Reflecting on the Fires in the Los Angeles Community
The recent fires here in Southern California have brought up so many emotions and difficult memories for me. Many of you might remember that my home was destroyed in November 2018 by a wildfire in Malibu, fueled by the same hot, dry Santa Ana winds we’re experiencing now. While I no longer live in that […]
Windows ‘Free’ Trials + A+ in iPhone
Even though I consider myself an A+ student in ‘iPhone 101’, the folks at Apple continue to surprise me with new features, settings, and time-saving hacks. Here are some of my favorites I recently learned:
A New Hope
It´s (finally) 2021 and that means it’s time to make our New Years resolutions…or is it?
No Place Like Smart Home for the Holidays
In case you haven’t picked up on the dramatic soundtrack shift in every public space, we have officially entered the most wonderful time of the year!
Thankful for Tech: Cybersecurity and Line Jumping
Well, it’s that time of year already…but being that it’s 2020, Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals were rolling out for most of the month!
Tech to the Rescue!
Just When I Thought I Was Out… I know, I know…I made a big show about retiring IT as a topic of discussion in this space just last week, but when tech comes to the rescue in any situation it is difficult for this lifelong geek to look away. It´s encouraging enough to know that drugs like […]
Mindfully Moving Forward with Steve Anderson
Serenity Now Listen, I’m done. I’m done writing about it, I’m done talking about it, I’m done thinking about it.
Social Distancing Archway Style
To Social Distancing’s Early Adopters ¨Social distancing¨ has become enshrined in the pop culture vocabulary of 2020 and beyond, but any nerd knows that we were doing it way before it went mainstream….so when my daughter came up with the concept for the shirt you see, I immediately ordered one for all of Team Archway…but I […]
The Best Ability is Adaptability
Reconnecting with Zoom The ability to work around our current circumstances and try to enjoy our ride around the Sun no matter what is a skill set that can prove useful in many facets of life…and so it was really encouraging to see so many friendly faces during our happy hour last Saturday.25 of us showed up […]
Making the Most of It: Do´s and Dont´s
Browse Like You Mean It Are you spending a lot more time with your laptop lately and wish you had a bigger screen? Well, if your local essential goods store specializing in oversized computer monitors has shut down for a bit, you may have an option already lying around at home: your television! This easy to […]
Building a Longer Table at Archway
Team Archway Wants YOU! I’ve always taken pride in making sure the people I choose to join Team Archway are well taken care of, and that’s why I’m especially happy in this time to announce that we are looking for new members. We’re busier than ever these days, and there are plenty of people out […]
Working (Smart) from Home and the Power of Positivity
Perspective Check We’ve all probably been watching too much doom and gloom unfold on our various screens, and the reason for it isn’t exactly surprising.
Life is Greater When You’re Grateful
Stocking Up, Taking Stock I´m 54 years old here in 2020, and I´m still holding out hope for a better year than last. 53 was a challenging year in my personal life…among other bouts of adversity, my wife spent some time in the hospital and our home burned to the ground in the 2018 California wildfires. […]
Self (Employment) Quarantining: Setting Up Your New Home Office
No Place Like Home Office If it´s all fake news, nobody told Facebook. Along with House Zuckerberg, a veritable Mount Rushmore of Big Tech–Google, Apple, Amazon and Microsoft–have announced in the last few days that the majority of their employees in their respective tech hubs will be working from home in the midst of the developing outbreak. […]
Physical Anti-Virus for the CoronaVirus
Analog Antivirus There’s no competition for the big story this week: the coronavirus outbreak is going viral like few other events of the social media age. For now, things should be something like fine as far as I understand it. The vast majority of people to be diagnosed with the illness recover–check out this Guardian piece to […]
To Clearer Tech Visions in 2020 👀
We’re Here! Before we get started this week month year decade, I want to start out by wishing everyone out there a successful and fulfilling 2020 possible! (sidenote: isn’t 2020 the most fun year to type in a while?) It’s a particularly special time for me, as 2020 marks my 10th year of leading Team […]
