atxgeek 


just one more geek in a sea of austin techies

October 23, 2011

Enhance your phone for free via Google Voice

I've been using Google Voice since mid-2009 -- not long after Google acquired the company that originated the service, GrandCentral.  Google Voice adds features to most any phone not already linked to an IP-based phone service.  Because it's been around for several years and has proven to be dependably good, useful and free, I'm often surprised when I mention "Google Voice" to tech-savvy people and get blank stares in return.  Why haven't more people caught on to this under-appreciated service?...

August 29, 2011

IE9 compatibility (IE9 fails on my website, or vice versa)

Recently I was informed that an older .Net--based website I still handle the technicals for was failing to render properly within Internet Explorer 9.  This surprised me because (a) IE9 is regularly touted as being the version of Internet Explorer that's closer than ever to published standards, and (b) the website in question rendered perfectly in the latest versions of Firefox and Chrome as well as in IE7 and IE8 (I've already put IE6 to bed with regards to compatibility testing).  My solution ended up being a simple one line addition...

July 13, 2011

Get the Bobs before they get you

For the past week I've been looking forward to a quirky happenstance: two IT consultants, at least one of which is named "Bob", were scheduled to visit my workplace this week and interview each person in IT to assess their job function.  If you're thinking "Office Space" then you're on the right track...

June 26, 2011

JSON bigger than XML??? #MarkupGeek

Continuing to chip away at my little Android programming projects, this week I put together some code to consume data from a JSON-formatted web feed.  JSON is more streamlined than XML and also happens to avoid certain cross-domain security roadblocks.  This means JSON is often a great choice for encapsulating objects and data that are destined for transport via web services over cell phone data plans.  It was a surprise, therefore, when I unexpectedly ran across an example of XML that was less verbose (smaller!) than its JSON equivalent...

June 20, 2011

Unplugged...again! (Spiceworks and AMD)

I've been tapped to sit on the next Spiceworks Unplugged panel, this time for a private AMD event.  The last panel I sat on was a *blast* and the Dell folks I talked to afterward seemed pretty pleased with the event.  Looking back at my post following that Unplugged event, however, I now realize that I never actually got around to mentioning what Spiceworks is...

June 8, 2011

New Kindle = Less Sleep (but not from reading)

This week a school raffle blessed my wife with a new Kindle3 (the nicer variation with 3G and no ads).  This isn't the first time she's done well in the contests of luck department...

June 7, 2011

Android programming with Basic4Android

Moving along from my initial foray into creating Android apps with Google's nifty but somewhat impractical AppInventor, I sought out other free (or nearly free) products that boasted a visual designer. Enter "Basic4Android", an IDE built using LUA to abstract the underlying Android JAVA classes and present a language very similar to Visual Basic...

May 28, 2011

Android programming with Google AppInventor

This year I finally got around to joining the ranks of proud Android device owners (so long, Windows Mobile 6.5!) It was therefore only a matter of time before I dipped a toe into Android app development...

May 8, 2011

Unsettling Online Checkout (Fraud Prevention)

I ordered a new cell phone this week.  It's a pay-as-you-go phone (don't ask -- I have my reasons and they're all called "unlimited data for $15").  Perhaps because it's a pay-as-you-go phone, during the online checkout process I was faced with several fraud-prevention questions...

April 21, 2011

Had a *blast* speaking at Spiceworks Unplugged

Yesterday I had the pleasure of sitting on a four-person panel of SMB IT pros at Spiceworks' headquarters for their third ever Unplugged event.  This was a private event for Dell where our panel spent 90 minutes doing nothing but giving straight answers to point-blank questions from the Dell folks (marketing, sales and online brand management). There were no set agendas and no restrictions other than the time allotted for the event....

April 7, 2011

Great turnout for Austin SNUG "SAN 101"

Austin SNUG enjoyed a nice turnout for the annual "SAN 101" lunch presentation on March 31 at Chez Zee. This is always a popular presentation and this year we managed to land a date that avoided both Spring break week and SXSW Interactive. David Morales from Compellent presented and did an excellent job of keeping the presentation material "vendor neutral" as SNUG requires...

February 24, 2011

atxgeek, the next generation

While I still prefer to build up my "main" personal PC piece-by-piece, I've come to enjoy a certain freedom in using reliable off-the-shelf systems around the rest of the house. A few years ago I determined that a $120 off-lease Dell Optiplex small form factor desktop PC made a much better HTPC (home theater PC) than similarly-priced "media box" devices...