CuriousMitch

The ramblings of one curious guy

Holes I Need Holes

Categories: Power

(Yes the post title is a Seinfeld reference see below)

One of my cardinal rules in life is ABC (Always Be Charging).  I like to keep my devices charged, and you can usually find me with a spare battery of some sort on me when I am out and about.   Much as I have tried to avoid Kickstarter, last year The Practical Meter caught my eye and I backed the project.

I have been playing with it for some time now, and it is definitely helpful in making sure that when speed matters devices are charging as fast as possible.  It has also shown me that not all cables are created equal and different cables in the same charger perform differently.

The post title is a reference from “The Frogger” enjoy the clip

The Practical Meter

Thanks to this post on how to embed a YouTube video to start at a specific time.

Posted by Mitch Cohen on January 16, 2014 @ 11:02 am
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Superbowl Tickets Maybe Not

Categories: Miscellaneous

The Superbowl will be played in my backyard this year, today the NFL was nice enough to send me an email letting me know that tickets are now available.

image

Out of curiosity I clicked, the cheapest tickets

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and the most expensive tickets
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I guess I will be watching it the comfort of my den 🙂

Posted by Mitch Cohen on January 15, 2014 @ 8:12 pm
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How to add IBM Connect 2014 Online to the IBM Connections Mobile App

Categories: IBMConnect, ibmconnections, IC14

For those attending IBM Connect 2014 you should have already received your credentials to the Connect 2014 online site, which in large part is powered by IBM Connections.  If you want to use the IBM Connections Mobile App (Android, iOS) it can be easily configured as follows.

Add a new account and select

“My company’s server’

2014-01-13 15.08.10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next use the this URL “https://connections.connect2014.com/mobile” along with the credentials you should have received from IBM.

2014-01-13 15.10.06

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Simple as that you now have access to the Connect 2014 Connections environment on the go.

Posted by Mitch Cohen on January 13, 2014 @ 10:23 am
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Making Two Factor Authentication (a little) easier

Categories: google, Security

I am a big fan of Two Factor Authentication.  If you are not familiar with two factor authentication, there is a good explanation here.  I have enabled  Two Factor authentication pretty much on any account I have that supports it.

Many Two Factor implementations use the Google Authenticator app to provide the authentication code.   Setting up  the authenticator is easy, you generally scan a QR code, and then enter the code to confirm the setup.

One of the difficulties when using Two Factor authentication is setting up the Authenticator app on a new or additional device.  When you initially set up Two Factor authentication you are presented with a QR Code that is scanned by the app to automatically configure the account.   Typically to set up another device you have to invalidate the original configuration, and sometimes even disable and then re-enable Two Factor Authentication altogether.

Recently listening to an episode of This Week in Google they shared a tip so simple I don’t know why I never thought of it.  When you first enable Two Factor authentication for a given account download the QR Code image and save it somewhere securely.   Since I use Lastpass as a password manager I create a secure note which allows me to securely upload and save the QR code image.   Configuring the Authenticator App on an additional or new device is as simple as opening up the secure note and scanning the bar code.

Posted by Mitch Cohen on January 6, 2014 @ 10:27 am
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2013 By The Numbers

Categories: stats

An abbreviated version of my annual look back at the last year, by the numbers.

Blogging

My blogging output was way down this year.  I am not exactly sure why, it was a busy year not leaving as much time to care and feed the blog as I would have liked.  On my to do list for this year is to give the blog theme a much needed update, and hopefully get back to posting a little more regularly

Blog by Year 2011-2013

Twitter

Much like blogging a big drop off in the number of Tweets from 2012 to 2013.  I can’t say I specifically tried one way or the other to tweet more or less it just happened, I am not going to invest too much time in figuring out why.

Tweets by Year 2011-2013

2011 Twitter Statistics provided by Tweetstats. 2012 & 2013 Twitter Statistics provided by Tweetnest

Photos

I take a lot of pictures, I was actually surprised at the total number for the year and the increase over last year.  I definitely used my phone as my camera more this year than in the past.  In the second half of the year when I discovered Google Auto Awesome I definitely started shooting more in burst mode to see what awesomeness Google would create out of my images.

Photos Taken by Year 2011-2013

Emergency Room Visits

The one category I actually care about where the number ends up. We only paid one visit to the ER all year for a middle of the night Asthma attack that we couldn’t get under control at home.

Emergency Room Visits by Year 2011-2013

This was our one ER visit in July, where they managed to get the Asthma under control quickly, you always know Abe is better when he asks for food.

07-18-ER-Abe

So that was 2013, onward to see what 2014 has in store starting with a nice snow storm across the Northeast United States.