WIndows 7 Options, AppliedNet and Apps
The End of Windows 7 If you haven’t heard Windows 7 is going end of life on January 14, 2020. You can read about it here. But you have options. Many are using this as an opportunity to replace their computers. Some, depending on when you purchased your PC are entitled to a free upgrade. Others […]
AppliedNet Vegas and Getting In Shape for The Season
Card Tricks in Vegas If you’ll be strolling the streets of Sin City when AppliedNet comes to town, odds are you’ll be leaving the event fairly loaded
Fast Fingers and Speedy Scooters
Joy Ride It’s the weirdest thing, seems like electric scooters are taking over the world. All across the country, names like Lime and Bird are filling the streets with these zippy little conveyances which you just pick up at a charging point and leave…well, wherever. There’s even a site called scootermap.com where you can locate the nearest […]
The Bezos Letters and Faster PC’s
Analyzing Amazon In case you’re not familiar, Jeff Bezos has been writing an open letter to Amazon’s shareholders every year since its’ inception. Since the mind behind the world’s number one retailer has pretty much demonstrated beyond doubt that he knows what he’s talking about, every edition of the letter is the subject of extensive […]
NetVU Accelerates, Google Makes Libraries Matter
We Anticipate Accelerate Oh yes it’s that time of year again…in this business, the spring season is all about the NetVU! Well
Breakable Brackets vs. the Unbreakable Wallet
Another Bust Discussed It’s the end of March and that means it’s time to visit a familar place: last in my bracket pool. Another 50 bucks up in smoke day
Small Bugs, Big Problems: Google and the 737-MAX
Up in the Air With two high-profile crashes in the last few months, the FAA finally caved to well-founded pressure from the global community and grounded
Cheap Laptops, An App Named Quiker , Life Without Football
Subpar Bowl Well, if there’s one positive thing to be said about the Super Bowl, it’s “at least we didn’t go to the game”
Feels Like the Future: Rollable TVs and Online Office
Saints and Sinners I want to start out by congratulating our Los Angeles Rams on their upcoming trip to Atlanta for the Super Bowl!
Strengthened Security and Successful Smiling Strategies
Smiling Through It All Next week’s Super Bowl has given me a surprisingly profound opportunity to consider the nature of happiness.
USPS Joins the 21st Century and SimplTxt
You’ve Got Mail Recovering from the fire is going about as well as can be expected, things are slowly getting back to normal. After getting a new place, I´ve even been able to turn my attention to everyday concerns like the mail. USPS has finally gone digital, rolling out an Informed Delivery service in many […]
Still Thankful
Taking Inventory After taking some time to process everything in the midst of the rebuild, I had a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. One reason for my gratitude is the support of my sister, who has called me every day since the fire to see if I needed anything. I mostly refused–I’m a […]
California Wildfires Hit Home
What I Learned from the Wildfire As I begin to write this newsletter from a desk that is not my own early this Sunday morning, I have a lot in mind. By now I’m sure you’ve heard about the wildfires raging through California over the last couple of weeks, and if I’m being honest it […]
Big News from AppliedNet – Siri Upgrade and a word from God
Thank You, Nashville! If you didn’t make it to AppliedNet in Nashville, I’m sorry to tell you you missed one heck of a show–and I’m not just talking
Operation BBQ Relief, Office Bookings, and the New iPhone
Reminders of Resolve The aftermath of Hurricane Florence continues to affect residents of several states, with areas of the various communities
Saving the World One Straw at a Time
Primegeddon If you had issues with Amazon on Prime Day, you weren’t alone…a major malfunctionat the junction caused the world’s biggest retailer to experience problems with the site worldwide on its most celebrated sales day. The crash happened almost immediately after the start of the sale, and was linked to the sheer volume of visitors keen […]
Share-Worthy – Celebrate life and Dad too in this weeks Brad’s Blog
Don’t Forget Dad! Speaking as a father, I know you probably haven’t picked out a Father’s Day gift yet even though dad’s big day is exactly a week from now
Busted Brackets and Cheap Cruise Connections
he Maddest March Yet Like pretty much everyone else, I’ve had my NCAA bracket busted beyond recognition in the first couple of rounds.
