It’s been a long while since I’ve posted here, I think it’s time to get into the swing of things, eh?

As a recap…nothing really has changed.  Well in terms of how I work.  The who changes, the what is pretty much the same, and the how has been status quo for seven and a half years now.

Web Worker Daily, which should be a must-read for folks like us, had a little article on how to be a better web worker:

Web Worker Daily » Blog Archive How to become a better web worker. «

Many people with regular jobs look at the digital bedouins tapping away at their laptops in the coffee shop at 10:30 in the morning and think to themselves, “Nice work if you can get it, but I need my real job. Alas.” And while full-time, slipper-wearing, video-conferencing-from-your-backyard web work isn’t possible for all employees, you may find that you can edge your regular job toward a more web worker-like structure.

I have to say these tips only skim the surface and misses the biggest factor: you.  Are you ready to be a web worker?  Can you resist the nap and Oprah temptation?  Can you still get it all done?  Can you adapt to the freedom.  Sure you can have the ability to work whenever you want, but …

But remember you still live in the real world and will have to deal with some people during what they consider “normal” work hours (hint: 2 AM isn’t “normal” for most people).

In the year since the book has taken a hiatus, technology hasn’t changed a heck of a lot.  Sure the web-based stuff has gotten cooler looking and easier to use, but the functions are still pretty much the same.

Over the next little while, as I bring this blog and book back from the digital dead, look for some updated tips.

Ciao!

Technorati Tags: work at home, telework, telecommuting

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Hey!  Anybody still out there?  Yeah, it’s been a busy summer (and fall) and the book and this blog have been on a bit o’ hiatus.  Fall is in the air, winter is coming, so let’s get revved back up here, eh?

Okay … to kick things back off here, LifeHacker points to John Dvorak PC Mag article about (the lack of) telework adoption in business.  Yep, I totally agree, most businesses aren’t doing enough to embrace telework, but … there are some good reasons for this.  Yeah teleworkers are more efficient, happier folks (by and large), but humans are social creatures.  I think work is just one social aspect that we exist in.  I know that sometimes I really wish I had an office to go hang out in—and I’ve been working from home for 6.5 years!  That and well, I think people want to look you in the eye to get the measure of the man they are talking with.  Even video doesn’t do this.

Wait, am I being a telework heretic?  I don’t think so.  I think the reality of the situation is that few jobs can be totally remote or from home.  I think businesses should be encouraged to let people work from home sometimes but then also be within easy reach of the office.  I think a touch of reality is important in any major change in how people do business, let’s take it slow.  Okay that and maybe doing some guerilla telework ;-).

Tags: telework

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It’s a fact of life, sometimes you’re going to need to troubleshoot and fix computer problems on your own.  Working from home means that you don’t have IT at your beck and call, so you’re flying solo baby!  On Thursday I had one of those charming "oh sh*t" moments and I thought you’d like to learn from it.

I’m going to outline the what happened first, then tell you the things that I did to get back up and running within a few hours.

So what happened?  You know I should have known that something was up because my laptop wasn’t hibernating right.  It would get about 1/4 into the restoring process then have to delete the restoration data and reboot normally.  Now, given that hibernation in XP can be wonky, I didn’t give it too much thought (though I had run chkdsk recently … more on that later).

Okay it started innocently enough.  My laptop froze doing a search with Windows Desktop search.  So I pushed and held the power button to shut ‘er off and reboot.  Now, generally, okay most of the time, doing this while the hard drive light is on (therefore active) is a bad idea, but I was impatient so I did it anyway (file under knowing enough to be dangerous).  When I turned the machine back on I got the nice HP Invent logo (good), then Windows XP (good) and I walked away.  Well, XP never loaded and in fact it was just stuck in a boot failure.  Windows wasn’t loading, no way no how.  Ugh.

So here’s the first lesson: don’t panic.  Yeah, easy to say, but don’t.  Panic makes you do really stupid things.  This isn’t a time-sensitive operation.  Your files aren’t going to self-destruct if you don’t get Windows back up and running ASAP.  Step away, try to relax, and think.  This is a really good time to find the install CDs that came with your machine; you’re going to need them.

Second lesson: have a backup plan.  I didn’t panic because I had a solid backup plan.  All my important e-mail routes through GMail.  All my RSS feeds synced with Attensa online, all my files (okay 95% at this point) backed up with Carbonite (thank you again!), contacts with Plaxo.  I knew that if worst came to worst, I could manage for a day or two if my machine was down.  By putting and using online services you can use the kids computer and friend’s computer, even a Internet cafe, to keep things running.

