Wednesday, June 20, 2012

The Microsoft Surface excitement

It's here. Yes, it's here. Well almost. What am I talking about? I'm talking about the Microsoft Surface baby! The Surface is Microsoft's tablet, set for a fall launch time as of this writing. I'm excited. Are you excited? If not, you should be because this tablet is definitely worth taking into consideration for purchase. Before this tablet, the only tablet that really turned on my processor was the ASUS Transformer Pad and I seriously thought about purchasing that tablet sometime this fall, but now Microsoft's Surface has my gaze.

This is a bold move by Microsoft. Why? Well, because Microsoft is making the tablet with it's own hardware (as of this writing anyway - that's the story being told). Microsoft isn't going with Dell or HP and I don't blame them. Dell and HP aren't in position to build a killer Windows 8 tablet. Microsoft is going solo. I think it's a good, but bold and risky move. 

What do I personally like from what I know so far about the tablet? Well I like that the tablet comes equipped with a kickstand and a detachable keyboard. You don't have to pay extra for those things, which is nice. I like that it sports two full USB 3.0 slots and has a SD slot. Those are very nice things I have looked for in a tablet since the tablet craze started. The cool thing about the keyboard is that it's "just there" if you need it. Want to create content that has more characters than a tweet? Attach your keyboard. It's that simple. You don't have to take the unnecessary bluetooth steps. It's just there if you need then gets the heck out of the way if you don't. Cool. I also really like the Metro UI. My smartphone is a mango phone, so I'm used to the Metro UI. It's simple. It's clean. It's not busy like the Apple and Android UIs. 

I'm not going to be one of those techies who will shout, "Apple and Android will die at the merciless hands of the Surface! Doom! Doom! Doom to non-Surface tablets!" No, I'm not that guy. However, I will say this tablet is going to be big. It may not shove Apple off the tablet mountain, but it will get close.

Check it out. It's worth the look.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Wrath of the Data Center!

There is a new podcast up over at Packet Pushers called Wrath of the Data Center. It's worth checking out. The official description of the podcast is: "...the new podcast dedicated to the pursuit of the CCIE Data Center certification. The host of the show Tony Bourke brings guests to the show to talk about CCIE Data Center study topics." Even if you're not actively pursuing the CCIE Data Center cert, the podcast is still worth checking out because of the wealth of information coming from professionals who are in the field, which is always profitable for IT pros.

The podcast page can be found here.