Jerry Fahrni

Tag: Microsoft

  • Saturday morning coffee [January 26 2013]

    Amsterdam Coffee MugSo much happens each and every week that it’s hard to keep up sometimes. Here are some of the tabs that are open in my browser this morning along with some random thoughts….

    The coffee mug to the right comes straight from Amsterdam. I stopped there back in November 2011 on my way to Germany on a work trip. It’s a dirty city with a weird vibe to it. Everyone smokes and you better watch your butt or you’re likely to get run down by a bicycle, which appears to be a popular form of transportation. I walked through the Red Light District just to say that I’ve seen it. It was disturbing and depressing. It’s sad to see that kind of thing in my opinion.  Overall I didn’t like Amsterdam. You can have it. By the way, that’s a pretty big coffee mug. It hold a lot of coffee.
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  • Saturday morning coffee [January 12 2013]

    Welcome to my first Saturday morning coffee post of 2013. Here are some of the tabs that are open in my browser this morning along with some random thoughts….

    The coffee mug below was a Christmas present from my youngest daughter, Mikaela. Apparently she reads my blog; yeah, I’m as surprised by that as anyone. She thought I needed a customized coffee mug to go along with my Saturday morning coffee post. I’m thrilled to be displaying it here today for the first time. I had to move it down because it deserved an image from both sides.

    Christmas SMC Mug
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  • Microsoft Surface RT is a great looking tablet, but I’ll be holding off for now

    “The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys” – unknown

    I had a Microsoft Surface RT tablet in the shopping cart. I was this close – holding my thumb and index finger very close to each other – to pulling the trigger. Had the trusty credit card out and permission from the spousal unit.

    What’s not to like about Surface RT? I believe it’s a more sophisticated option than either an iPad or Android tablet. The starting price is $499 for a 32 GB model with 10.6-inch ClearType HD screen, five-point multi-touch, resolution of 1366 x 768, a NVIDIA T30 chip paired with 2 GB of system memory, MicroSD card slot, USB 2.0 port, HD video out port, has a kickstand and so on. It even includes Microsoft Office 2013 Student Edition for crying out loud! And if you’re willing to drop a bit more cash you have options for a keyboard cover. It’s truly a bargain.

    So what’s the problem? There’s really no problem. I want one. I really want one. The issue is that I made a deal with myself a month or so ago that I wouldn’t purchase another piece of technology unless it could replace something I currently have. I have a lot of toys.  And unfortunately the Microsoft Surface RT won’t replace any of the bigger ones because it runs an ARM-based chip that typically powers smartphones and consumer tablets. It could easily replace an iPad or Android tablet, but not my laptop or tablet PC. I suppose it could in theory, but not practically.

    Being the logical guy that I am I’ve decided to wait for Surface Pro and shell out the $1K plus in the hope of replacing at least one of my bigger machines. That’s the plan anyway. You never know though. I’ll be in up in Bellevue, WA next week, which means that I’ll end up at the Microsoft Store at least once. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if I ended up walking away with a Surface RT tablet. Just sayin’.

     

  • Microsoft Surface RT tablet for $199? Too good to be true

    I’ve been reading reports at various tech blogs that the new Microsoft Surface RT tablet due out in late October is going to be priced at $199. While I’d like to believe it, I simply think it’s too good to be true. At $199 the Windows RT version of the Surface tablet would be a no-brainer for anyone looking for a nice tablet with enterprise potential. Let’s face it, at that price I wouldn’t hesitate to grab one site unseen.


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  • Saturday morning coffee [July 28 2012]

    So much happens each and every week that it’s hard to keep up sometimes. Here are some of the taps that are open in my browser this morning along with some random thoughts….

    The coffee mug to the right isn’t a coffee mug at all, it’s a coffee cup from the Starbucks in the lobby of our hotel. The Fahrni crew is on vacation this week. We’re running all over Texas having a great time. Feel free to read about what we’ve been up to here.

    - Dark Knight Rises was #1 at the box office last weekend. My family and I saw it. Good movie, but I was a little disappointed. The movie fell short in several areas in my opinion.

    – I’ve heard an awful lot about the Olympics this week. Is it just me or are the Olympics losing their appeal? I can’t seem to muster any interest. However, it you have an interest in keeping up with the Olympics you can always do so on your smartphone with this list of Olympics 2012 Android and iOS Apps at Lockergnome.
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  • Saturday morning coffee [July 21 2012]

    So much happens each and every week that it’s hard to keep up sometimes. Here are some of the taps that are open in my browser this morning along with some random thoughts….

    The coffee mug to the right is in honor of the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises. I am a Batman fan from way back. Don’t believe me, ask my brother. I was reading the comic books, a.k.a. “graphic novels” long before Michael Keaton invented the movie role back in the late 80’s. The mug itself comes from Six Flags Magic Mountain down in Valencia, CA. Six Flags is a DC Comic themed park, so of course they have a lot of Batman paraphernalia. The park is only about three hours from my home so my family and I have season passes and head down there 2-3 times a year. I don’t do roller coasters anymore, but my kids enjoy them. Me? I eat my way around the park; freshly make sugar-cinnamon donuts, ice cream, popcorn, churros, and of course funnel cake. Don’t forget about the funnel cake. I get mine with whipped cream, strawberries and chocolate sauce. Been thinking about piling ice cream on top, but haven’t gone that far yet.
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  • Windows haters out in full force following Surface announcement

    I’ve been reading quite a bit online about yesterday’s announcement for Microsoft’s Surface tablet. As I mentioned last night, I’m thrilled. But I can’t say the same for everyone else. For some inexplicable reason there’s a lot, and I mean a lot, of negative press online today in regards to Surface. Some are simply Microsoft haters, others Window haters, and of course there’s the Apple fanboys, and so on.

    Many are comparing Surface to the iPad which is ridiculous as they’re completely different machines. That’s simply not the right comparison to make. I’ve written about my thoughts on that before so I won’t bore you by repeating myself here. Suffice it to say, one is a mobile OS and the other isn’t.
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  • “What’d I miss?” – Week of June 13, 2010

    As usual there were a lot of things that happened during the week, and not all of it was pharmacy or technology related. Here’s a quick look at some of the stuff I found interesting.
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  • Microsoft: the good and the bad

    Microsoft has been in the news quite a bit lately, some of it good and some of it bad. The software giant has done everything from creating an incredible computing environment to building one of the most successful online gaming environments in history. And like most mega-companies they’ve collected their fair share of lovers and haters. With that said, it’s beginning to look like the haters are starting to out number the lovers.
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  • My first “cloud” letdown

    The cloud punched me in the nose recently and it’s still a litter tender. I’m a huge proponent of cloud based solutions from simple things like online document collaboration and storage to web-based enterprise SaaS solutions, and I have been slowly migrating my digital life away from the desktop toward the cloud. The cloud and I have been very happy together for well over a year now, but we had out first argument last week and I lost. It’s not serious enough to consider divorce, but it was a wake up call to re-evaluate the relationship.

    I use both Live Mesh from Microsoft and Dropbox to manage and synchronize documents on multiple computers. The combination has worked very well for me. I use both applications because I like to try new things; Live Mesh came first followed by Dropbox at the recommendation of my brother.
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