How did I get out of this jam?  This is where those install CDs that came with your machine come in.  So, you need to put the Windows re-install CD in and boot from that.  Many machines are configured to boot from CD if one is in there (a bit of a security hole, but convenient when this happens).

Once you’ve booted from the CD, well not things get fun.  You think you want to repair Windows right?  So you hit R to get ot the Recovery Console.  The problem with the Windows set up is that the Recovery Console is just not friendly.  Heck it’s just a command prompt.  You sit there staring at the prompt wondering "what the f*ck do I do now?".  This is what I did and pretty much all I figured I knew I could do without making things worse.  I ran check disk (chkdsk).  The command to type is chdsk /r (for repair).  For me it took about an hour and a half to run through chkdsk.  What is does if check the disk for problems and fix them.  You need to do this to have any hope of this going smoothly and getting back up and running.  I suggest getting a couple good DVDs going in the player, just so you’re not sitting and staring at the screen.

Once chkdsk is done, type exit and the machine will reboot.  Boot from the CD again and now you’re going to do my new favorite Windows fix, the non-destructive reinstall of Windows.  Fred Langa wrote about this in June.  I made a PDF of the article for posterity.  I’m not going to go through all the steps here, Fred does a great job of that.  Once it is going, just sit back and relax.  Let it work it’s magic.  For me, that’s all it took.  One episode of CSI and one DVD (Planet of the Apes, new version) later I was back up and running.

Let me recap the lessons here:

• Plan for the worst ahead of time which means:
  • Backup frequently.  Carbonite is my fav.
  • Know how to get into your e-mail through the web
  • Sync your RSS feeds online somewhere so you can check them
  • Know where your Windows reinstall CDs are, all the time (usually there are two of them)
• When it does happen, don’t panic
• I know what I’m doing because I’ve read about it beforehand, but if you feel that you’re getting in over your head, call your computer maker’s tech support.  Remember if you’re not sure what to do, just don’t.

That’s about it.  In a few hours I went from an unusable machine to being back up and running again without losing any files.  My machine seems to be running better now too.

Tags: windows crash, fixing windows xp, home tech support

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 You might think that running cables between computers, especially for networking, is a thing of the past.  Well, not really.  Sure WiFi has made it really simple to just have a network wherever you want it in the house, but somewhere there needs to be a wire connected to something for it all to work.  Engadget has offered a simple start into wiring at home: Link to How-To: Run your own network wiring - Engadget.

Nice instructions, good pictures.  And the final line: don’t be afraid to drill some holes.  One thing missing in all of this is the reminder that network cables have distance limits.  Once you exceed something like 100 feet you need to have a hub or router at both ends to boost the signal.  Not a big deal, and you might not even need to worry about it.

I’ve done this myself.  The network connection in my old house was in my detached office, but there was a computer in the house we needed connected as well.  This was before I got a WiFi router (and it might not have done well here, too many walls and glass in the way), so I drilled just two holes (one out of my office and one into the house), ran a stock piece (one piece) of 50 foot cable and done.  Easy, easy.  I tacked everything up with my handy staple gun (with wiring attachment) and it took me maybe 30 mins.

Give it a try!  It’s not so hard really.

tags: home networks, Ethernet, networking, Internet connections

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The NYT had an article about the Mac or PC question (via TMC Net).  I think the NYT article was more than a little biased towards the Mac side of the question.  Cool case designs aside, I’m still recommending PC.

Tags: Mac, PC

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This surprised me.  A majority of respondents (60%) to a JupiterResearch survey said they secure their WiFi network (NetStumbler, InformationWeek).  Surprising?  Yeah because not long ago (within a year) there was a lot of chatter about how people didn’t secure their networks.  But there is another side to this … lots of the same people tap into other people’s unsecured networks.  Hmm.

A new study by JupiterResearch indicates that majority of consumers — 60 percent — use security applications such as WPA (WiFi Protected Access) and WPA2 on their wireless networks to protect their computers and data. JupiterResearch analyst Ina Sebastian said "security is the number one concern for Wi-Fi network owners" as "they are particularly afraid of personal information theft and eavesdropping." As to bandwith theft, the report shows that 10 percent of respondents were able to log onto a neighbor’s network and nearly a third took advantage of unsecured WiFi networks while traveling.

Tags: WiFi, wireless security

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Well there’s a shocker, eh?  According to the BBC 30% of digital camera users don’t back up their pictures.  No surprise to me.  But to continue on my rant of "you must back up", I was afraid in my last crash that I lost some of my latest pictures.  I didn’t have them on Flickr yet and I wasn’t sure if they had been backed up.  Well, good news I didn’t lose any, but this should serve as a reminder that with pictures not in easily grabbed albums or other things, you need to keep those precious moments safe.  Most of my stuff is on Flickr, but I also try to back up my pics to CD (getting to DVD size now) regularly.  Really, it’s important.  Just do it.

