I've had a nearly complete technology makeover since I last wrote here. I'll write up the highlights and my experience of all of these new gadgets and services.
New Cell Phone
First, I got a new cell phone, part of Verizon's New Every Two plan. I typically get the bottom of the line phone, no bells and whistles, no downloading ring tones, and no built-in camera for me. But with all of the changes going on in my business life, I realized that I needed something that could really work for me, something that would help me to stay out of the office when I want and still be in touch with clients and the people working for me, without them knowing that I'm not in the office at the time.
One client uses AIM to keep in touch with me, and I have their AIM messages forwarded to my cell as a text message. That's great for reading their messages, but HORRIBLE for responding. It's a chore to tap tap tap on the number keys to write out a brief message, especially since I type 85+ wpm regularly. I can't tell you the number of times I've gotten a message and pulled off the road to tap tap tap a response message.
So I got this crazy idea that I would look for something with a QWERTY keyboard.
Then, my brother was talking to me about using my old computer (more on this later) to setup a media server (more on that, too), and use Bluetooth connections to synch up the contacts in my cell phone with Outlook when I walk into the room. I tell you, about once a month I sit down with my home phone, cell phone, and Outlook in my laptop, to coordinate all of my contacts, determine who should be added from caller ID to a contact, updating numbers, etc. To think that some of that could be automated? It's a heavenly idea.
I am a fairly new Verizon customer, but I have reached the end of my first two year contract, so I wanted to take advantage of their 2 year loyalty discount on a new phone. I surfed their website looking for a speaker phone with Bluetooth and a QWERTY keyboard. They do have them, and they are the top of the line models. A friend recommended the Palm Treo, which I considered until I saw that my after discount price was several hundred dollars! BlackBerry is almost that much as well. And then I spotted this little LG model, and I fell in love. It takes quite a bit for me to fall in love with a gadget, I just don't fall for them very often or very hard. I'm too practical, and if I don't see an immediate payoff, I won't spend the money, take on the carriage (space in my purse), or the maintenance (battery recharge, etc).
While I was shopping, the sales guy told me that Verizon is offering the first month free of VCast to get people to try it. One month, no obligation. So I went along for the ride. I can see the highlights from the Daily Show on it, from Jay's monologue, and breaking news from CNN. I don't know if I will keep this, but I'm having fun trying it out. What's weird is that I'm usually sitting on the couch in front of the TV while I'm playing these clips. I suppose I could record these shows and power watch them, but seeing the highlights makes me laugh, and it is pretty quick and painless.
One feature I'm starting to really like is the email option. My main email account for personal and business is with Yahoo (that way I don't change my email address when I change my Internet service) so I can go in and read mail in my inbox. Yahoo also has a mobile service that will send me a text message to my cell phone if I get an email from a specific person, which could be very helpful for afternoons I want to slip out of the office, and don't want to miss an important email. I'm not sure yet how to build a strategy around each of these tools, but I'm seeing that there is a lot out there to support me.
I spent about 20 minutes each day going through the new cell phone manual, trying new features, and slowing getting up to speed about how to use it.
Oh, I also got a Bluetooth headset. It's lightweight, and I'm loving using it. Especially while driving, it is a great help. At home, while I'm in the office, I keep it on the desk in front of me and put it on before answering a call.
New Computer
Because I run a business out of my home computer, I usually upgrade my computer every two years. It's a business expense, and the technology used to change so fast that I could justify the benefits. I kept my last computer for four years. I decided at the end of 2005 that I would buy a new one as a business expense during that calendar year. I went out to Dell's website and priced a few different options, got some advice about where to upgrade and where to not waste my money, and ended up selecting a system. I let it sit in my wish list for a week or so, waiting for Dell to offer some killer pre-Christmas deal that would really sweeten the pot. They did. One day, I received an email for an extra $100 off a system. I already had a free flatscreen monitor, and almost free shipping, so that was the sprinkle of sugar I was waiting for. The only catch... I was in Ohio and the computer needed to be in my office in Arizona. I made arrangements to have the system shipped to a friend's house while I was gone. So I came home to a new computer.
I was so swamped with work when I arrived that the computer actually sat in its boxes in front of my desk for almost 3 weeks before I had time to deal with the unpacking, the setup, and the swap over. In fact, the only reason I prioritized it that day was that I was getting a new Internet connection and I wanted it setup on the new machine (instead of having to transfer that from the old one later). I took a whole week to get my main applications installed, and get just the bare bones of email collection started on the new machine.
The old machine sits on the desk as well, with two monitors on the top, and the two CPUs side by side down below. One of the biggest surprises hit when I tried to attach the peripherals to the new machine. If you haven't bought a computer in a while, you might be surprised to learn that they don't automatically add a parallel port (for printers) to new computers. It seems that since I purchased my relatively new laser printer, printers have gone from parallel cables to USB cables. So my older printer which only supports parallel cables, can't be connected to my new computer without some modifications. Thanks to a great support guy at my local CompUSA, I have a parallel port card to add to the new computer. But I'm still hooked up for printing only on the old computer as I write this.
I have thought about trying out the dual monitor thing with this new system, and I really haven't researched to find out what I need. I'll save that fun for after I get myself off of the old system completely.
Speaking of transferring data and settings, I've got a strategy. When I bought the new computer, I purchased an external hard drive for backups. I'm going to copy everything from the old to the external drive, and then slowly organize it and copy it to the new computer. Then, the external drive will get setup to hold daily (incremental) and weekly backups.
As I'm installing my software on the new machine, I'm making great notes about versions and serial numbers and unlock codes, etc. If I have to, I'll reinstall my software later. It's my client data I'm concerned about backing up. I think the chance of a hard drive failure is pretty slim, so as long as I have the data, I'll deal with the software re-install.
The last change with the new computer is that my primary keyboard failed on Friday. Yep, in the middle of all of this change, I had a keyboard failure. I usually get about three years of use out of a keyboard, only about a year or so out of a trackball. I had to purchase a new ergonomic (split) keyboard and they only had wireless (and I didn't have a day to drive all over town looking for something different), so I have a new keyboard.
I just have one observation about the new computer - it screams it is so fast! I spent the money to upgrade the RAM, and I'm seeing the benefits of that. Plus, the machine is almost empty of content, so I'm sure that helps a bit, too.
New Internet Connection
For the first week, I had the new computer running off the new Internet connection (cable modem) and the old computer running off the old Internet connection (DSL). I'm switching for a couple of reasons. First, I've been having heartache because the DSL company's email servers have been acting up. This means that emails I send to clients sometimes (about 40% of the time) won't go on the first send. Talk about frustrating. The second reason is that the cable company offered me a bundle price that really does save me some money, but I had to take the whole digital home package to save. This means that I also got new phone service, but more about that later.
The new computer on the new connection screams! I can't believe how fast it is, and how much faster it is than my DSL connection. I started with DSL because they were the first to offer broadband service to my part of town about 7 years ago. I'm not a person who changes on a whim, so I stuck with them, even when I moved (which seemed like a logical time to re-evaluate options). I was happy with the speed I had. I could see some slowness in how some webpages loaded, but honestly, it still loaded faster than I could read, so I didn't think anything about it. But MAN-o-MAN, this new connection is fast. I almost feel like I need a seatbelt on my Aeron chair when I'm surfing.
New Telephone Service
I've switched to digital telephone. The guy was here for about 30 minutes this morning. All I know right now is that I have a dial tone. I've recorded the cable show that teaches you how to use the digital phone features, so I've still got to watch that, setup my voice mail, etc.
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