[TechLife] Flash 9 beta available for Windows, Mac, and Linux

Finally, the wait is over! Note that this is a "prerelease" of Flash 9.

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Posted by TJ to TechLife at 10/19/2006 06:05:06 AM

Can I get a Bio-Chip thingy?

So is this Bio-Chip a new medical marvel on the horizon or is it just a small device on its way to making us all into Terminators....you decide. Despite what I may think of them it is definitely grabbing some headlines as of late.

Wikipedia probably has a more complete history of the Biochip but the chip itself is a result of research from quite a few different areas: genomics, proteomics, computational biology, and pharmaceuticals to name a few.

Then there is that whole "Mark of the Beast" thing but you guys can just ignore that.... that will never happen to us.

[TechLife] could not deliver message time limit specified 4.4.7

We had a problem with email not being delivered to various domains. Here is an example of what the problem was:

Your message did not reach some or all of the intended recipients.

Subject: RE: DBA701 - Urgent
Sent: 4/13/2004 5:39 PM

The following recipient(s) could not be reached:

'test@testdomain.com on 4/15/2004 6:00 PM
Could not deliver the message in the time limit specified. Please retry or contact your administrator.

The problem turned out to be that there were no PTR records set up for the outside IP address. We had to find the problem by doing a search of the PTR records on www.dnsstuff.com using this format
45.123.17.77.in-addr.arpa, the outside address is 77.17.123.45.

http://www.unixhub.com/docs/email/rfc1893.txt

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Posted by TJ to TechLife at 10/02/2006 05:49:00 AM

So....Where does the plan start?

This is what I've come up with so far in my quest to make sense of the business that is going on around me everyday. I do know that I still need to learn and read a lot more.

Pipeline Prospecting

Use various marketing materials to dig, analyze, and qualify all passive leads

· Customer Events

· White Paper Marketing

· Online Surveys

· Webcasts

· Online Advertisement Tracking

· Link Tracker

· Online Newsletters

Initial Sales Call and Opportunity Discovery

· Schedule interview

· Send out needs analysis

1^st Meeting – Conduct Business Assessment

Discuss challenges and needs to develop an overall picture of the business. This is done by determining the technologies that a business currently uses and then using that information to identify all of the business' services that execute and support the business mission.

Docs used: CSIR, SBSTAT

Proposal Development

After meeting

· Document key observations

· Feature proposal

· Risk Assessment

· Document Vision/Scope

· Document Project Structure

· Develop Project Plan and form teams

· Combine to design complimentary plan based on observations, risks, & business drivers

Schedule 2^nd meeting

Docs used: CSIR, FP, MRR, PS, RTT, SRAT, TLPPR, TMPPR, V/S, DTN, WS, SBSTAT, BR, CD, SR, UR, US, OR, ITRM, LD

2^nd Meeting – Present Proposal

Sales presents recommended proposal to client

· Discuss key areas of proposal with client

· Upon acceptance of proposal schedule site survey

Schedule 3^rd meeting

Docs used: TLPPR, TMPPR, ITRM

3^rd Meeting – Comprehensive Site Survey

· Perform technology assessment using assessment toolkit

Docs used: CSIR, MRR, TLPPR, TMPPR, SBSTAT

After technology assessment

Sales and Engineering work on developing customized deployment / migration plan and functional specifications

· Identify Core IT Gap Analysis

· Document Key Business Drivers

· Refine Vision/Scope

· Create IT Roadmap

· Detail Deployment architecture

· Draw up Microsoft Project Plan

Docs used: FP, FS, MRR, TLPPR, TMPPR, DTN, SBS, RMSS, WS, V/S, MPP, ITRM

Final Pricing and Agreement Development

· Bring together all relevant data for project including any updates in price, business drivers, scope, vision, etc

· Basis for SLA

Docs used: FP, TLPPR, TMPPR, MPP, FS

4^th Meeting – Present Final Agreement

· Discuss proposed project plan and come to agreement on pricing and features

· At this meeting all final pricing and requirements will be laid out for the project

Docs used: TLPPR, TMPPR

Upon signing of agreement begin Technical Design

· Use specifications to develop plans

· Begin performing traceability audits

· Update Project Plan and begin to follow

Docs used: MRR, TLPPR, TMPPR, DTN, SBS, RMSS, WS, TG, MPP, FS, PD

[TechLife] Firefox Extensions For Geeks

Mozilla's Firefox browser is a great tool for surfing the Net. And thanks to a growing number of free Firefox extensions, it's an especially good tool for people who want every possible ounce of browser power.

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Posted by TJ to TechLife at 9/29/2006 05:06:03 AM

[TechLife] All About the Processes

I think the problem I am having at work is directly related to the processes that we use for our business processes.... there are none. The company is still being ran the same way it was ran back when it was a one man shop 12 years ago. Since the company doesn't really have to stand on its own to survive I think that has actually stunted growth. There was an attempt to bring the company up to speed but that didn't work out. So that brings us up to now and with us trying to move to a new business model we need to get some processes in place.

