Wh-wh-wh-Windows 8?

It's not controversial to say that Windows 8 has not won the hearts and minds in the technology community. In fact, recently, Windows 8 and Microsoft were blamed for the slide in PC sales. While I personally think there are plenty of other reasons for said slide, IDC isn't exactly nobody in the tech business so people will take note.

I am a pretty technically savvy person so my concerns and needs do not exactly mirror that of a more every day consumer. Nonetheless, people like me buy a lot of computers, advise others what to buy and often support those systems at home and in our business. What we think does matter beyond what our ownership or market presence bespeaks.

Let's start with a few key issues. These arise from my use of Windows 8 over the course of the last month on my HP ENVY dv6 laptop. It is not touch enabled so this represents the vast majority of desktop and laptop computers in existence today was well as most new units shipped for the foreseeable future.

How Much of Your Life Is on Your Computer?

Or on your various devices? Do you have an app from your bank that remembers your username and password? Or your web browser? What about electronic copies of your credit card, bank statements, tax returns, social security, etc.? Our devices are increasingly mobile and increasingly powerful  the perfect target for identity thieves.

Identity theft is going nowhere but up. 2012 was a banner year for thieves making lots of money by pretending to be you. If they swipe your phone or your laptop they can re-write your life in short order. The financial toll is estimated at more than $50 billion annually by one organization. But that's nothing to say about how much disruption and time and effort it is going to cost you. 

Closer to home, recently my in-law's laptop was stolen. As with most thefts of this type, it's relatively impossible to recover anything. He ran his household from it which meant it contained an extremely complete picture of their financial life. Wisely, they assumed the worst and started to proactively contain any potential damage by cancelling or changing accounts and setting locks and monitors.

There is simply no way to eliminate theft or simply never lose a device - they are just too pervasive now and yet also in high demand. As our use of technology evolves, we need to get smarter about it. Here are three pretty universal recommendations for reducing the impact on your life when the inevitable happens.

The Coffee Shop as the New Office?

Once upon a time, I used to begin my day with a can of Coke or a stop at McDonalds to get the even better fountain version. I didn't like coffee ass it tasted too thin, insubstantial for my tastes. Certainly, that was true versus the syrupy sweetness of coke. 

Eventually, my tastebuds matured a bit and that degree of sweetness became sickeningly sweet - especially so early in the morning. I moved onto coffee but then found the sweet spot in the latte. The blend of milk and espresso really gets it done for me. Unfortunately, they aren't cheap and you can really only get them at the local coffee shop. Perhaps I should say "shops" as the coffee wars continue to rage with Starbucks versus everyone else in a bid to seemingly achieve a coffee shop on every corner.

This growing ubiquity has led a trend of folks hanging out at the coffee shop as a social and work destination. Nowadays, the coffee shop is being hailed as a melting pot of creativity and caffeine by a variety of folks with recommendations to make it a normal working location. 

Performance Anxiety

It's been a few weeks since the HP ENVY dv6 joined the team. I've constructed a report card of sorts that puts some of my thoughts together to get to just how well this model performs. To some degree it should be noted that this laptop has dual graphics cards and advanced power management. That has the effect of really making it act like two very different laptops based on whether it is plugged in or not.
Power
Lets start with battery life. I have been very pleased on how well this unit performs even with just the 6 cell battery. It runs for a few hours with the regular battery and about another hour with the Long Life 9-Cell Notebook Battery. Overall, I would consider this very good. My last laptop had such poor battery from the built-in battery that I had to essentially permanently add a supplemental battery and always carry it around. No such issues with this one. I have been using the 9-cell battery quite a bit more because since it is larger it provides a more comfortable typing angle and also provides better bottom ventilation. This thing can run warm if you're getting into some extended game time.

Performance Under the New Regime

If you've been following my recent adventures in networking you know that I recently transitioned over to an entirely new router from a new vendor. Some of the things that Asus emphasized with this unit was speed and range. Both were important to me since I'm running on a FiOS connection that provides 75Mb downstream and 35Mb upstream. I certainly want to be able to use as much of that pipe as I can.

It's text book that if you want to see the results of a change you need to take a baseline. I also wanted to see the difference across devices. Speedtest.net provided performance information used below. I should note that I also run multiple tests on each device to ensure that no single result was out of a reasonable range.

Network Overhaul

I have just over a dozen network connected devices in the place not including any roaming devices from friends or family. I'm expecting this number to only grow over time. Having a capable traffic cop in the house is a pretty high high on my list of home technology issues. For an extended period I have had issues on my network wherein my computer refused to perform appropriately on my Linksys (Cisco) equipment. While most things are connected directly to the router and mostly via WiFi, I still have several devices that connect via wired Ethernet.

The "fix" for my issue was to connect my desktop computer directly to the vendor supplied router and everything else was behind the Cisco network. This caused a lot of problems with media sharing and similar activities since computers on different networks won't talk to each other without fairly creative and complex configurations. For a while now, it seems Linksys has been producing far more retail products than updating the firmware on the stuff they have already have. As a result, even though I was running on a mid- to upper-market Linksys E3200 High-Performance Simultaneous Dual-Band Wireless-N Router, fixes, improvements, etc. were very scarce.

