Rick Savoia

Geek News Central to Host 24 Hour Podcast For Charity

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(Geek News Central /TheForceField.Net ) December 14, 1007 — Geek News Central plans to host the first 24 hour podcast marathon to raise money for the One Laptop Per Child program. On December 21st, 2007 at  6am Hawaiian Standard Time, Todd Cochrane, CEO of RawVoice and the host of the Geek News Central Podcast, will start a live and Interactive event that will last 24 hours. The purpose of the event is to bring awareness to podcasting and to talk about technology, Family and life. He will also be raising money for the 2 for 1 One Laptop Per Child Program.

Through the month of November and December Geek News Central Audience members have contributed nearly $1200.00 towards the purchase of 3 OLPC laptop pairs. All monies raised will go towards the purchase of additional laptops which will be raffled off at the end of the Marathon. To be eligible for the Raffle a Minimum of $10.00 donation can be made via Paypal.

During the 24 hour Podcast Marathon, Todd Cochrane will stream live from his Hawaii based Studio on Ustream.TV and will have interactive talk on TalkShoe.com.

Iron Mountain Launches Friendly Advice Machine

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Iron Mountain Digital, a leader in data protection and storage services, launched a promotional web site in October featuring Monty Python veteran John Cleese to answer various questions in a virtual "Friendly Advice Machine". The comedic Cleese, reprising his role as  Dr. Harold Twain Weck, gives out advice about data protection, distributed data eDiscovery and other interesting topics in his own hilarious way.

You can visut the Friendly Advice Machine at http://www.friendlyadvicemachine.com/ .

TechSmith offers Camtasia Studio 3 as Free Download

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TechSmith, creators of Camtasia Studio, a popular screencast creator application for Windows, now offers version 3 with full license for free, according to a blog post at www.downloadsquad.com . The company hopes users will try the software, then upgrade to version 5, which was recently released.

The program usually sells for $299 USD, but through an arrangement with downloadsquad users can download Camtasia Studio 3.1.2.0 and request a valid license from TechSmith at no charge. The download is a trial version. The free license key will unlock the trial for a full version.

After users receive the free license they will be eligible to purchase an upgrade to Camtasia Studio 5 at 50% off the regular price.

Camtasia Studio 3 is for Windows only and will not run on Windows Vista. Camtasia Studio 5 is Vista ready.

To download Camtasia Studio 3 and request a free license key, go to www.downloadsquad.com .

 

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Windows XP SP3 is faster than SP2 and Vista, tester claims

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Windows XP Service Pack 3, due for release in 2008, increases speed by 10%, according to testers of the new update. ComputerWorld reported the findings this morning, citing a report from the testing company that puts performance of Service Pack 3 ahead of SP2 and further validates the claim that Windows XP is Vista's biggest competitor.

The tests were performed by Devil Mountain Software, the same company that recently tested Windows Vista SP1 and determined no appreciable speed boost over the initial release of Vista, despite Microsoft's assertion of  increased performance.

However, when testing Windows XP SP3, the company found an increase in speed up to 10% over SP2 and ensuring claims that Windows Vista SP1 was up to 2X slower than its older cousin.

 Computerworld quoted Craig Barth, Devil Mountain Software's Chief Technology Officer in the company blog as saying he was pleasantly surprised at the results. "Since SP3 was supposed to be mostly a bug-fix/patch consolidation release, the unexpected speed boost comes as a nice bonus," Barth said. "In fact, XP SP3 is shaping up to be a 'must-have' update for the majority of users who are still running Redmond's not-so-latest and greatest desktop OS."

The company based its benchmarks on a laptop running Microsoft Office 2007.

Source: Computerworld.

 

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Leopard Cripples, Disables Wireless Connections

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(TheForceField.net ) October 30, 2007 — Users of Leopard are reporting partial or total failure of wireless connectivity after installation of Apple's new version of its operating system, according to comments in Apple's blog .

Users complained of slowdowns in wireless connections to the point of complete disconnection. The initial post by "nunofgs" described the problem. "When you connect to your wireless network, your transmit rate will be 54. (if you're using the 54g standard). If you start up a download or something that occupies your bandwidth (even LAN traffic), you will notice that the transmit rate drops to 11, then to 3, then to 1 until finally your downloads will drop, your ichat connections will fail and your browser will not load pages. "

One user known as "osxy" wrote "This morning i recieved my copy of leopard and installed it on my iMac (core 2 duo 2.16ghz first generation iMac). And I got 1 big problem, Airport, with airport i got a very bad connection. When i open several sites at once my ping to my modem shoots up from 2ms to 3k ms and basicly my whole network is useless."

The problem was not limited to Airport. Other users observed the issue with other devices as well. DCYorke said "Also having a problem with my D-Link access point. I would like to add I seem to be having the same type of symptoms with my Verizon Wireless ExpressCard connecting to their 3G network."

Users suggested a myriad of fixes but as of today had not found a common cause nor solution to the problem. All, however, called on Apple to fix the problem, and quickly. As of this afternoon Apple had not posted a solution.