So here is a starter list of what I need to create:

Managed Services Transition Plan

• Site Survey Process
• Managed Services Technical Design Process
• Flowchart Process
• Managed Services Migration Plan
• Pilot Implementation Process
• Functionality Acceptance Process
• Disaster Recovery Plan

Internal Communication Proceeses

• Internal Change Management Process
• Internal Configuration Management Process
• Internal Release Management Process
• Internal Incident Management Process
• Internal Problem Management Process

External Communication Processes

• External Change Management Process
• External Configuration Management Process
• External Release Management Process
• External Incident Management Process
• External Problem Management Process

Sales Process

• Qualification

I'll have to work with the team to get these processes knocked out. I already have the Qualification in the Sales Process and the Site Survey in the Managed Services Transition Plan.

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Posted by TJ to TechLife at 9/17/2006 10:03:00 AM

Business, Technology, and Analysis Paralysis

I am currently at a point in my life where it is time for me to start realizing the goals and paths that I have put down on paper. It really doesn't have anything to do with any time based deadline I placed upon myself but actually everything at this point in time is coming together and I need to move in order to keep the momentum going.
I work as a Network Consultant for a small IT firm and last year I came up with an idea of how to move the company onto a more profitable path. I created a plan and pitched it to the president, he liked it but wanted it to be implemented by someone else. Fortunately that fell through and after a few more months of revising the plan I got other people on board with my idea and pitched it again. This time I was in the drivers seat and it was my chance to show what I had. This is where the analysis paralysis started kicking in, things happened to be going pretty well but the momentum has somewhat slowed down and now I'm seem to be in a loop of researching and brainstorming. I need to do research for tools, research for marketing, research for operations... all this research but it seems I may be spinning my wheels a bit too much. I also do work for the parent company and I don't quite have it balanced out yet. I need to get on the ball and treat this as if I was doing this for my own company. I already have the backing from everyone and I need to make good on my promises.

[TechLife] NX server and client released under GPL license

2X software have released an NX server as well as a client to the community. Finally a fully featured GPL server as well as client is available to the general public and can be included by DEFAULT in all the distributions thus making them Terminal Servers.

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Posted by TJ to TechLife at 8/31/2006 10:13:16 AM

[TechLife] Robotics vs. Helotics - Will Japan be the mid-21st century superpower?

Technological progress rarely goes at a steady pace, though. It has its spurts and leaps, generally driven by force of necessity, and there are signs that the advance of robotics may be about to speed up dramatically. Necessity, well-known as the mother of invention, may be about to go into labor.

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Posted by TJ to TechLife at 7/06/2006 05:10:58 AM

[TechLife] The Pirate Party of the United States site launches

We are proud to announce the creation of a new website on this famous date of July 4th, 2006. Now you too can fight the good fight against the lack of representation for the user and draconian laws used to serve the corporations while ignoring the will of the people. Find official stances and forums at our site. Let this day mark a new era.

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Posted by TJ to TechLife at 7/05/2006 04:41:45 PM

[TechLife] Senator Ted Stevens Downloads the Entire Internet and Complains It's Slow!

Regarding a recent vote, Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) explained why he voted against the amendment (basic net neutrality) and gave an amazing primer on how the Internet works: "It's a series of tubes." and "...an Internet was sent by my staff at 10 o'clock in the morning on Friday and I just got it yesterday." Story includes an mp3 link.

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Posted by TJ to TechLife at 7/02/2006 09:45:49 AM

[TechLife] Teach your kids some real computers skills, the hard way - install linux

I'm one who has come to learn Linux and actually enjoy it, so teaching my kids how to use Linux is definitely a must. I think they could also benefit from a whole lesson in computers and how they work. Of course, this is coming from a guy who pretty much lives on the computer.

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Posted by TJ to TechLife at 6/30/2006 01:29:20 PM

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

[TechLife] Jon Stewart Takes On Congress' Gamer Haters

Jon Stewart took on congress, again, last night and their idiotic attack on video games.

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Posted by TJ to TechLife at 6/22/2006 04:08:05 PM

[TechLife] AT&T rewrites rules: Your data isn't yours

AT&T has issued an updated privacy policy that takes effect Friday. The new policy says that AT&T -- not customers -- owns customers' confidential info and can use it "to protect its legitimate business interests, safeguard others, or respond to legal process."

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Posted by TJ to TechLife at 6/21/2006 04:57:16 PM

Testing sidenotes

Just seeing if this will really work on this blog.

[TechLife] Open Source Shooter Nexuiz at version 2.0

The best open source shooter has been released at version 2.0. Many improvements have been made, specialy performance and netcode. But also the visuals have improved. All in all, best open source shooter ever.

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Posted by TJ to TechLife at 6/19/2006 10:30:12 AM

[TechLife] How To Remotely Monitor Windows Memory Usage

Adding extra RAM when your machine doesn't really need it is pointless. Here's how to tell when it's time.

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Posted by TJ to TechLife at 6/17/2006 09:52:44 AM

[TechLife] How To Run Your Own Name Servers With ISPConfig And GoDaddy

This tutorial shows how you can run your own name servers for domains that you register with GoDaddy. Of course, this works with every other registrar as well, although the procedure might differ a little bit. To do this, you need two servers with two different public IP addresses and with ISPConfig installed, and of course a GoDaddy account.

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Posted by TJ to TechLife at 6/14/2006 07:03:51 PM