This is why Cisco is leading the IT industry.

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 06/28/08 at 12:06:55 am

A subject that I can talk about from personal experience is the importance of including Cisco based training into your education if you’re considering a profession in the IT field. Over the years Cisco Systems has radically expanded its certification lineup, they have training for everything from basic networking fundamentals to creating an enterprise-class VoIP infrastructure - and getting certified isn’t nearly as hard as you’d think.

Cisco has become the clear leader in technology training because they are a leading innovator and manufacture of IS equipment. Cisco can give IT professionals the skills needed to perform their jobs because they created the tools that countless businesses and organizations depend on for networking and communications. In fact, Cisco certification courses are so big that many High-Schools around the country now offer students the opportunity to get certified even before they graduate.

Cisco Systems recently launched a brand new website called The Cisco Learning Network. The website offers in-depth information about the certification courses and it helps people find the right track for the technology careers they’re interested in. This new website is a big improvement over the old Cisco Academy website because it has a whole community aspect that allows students to network with each other and become more involved with the company and its developments which could make the process of getting certified that much easier.

I can honestly say that my Cisco training played a big part in getting the job I have today and I utilize the skills I’ve learned from the CCNA course for my everyday functions with the company. If you have any interest in an IT career and for some reason haven’t looked into Cisco training, I highly recommend checking out the new Cisco certification website.

Sponsored by Cisco

Expecting Daddy of a baby BlackBerry.

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 06/26/08 at 09:06:15 pm

Not that I need yet another toy added to my growing list of “product reviews I’d like to write”, but I’m pretty excited about this purchase and I think I’ll be happy that I made the switch - I’m talking about owning my very first Blackberry device.

I’ve had plenty of smartphones in my day, most of them have their own review on this blog including my Samsung SPH i500, Hitachi G1000, and now my Motorola Q. I was satisfied with the Q but it lacked some of the features I need for daily use and to be honest I’m sort of bored with it.

I’ve been wanting to get a Blackberry for ages but the Blackberry data plans otherwise known as Blackberry Internet Service (BIS) seem so overpriced. At least, that was until I found that I have a need for mobile email and messaging. I’m only becoming busier with work which means my connection to the outside world is slowly fading away. Since work covers most of my cell phone anyways I might as well pick up the phone I really want with an unlimited email & data plan.

BlackBerry 8830

The Blackberry I decided to purchase is the sleek and powerful 8830. I decided to save myself a small fortune by going with an eBay adventure but it sounds like it’s in ‘like-new’ condition, which is good enough especially for saving $300 off buying it retail.

The new gadget is scheduled for delivery on Monday, if everything goes well you should be hearing more about my experience with the device.

Charter Cable - Father’s Day in HD Sweepstakes

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 06/05/08 at 12:06:45 pm
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I work in the cable industry so I have a good idea of how awesome this prize is that Charter lined up for their Father’s Day in HD Contest. Charter Communications is doing a little essay competition for people that have father’s living in Charter’s service areas. If your dad has Charter Cable or lives within one of the many Charter service areas around the US, this contest could give you a shot at winning the nation’s largest High Definition television and a complete HD & bundle package from Charter Communications FREE for LIFE.

Think about that, free for life, say the average cost of their bundle service was $100 a month (with the HD it could be more) in 20 years alone your talking over $24,000 in free HD cable, telephone and internet service. So that’s the Grand Prize, a few lucky runner-ups will also receive free HD and bundle services for a year, still an awesome price valued at over $1,200 (using my rough calculations).

Interested? To enter in the contest all you have to do is register on the Father’s Day in HD website and write a short essay about why your dad deserves the giant HDTV and cable service from Charter Communications.

Sponsored by Charter Communications

At least nothing burned down…

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 06/02/08 at 05:06:34 am

A Small OrangeWe made it! I essentially used up my entire weekend but this website along with the others I maintain and host are all moved over to A Small Orange. I can’t say it was easy, in fact I ran into some head scratching (and hair pulling) roadblocks along the way. However I’m fairly confident that the big issues are behind us, and it’s always reassuring to know that it could be worse.

I’m really digging A Small Orange so far. The support has been great, it’s reliable and they have some neat programs and tools set up for their customers that I haven’t seen before. In fact, I have a little something for you guys – If you’re in the market for affordable, reliable, web hosting you can save yourself $5 on your order by using coupon MARKOSENTME or 15% off with 15%FTW.

Also, although there are much better things to donate your money to, ASO has set me up with a donation link if you want to help out with my hosting costs… You know, if you’re into just giving away money.

I’ve already referred my work to ASO, so we can continue development on the new company website. In other words, don’t be surprised if I mention them more often as I’m sure I’ll run into more headaches that tend to come with any development project.

Explosion at The Planet’s H1 Data Center

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 05/31/08 at 08:05:24 pm

I got an interesting email tonight, apparently there was an electrical fire at The Planet’s H1 data center in Houston Texas. According to some sources there was an actual explosion powerful enough that it knocked down walls in an equipment room. So far there are no reports of damage to servers or networking equipment but power is offline at the facility and approximately 9000 websites are affected. This will surely be all over the tech news websites by morning.

Here is the official release that was sent to The Planet clients -

Dear Valued Customers,

In the interest of keeping you updated, tonight at 5:45 p.m. here in Houston, a transformer in our H1 data in Houston caught fire, which required us to take down all generators as instructed by the fire department. All servers in the H1 data center are down, as is our ServerCommand customer portal, which are working to move to another data center.

None of our other data centers are affected.

Our management team and facilities staff are on site evaluating the situation. In our latest assessment, we have determined that networking gear has not been damaged, but we are without power so assessments continue. All disaster recovery systems are in motion, and we have teams already working in the data center.

We are posting messages in our forum, in Orbit and on our customer support phone system.

We appreciate your patience. We are working around the clock to resolve these critical issues.

From Silicon Valley to The ATL, we’re moving.

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 05/30/08 at 10:05:59 am

In between my ever expanding daily routine at work and trying to keep up with everything going on in life - I’ve been moving websites all week to a brand new web host. I recently expressed my dissatisfaction for Media Temple (MT), and although I’ve been in contact with MT management since then, and they did their best to make up for the many problems I’ve had with their services, I just don’t feel that they are living up to my expectations in terms of reliability and value. However, this might not be good bye forever. The upcoming developments at MT sound very exciting and I really hope that they iron all of the little issues before it’s released. If they do it right the next time around there’s a good chance I could come back, but for now I’m able to get a competitive plan with solid customer support for half the price and I’m not about to pass it up.

After shopping around and actually signing up with and trying a couple different hosts I’ve decided to choose A Small Orange as the new home for my little internet empire. So far A Small Orange (ASO) has offered very quick support and a few nice features I was missing with MT. The pricing is very competitive but most importantly they are already offering very reliable service. ASO’s data center is located in the state-of-the-art AtlantaNAP Colocation Facility in Atlanta, Georgia. Just for the record, Media Temple’s data center is in 365 Main’s new El Segundo, California facility.

Anyways, this entry will be my last with Media Temple. When I return (hopefully everything will return) later this weekend I will be bringing you my captivating ramblings from my new home.

Windows 7 & Broken Space Toilets on WebbAlert

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 05/29/08 at 12:05:47 pm

Difficult is Worth Doing: Behind the Scenes

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 05/19/08 at 12:05:31 pm

Difficult is worth doing is the theme behind the new Honda ad campaign that features an unbranded focus on advanced skydiving maneuvers. The project is designed to build interest for a future launch of a new vehicle which will accompany a more detailed version of the advertisements. Right now the television spots last 10 to 20 seconds in length like the one shown above and as you can see the only branding is the web address at the end – Difficultisworthdoing.com.

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The website is actually a behind the scenes blog about the production of the advertisement, it’s an inside look into everything that is put into an ad campaign which in this case includes a lot of training and wicked camera work. Unfortunately the advertisements will only be shown in the UK but the filming is being done here in the United States at the Perris Valley Skydiving Center in California.

I’m not an advertising expert but I do find these “outside of the box” methods of gathering people’s curiosity for new products to be pretty interesting.

Sponsored by Honda

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