Tags: digital cameras, back up solutions

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Well this is why you do it.

I decided that I should upgrade my trusty laptop from XP Home to Pro.  I had a CD and a key and away I went.  Thank God I waited until after our Qumana management meeting to try this stunt.

As you can gather it didn’t go well.  Rather, it pretty much hosed my machine.  Okay back to XP Home, but … Yeah, but I wound up trashing everything.  Documents, settings, applications.  Good side, I have a nice, clean install of XP now.  Bad side, well I have a ton of apps to reinstall, documents to retrieve, and tweaks to re-tweak.  However, I’m not as stressed as you might think.  I did a back up of My Documents just before I tried this.  Carbonite has been running for a while, and while far from complete, I think a good few things are backed up that I might need.

This is why you back up.  Disaster recovery.  Granted I’m my own disaster right now, but hey I’ll make it.  Other stuff that will save my tush:

Plaxo:  All 1400+ contacts are backed up, as are tasks, notes, and calendar items.

Attensa online:  I synced all my feeds recently.

GMail: For the last little while GMail has been my primary mail.  I have a good amount backe up, but I’m not really worried if I lose some of that e-mail.

Favourites?  Just made a copy.  Passwords?  I’ve been trying Roboform and Pass2Go lately.  While I think I’ve added a couple passwords today that I might have lost, Pass2Go (on a handy USB drive) has like 90% of them.

Yeah this probably won’t be a fun evening, but I do get a chance to figure out which applications I really use and only load those ones.

So take it from me.  Just bakup.

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Feeling a little cramped in the home office?  Is the two filing cabinets over a door getting you down?  How about having to duck every time get crawl  into your nook under the stairs?  Well B.C.-based Cedarsheds might have the thing for you … the build it yourself outdoor home office!  Wired has a nice story about it with some nice pictures (I looked on the Cedarshed website and I couldn’t find the plans that Wired reviews).

"Everyone is trying to become their own boss. It’s the flexibility, and being able to call your own shots," Cedarsheds President Bruce Cheng said. "With that and gas prices, people want to work from a home office and employers are getting more receptive."

Cedarsheds’ basic kits run $13,000 and include prefab materials to construct a sturdy 10-foot-by-12-foot office with a 9-foot-by-9-foot deck.

Although he admits the kits are a little pricey, Cheng argues they cost less than a room addition, don’t require contractors and can be assembled and ready for use in one to four days.

Yes, $13,000 is a good chunk of change.  I’d have to see how it compared to doing a home reno.  Not to mention if you live in a place that actually has that season called winter, it might need insulation and heat.  But come on, an office with a deck how can you beat that!

Tags: Wired, home office, Cedarshed, building project

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Via DownloadSquad (a great place to find cool new software and commentary, btw):

A new research study from IDC indicates that home offices of both types previously cited will sign up for VoIP service in the next year up to two or three times more than the average household. Of course, the primary reason for this is that those who do work from home are seeking cost savings on all levels, and if they can cut their regular phone bills in half, then VoIP has already developed a growing niche market.

This shouldn’t really come as a surprise.  The total cost of adding a VoIP line into your house is much, much less than getting another traditional landline.  In fact if you wanted to switch over the whole house to VoIP I know Vonage offers the ability to add an additional line and you don’t even need more hardware (the standard unit has ports for two lines).

Now, all VoIP providers have to keep working on is call quality and reliability.

Tags: voip, telework, soho, vonage

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Yesterday I challenged you to try RSS for a week.  But you might be wondering about how to really apply it to your work (at home, though these apply for office work as well).  From WebProNews comes 11 Practical Uses for RSS in Business.

1. Use Your Own Content
2. News Headlines
3. Upcoming Events
4. Thoughts/Commentary
5. Articles
6. New Products
7. Weekly/Monthly Specials
8. Newsletters
9. New Links
10. New Members
11. Ticker RSS Feeds
12. Using Content From OTHER Web Sites

The list was written for how you can use RSS to promote your business, but turn it on its ear.  Look at these uses for gathering information.  Getting headlines, getting content, getting inspiration, getting an edge.  You might think RSS is still an "edge technology" used only by the uber geek.  In some ways you are right, but the content providers are on the bandwagon and have seen the tangible benefit of offering information in this compact format.

