FYI

You thought the Nintendo Wii was all fun and games, but no! It is also a serious crime fighting tool! Japanese police used the “Mii” portrait feature of the Nintendo Wii to create a wanted poster.

Either that or we have begun to be victimized by rogue video game characters. I, for one, will definitely be keeping a vigilant eye out for virtual criminals from now on.

I found this while doing serious technology research. Really. If it didn’t have technology in it, I wouldn’t have brought it up. I’m serious … Ok, fine. Kitties make me laugh so this was going to make this month’s FYI no matter what. But what’s really funny is that apparently there are many more videos of cats riding Roomba vacuums on YouTube.

What could be more natural than growing apples with Apple Inc. logos? What I’m wondering is why no one has thought of this before. To see how this is done, just follow this link: http://www.uberreview.com/2008/12/japanese-fanboy-grows-apple-apples.htm

It’s amazing what we can do with technology these days. What is even more amazing is how some people put this technology to use. A doctor volunteering in Congo was able to perform a complicated surgery he had not done before using instructions texted to him by a colleague in London. In the process he saved a boy’s life. Read more about this amazing story here.

The election dominated our news for months. Now that it’s over, some experts are attributing the “21st Century” campaign of Barrack Obama for his victory. Part of this success, they claim, was the extensive technology that the Obama campaign used. An example of this was something they called “Project Houdini“, used to identify which supporters had or had not yet voted on election day in real-time. The use of all this technology during the election process sounds all well and good, but could it have gone too far?

In the course of my work, I occasionally find dead spiders in computers. They seem to love the warmth! Seeing as this is Halloween season, I found this article amusing. I bet none of you have ever found a spider this big in your house … well, except my family in Costa Rica!

Recently, Reader’s Digest published an article titled “13 Things your Computer Person Won’t Tell you“. (A word of warning – I don’t agree with every item on this list!). Number 10 on that list is “If you want to see less of me, get a Mac”. The “computer person” quoted in that list says “Macs are actually a little bad for my business.” I certainly agree with the core idea of this item, namely that Macs are more reliable and easier to use than Windows machines. But I have little pity for the guy who claims he is losing business because his clients are switching to Macs. He, like so many other “computer guys”, are only helping to propagate the myth that IT professionals are only needed to fix computer problems. Rather, instead of only responding to problems, Macs allow IT professionals to spend more time helping our clients do productive things. Those of us who concentrate on helping our clients do more with their technology will be the IT professionals that are truly respected. As our society becomes more tech-savvy, people are becoming less and less tolerant of bad technology and look to those who recommend technology that “just works”. So … are you ready for your Mac now?

Lenovo, the official technology provider of the 2008 Olympics, rejected the use of Windows Vista for any of the 12,000 vital PCs used for the operation of the games, opting instead to use Windows XP. Quoting the chairman of Lenovo, “If it’s not stable, it could have some problems”. However, in a spectacular display of instability, a Windows XP computer operating part of the light show for the opening ceremonies suffered a “Blue Screen of Death”, which is slang for a total Windows system crash, projecting the super-sized error screen onto part of the stadium. Read more about this Olympic snafu here.

Just a small word of warning, the web site I refer to in this article is not exactly kid friendly or not for you if you are easily offended.

If you’ve ever worked in IT, worked for a large company with an IT help desk, or know some IT geeks, check out the web site http://thewebsiteisdown.com. It is a funny parody on the day-to-day life of a not-so-enthusiastic IT help desk guy.

What is really funny is that as I write this, the web site is, in fact, actually down!

A recent study shows that 34 percent of IT workers have gained more than ten pounds in their current jobs. When I read this article, it really wasn’t surprising to me. Back when I worked as a contractor, my contracting rep picked me up for lunch in a new Cadillac. I asked him why he got a new car, and he said that he had to get a bigger car because most of the guys that worked for him couldn’t fit in his old two-seater Mazda!