Message-ID: <20210403172310.3E0BE72E@telecom2018.csail.mit.edu>
Date: Sat, 3 Apr 2021 17:23:10 +0000 (UTC)
From: Moderator <telecomdigestsubmissions@remove-this.telecom-digest.org>
Subject: 10 Home Office Tech Essentials (& Where To Get Them)
By Megan Summers
Zoom meetings. Endless emails. Excel spreadsheets. Slack chats. These
are just a few of the catchphrases that will make almost any at-home
worker cringe. For those who have found themselves stuck at home
recently, maintaining the boundary between job life and personal life
can be tricky.
Distractions are also plentiful at home, be it kids, pets, roommates,
or partners. Fortunately, creating a designated home office space, one
filled with helpful technology, is more affordable than ever
before. The essential tech devices on this list will inspire even the
most burnt-out to plow through their daily tasks and increase their
productivity tenfold.
10 Dual Monitors
9 Ergonomic Keyboard And Mouse
8 USB Hub
7 Laptop
6 USB Webcam With Built-In Microphone
5 Bluetooth Headphones
4 Wireless Laser Printer
3 Backup Driver
2 Surge Protector With USB
1 Smart Lights
https://screenrant.com/best-things-for-home-office-must-haves/
Message-ID: <20210403224046.GA27786@telecom.csail.mit.edu>
Date: Sat, 3 Apr 2021 22:40:46 +0000
From: Bill Horne <malassQRMimilation@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: 10 Home Office Tech Essentials (& Where To Get Them)
On Sat, Apr 03, 2021 at 05:23:10PM +0000, Moderator wrote:
> By Megan Summers
>
> Zoom meetings. Endless emails. Excel spreadsheets. Slack chats. These
> are just a few of the catchphrases that will make almost any at-home
> worker cringe. For those who have found themselves stuck at home
> recently, maintaining the boundary between job life and personal life
> can be tricky.
>
> Distractions are also plentiful at home, be it kids, pets, roommates,
> or partners. Fortunately, creating a designated home office space, one
> filled with helpful technology, is more affordable than ever
> before. The essential tech devices on this list will inspire even the
> most burnt-out to plow through their daily tasks and increase their
> productivity tenfold.
>
> https://screenrant.com/best-things-for-home-office-must-haves/
The URL above points to an article which illultrates some of the types
of equipments that are useful in a work-at-home setup. when you're
planning how to build, equip, and maintain an effective, efficient,
and safe office working environment in your home, the illustrations
show the
types of devices in question, but I'm going to write about
some of the things that the article does
NOT mention.
The numbered items shown in this reply have explanations after them in
the actual article, but I cite them to add my own opinions. Please see
the original for the complete context.
Let me think now: IMNSHO(1) ...
10 Dual Monitors
They are a big win for certain situations: two monitors are justi-
fied for those whom have jobs in mass-market customer care, but even
then, I only
recommend two monitors when workers have the worst kind
of situation - where there are multiple separate systems to access
simulatneously. Don't ask me how I know: I signed an NDA.
Of course, that doesn't mean you can't have two monitors if you
think it'll help. But single or double,
DON'T cheap out: you want
the largest screens with the best resolution you can get, and DO
SOME RESEARCH: if your PC has a "built in" video card (i.e., one
that's integrated with the motherboard), the odds are it will stop
working as soon as you plug in the external card you thought would
be all you needed for the second monitor. You MUST have a card that
supports
two monitors, and be SURE it has equal or higher
resolution than the monitors
AND that it will support full
resolution on
both, AT THE SAME TIME. Don't ask me how I know
this: telling you would make me feel stupid a-g-a-i-n.
9 Ergonomic Keyboard and Mouse:
Very useful
IF you have a desktop machine,
and if you do a
lot
of typing. Even if your laptop is in a docking cradle 99.9% of the
time, you'll find that changing from an ergonomic keyboard to the
(inevitably) lousy laptop keyboard will be agravating at best and
painful at worst.
Do
NOT assume that an "Ergonomic" keyboard is all you need to have
good ergonomics. If you don't have a large work area, a
COMFORTABLE
chair, excellent task-area lighting, good ventilation, and properly
situated components, you're setting yourself up to fail.
The author makes the point for me: "officer workers know too well the
kinds of arm, neck, shoulder, and back pain that comes along with
sitting at a desk all day." However, someone in the photo department
tried to get cute: the image associated with the story shows a
young, oh-so-happy couple, smiling while they sit on
stools at a
"desk" made from a piece of plywood and a couple of sawhorses,
"working" with a pair of laptops with a brightly-lit window at their
back. It's useful as an illustration of all the things you should
NOT be doing.
8 USB Hub
Very nice to have
if you have a plethora of USB devices that
YOU
use frequently while "at work". If, however, you just want one place
to plug every USB device in to charge, then you'll just create a
"junkpile" of distractions that could as well be placed elsewhere:
don't forget that most phones will probably wind up plugged in to
outlets next to the beds their users are in at night.
