The Adventures of Captain HelpDesk

An actual post!

2005-10-12T10:02:00.000-07:00

So, it has been a while... another school year has begun and the Help Desk is operating at full speed. This year we have been seeing a lot of "battery problems."
We currently are running the IBM R40 model of laptop which come with great Li-ON Batteries and are at the end of a 3 year lease. After three years of use and abuse, the Li-ON batteries are in less than stellar shape. Most laptop computers come with a 1 year warranty on the battery, which you can imagine is long since past. So in order to restore the batteries in the IBM R40, the batteries need to be reconditioned. Which basically requires the batteries to be drained completely and then fully charged about three times.
You can read additional information about battery care here: http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm

huhcorp

2005-03-16T10:46:00.000-08:00

Just so you know, you should be aware of this up and coming company. Because they are going to change the way business is done. Why, you ask? Because they do stuff.

huhcorp

little bit o' fun

2004-12-11T06:14:00.000-08:00

Here's a little techi-nerdism for you:
http://semacode.org/

long time no post

2004-12-01T10:53:00.000-08:00

I know it's been a while, and I'm sure most of you forgot about me anyway, but your friendly captain helpdesk is here to brighten your day with a couple firefox tricks to please the masses...

If you want to know what plugins you have installed, simply type about:plugins in the address bar. If there are some plugins that you are missing and yet desire check out http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/central.html#central-plugins.

And if you really want to dive into the depths of firfox configuration typ about:config into the address bar and edit away.... just becareful, you might break something.

If you don't even know what firefox is... well, get with it! and

You know you want one

2004-10-27T10:02:00.000-07:00

Here's some new fodder for your flashdrive envy...
Who cares about PenDrives when you could have a PezDrive?

2004-10-12T08:37:00.000-07:00

Phil Agre has this great post, How to Help Somone Use a Computer. (Though it's from 1996, so it's more of an article than a post, but we'll just call it a post.) Anyway, here's some of the gems you'll find there:

* You've forgotten what it's like to be a beginner.
* If it's not obvious to them, it's not obvious.
* Don't take the keyboard. Let them do all the typing, even if it's slower that way, and even if you have to point them to every key they need to type. That's the only way they're going to learn from the interaction.
* Find out what they're really trying to do. Is there another way to go about it?
* Take a long-term view. Who do users in this community get help from? If you focus on building that person's skills, the skills will diffuse to everyone else.
[ More... ]

Last.FM

2004-09-30T11:47:00.000-07:00

If you don't know about Last.FM. You should. If you like music, you will like Last.FM. If you like your friends music you will like Last.FM. If you like the music that other people you don't know, who listen to similar music to you, listen to... then you will like Last.FM.

Last.fm is a personalised online radio station that plays the right music to the right people. Songs spread from listener to listener.
You get your own online radio station that you can fill up with the music you like. This information is used to find users who are similar to you. With this information Last.fm can play you new artists and songs you might like.

ooooooohhh

2004-09-30T10:54:00.000-07:00

1GB Xonix MP3 watch with voice-recording coming soon - Engadget - www.engadget.com

Geekiness in full effect!

I know it would be annoying to have the earphone dangling from your writst, and it's probably fits like a brick, but it would be cool to have a whole gig of data wraped around your arm.