Even dirtier IT jobs

I was interviewed for an article on InfoWorld recently. Technology Moves (PC Disconnect/Reconnect) is the #7 Dirtiest IT Job in America! Here are two excerpts:

"Disconnect machines from one site, reconnect them at another. It sounded so simple Garth Callaghan couldn't quite believe someone would pay his company, 127tech, to do it. Now he employs three full-time employees and 30 contractors, who spend half their time unplugging and replugging machines for commercial movers in Richmond, VA.

But don't think they don't earn their money."

"Occupational hazards include dust bunnies the size of basketballs, displays coated in soot, keyboards with enough food lodged in them to feed a small third-world country or, in one recent case, caked with a viscous layer of cosmetics."

Click Here for the Full Article: Even dirtier IT jobs: The muck stops here More dirty tech deeds, done dirt cheap

Blast Text (SMS) Messages

Do you ever need to send a 'blast' Text SMS to employees or friends? It's easy to do!

1) Set up new contacts in your email program with the contact name and cell phone number/email. The cellphone number/email is detailed in Step 3. I add SMS to the person's name so that it's easy to differentiate between contacts. For example, Garth Callaghan becomes Garth CallaghanSMS.

2) Create a group list including all of your contacts that you'd blast at the same time. Name the group list something easily identifiable like SoftballTeam or KeyEmployees.

3) Cell Phone Number/Email is as easy as using the following equations:

Alltel: phonenumber @message.alltel.com

AT&T: phonenumber@mmode.com

BoostMobile: phonenumber @myboostmobile.com

Cingular: phonenumber@cingularme.com
Nextel: phonenumber@messaging.nextel.com

Sprint: phonenumber@messaging.sprintpcs.com

T-Mobile: phonenumber@tmomail.net
Verizon: phonenumber@vtext.com

Virgin Mobile: phonenumber@vmobl.com

where phonenumber = the 10 digit phone mobile number

4) You will have to ask your contact which carrier they use in order to complete this exercise.

5) Remember to limit your email SMS 140 characters or less. Practice brevity!

6) You should always confirm that it is ok to do this with your contacts. If they don't have a SMS plan, you will cost them money with each message. Picking up the phone and contacting them is always an option!

Happy Texting!

Top 8 Google April Fool's Jokes on the Web

April Fool's Day has to be one of my favorite holidays. I can plan and prepare jokes for years at a time and then hit my friends, family and co-workers when they least expect. I really look forward to what Google, eBay, and other popular websites will do to celebrate the day. Here are my Top Eight April Fool's Jokes by Google.

1. Google Future - Search the future with Google!

2. Google TiSp - Internet Through Your Pipes?

3. GMail Paper - Why send electronic mail when you can use paper?

4. Google Romance - Why use match.com when you can use Google?

5. Google Adsense for Conversations - Really?

6. Google Wake - Trouble getting out of bed in the morning?

7. Google MentalPlex - Too bizarre!

8. Google Gulp - By invitation only!

Top 5 Tips to Making a Tech Support Call

I.T. Happens. You fired up the PC and there is no power, or you see a Blue Screen of Death. Maybe your internet connection is not working correctly. You need to call your "Tech Guy" and get things going again. Here are some tips to help you as you make this call.

1) Get your 'stuff' together before dialing. Have a written description to the problem and recite it to the technician. Be specific, if you can. "My computer is broken" isn't descriptive enough. It might be helpful to have your computer's model number handy. We might look it up on the fly while we're on the phone with you. Make sure that you are giving all of the relevant information. Did you experience a power surge/outage? Are there lights blinking on your modem? Do you have cable internet, DSL, FIOS or other? Have as much information as you can before you call and the call might go by quickly.

2) Exercise patience. Scheduling a service call will only take a few minutes, but tech companies will need to check your account information and record some details. We'll need to start a service call ticket at the very beginning of your call. We will work as quickly as we can.

3) Not All Problems Have a Quick Fix. We may need to be on the phone with you for a long time, or we might want to schedule an 'in person' visit. If you are running to a meeting, starting a tech support call might not be the nest thing to do at that time. If we have a remote service and you are a current client, we can likely work with your PC while you are out.

