Technology In Check

For medium sized companies with aspirations of becoming really big, this is one to play close attention to.

There’s a move by ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) to expand the name space used for what are called top-level domains. In short, there are a few top-level domain in the world, such as .com, .net, and .org. However in a news release today, ICANN announced that it is planning to expand the “real-estate” available at the top level.

What this means for business is that there will be a whole range of new names available. For example, if you’re willing to pony up the dough (and if you’re fast enough to get in on the application process) you might be able to acquire the top-level domain name of .acme. Or .yourname.

The possibilities here are staggering from a marketing perspective. Already, the news release cites certain cities that want to have access to their own names as a top level. So if you control the .van top level domain, you would then be able to market websites like canucks.van, dining.van, hotels.van …

The possibilities are staggering.

From a technical perspective, if you know what IPv6 means, then you’ll likely see that thjis new decision from ICANN will speed up adoption of the new protocol. Then again, if you don’t know what IPv6 means, then check back here again next week, and I’ll explain it.

I’m still surprised that many people continue to disparage Vista mercilessly. Having just installed Vista SP1 yesterday, I’m now onto my 12th month of running Vista with comparatively few problems. The biggest difficulty I’ve faced in my own experience comes from attaching external hard drives; if I plug in a USB hard drive, and try to use it too quickly, my PC will sometimes blue-screen. Sometimes.

And after I spoke with a friend this last weekend, I heard more about how Vista is “a bad thing”. Continue Reading »

I received a call from a client who wanted help getting a new computer set up and running on their network. They had purchased the computer at a stationary supply chain a few days earlier for a new hire, and now they needed it that person to be able to access the central network.

Nope, not going to happen. The computer’s operating system doesn’t support business networks.

Here’s why IT has more of an impact on your daily operations than you might think, and how a good IT department can save you some real dollars. Continue Reading »

Many people are throwing around the ‘R’ word lately, at least in relation to the US (Canada in general, and BC specifically seem to be doing pretty well lately). Yes, I mean recession. Whether or not there is a recession is something for accountants and other financial types to decide, not me. I’m just a geek.

However I would like to talk about how you, as a business manager, can get the most bang for your IT buck during tougher financial times. Whether you’re directly affected by economic developments, or if you’re simply caught in the crossfire, here’s a few ideas on handling the tech side of things. Continue Reading »

Not all the items I write are posted here, you know.

My Company also produces a bi-monthly newsletter called Technology Check. And every issue has at least one item in it that doesn’t make it to this blog until quite some time later, if at all. There’s also a section on quick shortcuts, some giveaway info, and other tidbits.

An excellent example of this is an article I wrote for the latest issue, discussing how much IT should cost. That is, what should you spend on your IT as a percentage of expenses (or is it revenues?)…

To subscribe to the newsletter, click on ‘Subscribe’ on the left hand navigation bar (under ‘Pages Here’). It’s not a “Please send me some spam” list either. It’s used for the newsletter, and the occasional special promotion. As in, maybe once a month, total.

You should sign up. Why don’t you go do that now?