new TFTP server for loading/backing up network hardware configurations
Already a Spiceworks user? Check out the new 5.0 beta and news feed here in the community.
What do you think about India?
Posted on | July 22, 2010 | View Comments
I attended a networking event recently where I was asked the question, “What do you think about India?”. When someone asks me a question I am usually pretty quick to respond with an answer that will at least start some conversation. This one stumped me, and for some reason my answer was “Well, it’s crowded”. Which is true, but not quite what the person asking was looking for.
The reason I was asked that question had to do with outsourcing. When I explained what I do on a full time and consulting basis (web development among other things), the question really meant what I thought about my job being outsourced to India. After the initial shock and a quick laugh I expanded on my original answer. The truth is, and I quickly added “I love India”.
To further expand on that- I actually love outsourcing. Many people may see it as a threat but the truth is that we (as developers and other techies) have no choice but to accept the fact that there is someone across the world who will do our work for half the price. Great. Instead of fighting it, embrace it. Embrace that many of the basic, tedious web development tasks can now be taken care of for a good price. It leaves us to pick up the pieces here on projects that may have been outsourced. You’ll always hear the success stories and how much money people saved. What you can’t forget is that we possess a very strong advantage. That advantage is communication. We have the ability to communicate effectively with the stakeholders in a project far more that someone facing a language barrier across the world.
So the truth is “I love India”. I love it because it puts me in the position to step into projects that have a decent groundwork laid out for me. Projects that I now can spend time on the parts that just didn’t work in an outsourced environment. More often than not I get to focus on the part of projects that I enjoy working on, and that is the chance to learn someones business and industry and put a real taste of technology into it.
Have you started a project that was outsourced and gotten to the point where you need someone to step in and really learn your business? Contact us, we can help.
Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vitorcastillo
Blackberry 6 Preview, Coming Summer 2010
Posted on | July 13, 2010 | View Comments
The official Blackberry Blog has released some more information on the anticipated release of Blackberry OS 6. Traditionally Blackberry has had such a loyal business following and focus for their products, but this upcoming release looks to harness the power of social media and make the mobile experience more personal. This is an obvious strategic move to align themselves to battle the Droid and iOS which have made huge improvements over the last 6 months.
Another big change is the redesign of the browser which is now powered by the open source project WebKit. As the launch gets closer, we’ll provide you with a more detailed list of changes and features as well as when users can expect the release.
Source: http://blogs.blackberry.com/2010/07/blackberry-6-another-sneak-peek/
Datepicker for use with PHP or Javascript
Posted on | July 1, 2010 | View Comments
I was working on a project recently where I needed a date picker that I could easily style and configure. I wanted it to be easy for the end user and effective from a programming standpoint. The site was developed with PHP and Javascript so it was those languages I was looking to use for the most part. I ended up using the Yahoo Developer API, which worked out fine. However it was far from lightweight. This morning I discovered the jQuery UI only to find they have an excellent date picker that is very flexible.
Bottom line is you are looking for a datepicker and you can use Javascript, check out the jQuery UI.
Apple iPhone 4 details from the Worldwide Developers Conference
Posted on | June 7, 2010 | View Comments
The details for the iPhone 4 were released 6/7/2010. Apple brags the phone brings over 100 new features to the table, and is the biggest leap in innovation between device’s since it’s creation. While a version of this phone was leaked some time ago in a bar, Apple claims that we have not seen the fully baked product yet. The iPhone OS is now named iOS (current version 4). Some of the major highlights include:
- Thin redesign(9.3mm), 24% thinner than the current.
- Front facing camera, with flash on the back.
- The new stainless steel design is part of the antenna, increasing GPS, Bluetooth, and Cell reception.
- Retina Display (326ppi), increasing the pixel density. Providing 4x as many pixels in the same amount of space.
- Bigger battery and new A4 processor, providing 40% more talk time.
- 32gb of storage, supports up to 7.2mbit down, 5.8mbit up.
- Gyroscope, increasing the accuracy of the accelerometer. Now provides 6 points of rotation.
- 5 megapixel camera, 5x digital zoom
- Camera records in HD, 720p @30fps, with iMovie video editing on the device.
- Camera embed geolocation into the video.
- Application multitasking
- iBooks coming to iPhone with iOS 4
- iAds which allows developers to embed ads in their app. When clicked, ad loads in a frame and does not close the app you are in.
- Video enabled calling via WiFi (requires iOS4), using the new Apple FaceTime
iAds, which will be enabled July 1st, provide a chance for developers to make money, similar to the way that artists are paid when a song is downloaded from iTunes. This is going to keep cost controls on apps, while providing developers incentive to create them.
The new Apple iPhone 4 will be on sale June 24th, $199 for 16gb, $299 for 32gb.
All information was gathered from the live streaming provided by macrumorslive.com
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