I didn't really relish replacing the router since it was fairly new still and seemed to work ok with every other device I had. But, replacing my Alienware beast was inconceivable at best (and no, there are no open slots for another network card/USB networking is hokey.) Unfortunately, with as much stuff as I've been doing on the home network, something had to give. 

Luckily, a gift card came my way. While it wouldn't cover the cost of a new router, it would take the sting out. Not as much as I thought, given the unit I ended up going with, but it was something.

Almost as Fast as Retail

As I'm working on a post about the recent changes to my network, it occurred to me that I needed to mention the order process. Don't worry - it'll be quick.

At 5:07 PM PT, I ordered the new router from Amazon with the free 2-day Prime shipping option.. Obviously, that is 7 minutes past the typical close of business. Additionally, the day of order was a Thursday. I was a little surprised when the order summary displayed with an estimated day of arrival is Saturday. Last I checked, Saturday delivery was certainly available for an extra fee even to Prime members. No matter, I'll cheerfully accept a free upgrade!

Friday arrived the next morning and I had an early-ish appointment to make. As I left the house, I was blown away to see an Amazon box at my front door. Best as I can determine, that box landed sometime around 8:30AM PT. Folks, do the math... that's just over 12 hours from order to door! Amazon is becoming increasingly efficient with its distribution network. It is keeping, if not raising, the pressure on retail establishments with abilities like this. 

Being able to get products in your hands that quickly to their Prime customers will continue to attract and retain customers. Even now, it is hard to me to order from other sites knowing I would have to pay shipping when I don't at Amazon. This ups the ante to ask me why I should bother hitting a local retail store.

Keep an eye on them folks. The juggernaut is alive and well.

Selection Complete and the Verdict Is In...Kinda

The last post was all about how I selected the HP ENVY dv6 laptop. The question now is: Did I make the right choice? To some degree its a silly question as this isn't a comparison. I do not have two laptops side by side to compare to the road not taken. Therefore, the ENVY will be reviewed on it's own merits.

Purchasing
The ordering process is pretty simple and was done at the HP Home and Small Office store. It's easy enough to select a pre-built unit or custom to order. I obviously did the latter based on how needlessly geeky I am sometimes. It's just your typical order wizard with a next, next type process.

Hand over your credit card info and the process is underway. Now, there were a couple of oddities in the process. I did not automatically receive an order confirmation email but rather a "we received your order request, please stand by" type message. For some reason there is some sort of 24 hour processing window. I'm not sure if that's typical of all custom requests or not. However, I did receive that order confirmation email late that night with a suggested ship date of 6 days later (7 days from date of order) with about a 3 day shipment period as the unit was being assembled in China. It actually arrived a day earlier than promised which was great because I wanted to take it on a trip coming up shortly.

Selection Season: Laptop Search

For the last dozen or so years, a laptop has been a constant companion of mine. Whether it was used as my main workstation or my roaming travel companion, it was always there. However, said laptop was always provided by my employer. It was a business laptop and all that entails - or rather, doesn't. It usually had good processing power, mediocre graphics processing ability and was dull, dull, dull.

When I became a free agent earlier this year, I began considering whether I needed a laptop or not without the likelihood for regular travel. Given my knack for all things digital I eventually got around to "yes." I would have gotten there more quickly since my iPad can do a lot. Toward the end of my MBA classes, not only was I reading the text on the iPad, but using it for both handwritten and typed notes with the addition of the small Apple Bluetooth keyboard. However, for heavier applications, spreadsheets and document creation, it still lacks the the kind of flexibility and power of the typical laptop.

With that, the search was underway. I was willing to consider virtually any mainstream names such as Dell and HP. I looked at Lenovo as well as Apple, Asus, Alienware and Toshiba. No, Sony was never an option. While I like their designs and style, I've had issues with reliability and serviceability with them in the past.

To make matters worse, I'm a picky bugger. I didn't want to assemble a field of 64 ala the NCAA, but I did have some pretty specific needs and wants. First up, the screen. It's the thing that I'm staring at all the time, and I want it to be top-notch - very high resolution (1920 x 1080). Size was less important so while I wouldn't have minded a 14" screen, I wasn't able to find any manufacturer that made one with that resolution. Or at least, none that fit my other needs. I had to compromise on a 15.6" screen to get that resolution - but then, not all manufacturers offered that either. 

Job Hunting and the Efficacy of the Modern Resume

Since I'm back on the job hunt again after a 10 year stint at my last company, it's been interesting to be on the applicant side of the equation. Over the past decade, I was involved in hiring dozens of people which equates to well over a thousand resumes that crossed my desk. I was the hiring manager for some of the positions, part of a hiring team for others or perhaps the one-over manager.
In other cases, I wasn't involved at all but was pulled into a quick interview to help get a good feel for the candidates if there was question as to fit or multiple similar candidates.

Thinking back to the process, I remember a massive time commitment required to get together a good job description, work with human resources or recruiting to begin the process, review the resumes, perform a phone screen and then schedule and conduct one or more in person interviews.