By Jeff Zbar 
www.chiefhomeofficer.com

The IT guy remembers the service call well. His clients’ wireless computer network was suffering slow Internet transmission speeds, lumbering downloads and uploads, and recurring outages. The wireless network was several years old, a fact made worse by the client’s two-story home’s concrete block construction. Thick walls and distance taxed the unit’s transmissions. Moreover, the use of several cordless phones in the 2.4 GHz frequency interfered with the wireless network’s signal. When it was installed several years ago, the technology was leading edge with peripheral hardware and services like digital cameras, online gaming and music downloads. Several years later, their network was stretched way beyond its means. The remedy: Upgrade the network and replace the cordless phones with those in the 5.8 GHz range. As a result, transmission speeds increased and the connections were reliable throughout the home and everyone in the house was pleased.

This family’s situation was a “poster child for reasons why an upgrade of a wi-fi router was necessary,” said the IT Guy. Companies or consumers who installed a wireless network when the technology emerged in the early 2000s were on the leading edge of wireless connectivity. Today, though, that same hardware can lag significantly behind the current technology, leaving users with service outages, slow throughput and lost productivity.  read more »

• by Jeff Zbar

By Jeff Zbar 
www.chiefhomeofficer.com

The Web is SO cool…

Lest you think I’m some newbie who just discovered the Internet in 2008, take a gander at two pretty cool services I use all the time: TinyURL and Pandora.

Pandora.com: Named for the mythological first woman offered up by the Greek Gods, this service is dubbed “radio from the music genome project.” Hit the site, register (it’s free) and then type in a favorite band, song or genre. I dropped in Led Zeppelin. First came “The Ocean,” then Pink Floyd’s “Welcome to the Machine,” then “Back in Black,” and Hendrix’s “Castles Made of Sand.” OK, so “Smoke on the Water” came up twice. And it tossed Nirvana’s “Lithium” in with these classics. And generally it was kind of heavy on the classic rock we can get for free on that other radio (you know, the one in the car that we don’t drive as much because we work from home…?). But that’s OK.

There was some less common stuff: Gypsy Eyes by Hendrix and Badge from Cream’s 2005 Royal Albert Hall concert.

Like Celine Dion? YoYo Ma? Progressive rock? Classical? It’s all there. Just set it and forget it. It’ll stream all day. Free. With no commercials. Broadcast it throughout the home with products like Logitech’s Squeezebox and Transporter.  read more »

• by Jeff Zbar

By Jeff Zbar 
www.chiefhomeofficer.com

Power is an interesting thing. Measured in joules, it can be like a diamond, providing clean and pure energy that enhances device operations and even prolongs its life. Or it can be like a cubic zirconia — “dirty” and unreliable and just bad for the components. But more importantly, it has value — especially to the penny-pinching home office. In the home office, you want clean, steady power — and protection from surges and spikes that can trash your PC or components as thoroughly as if your kid hit them with a hammer. But you also want to scrimp and save and keep power from seeping out like so many dollars under the office door.

Enter the APC Power-Saving Surge Protector “Essential Series.” With the flip of a switch, you can cut power to key components — saving money and improving component lifespan.  read more »

• by Jeff Zbar

By Jeff Zbar 
www.chiefhomeofficer.com

Let’s survey the landscape of my home office’s technology graveyard: I have an old PC — circa Last Century and long since obsolete; a once-coveted, leading-edge Nokia analog cell phone my daughter now uses as a playtoy; two CRT monitors long ago replaced by flat-panel monitors; a few keyboards, mice and other gadgets and hardware that serve no purpose but to keep me from having to dust the shelf-tops on which they rest. They consume my space. There has to be a better solution.

Enter MyBoneYard, an online service designed to help people ditch the old tech.

This is no idle concern. The mercury, chemicals and various elements that exist in PCs and monitors is enough to make your body glow green. Once crushed and in the landfull, these nasties leech into the groundwater, polluting the environment and the water that irrigates our crops, quenches the native fauna — and flows through our taps.  read more »

• by Jeff Zbar