I looked at alot of laptops coming out lately and the main thing I have seen is upgrading, no further innovation from last year to this year. Laptops are getting more and more powerful but after a while you have to ask the question, are they really using this power? I seen alot of average computer users never fully tap into the power of their technology. So if you are not really utilizing your computer’s full potential is there really no reason for you get another computer when your not really utilizing your old one. I say save your money and stop drinking the cool aid these companies are feeding you.

I feel as though if you really going to get a new computer in which you can really recognize a nice increase in performance (that you actually use) and innovation. You need a computer that solves one of the most common problems that computers are facing, the speed of memory. Even though they are constantly increasing the speed of the CPU, it comes to a point that regardless of fast your CPU is you are going bottleneck your system. Imagine that you are running a track relay you have three people on your team that run real fast but the last runner runs slow as you know what and his name is memory. So if you are going to buy a new laptop I would save wait till the price of solid state drives drop and usb 3.0 comes out.

Solid State Drives

Solid State drives are one of the most needed things to improve speed and battery life on computers. Right now the most popular hard drive to get nowadays are the ones with rpms (revolutions per minute). These hard drives have disc in them that spins to access memory. These hard drives use more power by spinning and if drop can mess up the disc inside of them which can prevent you from access memory on the drive. SSD (Solid States drives) are superior in every way to these drives. They use up to significantly less power and can kick and smack the heck out of it and it will still work. Their main disadvantage thats keeps them from being widely use is cost. The cost for a ssd drive that is 256 GB is approximately over $400.00 compared to the rotary hard drives that are 250 GB might be around $50.00 – $100.00.

USB 3.0

One thing that is continuously happening is the price of external hard drives is continuously dropping but the speed of them are not catching up. As you keep giving people larger and larger access to store terabytes of information the demand to want to transport bigger and bigger files onto the external hard drive will increase. There is firewire 800 which is better than usb 2.0 but you need have special access on your computer to use it. But the most common way people transport information is usb 2.0. Thats when usb 3.0 comes into the picture usb 3.0 will have a big increase in speed. It is 10x faster than usb 2.0 and will be able to really give you the edge you need.

In the IT world I heard a lot about certifications but have you ever wondered for yourself why should you get it? Let’s say you know Java and your probably at the top of your class with it, but you are having a hard time getting a job or not getting the desired salary that you want. The next best thing to boost up your resume is to get a certification. In basic terms getting a certification shows that your knowledge meets up with professional standards. This is important because everyone has something that they feel they are the top of their game at but if it doesn’t fall inline with standards of the industry your knowledge can be considered invalid if you do not have no experience on the job.

Lately I have been studying to get certifications and have recently received my certification in MySQL. But did my salary increase? Did my prices rise for my clients? The answer is no. The reason is because I’m not doing anything MySQL intensive for anybody but myself. So it was something more so for myself and also challenged me to push my knowledge further with MySQL and see if my knowledge met up with professional standards. But the next couple certifications I will be getting will increase my pay and opportunities. So this brings me to my next topic what are some of the top certifications in IT.

I pick the top 5 certifications from the list on about.com.

1.CCIE

The CCIE always ends up on lists like these, and with good reason. With a pass rate of only 26% it is certainly the most difficult of all IT certifications. Once you place this on your resume, you know you have a truly impressive credential and can expect to earn an average salary of $93,000.

2.CISA

With the economic climate these days, big business needs auditors more than ever. The CISA is designed to certify audit skills, both technical and ethical. According to GoCertify.com, the average CISA can earn as much as $115,000.

3.CCSE

The CCSE is another high level security certification that created for individuals who work with Checkpoint products and must maintain secure VPNs. The demand for this certification is evident in the pay as shown on PayScale.

4.MCSD

The Microsoft Certified Solution Developer certification is designed for people who like to problem-solve. You are expected to know about enterprise solutions and Microsoft products. You will be expected to use business analysis skills to decide which solution is best for a particular environment or business. Here is the PayScale for the MCSD.

