In the good old days before I got way too busy with life, and I had time to be a real computing nerd, I used to really enjoy building and upgrading my own computers. I was a bit of a Linux nerd on the quiet also, back when installing and running the OS meant really having to configure a lot of things to get it running just right, not like nowadays when Linux will just install and work on most people’s hardware. It was all the actual mucking about, putting things together, trying things out and the tracking down of obscure “How-to’s” and then deciphering them that I used to enjoy. Once things were working well and you had to get on with your real work well, that wasn’t half as fun. I would then catch myself starting to think things like “perhaps we need to upgrade the graphics card, mmmh that might be a bit tricky though, I wonder whether than would fit on my motherboard” etc.

If all this sounds a little familiar, then perhaps you are the sort who should try and build your next PC, or upgrade your existing one to use the new Quad Core processors that we looked at a few posts ago. I mean there is no point in fighting it is there? One of things that you are likely to find if you do fancy upgrading your existing desktop to a Core Duo or Quad Core is that you will likely need to upgrade the motherboard too. Of course if you are building a PC from scratch you are definitely going to need one! Something like the highly rated ABIT IP35 Pro Motherboard might be an excellent place to start your research.

Do you build your own PC’s? What is your motivation?

Are you a project manager? Most people who are asked this question are likely to answer that of course they are not project managers. Project Managers are people who make sure buildings are put up on time, or roll out the latest big software package throughout a company, or plan and manage the building and delivery of oil rigs etc. etc. Well yes that is true, but nearly everyone at sometime or other will act as a project manager, whether it is is getting a school report in on time, planning a new bathroom or the next family holiday. So we can say that nearly everyone is a project manager.

So if everyone is a project manager will they all benefit from using project management software such as Microsoft Project? Well I think the answer to this question is a definite and resounding no. For the small projects that most people do, specialised project software like this would be a complete overkill. A clear case of cracking a nut with a hammer. It would probably take as long to develop a plan in the software as it would to actually do the project! For most people, a simple list of things to do and the order and time by which they need to be done would be fine.

Having said that though if you are a professional, delivering services for which your client requires you to deliver a plan before starting work or you’re about to build or undertake a large renovation of your home. Then project management software like Microsoft Project will certainly help you, but beware it will only help you with scheduling tasks, not with all the other aspects of project management!

Are you a project manager? What software if any do you use?

I don’t know about you but my family and I now seem to have collected a vast array of gadgets and computer equipment that all require some sort of USB connection. USB drives, external hard drives, printers, MP3 players, mobile phones, digital cameras etc. The list seems almost endless and there never seems to be enough USB ports available, so some members of the family always end up annoying other members when trying to borrow access time to USB ports on people’s laptops.

I have been looking at actually organising and designing the computer system at home, rather than continue with the rather organic and haphazard growth pattern that presently exists. One idea that I am looking at it to centralise a number of the key aspects, such as storage, and access to printing. One other aspect that may well be worth applying this approach  to is the provision of centralised access to USB ports. This would enable anyone who wanted access to MP3 files to transfer to their player or mobile phone could just use a USB hub that was somewhere publicly available and did not require entering the forbidden zone of someone else’s bedroom!

The Belkin Network USB Hub looks like just the sort of thing that could do the job on my WiFi network, allowing 5 USB devices to be connected at one time.

How do you solve your USB port access problem?

Do you remember when you bought your first home computer? I can. Although I had used mainframe terminals, Unix workstations and PC’s for many years at work, I finally bought my first home PC in 1996. Today the specs seem to be completely laughable, it was a 75hz Pentium, with something like 8 Mb of memory and a huge 1GB hard drive! It was badged as a multimedia workstation which meant I got a CD drive, a microphone and a set of speakers bundled in. Over the years I upgraded it as much as possible and it was only finally retired a couple of years ago, so I got my moneys worth out of it. I was also still using those speakers, or least until recently.  While sorting out my cable night mare at home I realised that only one of the two speaker unit was working!

New speakers required

So now I am on the look out for a new set of speakers. My main requirement is, as always, the best possible performance for the best price. So I have been having a good look at what is out there, and a couple of speakers sets have caught my eye. First off, is this Altec Lansing VS4121 2.1 Speaker System, pictured left, which has a lot of great reviews, looks OK and comes at a very reasonable price. An alternative which I am considering is the Philips MMS321 Multimedia Stereo Speakers pictured above, which because there is no sub woofer use less real estate. These also look great, and have great reviews. Decisions, decisions!