Brad’s 23rd Century Retirement Plan
One Day at a Time (for 279 Years) I’ve started looking into retirement options before it’s too late–or at least, that’s what I set out to do recently. Apparently if I want to maintain my standard of living after I punch the digital clock for the last time, I’ll be putting in full shifts on […]
Changing Cyber Regs and Internet Masterclasses
Empire Statement The laws on the books are finally starting to catch up with the realities of the world, and the updated New York cyber reg
This Week’s Upgrades for Your Life
Be Where You Are It’s really amazing to the sum total of human knowledge and a global communication device fit into your pocket, isn’t it? If we’re being honest, it’s sort of addictive…we’ve all seen that table of friends enjoying a night out with their smartphones, silently scrolling through their Snapchat. You may have even […]
The Future We Were Promised and Super Keyboard
Where’s My Jetpack? We were told as children that in the future people would be wearing jetpacks and jumpsuits
Facebook’s Facelift and Amazon’s Automation
Pray That I Do Not Alter It Further.” If I’m being honest, I myself am not a huge user of Facebook—I just cut out the middleman and share my vacation photos
The Flu Goes Viral
Office Expansion If you’re a regular user of Office 365, the online component to Microsoft’s time tested productivity suite, here’s a great product that give you even more value from the package: Barracuda Office 365 Essentials. This convenient upgrade gives you access to advanced features such as email archiving and email encryption for the protection […]
New Year, Same Geek
…and we’re back! First things first: Happy New Year 2018 to all my readers! By now just about everyone is settling back into their everyday routines, which have hopefully been amended to reflect all those ambitious resolutions made just last week. A simple alteration that has made a tangible impact on my quality of life […]
Falls and Screen Shares
For Your Family I wish I could start off with better news, but this is important to me and could be to you or someone close to you as well. My mother had herself a bit of a fall recently, and unfortunately she sustained some injuries including a concussion and blood loss in the incident […]
Talking InsureTech and InsureTurkey
The Season Begins Happy Thanksgiving! Yes, check your calendar, it is actually the end of November. With that in mind, carving a turkey can be either an engineering challenge on the scale of the Golden Gate Bridge or an effortlessly efficient process, depending on if you know what you’re doing or not. For the many […]
Slick Sales and Christmas Chromebooks
California Wildfires Before the fun and games kick off today, I have to take a minute to address something that continues to affect many of my fellow Californians. Even though the pictures and videos from the disaster paint a dramatic image t’s hard to get a sense of the devastation that the ongoing wildfires have had […]
No Holiday for Hackers
Hacking the Holidays Tis the season…for email phishing and other scams. Unfortunately, cybercrooks are well aware of the increase in online activity that comes with this time of year, and with tools such as keystroke loggers and spoofed links in widespread use, it’s no surprise that a recent survey says at least 15 percent of […]
Video Vigilance and 14K Chairs
Video Vigilance It’s amazing how the Internet and the proliferation of WiFi have transformed the face of home security. Where once it was a planned Saturday afternoon of watching a burly stranger come into your home and weave a web of wires, now it’s a simple matter of mounting a few cameras, possibly downloading an […]
Maximizing Your Time (and Your iPhone)
It’s Happening! This week marks the grand debut of the newest flagship lifestyle device from Apple, the hotly anticipated iPhone X. I’m sure even if you haven’t heard about its’ all glass display, wireless charging capabilities, and FaceID user authentication, you may have caught wind of its price tag of one thousand dollars–wait, press release […]
5 Days in Las Vegas
Tale of Two Cities It’s just about impossible to avoid the latest attack to grip our nation, particularly with last week’s AppliedNet event emanating from Las Vegas. It was particularly sobering to me because the city is typically a bustling neon playground for older children such as myself, and to have it torn apart by […]