5.PMP

The Project Management Professional certification is here because it is another that requires an extensive amount of skill and experience to obtain. Once you have passed the exam and fulfilled the requirements you can pull in around $101,000 (based on a ZDNET Salary Survey).

I did look at other lists and the ones that kept showing up were CCIE and PMP. I will also mention Java, Oracle are in high demand. Even though there are several certifications you can get it is best you get ones that fall inline with what you really want to do. If you get a certification in something that may be the top in the field but never use it, all you did was waste time and money, and give your clients or employers a false sense of your abilities. So get those certs!

Question: Who has the better phone plan between Verizon and AT&T?
Answer: In terms of plan it will probably range from $80 to $100 with the data plans I want with either phone but AT&T has roll over minutes which I really like and Verizon has not taken a liking towards that yet.

Question: Which phone is better?
Answer: I look at this from a customer standpoint and developer standpoint. As a consumer iphone has very organized app store and strong brand with customer satisfaction with the iphone than the Android. The Android operating system will be placed on more phones but I haven’t seen it operate on any attractive phone and their app store is nothing to get excited about. Also from a developer standpoint the iphone owns alot of the smart phone market share and you could generate alot of money from developing an app for the iphone. Also since Apple develops the operating system and hardware for the phone the iphone has a higher compatibility rating than any phone out there. The Android has to be made to be a adaptable operating system since it is a open-source operating system which will be on phones and eventually netbooks. So if the vendor does not study it in and out it will not fully utilize the capabilities contained within it.

The Droid phone is coming to Verizon phone from what I have heard in November (don’t quote me, lol). So I will love to see who wins when it drops into stores than I will test it out so I can switch from my unattractive phone.

One thing I know for certain is that if Verizon had the iphone I wouldn’t have this problem! Let me know what you think?

I love Apple products and really love their branding but one thing I hate is to see the truth and completely over look it when just because you love it. Lately I have been coming across information detailing that Mac OS X is not secure it is just not attacked as much as Windows. I don’t know if you ever came across a competition called PWN2OWN. It is a competition is which people are competing against each other to hack computers with different operating systems and different browsers. The first browser to come to submission was safari on the mac.

The only browser that wasn’t cracked was Google Chrome on the windows operating system. This came at a surprise to me but after researching the Google Chrome sandboxing feature along with Windows randomization feature it is more secure than windows but it is attacked way more. For mac users I wouldn’t draw any concern over it now but when apple reaches a higher market share I think they will be in trouble.

Apple once again raised iPhone sales but this time it has risen sevenfold! But you have to ask yourself what if Apple wasn’t locked into a contract with At&t? What if Apple had a contract with Verizon, Sprint, T-mobile and other providers? There would be such an increase in profit it would be ridiculous. Especially when consumers are still not satisfied with the service at At&t. At&t has dropped calls, not as many towers as verizon and when you don’t have as many towers it creates a greater strain on the phone draining its power.

One solution realizing this Apple has done is create the iPod touch which can be distributed to anybody. But it does not have a provider so it does not have access to a 3G network. The only access it has to the internet is a wireless router, or through usb cable. Ipod Touch looks just like iPhone but without the service provider becomes nothing more then a ipod with wireless capabilities.

I really wish the iPhone would partner up with Verizon, but apparently Verizon CEO is not too fond of Apple. But congratulations to Apple increasing sales, it looks as though a recession is looked upon in laughter to great companies.

Over the past few months I have been testing out Windows 7  (64 bit Build 7100) and I must say I’m impressed by their level of effort. It seems as though their desperation borne nice fruits of labor. Instead of putting out products just for making money, they are putting out products that people like which actually makes even more money. Seems like they have a nice equation system going on. So let’s get down to business.

Windows 7 release candidate 1

What I look for in an operating system is ease of use, speed and stability. So I will give you a run down:

Ease of Use

Window 7 ease of use hasn’t really change compared to Vista to the common user. It seems as though make have gotten better with administrative tasks and putting forth a better attempt making a user more aware of getting antivirus programs and backuping programs. Thy also have advertise that they have better device management but all I see is that they made the icons bigger. I’m not impressed in this area.