Any recommendations for speaker systems?

What do you think the office of the near future is going to be like? Will it be much the same as present with slightly faster computers with perhaps video conferencing being used more effectively? Or do you think it will be more radically changed with more people working in virtual teams or virtual companies, requiring a greater reliance on mobile and web based technologies to get things done.

Virtual office

Well IBM have been considering this problem too, and they have predicted that the virtual office will increasingly become more important, driven by such things as globalisation and increasing concerns about the environment meaning less travel. This will mean that the work environment will be become more centred around mobile platforms with increasing reliance on social networking and instant messaging for communication, with no place for desktop PC’s, phones or email. They also predicted that the traditional meeting would change rapidly as 3D and gaming tools would become more important enabling the ability to hold quick online meetings.

But when?

What I like about this sort of thing is that no-one ever specifies a timeline in which this is all going to happen! But for me, if I look at the way my kids use instant messaging and their mobile phones for all their communications, then indeed I can see that shortly there will be future generations of workers used to working together in these ways. The desktop is on its way out already with laptops now outselling them. I do believe however the inertia and the gatekeeper role of IT in large organisations, will serve as a drag on any quick change. I also think that 3D and gaming tools will first make their mark in the area of training, where I believe there is huge potential.

In the meantime I have been looking for a web cam to support my new virtual workplace! This Philips webcam which comes with a Multimedia headset and boom microphone caught my eye.

What do you think the office of the future will be like?

We talked in a recent post about some of the benefits of the now fairly common Core 2 Duo processor. Computer salesman will always be keen to sell you double this and quadruple that, and the Core 2 Duo helps their cause with its dual processors on one unit. So the Quad core is obviously even better with four processors rather than just the two, or is it?

A Quad Core processor is actually essentially the same deal as the Core 2 Duo except that it now it has an additional two processors on the one unit making four in all. As with Duo this provides some substantial benefits over a single processor for the user, especially in the areas of multitasking, such as running a number of programs at once, as each of the processors can handle different things at the same time. But the big question is whether the move to four from two provides and real gains in efficiency and power, making the extra money worth handing over.

Well the answer is (in typical politician fashion) yes and no. If you are a user who spends a lot of time encoding voice or video, or rendering 3D models, then moving to 4 processors will definitely make sense. These are highly CPU intensive applications, and you can see significant reductions in run times. If however you are what I would call a normal user such as myself, then there is very little benefit of moving to a Quad Core at present.

How about gamers you ask, well for these people too it has been shown in many tests, that with the current generation of games that there is little point of moving to a Quad Core. So if as a gamer you are looking for a new rig then my advice would be to stick to Core 2 Duo for now, but make sure you have the capability to upgrade to Quad when the games take better advantage of the multiple cores.

So if you are just off to render you latest 3D model but are short on power then the highly rated Intel Core 2 Duo Quad Q660 may be just the ticket!

As I was sitting at my desk the other day procrastinating over starting some filing that needed to be done, I was contemplating the huge morass of wires and power cables required just to power all the elements of my computer setup. I have a power cable for the printer, the monitor, the docking station for my laptop, the speakers, the docking cradle for my MP3 player, the table lamp, a shredder. Then I have wires for the mouse, keyboard, the docking cradle for my mp3 player, for the speakers, etc. Wires everywhere! The only wire I seemed to have removed the need for is a network cable, as I have a home WiFi network and all the cables for the access point are thankfully in a separate room.

So as I sat there, still avoiding doing any of the filing that I should be doing,  trying to think of ways I could at least reduce the cable spaghetti that I have under the table. To be honest there is not a lot I could do with the power cables, except perhaps I could remove the docking cradle for the MP3 player, as I normally use the USB cable for recharging anyway. So I I just untangled the mess, and bunched the cables neatly together where I could with cable ties. I have put the docking cradle away in a drawer, in case it turns out I do need it.

The next step was to look at the cables on the desktop. The obvious solution here is to get rid of the mouse and keyboard cables by going wireless. So I have researched this and have found some nice solutions. For instance how about this nice looking wireless keyboard and mouse from Microsoft. While this combination set from Targus provides a neat alternative to the feature rich Microsoft set. So what would you choose? Any advice? How do you deal with your own cable nightmare?

