Tag Archives: computers

Standing Desk Ideas and Tips

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A few months ago I realized that despite setting alerts reminding me to get up from my desk periodically, I just wasn’t doing it. Having read several articles about standing desks, treadmill desks, etc. I set up an approximation of one using boxes on my desk and on top of my CPU case:

DYI standing desk using boxes

DYI standing desk using boxes

This worked fairly well, except that when I wanted to switch from standing to sitting or vice versa it was a pain moving the monitor off/onto the box, etc. I noticed a co-worker downstairs had obtained a WorkFit-S Stand-Sit Desk Attachment, and had my boss arrange to get me one as well. Here it is in the standing and sitting positions:

WorkFit-S Stand-Sit Desk Attachment

WorkFit-S Stand-Sit Desk Attachment

The WorkFit-S costs about $400 (note that the writing shelf above the keyboard tray is an optional extra item). Custom standing desks, some with treadmills, can cost considerably more.

If you don’t have room for a full desk and/or travel a lot, you’ll want to check out an upcoming Kickstarter project for the Ninja Standing Desk. It hangs from a door (with over-door hooks) or a wall (with drywall fasteners), and packs small enough to easily fit in a carry-on bag! Check out their video, and look for their Kickstarter launch on July 11th: [7/11/12 update: the Kickstarter is now live here]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4b-ykMPmb-c

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What Do YOU Want To Know???

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I’ve added a new page to this site – in the top bar next to Contact you will now find a link:

What Do YOU Want To Know? Use Betty’s Brain

Do you need

  •  to know something I haven’t addressed?
  •  some topic researched but don’t have good Google-fu skilz?
  •  a piece of music written, transcribed, or the sheet music located?
  • a wingwoman to accompany you to test/buy some gear (musical, tech, even a car)?
  • an acoustic or electric violist/violinist for your event, or to sub at your band’s gig?
  • something else with which I could help? Tell me about it…

I’m available for any of the above – hire my brain! Ask me for a quote:

125 technology quick tips (via The Journal of Accountancy)

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Sometimes others do my work for me… This is a great page of handy tips & tricks for lots of common computer applications: Word, Outlook, Excel, Powerpoint, handy websites, iPad, etc. There are even some things I didn’t know, so it’s definitely worth a look!

125 technology quick tips.

Is your password “password”?

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After arriving at my timeshare resort on Saturday afternoon, unloading, shopping, and making coffee jello >;-0 Joann and I sat down with our MacBooks to catch up with the world. The venue provides free wifi, though signal strength depends on how far one’s unit is from the router located in the clubhouse. So I was happy to find our unit was practically on top of it, and I was getting a strong signal on my iPhone…

Until I discovered that while I had an equally strong signal on my MacBook, I was NOT getting out to the internet :( Joann was fine with hers, so I suspected something about my somewhat newer OS (Snow Lion) was different. I found that unlike her I wasn’t getting a domain name server IP in my DHCP config from the router, though it was assigning me an IP (translation – my Mac wasn’t being told where to look in order to translate a web address like “Google.com” into the numeric IP address the guts of the web uses to shuttle data around).

I looked to see what Joann’s Mac was using for a name server IP – it was something I wasn’t expecting – 192.168.1.1, which is the usual address of the wireless router itself. Because I’m a geek, my next thought was to learn more about what was happening on the router. And because I figure it’s always worth a try, I pointed my browser at the router’s address.

This brought up a login window – which was good, because it at least confirmed that I was connected to the router. What was bad (for the resort) was I tried the most simple login combination one would expect for it: username = admin, password = password… and I got in!

Because I wasn’t trying to be evil, I just looked at the settings and logged out. Further tweaking on my Mac eventually resolved the issue. I will stop at the office and attempt to communicate to the staff why they should change the password, so that some less scrupulous person (e.g., a bored teen visitor) won’t mess it up for everyone else.

Moral for you: if any internet-connecting device you buy has a non-unique password that allows it to be configured (e.g., modem/router, smartphone, mifi, game console) change it to prevent losing control of it to a stranger…