Speed

Speed has increased nicely! I everything moves way faster and opens up so much quicker! It is almost like your old computer has turned into a new computer if you move to Windows 7. If you check the benchmarks windows 7 shows who moving in Zdnet benchmark.

Stability

Windows 7 is amazingly stable, I haven’t seen a blue screen of death or having incompatibility problems with hardware. It runs smooth and each windows explorer window is allocated the same amount of memory for each process. Even when I run multiple programs like photoshop, dreamweaver, eclipse, firefox and windows media player I do not see any stutter in my performance. I use hibernate alot and vista will so a stutter in my performance with windows 7 you couldn’t even tell that I use the hibernate function. I would even leave windows 7 on for hours on end get on program and let other people that don’t even know how to use the computer play around. So for stability I must say windows are on it.

Also remember this is still not the final version so when it is released we will see a true showdown between Windows 7, Windows Vista, Linux and Snow Leopard.

Also remember before using (This is from Microsoft Website)

Remember expiration dates: Please plan ahead for the Beta and RC expiration dates. To avoid interruption, you’ll need to rebuild your test machine using a valid version of Windows before the software expires. Windows will notify you that the expiration process is beginning and two weeks later your PC will begin shutting down every two hours. The Beta expires on August 1, 2009, and bi-hourly shutdowns will begin July 1, 2009. The RC will expire June 1, 2010, and the bi-hourly shutdowns will begin on March 1, 2010. In both cases, you’ll need to rebuild your test PC to replace the OS and reinstall all your programs and data.

The problem

Now as a common user you are probably thinking what is 64 bit architectures and what does this have to do with me? Well let me tell you why? First off people are always worried about speed, reliability and as long as it does what I want that all that matters. But what if I told you if are a common user and you are buying a new laptop or desktop that I will guaranteed 9 out of 10 that it is a 64 bit processor. For instance one of the most common 64 bit processors out there are :

• AMD‘s AMD64 extensions (used in Athlon 64, Opteron, Sempron, Turion 64 and Phenom processors)
• Intel‘s Intel 64 extensions (used in newer Celeron, Pentium 4, Pentium D, Xeon, Core 2, Core i7, and Atom processors)

Now heres the kicker as a common user you are most likely using an operating system that is 32 bits. So if you are using a 64 bit processor and 32 bit operating system you are not fully utilizing your processor it is just doing 32 bit work. Also if you have a 64 bit processor, 64 bit operating system and 32 bit program you still are not fully utilizing your processor. So here is the equation for full utilization of a 64 bit architecture:

1. First have a 64 bit processor (32 bit processor cannot work with 64 bit operating systems)
2. Than a 64 bit operating system to put on 64 bit programs (you can’t put 64 bit programs on a 32 bit operating system)
3. Than install a 64 bit program

So processor > operating system > program

So if you have this equation you will have a even faster performing machine. Also 64 bit is backwards compatible meaning you can install something that is lesser on it like 32 bit programs on a 64 bit operating system or 32 operating system on a 64 bit processor. But that is not the case with drivers (How your computer works with your hardware: printers, webcam, fax machine, etc). Is that all 64 bit architectures affect?

RAM

Also 64 bit architecture affects up to how much ram you can use if you have a 32 bit architecture you can only access up to 4 Gigs of Ram but if you have 64 bit architecture you access over 4 gigs to 1 terabyte of memory. Imagine how many programs you can manage if you had that much MEMORY!!!!!!

Operating Systems

Some of the top 64 bit operating systems 32 bit equivalents so pay attention to the numbers. I also provided supporting information for each operating system and its 64 bit technology:

Mac OS X Snow Leopard

Snow Leopard technologies

Vista and Windows 7

32-bit and 64-bit Windows: frequently asked questions

A description of the differences between 32-bit versions of Windows Vista and 64-bit versions of Windows Vista

Programming Guide for 64 bit Windows

Linux

Ubuntu: 32-bit v. 64-bit Performance

Ubuntu 64-bit More Competitive Against Mac OS X

Now you are on your way to 64 bit computing!!!

