Technically Speaking

Recently I published an article over at TechRepublic covering a text replacement application called PhraseExpress.  The tool is extremely useful, but building lists takes some time.  After all, words that fit the application for key wording aren’t known right away.

In playing with the application, which I am still doing, I discovered a set of video tutorials to walk through the application even further.  Check out the video clips to get an even better idea of how the application can make you more productive and maybe even provide a few tricks along the way.

PhraseExpress Video Tutorials

I know that I will be going through these to improve the application for me.  Folders have proven quite tricky, but I think with a bit of patience I will get it nailed down and be able to write entire blog entries using only acronyms of three letters or less.  (or not… but it would be an interesting challenge).

Last fall I was tasked with overseeing a phone system installation at my organization, which was a rather large undertaking given the short time frame for getting it accomplished, but we got it done.

The months since the new phones went in have been a vast improvement over the previous phone setup we had, depending on who you ask of course.  However adding this many IP based devices to our network has introduced some challenges in keeping things running smoothly and keeping devices online where they belong.

Quite simply we are running out of space in the kiddie pool that is DHCP.  My new project is to rescope our environment and split things up into VLANS.  The beginning of this endeavor was this week and it is starting to make sense.  I understand the reason for creating VLANS, to essentially keep the voice devices and traffic somewhat segregated from the PCs and other data devices.  This way the DHCP pool available for each device type gets to grow a bit.

Working with all these hosts

I guess adding things to the network as they become necessary is catching up with me.  Sure we need the device and it serves a business purpose, be it a printer, PC, or phone, but this doesn’t mean there is room by default.  The fact that we haven’t done a lot of big adds to the environment and usually aren’t growing at a huge clip put me in sort of a docile mode about the whole thing.

Big picture getting clearer, but still not a Monet

The move to a VLAN environment will also allow me to essentially rebuild our whole infrastructure.  No not with brand new gear all over the place, but with cables of a more desirable length and a better cable management arrangement (and some labeling too).  This should clean things up and make it easier to manage.  I am not sure I will be putting in a glass door to show it off, but it will be more pleasurable to work with for sure.

Another positive is the learning aspect for me.  Sure I am learning, but I am glad I didn’t try to get to a scalable network without some help.  It seems this is quite a big undertaking and should be closer to complete by the end of the summer… I hope.

Everyone uses passwords.  In todays connected society it is all but a fact of  life  that a password or pin number will be used almost everyday.  Sure you might go fishing way up north somewhere and your fish finder and cooler do not need a password, but most every other day… somewhere a password is waiting for you.

In recent months I have tried a few methods of managing passwords, from a paper notebook to a thumb-drive running a password application and for a while these were great ways to keep things moving and prevent me from forgetting the needed information to get into a website or some other area.  Lately, an online application that works in browser as an extension and on my mobile phone has been just what the gatekeeper ordered.

LastPass to the rescue

The concept of LastPass is that you have a single password to remember and it will  provide you with all of the rest of your passwords as you need them.  I realize that other password keepers do this too… allow you to make a list of the items you need to keep, ATM pin numbers, logon information, etc; but LastPass does it in a way that also helps you use the information.

When I log into LastPass I can use the browser extension in Chrome to record passwords as I enter them in their respective websites.  When entered, I can click the save site button and the information and URL are kept in a vault.

This vault is synced with other platforms, different browsers, my phone through an application, and other methods as well.  this way when I am using a different method to access things online, I can get the logon information from LastPass.

Note: Obviously displaying my personal details about LastPass is a bad idea by nature so screen shots are limited.

Cost?

To use the basic, in browser features LastPass is free for all who sign up.  Adding mobile features for devices like the iPhone or Android costs about $12/yr.  Because I recently got an Android phone (more on that in another post) I decided to get the pro/premium feature set as well and boy is it nice.

When the folks at LastPass get into Windows (or other platforms) applications I will be completely convinced it was the right move.  I mean what better way to start blogging more frequently than being able to remember (and not just reset) the password for your blog account… Just sayin’…

Give LastPass a try at http://www.lastpass.com and see if it helps you out as much as it has me.