If you go into a computer stores these days looking for a new laptop or desktop the salesman will at some point start talking about the CPU. This is the Central Processing Unit or in other words the bit of the computer that does all the thinking. You will often hear a salesman say things like “well of course its got a “Core 2 Duo” processor!” Or perhaps he will say “and of course it has a Quad Core under the hood”, possible implying that Quad must be better than a Duo.

So you are standing there thinking “well I vaguely remember that Quad is something to do with four and duo must be something to do with two, but two or four of what?” So you ask the salesman what he is talking about and he is immediately off sounding like a Gillette marketeer trying to convince you that five or six blades (or how many it has got to now) on your razor is better than measly two that you have still got. I am convinced that at least half the time these guys don’t really know what they are talking about anymore than we do! Tip: Identify the guy in your local computing shop who really does know, and always go to him with your questions, it can save a lot of time.

What is a Core 2 Duo?

So what is a Core 2 Duo? What are the benefits and should we be looking for a computer that uses one? It was conceived initially as a mobile processor, the Core 2 Duo is essentially two single CPU’s on the same unit (die). This provides some substantial benefits to the user in the areas of multitasking, such as running two programs at once as each of the two processors can handle different things at the same time. It does not double the computing speed however as the two units are still sharing the rest of the computer’s resources. The Core 2 Duo can also take advantage of any software that is coded to utilise multiple threads, i.e. Software that needs to different jobs, or needs to do the same thing multiple times, and has been programmed to allow this to happen in parallel.

This extra power was also achieved at very low voltages and temperatures, as they needed to be used in laptops, but the extra power meant they are excellent in desktops as well especially where there is a need for low noise which usually comes form the cooling fans. In summary, the Core 2 Duo comes in standard in many laptops nowadays and you should really not buy one without, unless you are going for something like an Asus Eee. It is an excellent choice for a quiet desktop PC or a silent gaming rig, and it’s perfect for a home theater PC, which is why buying something like the Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 off the shelf make sense if you are building your own or upgrading!

Everyone knows about and has almost certainly experienced the effects of Murphy’s Law or to give it other name Sod’s Law. You know, the law that states that something will probably happen just when you least want it to and are the least prepared for it. I have often wondered whether Murphy was a wise man, or just someone to whom the effects of this law seemed to always apply, so much so that others named the law after him.

Anyhow, however it was named, it managed to strike our household last night. Picture the scene. It is the last night before my son has to hand in some GSCE coursework. He has completed his work, checked everything and all is ready. The only thing that remains is to print off his work for the final time, put into his school bag ready to take to school in the morning.

So what happens? Well of course one of the colour cartridges of our otherwise excellent home printer decides at that specific moment to run out. That is OK I think to myself, we have spares, but no, of course the colour required is not amongst our spare cartridges. It turns out that we had only recently replaced that colour, and it had run out again. Fortunately we have a large Hypermarket nearby that remains open to midnight, and I was able to make a quick trip and buy a replacement cartridge at the last minute.

This brings me to my main points. Firstly the cost of replacing printing ink cartridges seems way too high. OK so after my last post, perhaps now I am guilty of “stating the bleeding obvious”, but in this case I think it needs to be stated.  Another thing is that they don’t last long especially it seems certain colours. The cartridges themselves don’t seem to be very big, so one way to reduce costs might be to produce much bigger cartridges. This would reduce the cost of the cartridges themselves, which could be past on to us the consumer and make them last longer into the bargain.

Of course will the printer manufactures see this as a benefit to them? I doubt it, so perhaps we are stuck with high price printing. What do you think?

Large monitors make you more productive! That apparently is the conclusion of some recently completed research by the University of Utah. The research showed that for people manipulating data in a spreadsheet, those who were using an expansive 24′ monitor were up to 52% faster than those people working on a measly 18″ monitor.

I have to admit that this research smacks of the sort of thing that might be developed by people who are attending some institute of learning and studying “the art of stating the bleeding obvious”. Perhaps that is a touch unfair, I suppose that there is probably quite a lot of research done that proves that a popular belief is actually untrue. But when this sort of research proves something that everyone “knows” is true, you always get the feeling that these people should get a proper job!

Anyway I digress. The point is that a bigger monitor or perhaps a second monitor is going to make your computing both much more productive and enjoyable, and of course we have the research to prove it. So go talk to the boss.

All things being equal you should always go for the biggest monitor you can afford. Though do remember that other things such as response time and resolution are also important when looking for LCD monitors.

Best value for money at the moment would probably be the very highly rated ViewSonic 28″ Widescreen LCD Monitor. Two of those would make even me more productive!