Again,
DO SOME RESEARCH: be sure that any hub you buy has
these features:
A. At least 1.5 times as many ports as you currently need
B. Designed for the HIGHEST speeds you'll use - and don't
think for a moment that USB 2 is "good enough" just because
you're laptop or desktop doesn't have USB 3. Get the best!
C. Is equipped to supply
FULL power to EVERY port it has,
SIMULTANEOUSLY, without overheating. That means it will have a
separate power supply that plugs into a separate outlet: the one the
author mentions is NOT capable of providing
any charging current, so
I don't think it's the best choice.
Many, if not most, of the USB Bridges sold at Office-supply stores
will be deficient in one of more areas. Don't settle for second-best.
7 Laptop
This item should really be "New Computer." Laptops are nice for SOME
things, and they can serve as a "desktop" equivalent machine in
SOME circumstances, but I regard them as suitable for in-person
meetings and airports or airplanes, not the 8-to-10 hour workdays
you'll be doing at home.
No matter what use you intend for a laptop, please learn from my
mistake, and get one with the touchpad and mouse-keys mounted out of
the way of the keyboard. I was set to order a 17" model, with the
touchpad near the screen and to the right of the keyboard, but I got
a 15" model with the touch pad in the center, and the keyboard
between the touchpad and the screen, because Dell doesn't have a 17"
model with an ESD drive. I'm
ALWAYS moving the mouse when my palms
graze the thing as I type, and I haven't found
ANY effective
combination of options that will make that kind of setup satisfying
to use.
6 USB Webcam With Built-In Microphone
Well, maybe. The logitech model I use has a good camera, but I don't
know if there's
any model that can cancel out the "echo chamber"
sound that they produce - like talking to someone who insists on
using a speakerphone all the time.
I prefer a headset: the microphone is right next to your mouth, and
will deliver clear, professional-sounding audio that will help you
when you're on a deadline and need to make points concisely and
quickly.
By the way, here's a free tip: get in the habit of looking AT THE
CAMERA when you talk. It's amazingly hard to do, but it WILL make
your remarks a lot more memorable and effective.
5 Bluetooth Headphones
Nice to have if you're required to pull a reference book off a shelf
or open a file drawer during a video meeting, but /don't/ forget
that Bluetooth is a short-range technology by design. and you won't
be able to start cooking dinner or answer the doorbell without
risking dropouts.
Wired or wireless, I recommend buying a headset with a microphone,
and be sure it has a separate "MUTE" switch on the headset or the
cord, where you can jump in to make a quick remark without having to
run back to your desk to unmute. Be sure to get something light and
comfortable. Noise cancellation is nice, but not as critical as some
think, unless you're thinking of working in a noisy area - and
that's a work-at-home setup that is broken-by-design.
4 Wireless Laser Printer
Hmmm. Laser printer, yes,
IF you
MUST print out lots of things -
but most home workers don't. They're cheaper to run than inkjets,
BUT it's very easy to fall into the "print it out and put it in
a folder" trap. This isn't 1950, you're not a clerk, and you don't
need to print out most things you'll produce.
Wireless? OK if it saves you from needing to install another
Ethernet connection from your cellar to your work-at-home office,
but
NOT if you use it to try to make any vacant counter in your
home into a workplace. The
FIRST thing to think about when it
comes to creating a workspace is
YOUR comfort and ease-of-use.
WiFi is designed to cut down installation times when creating new
workspaces in a professional setting. It is
NOT going to create
a viable, ergonomically-sound workplace when you don't have one
already.
3 Backup Driver
Yup, and that's just the start. Many Anti-Virus programs offer
"Cloud" backups as a feature, and that's really nice to have when
your laptop isn't in the overhead bin at the end of your flight:
with luck, the work you did the day before will be available to
restore to your new laptop.
But (Repeat after me) "Backups Are Easy! Recoveries are hard!"
Modern backup disk drives can hold ten times the info you'll ever create or
import. It's easy to plug in a 5 or 10 TB drive once a week and simply
write out your entire machine's internal disk.
Then, sooner or later, you'll need to recover that data: a failed
internal hard drive, a ransomware virus, a stolen machine,
etc.
THAT is the hard part, so you'll need to practice recovering
your laptop and/or desktop from the backup drive, with complete
notes about every step you took, and the pitfalls along the way
toward having a once-again-productive computer.
The easiest and most robust test is to buy a new hard drive,
and swap the old for the new: you'll be in exactly the same
situation as you would be if your old machine died/was stolen/was
lost. You need to do it at least once, and make thorough notes.
