Techi.es

BT take client offline

Techi.es — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:19:25 +0000

Today a BT engineer managed to take one of my Cotswolds based clients offline. They installed a new wireless router, and managed to connect a CAT5 cable from the LAN port of the router, back to another LAN port on the same router. Net result was the router stopped issuing IP Addresses via DHCP.

This resulted in a callout, and within 10-15mins of tracing cables we found the network loop. They are now back online, no thanks to BT, but were offline for 1-2 hours.

Pro long the life of your desktop computer or laptop

Techi.es — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 20:48:03 +0000

One of the biggest problems with Desktop Computers and Laptops is dust. They attract dust constantly. Dust clogs up the fans which help keep your computer cool. The build up of heat increases the chances of components failing in your desktop computer or laptop.

There is a quick inexpensive solution, which will help pro long the life of your computer. For less than £5.00 buy a can or two of HFC Free Compressed Air Duster.

Once a month (or more), use this compressed air to clean out the fans along with any vents on your Desktop Computer or Laptop. Wipe away an dust which sits on the outside of the case, so it is not sucked back in. This will help pro long the life of your machine.

Dell Optiplex 390 and HP Microserver

Techi.es — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 15:55:00 +0000

Today has mostly been spent configuring 2 Dell Optiplex 390 SFF machines for a client. Both machines are running Windows 7, Office, and have been configured for Google Apps Sync with Outlook. File sharing has been setup to link back to their file server, and company database.

Next on the list was a HP Microserver, with 4 500Gb Drives in Raid 0/1, meaning 1Tb of usable storage, completely redundant using the 2nd set of drives. This machine has been setup with Ubuntu server, running as a file server, VPN server and backup for another file server. It runs wonderully and is so well built.

Google Apps Swindon

Techi.es — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 13:50:20 +0000

We have just had confirmation that we have secured a deal with a large Hotel based in Swindon, who have been looking to migrate an old exchange server to Google Apps cloud based email service. This will enable the Hotel to be more productive, and giving them more flexibility.

A big requirement was cost savings for the Hotel Business, and we are glad to say we have reduced their email costs by 30%, excluding the costs associated with running the old exchange server (power costs etc).

ByteStor 8GB USB High Speed “Dataferry” Flash Drive

Techi.es — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 20:54:34 +0000

Buy one (or more), backup your important data, and put it away in a drawer

£5 delivered

ByteStor 8GB USB High Speed "Dataferry" Flash Drive

Swindon to get first UK 4G mobile network

Techi.es — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 11:58:30 +0000

Swindon council will be getting an LTE network next year, just as residents lose access to what free Wi-Fi the council’s last networking project managed to provide.

UK Broadband will be kitting up Swindon council offices with LTE connections next year, using the 3.4GHz spectrum it acquired more than a decade ago – and which it has been filling with a variety of technologies ever since. But while the LTE network might provide back-haul to public services one day, for the moment it is simply connecting up council sites.

There has been some confusion over this, because Swindon was a leader in the municipal Wi-Fi movement and in 2009 it loaned Digital City £400,000 to build a city-wide Wi-Fi network. The idea was to offer free access at low speeds and make money selling premium services, only it didn’t, and Digital City promptly went bust.

Earlier this week the council survived a vote of no-confidence on that issue – having announced the LTE scheme – but this new effort won’t get Swindon its money back. Instead the council hopes that the LTE network will make an equivalent sum, eventually.

Quite how that will work isn’t clear. Broadband UK does have a licence to provide mobile telephony at 3.4GHz, a licence variation it acquired in 2007, but mobile phones are unlikely. The company owns 40MHz of spectrum split into two equal chunks, for up and down links starting at 3480MHz and 3580MHz respectively. That’s enough for a decent LTE service, just, but LTE handsets or tablets that will operate in that band aren’t even on manufacturers’ road maps yet.

There are 42 bands approved for LTE around the world, making the “quad-band” complexity of GSM look trivial. LTE devices will have to support a range of bands, but it will be a very long time before they’ll support 42 of them, and the details of the 3.4GHz band aren’t even harmonised across Europe yet.

But that’s not a problem for fixed wireless access, where receiving equipment can be tuned to the network. 3.4GHz won’t penetrate walls, or anything else, and so is well suited for line-of-site distribution to fixed locations (as UK Broadband will be providing to Swindon).

Swindon’s hopes of sharing that bandwidth in the future, and perhaps making back its investment in municipal broadband, will more likely rely on local Wi-Fi connections using the LTE network for back haul, if they ever appear at all that is.

