• Netbook Plunge

    Last night, I decided it was time that I get myself a netbook. These tiny form-factor laptops have been around for a while now, however, I initially brushed them off as an underpowered machine that casual computer users would buy to avoid breaking the bank while still having basic Internet and emailing abilities.

    I’ve changed my mind about who needs a netbook after lugging my 17″ hoss of a laptop for the past 13 months.  Don’t get me wrong:  I love the power of my full-sized portable. I have been using it as my primary machine to teach online courses, create websites, and wrangle technology since I got it. It’s fast, full-featured, and gets the job done.  Its weight, though, leaves something to be desired when I just need to check email or or look up some basic information while I’m not at home. A lighter weight, lighter duty machine would fill the bill. This type of machine is a netbook.

    After weighing the build quality and price of several netbooks that Best Buy had to offer, I decided to go with the Asus Eee PC 1015PE. So far, I have been very happy with my choice. The little netbook boots fast, is snappy, and gets about 8 hours of battery life  while surfing and checking email. Typing on the 85% chicklet-style keyboard takes a little getting used to, but after about 12 hours of exposure, my fingers are having little trouble touch typing. The trackpad is spacious and responsive, and the click button that sits below it works well enough for right and left clicking.

    On the comical side, the text in most of the Asus-created apps features poorly-translated English. For example, after finishing with the registration app, the congratulatory text said, “Now your new machine can get your downloads from us.” I’ve been using products from Taiwanese companies for years and this is expected. I don’t think this diminished the overall experience and I’m not judging at all: I cannot imagine becoming even semi-fluent in any Asian language, as the speech patterns and tones are beyond me. Nonetheless, it is pleasantly comical to read when feeling out a new gadget.

    The 1015PE comes with Windows 7 Starter, which I’ve heard many people complain about. My take on it is that Starter is perfect for a netbook. Many of the customization options are disabled and it doesn’t have Media Center enabled, but given the limited power of a netbook, this is a virtue.  You don’t need all the bells and whistles of the more fully-featured versions on a netbook. If you think you do, you probably don’t need a netbook in the first place.  I have no intentions on upgrading from Starter: Its light-and-lean feature set is exactly what this lilliputian machine needs.

    To sum up, I’m happy with the 1015PE and would recommend it to anybody who needs a small machine with good battery life that is capable of consuming basic information.

  • Life with a Kindle

    I’ve had my Amazon Kindle (Wi-Fi only) e-reader for a little over a week now. I don’t regret my purchase at all. It’s an absolute joy to use.  The screen is so good that I’m not sure how you could make it look more like paper.

    The Kindle solves a couple problems for me. For one, I’m running out of room for new books. I have a lot of books I may never open again, for for some reason, I feel compelled to keep them. Storage is even harder considering that many of my books are programming and tech books that are thick and heavy. I have a couple cheap bookshelves that probably couldn’t take another pound. With the Kindle, I could fit every book I own into it’s light, 7-inch frame. Granted, there aren’t many of the books I will repurchase for the Kindle, but considering I’ll be buying new tech books for the rest of my life, the Kindle will be hosting thousands of pages of silicon-derived goodness before you know it.

    The second problem my Kindle solves is the closest bookstore is an hour and half away. I know I can buy books online, straight from Amazon, but I really like the fact that I can get previews of books right on the Kindle. I realize Amazon has allowed you look inside books on it’s website for a long time, but I really do prefer the Kindle’s paper-like screen for reading longer works. There’s also the instant-gratification aspect of having a book in under a minute. That will come in very handy the next time I get stuck trying to configure a Squid proxy server and need to figure out the problem 10 minute ago.

    I think the Kindle will even allow me to start reading more fiction, since it’s so easy to tote around. While I’m waiting for Beck to come out of Bath and Body Works, I can catch up on some reading. I’m currently working my way through Terry Goodkind’s Wizard’s First Rule, the first book in the Sword of Truth series. And since the Kindle has a decent WebKit-based web browser built-in, I can always catch up on the latest news or Facebook gossip anywhere I can snag some free wi-fi.

    If anybody has been sitting on the fence as to whether an e-reader is worth it, I can tell you they are if you like reading at all. As always, your mileage may vary, but for me, it was a very wise purchase.

  • Powell County Distance Earning Forum

    This news release may be of interest to anyone who is interested in a sustainable mode of employment in Eastern Kentucky:

    Distance Earning Telework Forum planned for Stanton
    STANTON – Have you ever wanted the ultimate work-life balance, a rewarding career working from the comfort of your own home, or wished you could utilize your education and work experience to its fullest potential?

    The Eastern Kentucky Distance Earning Initiative will sponsor a free Telework Forum at the Powell County Library, located at 725 Breckenridge Street in Stanton, Ky., at 6 p.m., Wednesday, February 16, 2011. This free event will highlight a new and innovative job creation plan in Eastern Kentucky. Participants can learn about the thousands of telework career opportunities and receive information on the Distance Earning initiatives skills inventory, which it plans to roll out in the coming months to target large scale telework job creation across the region.

