Andrew McLean – Page 9

Save By Going Green

July 8, 2011 By Andrew McLean 2 Comments

I’ve mentioned in the past that I specialize in “Green Computing” and I thought I should explain what that means.

Essentially it turns hardware investments into savings opportunities, with the added benefit of helping the environment by reducing or limiting power consumption. An easy example of this is when purchasing a new computer, you can invest in a high-efficiency power supply. The savings vary depending on the system, load, and electricity costs, but the ROI will typically happen between 6 to 12 months. Add to this a “smart” power strip that turns off peripheral devices when the “master” device is off or in standby, and any “One-Watt Initiative“{{1}} compliant devices (see Vampire Power), and you’re looking at significant savings, especially in the case of a large office space with multiple workstations. Newer computers run cooler and quieter due to better power efficiency and reduced heat, which will cut down on noise pollution in the home or office.

The initial investment in these technologies is minimal, and to conform to their respective standards the devices have excellent build quality and may well last longer than other non-green options. For information regarding smart power strips, you can read articles from BC Hydro here. Of special interest to businesses would be BC Hydro’s “Product Incentive Program” which grants you $7 for each smart power strip and many other devices, which you can read more about here, and see the list of eligible technologies here.

The Energy Star program is the international standard for energy efficient consumer products. The bar is constantly being set higher and higher to reduce energy consumption. Look for the Energy Star label in all consumer products, including many construction materials.

For the more environmentally conscious individual, industry directives such as RoHS aim to reduce or eliminate the use of hazardous substances such as mercury, lead, cadmium, and others from electronic equipment. Again, compliance with this standard results in superior build quality for devices.

There are green software solutions, too. Instead of running multiple costly servers, consider or outsourcing your infrastructure via cloud computing. With virtualization, you can run multiple “virtual” servers in parallel on the same physical device using software such as VMWare or Microsoft’s Virtual PC or Hyper-V. Added benefits to this and cloud computing include easy backups, system snapshots{{2}}, better uptime and reduced maintenance cost.

I use every opportunity to reduce gas consumption by offering phone support and remote desktop assistance to clients. To take advantage of this service, call me at 250-514-2639 and I will walk you through initiating a remote session. Remote sessions are billed by the minute with no minimum charge. All invoicing is submitted and processed digitally making McLean Consulting virtually paperless.

Please contact McLean Consulting for more information about green computing and how you can benefit.

Edit: I just discovered Microsoft’s Environment site: http://www.microsoft.com/environment/. It features articles and initiatives for more efficient and sustainable IT.

[[1]]The “One Watt Initiative” seeks to reduce standby power consumption in all consumer devices to one Watt, instead of the “power vampires” that needlessly plague homes and businesses today.[[1]]
[[2]]A system snapshot is basically a “saved system state” which you can return to at the click of a button.[[2]]

McLean IT Consulting Now Accepting Credit Cards!

July 5, 2011 By Andrew McLean Leave a Comment

I am very pleased to announce that McLean IT Consulting now accepts both Visa and Mastercard thanks to Payfirma and BluePay.

My hope is that this makes goods and service purchases more convenient and flexible for everyone. Below are some benefits to using a credit card:

#1: Warranty Extension. Many Visa and MasterCard agreements state that if an item is paid in full on a card, the Manufacturer’s warranty is automatically doubled to a maximum of one year. Contact your card provider for details and eligibility.

#2: Convenience. Nobody carries cash anymore, and many don’t carry chequebooks either. Pay easily via a mobile terminal or over the phone – safely and securely.

#3: Protection. Paying with a credit card gives protection against fraud, and provide you with an outlet to bring your concerns. In addition to the advantages of #1, many cards will insure purchases against loss or theft as well.

#4: Build credit. For new card owners, building credit is an important step in life – important for buying a car, home, or business loan.

#5: “Points”. Some cards offer rewards to frequent users. Digital cameras, vacations, home appliances, and more.

The preferred method of payment is still by cheque, but the credit card payment option is now being offered to all.

Thank you for your continued support!

Why Hire an IT Consultant?

June 29, 2011 By Andrew McLean 1 Comment

The age-old question of “why hire a consultant?” comes to most professions, and IT consulting is no different — I might even suggest that it may be even more common regarding the IT industry.

Most small businesses have a “techie person” who handles day-to-day technical computer issues. And that’s great. Ideally every site should have somebody that can handle quick technical issues here and there. Here in Victoria, it tends to extend beyond immediate staff and into family member territory. But for problems beyond the superficial, and even sometimes including those that occur again and again, a consultant can often be the right answer.

First, I’d like to dispel some myths.

Myth #1: Consultants Are Expensive

The most important thing to remember is that you only pay for the time that a consultant is actually working, as opposed to an employee who is paid hourly plus benefits, insurance, etc — regardless of productivity.

What else could your tech-savvy employee be doing to be more productive to your company? Could they be earning you money instead of sinking all of their effort into a situation beyond their expertise? What might take a skilled IT consultant mere minutes to solve might take someone unfamiliar with the problem several hours.

The IT industry’s purpose is to increase productivity through technology — sinking unqualified resources into unfamiliar territory is hardly efficient.

Myth #2: Don’t Need ‘Em

The status quo is great, but it can stagnate your business. A business today is lost without email, a website, a PC, a billing/accounting system, a printer, and the network equipment to connect it all together. Perhaps the problem is that you don’t realize what’s possible. Maybe you never realized you could print from your phone, or remote in to your computer at work from home, or one of a million other little things that can enhance your experience.