But if the network is deployed next year, as planned, then Swindon will be able to claim to have the UK’s first LTE network, even if only a select few will be able to use it.

[Source: The Register]

ByteStor 16GB USB High Speed “Dataferry” Flash Drive

Techi.es — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 20:23:53 +0000

ByteStor 16GB USB High Speed “Dataferry” Flash Drive

Google Apps Updates 17/09/2011

Techi.es — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 08:41:31 +0000

Accessibility improvements to Google Calendar, Google Docs and Google Sites

Posted: 16 Sep 2011 12:26 PM PDT

We’ve recently made some accessibility enhancements to Google Calendar, Google Docs and Google Sites. Improvements have been made in keyboard shortcuts and support for screen readers among other items.

Google Calendar: Google Calendar now has new keyboard shortcuts and better screen reader support for our blind users. Members of the blind community can now use JAWS, VoiceOver and ChromeVox to manage your calendars, create and edit events or simply browse your events.

Google Docs and Google Sites: New keyboard shortcuts and better screen reader support with support for two screen readers: JAWS and ChromeVox.

Editions included:
Google Apps, Google Apps for Business, Government and Education

For more information:
Google Calendar: http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/improved-accessibility-for-google.html
Google Docs and Sites: http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2011/09/improved-accessibility-in-google-docs.html
Accessibility: http://www.google.com/accessibility/

New look on the way for Gmail, Calendar, Docs and Sites! Find out more at whatsnew.googleapps.com/new-look

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New version of Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook® now available

Posted: 16 Sep 2011 12:01 PM PDT

Version 2.4 of the Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook® tool is now available with the following new features and improvements:

- Internationalization – The tool is now available in 26 languages including English
- Improved Notes sync – sub-folders sync now supported
- Performance improvement when copying/moving/deleting a large number of messages
- Support for moving/copying messages between message stores
- When replying to a message that is not in the Inbox, the reply is saved in the same folder

Editions included:
Google Apps for Business, Government and Education

Languages included:
Chinese simplified, Chinese traditional, Czech, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Filipino, Finnish, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese

How to access what’s new:
Download page. If the plugin is already installed, then it will auto-update to the new version.

For more information:
Release notes

New look on the way for Gmail, Calendar, Docs and Sites! Find out more at whatsnew.googleapps.com/new-look

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New Charts API now added to Google Apps Script

Posted: 16 Sep 2011 09:28 AM PDT

We recently launched a Charts API as part of Apps Script to allow chart creation to be more automated and easily programmed. These charts can then be attached to sites, sent as email attachments, or displayed using an Apps Script UI app.

Editions included:
Google Apps, Google Apps for Business, Government and Education

How to access what’s new:
Google Apps Script Chart Services: http://code.google.com/googleapps/appsscript/service_charts.html

For more information:
http://googleappsdeveloper.blogspot.com/2011/09/visualize-your-data-charts-in-google.html

New look on the way for Gmail, Calendar, Docs and Sites! Find out more at whatsnew.googleapps.com/new-look

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Format painter in Google Docs and Drag & Drop images in Drawings

Posted: 15 Sep 2011 06:54 PM PDT

The following features are now available to Google Apps domains:

Format painter: Format painter allows you to copy the style of your text, including font, size, color and other formatting options and apply it somewhere else in your document.

Drag & Drop images in Drawings: If you’re using the latest version of Chrome, Safari, or Firefox, you can now drag an image from your desktop and drop it directly in the drawing canvas.

Editions included:
Google Apps, Google Apps for Business, Government and Education

Languages included:
All languages supported by Google Docs

How to access what’s new:
Format painter: Select the text for the formatting you want to copy, press the paintbrush button in your toolbar, and then select the text where you want to apply that formatting.

For more information:
http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2011/09/this-week-in-docs-format-painter-google.html

New look on the way for Gmail, Calendar, Docs and Sites! Find out more at whatsnew.googleapps.com/new-look

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Acer Aspire One 522 10.1 inch Netbook

Techi.es — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 16:20:50 +0000

Acer Aspire One 522 10.1 inch Netbook (AMD Dual-Core Processor C-50, 1 GB RAM , 250 GB HDD, Windows 7 Starter 32-bit, up to 6 hours battery life) – Green £199 delivered

IT Support Oxford

Techi.es — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 01:50:04 +0000

No we don’t just do IT support in Swindon, Wiltshire – in fact, most of the UK!!

So this is basically a test to see if we can reach the 1st page of Google for IT Support Oxford. And by the way, if you are a first time visitor here welcome. Take a look around our site and check out what we do.

Unlimited IT Support for only £9.99.