Author name: Jason Slater

Technology journalist and blogger, software developer, ex-IT Manager.

Socially Speaking

Networking & Internet / By /

Two new services have been launched recently you may find interesting. The first is 123people, a real time people search tool, you can read more about in Who Are You? Find Out With 123people. If you are trying to find a friend, or simply want to find out what information exists about you then this a great place to start.

The next is Tagggit, the location-centric social network which allows you to tag places, search for tagged places, rate them and share them with your friends and community. Read more about it in Bring Your Social Network Into The Real World With Tagggit. One of the great new features of Tagggit is a mobile application allowing the tagging and searching of tags directly from your mobile device.

Don’t forget – we recently launched the new Befriend A Monk page on Monk And His I.T. Junk technology cartoon – pop on over and say hello.

Are we green yet?

Tools, DIY, Home, Office / By /

Monk and his I.T. Junk Energy Efficiency
I have been feeling quite green recently – and not in a ‘cannot get out bed with man flu kind of way’. No, instead I have been thinking about how I can be that little bit more energy efficient so that has been my focus over the last week. Switching off devices if there are not actually needed, not printing out everything and anything that catches my eye, and safely recycling unused equipment instead of throwing it in the trash.

For the gadget lovers out there I recently wrote about the USB Ecobutton. And if you are wondering what can be done to help with being a little more energy efficient try the new Green IT Poster.

Thinking green about IT

Miscellaneous, Tools, DIY, Home, Office / By /

Think Green. In technology and the environment – Green IT we talked about ways to be more efficient with the technology we use. There are three main areas where improvements can be made: selection, utilisation and disposal.

Looking for more energy efficient equipment, making the most efficient use of it, and recycling equipment are ways that can have a positive impact. In trying to raise awareness of things we can do to be a little greener I have created an awareness poster and am making it available online in case it might be useful to others – simply click on the image below.

Green IT - Think about IT

First look at the Nokia N96

Phones / By /

I recently got a good look at the Nokia N96 which brought my attention to the accelerometer in particular the moving ball and light sabre application which are cool novelties – my kids love swishing the light sabre around even though they have never seen Star Wars (come on – they are under 3!).

My current phones of choice are the Nokia E71 for business and the Nokia N95 8GB for personal use so it was interesting to look at this new device which is a mild step up from the N95 8GB.

One of the most striking differences is the cleaner, flatter interface and the more streamlined design of the device – it looks a lot more attractive and a step up from the N95 but still has some way to go to meet the solid feel of the E71. The keypad buttons are another major difference – this time following the flat clean design that is becoming popular in new devices. Internally the 16GB memory and the memory card slot are welcome additions but the Micro USB type B interface is a new replacement for the previous standard Micro USB connector.

Click the link to read more about my first impressions of the Nokia N96.

First impressions of the Nokia E71

Phones / By /

Having been quite happy with the Nokia e61i in our organisation it was with a little trepidation that we approached its new sibling, the Nokia E71. We use these devices in our organization primarily for their email messaging abilities (using Mail for Exchange) though we are starting to see more interest in the application of mobile broadband technology.

From the brief information we received about the Nokia E71 from our supplier it seemed a small step up with some added refinements, so we pressed ahead, but when it arrived it turned out to be a little different from our expectations.

I have to say, to hold this phone, it is quite beautiful and feels really comfortable in the hand. It is physically smaller than the e61i and as a result the screen size has had to shrink to 2.4 inches from 2.8 inches which I really am in two minds about (as our preference is for emailing). In comparison, it is physically larger than the more commercial Nokia N95 but heavier and more substantial.

The display interface feels quite different from the e61i though it does feel a little more responsive (the problem with the e61i was at times it could feel a little sluggish). You can read more about our first impressions of the Nokia E71 here: Getting hands on with the Nokia E71: First impressions

Breaking free from the desk

Miscellaneous / By /

Recently at work I have taken the plunge to go paperless and clutterless but try as I might every morning I have incoming post to deal with and throughout the day it seems as if the whole world has seen an empty spot on my desk and feels the need to fill it. I try and encourage the use of email wherever possible, so that documents are scanned in which make them much more accessible and can be carried around on a memory stick much easier. Mind you with so many email address on the ago it can often be a chore just remembering which email platform to use. I counted my active email address and found, to my surprise, that I had nineteen on the go – How many have you got? …

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Getting value from technology

Networking & Internet, Phones, Software / By /

There are two things I am pretty pleased about this week – my new phone and a really useful plugin for Outlook, both of which are allowing me to get much more value out of the technology I use every day.

I have recently changed my mobile phone to a Nokia N95 8GB (from a SE K800i) and so far I am really pleased with its performance. The interface is responsive and the functionality including the wireless connectivity, 5 megapixel camera and N-gage are well worth the upgrade – you can read more about it Welcome to my Nokia N95 8GB.

Xobni (read Inbox backwards) is enabling me to get way more use out of Outlook (Why I need Xobni to manage my e-mail) than I have had before. Two of the key features for me are the contact relationships and the exchanged files indicators. The Contact Relationships part allows me to find a particular email recipient who have been involved a communication chain whilst the exchange file indicators keeps a log of files transmitted between us.

I have also posted the next part in the Web 2.0 series: 42 things about Web 2.0 in 2008, part 2 of 3.

The Technology week in view: 23rd April 2008

3 Comments / Networking & Internet / By /

Dealing with a cold (man flu my partner calls it) is not the sort of virus I was planning to write about in a technology review but it has that knack of impacting on most aspects of every day life especially as it dulls the reflexes somewhat. This is what happened when I heard about the Live Mesh Technical Preview beta (Live Mesh – are we finally breaking free from the desk?) – by the time I got my lethargic mind round to signing up – the preview program was full. But if like me you want to be added to the waiting list then head on over to https://www.mesh.com.

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The technology week in view: 14th April 2008

2 Comments / Networking & Internet / By /

Having been of the feeling that may be losing the war, at least we have won a few battles with incoming spam in our business. There are two main problem areas that we have been looking into. Firstly, there is the scenario of When spam is not spam which we have finally managed to bring under some level of control and reduce the nearly ten thousand daily spam email down to a handier thousand or so. Secondly, and trickier to deal with is When spam should not be spam. Key words seem to be one of the few options available for dealing with information and these have played an important in a recent experiment we did Exploring search using keywords.

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The technology week in view: 7th April 2008

2 Comments / Networking & Internet / By /

Our server virtualisation project is moving along apace recently – we have decommissioned a number of physical servers and moved to a virtual server platform and I can happily report that virtualising takes time but it is worth it, especially as we have been seeing green recently. Mind you the reduction in power requirements from the physical servers is definitely a small step in the green direction for improving technology and the environment – not only that but the uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) last longer as their load is less – win win so far. Receiving the “call out” request in the middle of the night because the UPS has ran out is never a happy call especially when it has been a long late night trying to get the kids to bed but the phone vibrates away and duty calls. Whilst on the subject of mobile phones – mine is due for renewal (Goodbye Mobile, Hello Mobile) and I am quite keen on the Nokia N95 8GB which was talked about by the Chief Gizmateer at the back end of last year but it will take a lot to move me away from my trusty Sony Ericsson K800i. The 5MP camera on the Nokia may just swing it for me.

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