Myth #3: A Tech Is A Tech

Victoria is known as a tourist destination, but our primary revenue is the tech industry. Despite this fact, Victoria also has some of the worst supported networks for small businesses. Many reputable computer consulting companies hire technicians that don’t know the difference between a router, a hub, and a switch (FYI there are BIG differences), and these “IT professionals” are content to daisy-chain network devices until they are satisfied that “everything works”. The problem ranges from cheap, shoddy hardware to stripped or badly terminated cables, or plain old bad network design. This leaves many Victoria businesses with a false sense of security. Networks may go down, servers may fail, backups may not exist. A true IT consultant can remedy that.

Still others may provide a solution but give no ongoing support, perhaps because computers aren’t their full-time profession.

The bottom line is that not all IT professionals are created equal. Much like a doctor, there is nothing wrong with getting a second opinion and in fact it should be encouraged. Don’t take this to the extreme, however. You don’t want to call a different consultant from day to day or cycle between them. You want someone intimately familiar with your systems. Your computers and network need attention much like what you would give your vehicle.

For further information, see “What Does An IT Consultant Do?“, also on the McLean IT Consulting Blog.

McLean IT consulting is proud to offer a broad range of skills, services and computer technology to Victoria businesses. Initial consultations are free of charge, and there is no requirement for a service contract.

Microsoft Kinect–Gaming Creates a Natural User Interface Renaissance

June 21, 2011 By Andrew McLean Leave a Comment

Unless you are a gamer, you may not have heard of Microsoft’s Kinect, or at least haven’t paid attention. But you will.

I’ve always been amazed at how science fiction can predict, inspire and even dictate real innovation. Jules Verne predicted the moon landing in very close detail, Star Trek gave us touch screen and voice-commanded computers and flip phones, Mark Twain predicted the Internet nearly 100 years before it ‘s current form. HG Wells predicted the Atomic Bomb in 1914. More recently, I was impressed by many of the “future technology” from the film Minority Report.

In the last case, the part that got me at first was how most of the inventions weren’t overreaching or particularly ambitious. Holographic imaging, flexible displays, targeted advertisements, sick sticks (nonlethal weapon that induces vomiting as its method of incapacitation – one of my favorite sci-fi inventions ever), and gesture-based user interface. I can’t confirm whether sick sticks exist yet, but now everything else does.

The Kinect was a combination camera/microphone/infared floodlight meant to use the human body as a controller in games for the Xbox 360 console. It seems to have come as a surprise to Microsoft that scientists and other bright minds saw a greater potential and hacked together software to let it run in other unintended applications, particularly in scientific and medical communities.

As an enthusiastic IT professional, any and all uses for this device fall within my realm, but getting back to films inspiring innovation, I’m most excited to see advances in gesture-based interfacing. I don’t believe the keyboard or mouse will go away anytime soon, but imagine the power of such a device when sitting at your computer. As a microphone and video camera, it can provide biometric security – detect when you are sitting at your computer and discern when someone else is. You can give verbal commands, and even hand gestures to manipulate objects on the screen. Carpal tunnel syndrome could be virtually a thing of the past, and you could potentially go for hours without ever having to touch an “old-school” mouse or keyboard.

It was recently announced that Kinect support would be integrated into Microsoft’s next operating system, aptly titled Windows 8, at the same time as they released an official Kinect SDK (Software Development Kit) so there is no further need for software engineers to cobble together their own.

Bottom line is that gesture interface or “Natural User Interface” is here, and it’s a game-changer.

Service Spotlight: Advanced Data Recovery

May 10, 2011 By Andrew McLean Leave a Comment

I cannot overstate the importance of having a proper data backup plan, but should the worst happen, I’ve got you covered.

Typically there are two big-picture types of hard drive failures.

The first is a disk surface problem. Like a scratched record, all the moving parts are functioning just fine, but the data has holes or scratches – pieces of corrupt data. Files on disks with this issue can sometimes be recovered with special software.

The second and more serious issue is a mechanical issue with the motor or head disk assembly, similar to a needle that reads the record. Because all of the moving parts are enclosed inside a sealed device, and also because of the sensitivity of the parts therein, data recovery for this issue requires a special “cleanroom”. Specifically, a class-100 cleanroom. This classification means that the room is designed to never allow more than 100 particles (.5 microns or larger) per cubic foot of air. To put this into perspective, a human hair is 75-100 microns in diameter – up to 200 times larger than what is permitted. A single hair that comes between the read head and the disk surface would be like putting mount Everest in the path of a passenger jet.

Enough with the technical talk.

I know the sinking feeling one experiences when a hard drive fails and you realize that no backup exists. Years of family pictures, important irreplaceable documents and who knows what else.

Should your drive suffer a catastrophic failure, all is not necessarily lost. I am proud to announce that I have partnered with an industry-leading data recovery company and together offer a “No Data, No Charge” policy – if your critical data cannot be recovered, you will not be charged. Any format – whether it be Windows, Mac or Linux – and any interface – IDE, SATA, USB, SCSI, etc. – and any manufacturer is fully supported. Prices are very reasonable and are quoted on a case-by-case basis based on the extent of damage to the device.

The class 100 cleanroom is located in Vancouver, BC so there’s no need to ship your device across the country or internationally to restore data. Standard turnaround time is 4-10 days.