2012 by the Numbers

2011 by the Numbers

2010 by the Numbers

2009 by the Numbers

2008 by the Numbers

All charts created using the Google Chart API

Posted by Mitch Cohen on January 3, 2014 @ 7:58 am
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Speaking at IBM Connect 2014

Categories: IBMConnect, IC14

a.k.a Lotusphere

I am looking forward to warm weather in Orlando a few short weeks from now, and looking forward to speaking twice at IBM Connect 2014

First on Monday a Show and Tell session with Chris Whisonant 

SHOW304 : How to Create a Perfect Profile: A Hitchhiker’s Guide to A Smarter Workforce
Date/Time : Mon, 27/Jan, 02:00 PM-03:45 PM
Room : Swan-Osprey 1 & 2

Profiles are the centerpiece of IBM Connections and your social business. IBM Connections ships with scripts to connect to your LDAP Directory. However, most organizations also need to integrate HR data to build complete profiles and reporting structure.

In this session we will teach you step-by-step how to add custom fields to your Profiles configuration, and how to populate data from multiple sources including LDAP and HR systems.

On Wednesday I will be presenting in the Best Practices track

BP311 : Sunny Days, (Smart)Cloud-y Users
Date/Time : Wed, 29/Jan, 05:30 PM-06:30 PM
Room : Dolphin-S. Hem IV-V

Learn how you can leverage the data in your existing on-premises or cloud systems (LDAP, Profiles, Active Directory, and others) to automatically provision users in IBM Smart Cloud for Social Business. This session will provide a basic introduction to Tivoli Directory Integrator, and how to connect to multiple data sources to create users in IBM SmartCloud.

We will cover user the automation of user creation, changes, and deletions, as well as explain different enrollment and log in methods available to your users.

Looking forward to seeing many of you in Orlando in a few weeks.

Posted by Mitch Cohen on January 2, 2014 @ 8:51 am
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Earthrise

Categories: Miscellaneous

On December 24, 1968 one of NASA’s most famous pictures “Earthrise” was taken during the Apollo 8 Mission.  NASA recreated how the photo was taken in this video

Posted by Mitch Cohen on December 24, 2013 @ 10:17 am
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Google Chromecast – The Good, The Bad, and the Wishlist

Categories: google

I have had a Google Chromecast for a couple of months now, and until recently was disappointed with it. That all changed this week when Google announced support for 10 news apps including Plex.   Previously I had used Netflix a little over Chromecast and it worked well, but I have quite a bit of content on my Plex server to watch as well.  With Plex on Chromecast it comes closer to taking over for the Roku box.   So here is my good, bad and wishlist for Chromecast

Good

  • Very easy to set up using a browser, or the app on iOS or Android
  • Works as advertised, you control the player from your device but can close the app and use other apps while the content is playing
  • App support – this was on the Bad list until this week, now it moves to the Good list for me with the new apps being supported

Bad

  • Sending display from a Chrome Tab to Chromecast – while it is labeled beta it clearly is beta does not always work as advertised and sometimes the tab just decides to leave the Chromecast

The Wishlist

  • Support for multiple networks – every time you move the Chromecast you have to set it up again, while a simple process I would love to be able to save 2 or 3 network configurations and let it just connect to what it sees at a given location
  • Ability to play content direct from a device to the Chromecast. For example be able to use locally stored content on my iPad or Android phone and send it to the Chromecast, even locally stored Plex content will not do this as Chromecast expects to connect back to the server and stream the content.  While that is how it is designed to work, being able to create just a wifi connection from device to Chromecase and stream local content would be nice especially when traveling)
  • Ability to cast anything – full PC screen, iPad or Android screen (I suspect some of this will come in a future update)

 

Overall I like the idea behind the Chromecast, and hopefully Google will continue to add support for apps (Hint: support for Amazon would be nice), and some of the other items on my wishlist, might even free up my Roku box to be used on another TV down the road.

Posted by Mitch Cohen on December 12, 2013 @ 10:52 am
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Dilbert Goes To Lotusphere

Categories: IBMConnect, IC14

Yes I know it is IBM Connect now, but I liked the sound of “Dilbert Goes to Lotusphere” I am a huge Dilbert fan and super excited about this

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Hat Tip Salvador Gallardo who spotted this on the IBM Social Business Facebook Page

Posted by Mitch Cohen on December 10, 2013 @ 9:49 am
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2014 IBM Champion

Categories: IBM, IBMChampion

IBM Champion graphic - ibm-champion-rgb-175px

Last week the 2014 IBM Champions for Collaboration Solutions were announced.  I am honored to have been selected again along with 86 other deserving champions.

Thank you to anyone who might have nominated me and to the selection committee.

Now would also be a good time to welcome Oliver Heinz who was recently appointed as the new ICS community Manager.

Posted by Mitch Cohen on December 9, 2013 @ 9:41 am
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