Todd Clarke's Technology Corner v2.0

Todd Clarke's ideal office setup taken with iPhone 4s

Todd Clarke's ideal office setup

Todd Clarke's ideal office setup

Todd Clarke's ideal office setup

Todd Clarke's ideal office setup

I have been pursuing my ideal office for decades and this arrangement is the closest I have come to a nirvana of office productivity.

What you see here includes 7000 gigabytes (7 terabytes) of storage, 9 screens, 4 computers all controlled by one keyboard and mouse sitting on an Ikea desk. http://www.ikea.com/
Additional equipment on deck includes 2 iPads, one Kindle fire, one iPhone, a Fujitsu Scansnap S510 scanner (for going paperless), a Brother PT-2430PC labeler and of course the all-important Aeron chair.
Most of the monitors are 22” to 24” Samsung’s with a 22” Samsung USB Driven monitor a Phillips Boom Boom monitor and a Mimo 7” USB driven monitor. The desktop computers are redundant setups with a physical keyboard/mouse switch and Multiplicity software that ties them together with the MacbookAir, and the MacMini.

The computers are task driven and run software during the day based on their portability. Starting left working right they include:

I have found this setup to be very efficient. The two HP desktops run jobs that take a long time – like backups or print runs, or they are used for big projects we have going – stuff that I want to leave up (like maps). The Mac mini is used mostly for coding apps for the iPhone/iPad. The MacbookAir is my main day to day machine – so its running email, contact management, quickbooks, and document management. It is configured in such a way that on a moments notice I can pull its plug and dash out to a meeting.

The glass wall you see to the left of my desk is a 8’ wide x 4’ tall white board that we write on and/or tape things to as we work through projects .

How is your office configured?

One of my favorite blogs – Lifehacker.com has a great gallery of office setups – including this mobile one or thi sone in a barn – and this map shows where everyone is located that has made a contribution to Lifehackers Workspace show and tell.

Just a few days after I posted this article, I came across this showcase of minimalist office setups.

The email below was recently shared with me, and I thought it was a perfect example of the need for people to obtain a “license” to email before they just broadcast to the world. The exchanged occured between a proffesional consultant who sent out an email to a group of stakeholders and one of those stakeholders who was surprsied that their email had been made “public” by putting it in a carbon copy field as opposed to the blind carbon copy. The following is a verbatim (except for correction of typo’s) response to the original email:

“You are one of my best…and few chances… to witness spontaneous human combustion since you are such a flaming dither-wit. Will you publicly give me a physical address so I can observe this phenomenon? Oh, you just did that. I can find it.

Do you have any inkling of what you have done?

I have asked that my name be removed from this open broadcast list/list serve OR that this info be sent blind carbon copy (bcc). I cited past undesirable experience as the basis for my request.

You assured me first…that you would remove my name from this list, and then continued that you did not know if you could remember to copy me separately. I am still on this open list. You did NOT remove me as I requested.

Then you sent an email saying you had learned how to do a bcc. No worries…problem fixed,

Apparently neither statement is true.

I consider your inability to competently facilitate secure communication to be inexcusable. Are we clear on this? Your blatant disregard for my privacy and electronic security, as well as that of every person on this email broadcast list, is exceeded only by your inattention to both detail and your ineptness with very basic communication technologies.

You do have firewalls…correct?….and your AOL account has state of the art virus/malware detectors and everyone on this list is protected. Correct?

Until you learn how to use this technology safely REMOVE ME FROM THIS LIST.

Are we clear on this?”

If you are new to internet and email, this link will provide some background information on email etiquette and this link is an interesting white paper on how email flames get started.

Lacking that, I would stick with a quote I once heard “if you see someone coming at you with an email address that ends in .aol, RUN!

Finally, my own personal opinion is that you tell so much about yourself by using an AOL email address, very little of which is positive. The only way you could expand on that faux pas would be to use an AOL email for business. (If you have no clue what am I am talking about, consider registering your own domain name and using that address for your email.)

It’s interesting to note that while my AT&T iPhone doesn’t allow tethering in the United States, when I crossed in to Japan to teach a CCIM course, NTT DOCOMO had activated tethering. My iPad2 did not recognize Japanese providers at all, fortunatley we had brought with us the an international MiFi.

It’s a shame we can’t do the same in the U.S.A.

Just when I think no telecommunications company can oust Qworst from the most difficult in custome service, along comes along Sprint.

Sprint who required that I sign up for paperless billing when I ordered my Overdrive internet device. The same Sprint that won’t give me my login info to update my profile, so I can login, unless I can verify my info from a bill, that is tied up behind their webserver, which I need a login to see…and of course, when I call them they want the same info.

Back to writing letters to solve this ridiculous technology/customer service issue.

Boy I sure miss the days of the reliable HP printer. They had 3 models of inkjets and laserjets, consumer, pro and business and they lasted forever. Now? HP lists hundreds of models, and few of them work as well as the old ones. I mention this because I have two HP Color laserjet 2605 in the shop, and I don’t expect tosee them again, I’m more mad about the wasted $1,000 of toner sitting in those machines than I am the machines themselves.

I have another 2 year old HP deskjet at my cabin (for when we have to work there) that I had to trash – why? well the ink “notified” the printer that it had “expired” never mind that it was relatively unused or that it was wet. So I swapped in the backupset of inks I bought and left there, and guess what? they were “expired” too. UFB! I wasted 2 hours this morning “shopping” for a replacement and even I, the tech guy, have been left confused and beffulded. Lest you think its just an HP issue, I also have Brother and others that all chase the same ridiculous, non customer centric, business model

My apologies to whoever shared this photo of the HP lineup of printers and how many models they have of each.