    Sponsored by a consortium of Kentucky Community and Technical College (KCTCS) member schools, businesses and the Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program, Inc. (EKCEP), the Eastern Kentucky Distance Earning Initiative is an aggressive economic development strategy that aims to bring sustainable wage jobs that can be performed at home or from a business incubator.

    “Work is no longer a place you go, it’s something you do,” said

    Joshua Ball, who coordinates the program for KCTCS. “This program is not about job creation, it is about creating opportunities for Eastern Kentuckians to work for progressive and innovative companies that are leading the charge to compete in the global marketplace.”

    There are currently thousands of jobs available in a variety of different fields like: data entry, clerical, medical transcription and coding, IT support, computer programming, sales, tutoring and teaching, and a variety of management.

    According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 8 million people worked from home in 2005. Companies like IBM, Dell, American Express and Lockheed Martin have employees who telework.

    “Even during a time when jobs are scarce, IBM has over 2,000 telework opportunities available,” Ball added. “This strategy helps eliminate some of our region’s greatest barriers when it comes to job creation: geography and infrastructure.”
    Interested individuals will receive free resume and interview coaching. Additionally, they will receive twice-a-week telework job postings emails from the program.

    “It’s critical that we do everything we can to link our talented workforce to the many telework jobs that are available,” Ball said. “We know that that there are a lot of people looking for work, and a large number of talented workers who are underemployed.”

    The Eastern Kentucky Distance Earning Initiative will roll out phase 2 of its plan in the coming months: a proactive blitz to use a skills inventory taken from forums held across the region to form partnerships with national companies to develop a pipeline to our workforce.

    Companies across the globe are seeing the vast benefits to telework. Studies suggest that employees who work from home are more productive and tend to miss work less. It also has massive benefits to the environment. According to the Telework Exchange, if white-collar Americans would telework just one day a week, they would avoid driving 134 billion miles, eliminate 120 tons of pollutants from the air and save nearly $162 billion.

    For more information about the program, contact Ball at (606) 487-3205 or 800-246-7521, ext. 73205.

  • Our Destiny is NOT Free Enough

    I just caught the tail-end of President Obama’s 2011 State of the Union Address. He said something to the effect of “our destiny is still ours to make.” It is with a heavy heart that I must disagree with him.

    Slowly but surely, our ability to shape our destiny is being eroded, statute by statute and tax by tax.  President Obama is an advocate of some of the most oppressive legislation of my lifetime. For example, small business will cease to exist in this country as most will be cannibalized by mandatory healthcare supplements for all employees. On paper, this sounds like a great thing, especially for the employees. However, what this will actually do is discourage small business investment because it will create such a high barrier to market entry. Therefore, instead of having a job without insurance, many workers will have no job at all because the small businesses will be forced into extinction.  Therefore, the destinies of thousands of small business owners is now at the mercy of some misconceived, fairy tale legislation.

    Furthermore, Obama’s hatred of coal-generated electricity is beyond logic. Yes, coal is a dirty way to generate electricity. Yes, strip mining has some negative effects of the environments. Yes, coal miners face peril and risk life and limb on a daily basis. BUT, do we have another viable alternative that can generate the amount of electricity needed in America today? BUT, is President Obama doing anything to keep lobbyists and utility companies from impeding these alternatives? I think not. I hope that coal can eventually be replaced, but until its replacement is viable, I think mining should continue uninhibited.

    The saddest part about my objections listed above is that I, an average person, has no ability to bring about change. My elected officials don’t seem to be listening, or are afraid to do what I (and many others like me) want for fear of retaliation by the majority. I can get on this little website and air my grievances, but that’s not going to do much good (beyond therapeutic value for me). I often wish they’d put some big issues to popular vote, but that wouldn’t do much good. Some self-important, power-monger judge would just overturn whatever we decided if he didn’t like the decision. What this all means is that I hate my destiny but can’t change it because of my government. If that’s not a reason to be sad, I don’t know what is.

  • Right-Clicking with a Broken Right-Mouse Button

    I was working on the Health Science teacher’s laptop yesterday and discovered the right mouse button on the touch pad is broken. Since the Commonwealth is broke, replacing the out-of-warranty laptop is out of the question just to enable right-clicking again. (And no, the keyboard for this laptop is devoid of a right-click button.)

    I started Googling to find a utility that would simulate a right click. Come to find out, Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7 all support right-clicking using the keyboard without having to do anything special. The magic command is to simultaneously press Shift + F10 at the same time. The right-click will register wherever your mouse cursor happens to be.

    Obviously, this isn’t something you’ll need to do all the time, but in a pinch with a busted mouse, this tidbit can come in very handy!

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