Out of the Woods

Most tech geeks should be familiar with Slashdot, the sometimes irreverent tech news site famous for its ability to bring a site to its knees under the load of thousands of geeks clicking on a featured link. A competitor to Slashdot that I’ve been spending more time on lately is Digg. It’s a much cleaner interface, and readers determine what stories are most popular by “digging” those they like. The more a story is dugg, the higher in the ranks it rises.

There is also quite a nice set of tools growing up around Digg which make interacting with the site even easier. You can find the constantly updated list here.

Posted by Ken at 11:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Like most tech people who blog, I’m always the guy who’s called first by family and friends when computers go bad. I found a blog entry that nicely summarizes the problems encountered during long-distance troubleshooting. However, the author then goes on to describe a very nice VNC solution that makes life much easier. I’m going to have to add this one to my bag of tricks.

Posted by Ken at 11:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Oh, this is so cool. Chip PC has announced a new thin-client PC that resides inside a standard dual-gang outlet box. Plug a monitor, keyboard, and mouse into the JackPC, and you have a complete networked PC. The company has a standard wall box that has contacts on the upper inside edge. You run network cable (which also handles power) to this box when you install it, and put a blank cover over it until it’s time to use it. When you want to install a PC, it simply slides into the box, making contact with the connector inside. There is also a wifi access point that can be installed in the same box instead of the PC. If you simply need network connectivity, there is a slide-in module that gives you that as well.

Imagine installing these boxes all over the house or other building during construction as you might install ordinary network jacks. When you need a PC at some location, simply slide it into the box and you’re done. Very nice.

Posted by Ken at 8:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)