I just finished reading my feeds this morning, and it’s almost time for a re-read as us West Coast folks have finished our morning coffee, and have picked up updates on several topics I’m interested in and about 6 articles that will become blog posts.  Now, imagine if you could spend less time reading e-mail and more time doing your job.  Imagine having the information you need to do your job dropped into your lap.  Yeah, thought so.

Sure, I know that RSS isn’t just for teleworkers.  I just find that teleworkers have a greater challenge to pull and digest information.

So what are you waiting for?

Tags: RSS, RSS for business, RSS Readers

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I just finished this section.  It’s part of the Technologies section and gets into the whole, “what should I buy a Mac or PC?”.  As you will read I am suggesting a PC.  Yes, I know the Intel-based Macs can run Windows and most major applications have Mac versions.  So I’d like some feedback on this section.  What do you think?  Am I on the mark?  Don’t be shy.  Leave a comment, or three.

My first computer was an Apple IIe. My parents bought it my freshman year in high school.  Right after, by the way, I typed my first and last term paper on a typewriter (I got a D because I misspelled “society” wrong every time, see Mrs. Miles I got a lot better).  Since then I’ve had mostly Macs.  I had a Mac all through college, grad school, and my first jobs.  Yes, I knew about PCs and started to work with them in grad school, but I still loved my Mac.  When I got into pharma I was a hard-core Mac person.  I even had a desktop background that read “You can take my Mac when you pry my cold dead hands from my mouse.”.  I started to discover then, though, that going against the flow was not a good thing.  I had to have two computers in my office because Macs were only begrudgingly allowed on the network and the corporate e-mail was MS Exchange.  Sure I did my best to show how much better and cooler I was, but I should have seen it was a losing battle.  I lost the battle when I moved to Canada.  That branch of the company was very anti-Mac.  I still had a Mac and a PC, but I used the Mac less and less.  When I started out on my own, I had to choose, like you, which to buy.  I chose PC.  It was cheaper and I had learned that it was a lot easier to go with the flow.  Work with what everyone else had than try to fight it.

My advice then, PC.  Yikes, I know.  This is assuming you have a choice, most big companies aren’t going to give you one.  You use what they use.  Period.  End of discussion.  However, things have gotten a little more complicated here in the Summer of 2006.  Apple is now using the same kind of chips that PCs use and people are starting (and Apple is encouraging this) to load Windows on their Mac with the Mac operating system.  Hmm, so I can have a Mac and a PC in one computer.  Why not that?  Well right now it’s only been a few months since this sea-change has occurred and the jury is still out on how well this is going to work for people beyond advanced users.

In the end, it is going to come down to what you like to work on and what you do.  If you just e-mail documents to people, use blogs and RSS for information, and your collaboration systems are web-based, this might just be a non-issue.  I do love the way the Mac laptops look (MacBooks).  The features are cool and Mac OS X is stable and powerful.  Macs have a lot going for them, except that most business people don’t use them.  So think about what you do, how you do it, and who you have to work with, then decide.  Don’t be afraid to buy your friendly neighborhood geek a beer (maybe a burger too, because we don’t get out much) and ask what they think.  Remember this is going to be the primary tool in your workday besides the phone, so don’t rush the decision.

Tags: Daddy Wears Slippers to Work, telework, telecommute, work at home, work from home

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Is it me or is VoIP getting worse?  This is what Tom Keating wants to know.  Network monitoring company Brix seems to think that VoIP quality has been over-hyped and is tanking.  Brix offers an online speed testing tool to check your connection.  From their data it’s supposed to Suck rocks.  Hmm, strange, Skype has been fine for me lately.  Vonage has been working as I’d expect (downloading a massive file during a conversation is a dumb thing to do).  When I ran the tool, granted I had other stuff running in the background, I got a dismal score.

I’m not sure I trust their tool or their objectivity.  My local ISP has their own tool on it’s own server just for us.  Those results are the ones I tend to benchmark on.  Why?  Because if I have trouble, that’s where the techs are going to start.

What can the teleworker learn from this?  It’s all about bandwidth.  The more download speed and upload speed you have the better.  And don’t forget all those cool widgets running, RSS readers (have you started trying one yet?), e-mail, 30 tabs open in your browser all take a bite out of your available up and down bandwidth.

Tags: VoIP, Brix, Vonage, Skype, broadband

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Okay, I really, really like VoIP.  I use Skype all the time and my home phone is Vonage.  However, this cartoon (and the descriptor on the site) made me smile.

Yeah I’ve had more than my sure of … are you there?  I can’t hear you.  Tris, you dropped out.

Eh, it’s worth it thought.  Because when it works, it really works.

Tags: blaugh, VoIP, Vonage, Skype

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