Blog

As the end of 2010 approaches, now is a great time to put in some time doing some long-term planning for your business’s IT infrastructure.

The primary factors that influence most small businesses to replace workstations include:

• Manufacturer/OEM support window:  Many companies like to keep mission-critical computers under a hardware support contract.  When your manufacturer says “Sorry, no more extensions on that contract,” that can be a sign that it’s time to consider hardware replacement.
• Minimizing the risk of hardware failure:  The dawn of every new day also sees a small increase in your computer’s failure risk level.  As computers get older, parts More >

I recently ran across the CubeGuard on one of my gadget sites, and just couldn’t resist buying one for myself.  These are essentially customized versions of the cloth tape that movie theaters use to delineate queues.  You can choose from a number of stock messages, or choose a custom message.  I was a bit scared that the product would be tacky, but was pleasantly surprised by the build quality when it arrived.  The mounting plates are very high quality, able to be attached using the provided double-sided taped + velcro strips (good for flat surfaces or fabric cubicle walls), the built-in More >

About a year ago, I began work on a large project to replace a FoxPro-based line-of-business application with a new modern system that would provide the customer with better visibility and management of their data, as well as improving our ability to rapidly implement new software capabilities to improve their business operations.

Before I get into the details of the new system, I’ll elaborate a bit on the old system. The customer’s Microsoft Visual FoxPro solution had been ported from the pre-Microsoft non-Visual version of FoxPro, so it was entirely text-based. In its previous life, the system resided on an IBM More >

I ran across a great article on Phil Haack’s blog regarding a registry tweak you can make so you can right-click on any folder and launch the Visual Studio Web Server (aka Cassini) against the directory.  This is very handy if you are working on a website locally and want to spin it up without completely opening Visual Studio.  Here’s the code you need:

32 bit (x86)

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\shell\VS2008 WebServer]
@="ASP.NET Web Server Here"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\shell\VS2008 WebServer\command]
@="C:\\Program Files\\Common Files\\microsoft shared\\DevServer
\\9.0\\Webdev.WebServer.exe /port:8080 /path:\"%1\""

64 bit (x64)

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\shell\VS2008 WebServer]
@="ASP.NET Web Server Here"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\shell\VS2008 WebServer\command] More >

The Onion never fails to disappoint me.  To coincide with MacWorld, they have a great parody video out about the “Macbook Wheel”.

Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard