MOBODOJO » Site News

August makes as good a time to post as any

Tyler Regas — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 20:40:52 +0000

Yeah. It’s been a few months since I graced my blog with… what are those things called?… words? Yeah. I can easily say, without equivocation, that this past June and July have represented an unparalleled time in my life that I am not soon eager to repeat. The sad, simple, unavoidable fact remains, however, that life is amorphous and deadly. I will not escape future experiences simply because I lived through these most recent. Mortality does not sit at a desk, mulling over issue reports, and checking off people who’ve had enough. Life doesn’t work in such manners, uncouth or otherwise.

The most recent event, and the one I am willing to talk about, was my recent down-sizing. This came two weeks after my 42nd birthday and one paltry day after the acquisition of a newsed (used, new to me) Saab to replace my increasingly infirm 21-year old 900 Turbo. It was explained to me that the company simply didn’t have the funds to support my position any more. Oddly enough, I had spent the last year explaining to those involved that the managed services industry was changing and that those who didn’t change with it were doomed to go South, in a big way.

Natch.

So, here I am, seeking a new job and hoping to find one soon. This time around doesn’t seem as bad as two years ago when I sent out hundreds of resumes and never got back one response. Today I have an interview and I have sent me CV to a company which looks deeply promising, both for them and for myself.

Pay homage to the Geocitiesizer!

Tyler Regas — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 03:45:05 +0000

I was just wondering what my site would have looked like back in the mid-90′s and I had to use GeoCities. Now I know. The embedded MIDI music track is pure icing!

Contrary To Reports, I Am Not Dead…

Tyler Regas — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 19:11:14 +0000

I have not expired and gone away. I have not moved to Canada or Georgia (either one). I have been deeply busy behind the scenes at PHRiND and fonfaq, as well as a new venture with a friend of mine which I cannot unveil at this time. Interestingly enough, there has been very little to report on, and frankly, I’d just be squabbling over nothing. Starting in April, however, there should be plenty to spew about as the first iPads start falling into consumer hands and the war for that platform begins.

In the meantime, I will try to start posting again. Of course, you could head over to the PHRiND Blog and start participating. I’ve not yet had time to start community building, but if you all want to do it for me, I’d love that.

Why I’ve Been Away Longer Than Usual

Tyler Regas — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 04:14:18 +0000

As you can probably tell, I’ve not been posting as usual, and there’s a simple reason. Last year I became disgusted with all of the social sites and decided to open my own. I searched for a usable domain name and found one in Phrind.com (my wife says its pronounced P-H-RIND and not like Friend, but I disagree). My goal was to start a site based on, what else, WordPress using the BuddyPress social site plugins. That didn’t work out at all, mostly because I couldn’t get WordPress MU installed as a sub-site on my hosting account, so I gave up. Later, I tried to make it a purely mobile site, but that didn’t work out, either, so the whole project just fell by the wayside.

Then one day I had an epiphany, and it was a simple one (as everyone know, the best kind). I was talking to a friend of mine about my daughter’s Autism and how it effects her ability to understand and work with social cues and general socialization, and that’s when it hit me. I would develop a website which would be a social network for the Autism community. It was honestly revelatory. I knew exactly how it would work from end to end in the blink of an eye. Thusly, PHRiND was born. That is, indeed, what I’ve been working on these past weeks. I already have the core site up, hosting of which was kindly donated by Bluehost (it was my opinion that they were the best hosting service before their kind generosity, by the way).

So, if you’re curious about what I’ve been working on, you’ll have to wait a bit longer. As part of the site’s security, you must be invited to join, so you can’t even go look at it right now. We’re also in closed beta, so you can’t even see what it looks like. Hang in there, though, as I’m working on a public-facing site which will have all kinds of helpful information about PHRiND and Autism, as well as resources for non-members. Once I get that site up in the next week or so, I’ll post the link here.

Now, wish me luck. I’m going to need it.

Dojo Look 2010

Tyler Regas — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 07:09:00 +0000

Well, here we go again. I’ve rejiggered The Dojo’s appearance in preparation for 2010. The theme is Atahualpa from the fantastic guys over at BytesForAll, one of my favorite themes for WordPress. If you run a WordPress-based site, you will find Atahualpa a very powerful theme, indeed. You don’t modify the code itself, as it has a control panel where you make all of the changes. Those changes are then stored in the same MySQL database which the site runs off of. This means that, as long as BytesForAll maintains the same table structure, you can update the site code without ever touching your appearance configuration.

Aside from that powerful feature, it also has clean code for all major browsers on all platforms, and it loads fast. Its also quite easy to change it up so that you have a unique and capable site which has the same look and feel throughout. Atahualpa is a ridiculously powerful theme and I strongly suggest you get it and learn how to use it, then make your own theme using its amazing tools. I only wish there was a way to preview all changes before finalizing, but that’s something the WordPress team will have to work on. Then again, BytesForAll’s next project, ThemeFrame, will be a potent custom theme developer framework, and I believe I will spend the money to get it.

Some Minor Site Updates

Tyler Regas — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:48:45 +0000

Hey all! As you can see, there have been some minor changes on The Dojo. The most obvious is that you may have noticed I’m starting to post images. I’m fiddling around with my new Nokia N900 and checking out the PixelPipe service. Very cool on both fronts. The second thing you may have noted is that I have removed all ads from the site. I will no longer be taking ads for The Dojo. Its a decision I made based on my values. Aside from writing and blogging and working on various projects, I am employed. Its not my job which influenced me to remove ads. I did that on my own, but I feel that it is important to offer full disclosure.

The same goes for my reviews and opinions. The words on The Dojo are all mine and have never been influenced by anyone or anything else. You may wonder why I bring this up, and its really nothing. I just came to the conclusion that I needed to better represent myself and who I am as an individual, and I’m not about ads and such. I do receive gear and software from a large number of vendors. Some of it I get to keep. The rest I have to send back. That’s just the way it is. In the PR community, I am considered a journalist, and I’ve worked for nearly 10 years to forge those relationships.

I simply felt it was important to clarify these things in case they were unclear to begin with. Maybe the FCC will take note

I Skipped October For Tax Purposes

Tyler Regas — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:03:12 +0000

Nah! I’m just kidding. I skipped October because I was (and remain) ridiculously busy. I’m a hive of activity and that makes me happy. I do, however, miss writing. I love to write and I love to be read. I can just see you people out there loading up Mobodojo to see what pearls of vaguely insane conceptualization I’ve managed to dig up this time. I admit I don’t write about gadgets much any more, but its not because I have stopped loving them, its just that things shift and move and migrate.

We lost a car and we gained a car. My daughter is in a better place and my wife is going through some more trials. I’ve been working hard and learning more. I don’t know if this can count for better, but I do know that things which should have been in place a long time ago are just now starting to fall into place now. I really hate having to rely on others in some cases. I won’t go any further than that.

Anyway, I’ve got some news to pass along. I’ve opened up a new site, a messageboard to be exact, called MSPBoards. I work in the MSP industry and there is a lack of any real community around this surprisingly large and diverse global industry. If you work (what insiders call living and breathing) managed services, drop on by and join up. I’ve also started up a tiny little blog for some transient fiction I like to pop out here and there.

Its rough having this hugely complex life and being a technologist and professional writer, but not feeling like you can set aside the time to make your dream come true. Since I was six and wrote my first piece of fiction, I wanted to be a science fiction author. I’m 41 now and I’ve worked on over 250 technical titles. That’s not bad, you say. Not one of them is fiction, which I suppose the readers appreciate! HA!

My New Windows 7 Book Is Available!

Tyler Regas — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:56:03 +0000

Ok, its not MY book, per se, but I did contribute three whole chapters to it and you can find my name in the Acknowledgments section. The book is actually Bob Cowart and Brian Knittle’s book, and they are good friends. I contributed the contents of chapters 10, 12, and 15, and there’s a little treat on page 400 for anyone with an odd sense of humor.

The book is about as in depth as you can get. We worked on this material and hammered through the beta builds with wild and wanton abandon to make sure that every iota of information was accurate. I should note, however, that in the list of file formats which Windows Media Player cannot play, there is a typo: it says ACC where it should be AAC. Don’t blame us, though! Blame MS for not stepping up!

An Update About Me & Mobodojo

Tyler Regas — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 05:14:30 +0000

Hey there! Long time, no posty. I’m glad to see that readership hasn’t waned much in my absence, though it has shifted more to the extremely popular reviews of the Bluetooth stereo headphones and the new Windows 7 compatible version of MacDrive. Of course, product reviews have never been enough to sustain a web site, so I find myself at the point where I need to start posting again. Part of this comes from my love of gadgets and gear. Another part comes from my need to write and the love of the craft. Yet another part comes from the fact that I have things to tell people.

The first thing I have to pass on in written form is that the first of two surgeries is done. My daughter, a sufferer of periodic and worsening seizures as well as an almost constant micro-seizure “storm” when she sleeps is now the proud owner of a new Vagus Nerve Stimulator (VNS). The device which is implanted in her neck (she calls herself a cyborg now) connects to her Vagus nerve in her neck and sends a jolt of energy into it every few minutes. She doesn’t feel it, but it kick starts her brain’s electrical system to prevent it from building up a charge. Let’s just say that my wife is far better at explaining it than I am. My girly is not the ultimate gadget girl in our family, and she will (hopefully) benefit from having the VNS implanted. We are already seeing positive effects, and its been in one week.

The second thing I have to pass on is that I have a new job. I don’t exactly have a title, really, but you can call me an MSP Administrator. I get to spend a lot of time in a very nicely laid out network operations center (NOC) and play with shiny new toys. As part of my work at ManagedNet I will be blogging. No. Don’t be shocked. It will be surprisingly similar to what I do here on The Dojo, but the bent will be towards networking gear. Those of you who have been reading me for the last 9 years will know that I will occasionally toss in news of some IT gear which is totally off message.

Your immediate question will be to ask what will become of Mobodojo? The easy answer is that it will stay up and I will start posting again. The more complex answer is that I might not be able to update it as regularly as I used to ( no jokes, please). I am also going to be blogging for ManagedNet and the focus there will be managed services, IT support, ITiL, general operations, management, and lots and lots of fantastic gear from the World Of Information Technology! Interestingly enough, many people ask me if Mobodojo is about systems, since “mobo” is a colloquial term for motherboard. Its actually rather humorous that now Mobodojo will mean motherboard as well as mobile.

So, with that in mind, you will also start seeing news and reviews on The Dojo about servers, racking systems, systems administration tools, and a wide array of techniques, tips, and tricks on how to manage a companies technology. I warn you. You may find it boring. You don’t see Engadget or Gizmodo covering this kind of stuff, but then they were never truly as nerdy as I am. Consider this post a kind of rebirth of Mobodojo and myself. Like Jack FM, I play what I like. I just hope you like it with me.

Some Down Time For The Dojo

Tyler Regas — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 05:28:51 +0000

To some of you I don’t think this will come as a surprise, but I’m going to have to take a forced hiatus. I don’t know for how long. There are just too many things going on in the Sensei’s life right now that require my attention. No less than both of my deeply loved girlies will be getting surgeries soon, and that places a lot of pressure on me. I’m sure you can well imagine.

I will not take down the site and I will make sure that it is not overrun by dorks and imbeciles hawking their silly spammer wares. I will also make sure that things are running smoothly and keep WordPress up to date. I cannot, however, take the time to post anything. I know that there are a lot of really cool gadgets and gizmos jumping off right now, but I just don’t have the time.

Thank you all for being with me for all these years. I deeply appreciate it and it is because of that loyalty and dedication that I will return to posting as soon as I can. I’m just a guy who has an opinion, but its nice to know that there are readers like you who are interested in what I have to say.

Thanks and I hope to see you again real soon!

Tyler.