Category: Hardware

For the first time in recent memory, I can actually see the entire expanse of my desk that lies between my keyboard and my monitors. I owe this to The Desk Apprentice ($37.99 at Staples).

The sucker is huge and consumes a lot of desk space all by itself, but its big pockets and Lazy Susan [...]

I was fully prepared to wait an hour or more in line, and even to return on another day if necessary, to get an iPhone. The timing was right. My wife’s phone had just died and it was out of warranty. We were at the end of our contract with Verizon Wireless, and we were [...]

Microsoft Response Point was announced sixteen months ago. Today — maybe! — it’s worth checking out. As I noted last November, the initial release of Response Point had a very 1.0 feel to it and was lacking many features already present in competing phone systems. Just this week at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference, Microsoft announced [...]

Laptop and other electronics batteries are subject to new limits. Better check these out before you board your next non-stop flight to Hong Kong with a pile of DVDs in hand. CMP has the story:
DOT Levies Lithium Battery Limit - Networking - IT Channel News by CRN and VARBusiness

I’m writing to you today from a Microsoft Response Point training session. Response Point is a phone system intended for businesses with up to 50 users. Although Microsoft supplies the software, you don’t actually buy a Response Point system from Microsoft. You buy a hardware bundle from one of their authorized manufacturers. Currently, there are [...]

Got a call from a client last week. He was concerned that he had some sort of strange virus or other serious software problem. He’d be typing some document, when all of a sudden what he’d typed would start disappearing, letter by letter. It would stop after a while, and then he could go on [...]

Incredible as it may seem, I occasionally screw up. Here’s a recent example. A client wanted to add a small, fast laser printer at her desk so she could print reports from her accounting system. This system is run on a Citrix server, which always makes printing more complicated. Now I knew that many printers, [...]

Lots of folks keep asking me about the iPhone. I still advise against it for anyone using Microsoft Exchange for e-mail, at least until there are proven solutions that make it just as good as Windows Mobile and Blackberry for full wireless synchronization of e-mail, calendar, and contacts. Here’s another review that covers all the [...]

As a review I mentioned recently points out, getting an iPhone to work with Exchange is … well, let’s just say there’s a reason that part is not included in Apple’s snazzy iPhone commercials. Chris Rue illustrates this point as well (literally). So I’m not going to be recommending iPhones to my clients. But sooner [...]

In the market for a mobile phone? PC Magazine has several articles to help guide your decision. I recommend consulting multiple reviews before making a decision, but these will at least provide some context and they’re aimed at a relatively non-technical audience.

Smartphones for global travel
First crop of Windows Mobile 6 phones
Mobile phones recommended for small [...]