4) Be Polite. This should go without saying. We know that you are calling because you are having technical issues. None of our clients call us just to let us know that all of their PCs are working just fine. We want to help you, that's why we're in the business. We enjoy the challenge you just presented us. We don't enjoy being called names or being yelled at.

5) Don't Help. When we're controlling the mouse and keyboard, we are focusing on your issues and trying to get you back to work without losing any data. We care about our job and want you to have a good experience using our services.

The Top 5 Search Engines

1. Google
2. Yahoo
3. MSN/Live
4. Ask
5. Everyone else (1.35%!)

How do you search for information on the internet? 72% of us are using Google. Yahoo has dropped to 17.5%. MSN/Live is only 5.5% and Ask rounds out the list with 3.5% of the search share. The rest of the crumbs are too small to even count totalling 1.35% combined.

Who are the 'up and coming' search sites? Cuil, pronounced 'cool,' launched to much fanfare last year. A team of Google executives left and launched Cuil, but it has yet to reach any significant search share. Our definition of significant is greater than 1%. Outside of the first week of the launch, Cuil captures less than 0.05% of the eyeballs searching on the internet.

Mahalo is a human powered search engine and had some high-powered internet gurus behind it. It is a great product, but again, trails behind even Ask.com.

Does any of this really matter? Each search engine will sort it's data differently, but you should get similar answers for any particular search in any particular engine.

Tech Tip Summary

To see my Tech Tips everyday, subscribe to them on twitter.com/wgarth

3/15/09 - Sunday - No Daily Tech Tip. Check out a great a School for Autism in our city: http://www.thefaisonschool.org/

3/14/09 - FREE! Open Office is a great alternative to Microsoft Office and is Free! Learn more: http://tr.im/hefj

3/13/09 - Backup Friday - Can you think of a better day than Friday the 13th to start thinking about your backup solution?

3/12/09 - Google is now changing how we use phones! Stay tuned for a major disruption called Google Voice: http://tr.im/hhAk

3/11/09 - Do you want a program to automatically run when you start your PC? Just drag its icon to your All Programs>Startup folder.

3/10/09 - Top 5 Tuesday! Top 5 Ways to Save Money Using Your PC 127tech Blogpost http://127tech.blogspot.com/2009/03/top-5-ways-to-save-money-using-your-pc.html

3/9/09 - Monday Fun! Check out Write On It to create fun pictures http://www.writeonit.org/ See some that I made http://127tech.blogspot.com/2009/03/writeonit-slideshow.html

3/8/09 - Sunday - No Daily Tech Tip. Check out the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Pages/home.aspx

3/7/09 - Set Your Clocks ahead tonight. I know this isn't much of a tech tip, but it needs to be done for Daylight Saving Time.

3/6/09 - Basic Backup descriptions. Great starting point for small business or home office users http://127tech.blogspot.com/2009/03/backup-friday.html 127tech Blog Post

3/5/09 - 5 Steps To Take Before Your PC Crashes - Blog Post http://127tech.blogspot.com

3/4/09 - Do you have hundreds or thousands of files? Can you find them? Try Google Desktop to find things quickly http://desktop.google.com/

3/3/09 - Top 10 Tuesday! Check out my Top 10 Outlook Tips http://127tech.blogspot.com/2009/03/top-10-outlook-tips.html

3/2/09 - A Skype Subscription account to make conference calls with up to 24 people. It's only $3/month & could replace your landline

10 Annoying Habits of a Geeky Spouse

10 Annoying Habits of a Geeky Spouse

Here's #8:

8. Looking up information while a discussion/argument is still in progress - So what are laptops and mobile phones for, if not to resolve disputes or questions wherever you happen to be? Why would anyone get annoyed when you pull out your iPhone in the middle of a discussion about, say, a news story, and a minute later break back into the conversation with the details of the story that everyone else had forgotten? Yeah, it beats me, too, but my wife insists this belongs on the list.10 Annoying Habits of a Geeky Spouse, Mar 2009

I think that this applies to me, as do most of the others in the list :) 

Happy Friday!