Archive for the ‘Off topic’ Category

#geekbands #storagebands

February 7, 2013

Had some geekery fun at work the other evening with some of the Softcat tech crew, including Lodz and Phillbert. The game started off as #storagebands – musical acts whose names could be punned into something related to storage technology – and later morphed to #geekbands – just anything vaguely technological.

I thought I would share a list of some of the best ones – please feel free to chip in below in the comments section!

Tenacious SSD (my favourite)

Linux Richie

Blood Sweat and Tiers

Michael BUEble (pretty tenuous – BUE equals Backup Exec)

Grandmaster Flash

Johnny Cache

NickelBackup

Fat32Boy Slim

Tiers for Fears

3PARamore

Portisheadcrash

(Kernel) Panic at the Disco

Queens of the Tape Age

The RAMones

The Wide Stripes (this triggered it all off)

Any more for any more?

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Login issues with Mac OS X Lion

August 16, 2011

As a geek, I had to do it. I know you are supposed to wait for the first service pack, or at least until they iron out the bugs. So as soon as it was available, I installed OS X Lion. Pretty good overall to be honest. I’m not sure I have worked all the new tips and tricks into my workflow yet, but overall I like it.

Recently, though, I have developed an issue whereby I am unable to log in to applications – in particular the official Twitter app (probably a productivity advantage!) and Citrix (definitely not a productivity advantage!). I tried all sorts, including deleting the apps and reinstalling (nice and easy from the app store of course!).

I must admit I was getting a bit frustrated. However, tonight I decided to fiddle with network locations – not something I was actively using, to be honest. I deleted the network locations I had, and added a new one – hey presto, I can log in again.

Don’t ask me why it works (hey, if you know why, please tell me in the comments!), but it did. So you know what to try if you have the same problem!

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SqueezeBox and AirPlay

March 26, 2011

I’ve been using SqueezeBox by Logitech for some years to distribute my music all around the house. I use a NetGear ReadyNas in the study, and have a SqueezeBox receiver in the kitchen, lounge and bedroom, and either the remote or iPeng for iPhone or iPad to control it. It’s pretty damn good, especially since I upgraded my wireless network from the standard Sky router.

I’ve been watching the Apple AirPlay thing with interest, especially because my wife gets annoyed with the noise the NAS box makes in the study. If we could stream music straight from iPhones or iPad, I could just turn the NAS on to run a backup (yes, I do back up my home stuff! More people should!).

I gather Apple charge a licensing fee (I heard $4) for each AirPlay device. If anyone out there from Logitech is listening, I’d happily pay a small upgrade fee to cover this functionality….

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Fourth Dimension for Foursquare?

February 24, 2011

I’m not quite sure why, but I quite enjoy the whole Foursquare thing. Not many people are doing it in the UK, and there doesn’t seem to be any particular benefit.  But hey, it is a bit of fun! I’m trying to persuade our consultancy team to use it so it’s easier to know at a glance where everyone is (maybe there needs to be a corporate Foursquare?)

One thing that really irritates me however is at a train station, where lots of people have added and checked in to loads of different-timed trains.So what I am suggesting is that Foursquare adds a ‘fourth dimension’, time, and gives people the opportunity to check in to particular trains (and buses etc I guess) at particular times. Perhaps a 10 minute window?

One of the best places (or times) to know when you are in the same place as a friend is on a lengthy journey. It would be great. Can’t be that much development, can it? I came across Minglebird which will allow you to check in with people… Next step time!

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