Group items tagged

"The newest wireless networking protocol is 802.11ac, due to be ratified sometime in 2013. Michael Kassner does the research and tells you what you need to know."

Certain systems, software, and technologies simply don't work very well. In fact, some are barely usable. See if your biggest annoyances made this list. Let's face it. There are bits and pieces of the IT world that are simply broken, and we rarely want to come out and admit it. Well, some don't. I, on the other hand, am not in the slightest bit afraid to step forward and point the finger of shame at the creators of technology

IT pros often complain about the downsides of their jobs. But what if you really AREN'T meant for an IT career?

Asking "who would take my place" gives you all the information you need to start the more detailed aspects of succession planning, and is a question you should ask at least quarterly of your key personnel to ensure that you will not be left in a dangerous position should one of them suddenly depart due to injury, scandal, buses driven by aliens, or anything in between.

Who would tale your place?

"It's your first week on the job and you're tempted to make a positive splash immediately. But unless you want to alienate yourself, take a step back and just observe."

Some good advice for teachers who may be changing schools or taking up a promotion to a new school.

If you are preparing for a career in IT or are new to IT, many of the "dirty little secrets" listed below may surprise you because we don't usually talk about them out loud. Most of these secrets are aimed at network administrators, IT managers, and desktop support professionals.

Google doesn't intend the Samsung Series 5 and Acer Chromebooks to be stand-alone computers. Chrome OS is getting a file manager and offline access for applications, but Chromebooks aren't low-cost notebooks. They aren't dumb terminals either. Chromebooks are thin-clients with the ability to function, albeit in a limited way, without a network connection.

"It's easy to get caught up in the implementation details of a Web site design project and lose sight of the hands-on user perspective. Calvin Sun airs a few user experience grievances that can alienate site visitors - permanently."

I was invited to speak on a topic near and dear to me during a session titled "Automate the mundane so you can focus on the impactful." During that session, I discussed ways that IT departments might streamline their services to provide more time to focus on business-leading initiatives as opposed to simply keeping the lights on.

Forget the fancy problem-solving methodologies you learned in school. Here's how IT pros solve problems in the real world.

For the first time in years, PCs grabbed the spotlight at CES 2012. Ultrabooks were everywhere, but was it an innovation win or an innovation failure?

.. the oversized, centralized IT department of 2001 is a relic that's never coming back and IT pros need to prepare for the decentralized IT reality of the future where companies are going to keep fewer IT pros on staff, hire more consultants, and focus their IT resources on software, the cloud, and mobile devices