It goes without saying (cheerful S.O.B., isn't he?) that you'll need
to have, and maintain, a well-thought-out and easy-to-remember file
structure that allows you to quickly restore the subset of files you
need
NOW, to be productive in the meeting that you're due to
host in two hours. And, yes, it happened to me.
2 Surge Protector With USB
In a word -
NO! Gewgaws like that are, at best, solutions looking
for a problem. They are marketed to "checklist" buyers: unsophis-
ticated junior employees whom are checking off items at the office-
supply store while their boss is golfing. Don't fall for it.
Surge protectors belong on the floor, so that the cords that are
plugged in don't cover your (precious) desk space, and the floor is
the least easy place to plug in a USB cord at the end of a day, or
to unplug it at the start. You'll find yourself dirtying the knees
of your newly-cleaned suit while doing it, and the USB cords - which
are fragile to start with - will always be in the way, given that
they're plugged in and removed so often. They'll break frequently
and become a trip hazard as well: you'll do much better with a
properly sized, separately powered USB HUB, mounted on the wall next
to the desk, so that you can send/receive data to/from your
USB-connected devices
and charge them at the same time, without
feeling like you're dancing around USB cords every time you stand or
sit.
As if that weren't bad enough, consider the "Surge Protector" part
of the device. Surge Protectors are
NOT reusable devices: once
they arrest a surge, they're dead and must be replaced. If you get a
surge, you'll wind up with a broken outlet strip which probably
won't have any USB charging outlets left in usable condition.(2)
Oh, and just in case this old nag isn't dead yet, I'll beat the
beast one more time. Anyone who works at home needs not only surge
protecton, but also an Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS). Up here
in the hills of North Carolina, our power flicks off and on about
twicce a week, for just long enough to reboot a desktop that doesn't
have a UPS at the end of its power cord. Most UPS devices have surge
protection built in, but you'll need to do yet more research: the
device that will keep
your system from crashing the night before
the big presentation will have to be sized, maintained, and tested
so that you can be sure it will keep
ALL your devices going long
enough to email and/or print out the report, backup your data, and
shutdown gracefully before you dig out the Scrabble game and enjoy a
quiet evening with the kids.
1 Smart Lights
Do yourself a favor: buy a well made desk lamp at a yard sale. You
don't need anything that you can't fix yourself, and complications
are the enemy of productivity. Don't forget that
YOU are the
only repairman available, and if you can't plug in a new bulb within
a minute or two, you've bought a time-sucker that's just making your
life harder in the long run.
0 Last, a couple of "think outside the envelope" options.
A. No matter how much it costs, pay for the "Within-24-hours"(3)
ON SITE maintenance for your PC, monitor(s), printer, and
router, and
always keep a
new keyboard and mouse on hand! You
are
WORKING at home, not studying computer maintenance! You need
to have someone to call when something breaks!
B. If you work in sales, and are in a state that still requires
ILECs to offer IDSN wired phone service,
seriously consider
spending for the digital connection. It will be expensive, but
you'll be astonished at the added voice fidelity and clarity
you'll enjoy. Don't hesitate: if it's available, order it
now. You'll thank me when you see your income statement,
because it sounds so much better that you'll get better sales
results.
FWIW. YMMV. HTH. HAND.
Bill
1. In My Not-So-Humble Opinion
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/IMNSHO#:~:text=English-,Phrase,not%2Dso%2Dhumble%20opinion.
2. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't have a surge protector. They
are
designed to protect downstream devices by giving up their
electronic lives to save other, much more expensive devices from
irreperable harm. That's the only way to do it at a price SOHO
users can afford.
3. If waiting for up to 24 hours will cost you a day's pay, I
recommend that you obtain and assemble a "twin" system that is
functionally the same as the regular one. It doesn't have to be
as powerful, or have as many monitors, or even run all the same
software. As long as you can do
some functions and keep your boss
happy, it'll pay for itself sooner or later. If all else fails,
there are places that rent laptops, and most likely a library
nearby with a public WiWi connection.
--
Bill Horne
(Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly)
Message-ID: <20210403055539.7CBEC76D@telecom2018.csail.mit.edu>
Date: Sat, 3 Apr 2021 05:55:39 +0000 (UTC)
From: Moderator <telecomdigestsubmissions@remove-this.telecom-digest.org>
Subject: The Emoji Story: You should never have this much fun
learning about Unicode
"800M people could use a period emoji right now. How many people are
talking about broccoli?"
By Nathan Mattise
It's a shame that 2017's The Emoji Movie exists - though, by all
means, get that money, Patrick Stewart (in the role of "Poop") and
Maya Rudolph ("Smiler"). It's just... that animated cash grab soiled a
perfectly good title for a superior emoji treatise that would follow
only two years later: the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival-selected
documentary Picture Character.
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/04/the-emoji-story-you-should-never-have-this-much-fun-learning-about-unicode/
*********************************************
End of telecom Digest Sun, 04 Apr 2021