 

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OnForce Enters Canada with v4.3

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(TheForceField.net) October 16, 2007 — OnForce, Inc. released v4.3 of its platform today, officially expanding into The Great White North . According to an announcement posted on the company blog at  http://blog.onforce.com approximately 100 Canadian Providers are now active and hundreds more are awaiting approval to join the platform. OnForce currently boasts over 11,000 Service Providers in its US operation.

The Canadian platform includes many of the same features and services as its American counterpart as well as those specific for the Canadian marketplace. "…we have taken into consideration the elements that are unique to Canada", Sr. Director of Provider Programs Lauren MacLeod wrote in the company blog. "Most notable are the complexities of tax for both buyers and providers. GST and PST are both fully calculated within the product to enable our users to more easily conduct business in Canada."

The company publicly announced its intention to enter the Canadian market earlier this year and preparations for the move have been underway for months.

 

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AOL to Lay Off 2,000 Starting Tomorrow

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Charlotte, NC (TheForceField.net) October 15, 2007 — America OnLine will lay off 2,000 of its 10,000 employees starting tomorrow, according to a company e-mail sent this morning. The e-mail, obtained by a former analyst Merrill Lynch, Henry Blodget, and posted in its entirety on The Silicon Valley Insider soon after its release, said the layoffs are to begin Tuesday October 16th and continue for the next two months. However, at least one individual responding to the Silicon Valley Insider report claimed one HR employee was escorted out of the offices of AOL today.

The e-mail, sent by AOL president Randy Falco, touted the company's aquisitions and achievements and outlined its goal of transitioning from an ISP that is subscription based to an advertising based company. The layoffs were announced in the last four paragraphs of the e-mail.

 "As a part of this realignment, tomorrow we begin a reduction in force that will, over the next couple of months, affect a total of about 2,000 people out of our worldwide workforce of 10,000", Falco wrote.

"Everyone impacted by this reduction deserves our thanks and respect for their contributions to the company", Falco continued. "We will aid these individuals in their transition to new opportunities as much as possible, most importantly with what we believe are generous severance packages. "

Falco then returned to touting his vision for the company.  "So where is this taking AOL?" he added. "Put simply, my vision for AOL is to build the largest and most sophisticated global advertising network while we grow the size and engagement of our worldwide audience."

Comments believed to be those of employees posted on The Silicon Valley Insider underneath the e-mail indicate the enthusiasm for his vision was not shared.

 

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One or Two Part Episodes?

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I am currently wrapping up production on new episodes of The Force Field. The problem is the next episode contains over two hours of interviews that need to be edited down to about thirty minutes. The topic is about women in IT and there is a lot of interesting discussion. I have edited down the interviews to about 45 minutes and could edit about 10 minutes more. I did ask the same questions in case there were different views and the answers were somewhat similar but there were some different approaches to the responses.

The question is, should I keep it tight and try to edit them both into one half hour show or break them up into two parts? I never considered a two part podcast before and I do not know if breaking it up will hold everyone’s interest or would bore them. Since the show is a new type of media for a new type of audience I really do not know if a two part topic would hold everyone’s interest or not.

I could easily just crank out shows with all this content but I believe in quality, not quantity and I want to deliver the best quality show I can. What do you think? I welcome everyone’s feedback as it is your show.

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OnForce Extends Its Platform To Canada

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OnForce announced the latest version of its platform today in preparation of its expansion into Canada later this year. The new release,  version 4.2, was designed specifically to encourage Service Providers living in The Great White North to join the platform in order to service potential Canadian clients, known as "Buyers". Providers who sign up to service Buyers in Canada are required to live inside the Canadian border.

“Canadian IT service firms, like their U.S. counterparts, require an easy and efficient means to contract with qualified IT professionals. OnForce’s expansion into Canada will meet that need,” said OnForce CEO Peter Cannone in an OnForce press release. “In the U.S., OnForce provides incremental work to thousands of service providers daily, and opening this marketplace to Canadian technicians will produce a growing pipeline of contract work for local IT professionals.”

The sign up form is available to Canadian Service Providers at www.onforce.ca . 

Company drops $1.4M Server, sues IBM

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James Dickerson dropped a server on the curb. According to his employer, it's all IBM's fault.

T.R. Systems, Inc, a federal contractor located in Virginia, filed a lawsuit against IBM for improperly packing an item after a server worth $1.4 million fell off a forklift during transport from a delivery truck in October 2006. The server, one of two purchased from IBM by T.R. Systems, was being removed from a delivery truck at their warehouse in Alexandria when the accident happened.

According to the company, forklift operator James Dickenson was transporting the server when the rear wheels of the forklift hit a bump and rocked the server.   "As a result of the rocking motion, the base of the pallet and the crate broke and the crate fell onto the curb, damaging the server packed inside," stated the company in the lawsuit filed in July.

The contractor placed the blame on IBM for not properly packaging the server for protection in shipping and would not replace it, requiring T.R. Systems to purchase a replacement. The company contends IBM should reimburse them for the cost of another server.

IBM stated it was not responsible for the damage and Dickerson was to blame, saying the driver was not careful in transporting the server across the property. According to the court papers, IBM said Dickerson unloaded the crate and transported it across the parking lot to the warehouse door with the server suspended eight feet in the air. The damage was caused when the server fell off the forklift on its right side and hit the curb, according to IBM.

IBM intends to refute the charges.