When communication you communicate in Google Wave, you create a new event called a wave.  SO what is a wave? Quoted from Google

A wave is equal parts conversation and document. People can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.

A wave is shared. Any participant can reply anywhere in the message, edit the content and add participants at any point in the process. Then playback lets anyone rewind the wave to see who said what and when.

A wave is live. With live transmission as you type, participants on a wave can have faster conversations, see edits and interact with extensions in real-time.

Does this sound familiar? (Go down to the next section for EXPLANATION) It can also even be viewed as a social networking site in a sense, but with Google products. So imagine Facebook with it’s applications but under Google’s name. It’s pretty straight forward here’s a video on Google Wave.

What I think about this

Now this seems funny to me that Google decided to launch this but it seems as though this is twitter but BETTER! The whole purpose of twitter is updates and allowing people to follow you which main component is communication. I guess if Facebook was trying to buy Twitter for 500 million dollars it would raise some eyebrows. And since Twitter refuse offers to allow people to acquire the company I guess Google came up with this saying, “So if you can’t buy twitter just create something like twitter, lol”.

I’m starting to see a trend with Google now. It seems as though Google’s business model isn’t about creating new technology but jumping onto something that is popular or widely use and making it better. And it seems as though the next trend is communication. So let’s see if people will decide to tweet or ride the wave.

Of all the years I have been on this planet have never seen Microsoft get so desperate or feel the need to compete at a great level. Now that it is becoming more and more prevalent that they are no longer the big kid on the block anymore they are going on all out attacks now against Google and Apple. This is all because of their steadily declining market share.

Market Share lossage and to who

1. Internet browser(Internet Explorer) – lossage to Mozilla Firefox and Apple Safari
2. Operating system (Windows) – lossage to Apple Mac OS X and Linux
3. Search Engine (live.com) – lossage to Google and Yahoo

Not even mentioning other competitors such as Adobe (Multimedia) Flash vs Microsoft Silverlight and Sony (Game Consoles) Ps3 vs Microsoft XBOX 360 vs Nintendo Wii, Microsoft is really feeling the effects of spreading themselves thinner and thinner and producing products of lesser and lesser quality. Even some of the competitors who they are going against have a focus and produce so very nice products. Now they are spending more money creating attack ads against Apple and Google. People see it as strategy but I see it as a act of desperation before the giant falls. If you want a good website for identifying market share go here to see the information for yourself.

What can Microsoft do?

Being that they still have the upper hand in most of their markets they need to create reliable products that cannot be compromised so easily. Firstly with windows it is known for viruses and its price. There are other products out there that are free and becoming easier to use for example linux. Or have little to no viruses and good quality, people go to apple mac os x. So if they can increase the quality of their product, include a higher level of security and speed and present it well I think we can see a nice increase in their market share. To even further back it up ask people who played around with Windows 7. They are impressed with the usability and speed which has increased alot of people’s curiosity and confidence. Now if they can launch a full-spectrum campaign on increasing quality of their products and decrease prices on licenses I guarantee we will see change in market share but only going up.

First figure out who is your target market?

Who are you trying to appeal to? Which social network are your audience most likely to go to? For example in the early stages of Facebook it was trying to appeal to people in college or use to be in college. So if your target market was for college students you would have fun fest. So do the research because there are literally hundreds and hundreds of social networking sites and you don’t want to waste your throwing the wrong message at the wrong people.

What are you selling and is it of high value or interest?

Remember people on social networking sites don’t respond well to direct advertising. They need something that is put into their line of sight and attention grasping! That all links from knowing your target market and what arouses their interests. So if your product is information writing a really grasping article! If it is a product then design it around their needs!

Next, be personable, let people know who you are and what you are about!

Being on a social networking site isn’t all about selling a product but getting to know people. So if you are strictly about business and selling people will see right through it. So open up a little but don’t expose yourself completely telling everything. Having a blog sometimes gives people a good feeling about a company when they see how the leader thinks. You ever know who you might meet or attracting, it might be your next ex-wife or ex-husband, lol, but try it out and have fun with it.