TechImpact / it happens there first

Sometimes I find a great idea, put it in writing, then realize that it just doesn't work. pfsense was one of those moments. To be fair to the project, I am still using pfsense in many places, and am perfectly pleased with it as a part of most solutions. But my corporate firewall had some issues that were causing me sleepless nights.

by Chris Gamble

We all know that Apple is by far the most expensive system to buy. Going near the local Apple store turns my wallet into an instant ATM, and that's before I even consider purchasing. But, having become an recent convert, I have to ask myself, is Apple really that expensive? [Read More]

by Chris Gamble

No stolen state secrets here, so those who found us looking for a conspiracy, this is FAR worse.

I was a Windows user for - when did Windows 3.0 come out? You know, Windows 3.0, 3.1, 3.11, bleh for Workgroups. Basically since I was a child. Not only have I used Windows since pre-puberty, but I have on a number of occasions championed it's cause. This included a rather tense corporate battle replacing dumb terminals with Windows work stations, Novel with Windows Server, and a host of Sybase running on Aix machines with MS SQL. I have in deed lived the MS life.

A few years ago (10ish to be more correct), I started experimenting with Linux. Eventually using it extensively to replace Windows servers. I found a great love for PostgreSQL, Samba, and Apache in all of it's glory. Still, my desktops have always booted up to a familiar logo, good ol' Windows.

As of Friday, this has come to a sudden halt. My thick black plastic laptop case has been replaced with a thin aluminum shell with a silly little apple carved out of the back. I spent the next few days feeling as though I had just killed my brother's dog. I am a little different.

by Chris Gamble

To not be accused of misleading anyone, this blog entry features an iphone game series that my company makes and sells.

When I started working on the iPhone platform, it was to add it to our product line for our consulting business. Many may question why an internet marketing company would build iPhone apps, other than the obvious "to make money". The answer is just as simple -- because we build marketing solutions for the web. Yes I said it, iPhone apps are a part of the web. At least, the new web. The internet has left our PC's stored in our tiny little cubicles, and is now wondering the streets in the palm of our hand.

by Chris Gamble

First off, I am of the camp that every OS sucks. Seriously, not one of them is perfect. They all have strengths (Widows strength mostly being their marketing group), and everyone has serious crippling weaknesses. And right now, it's some of the weaknesses in Linux that's irritating me.

by Chris Gamble

That's when I thought I would switch to Apple. Let's face it, all of the Apple hardware is way overpriced, and there just doesn't seem to be a way to be bleeding edge even if you could afford it. Sure, there are the brave souls who have managed to get OSX on "normal" hardware, but I have a family and $599 for a Mac mini was way cheaper than being one of them. So, yes, I am writing this on a mac, watching the silly little bar at the bottom for when my email comes in on a mac, all so that I could build software for the iPhone. But this article isn't about me switching to Mac, it's more a dairy entry, detailing my experiences upgrading to Snow Leopard.

by Chris Gamble

A summation of my thoughts after 2 days hands-on with the Nokia N97.

I wanted to like this phone. First, I spent a lot of money to buy it. I could have bought a new IPhone 3G S and paid AT&T's early termination fee for what the N97 costs. Second, though I had some reservations about a few features I thought should have been part of the phone, I was a fan of my Nokia N95.

Foreshadowing complete, I can't recommend the Nokia N97 right now—to anyone.

by Jerry Gamble

I've had the unique privilege of buying 4 blue tooth headsets in the last year. Not because I wanted to experience the gamut of what the market offers, but because my wife has lost, broken or outright mangled every headset I have given her. We started out a few years back, with a cheap 20-40 dollar Motorola that came with the purchase of every phone. The phone worked great, and the headset was worth what we paid. What it did do extremely well though, was to open my wife's imagination to the potential of hands free talking to people. After a week of not having to burn the side of her face off from exposure to an over worked cell phone battery, we were ready to push the limits of bluetooth.

by Chris Gamble

After my harrowing adventure trying to buy a router, I decided to look at my free options.

We currently run CentOS as the core of our VoIP system, so I have a linux system that gets exposed to the internet -- I rationalized. So how bad would it be to pop another Ethernet card in the back and use that as a router as well. It would mean that I would never have problems with SIP over NAT again. So I went forth to purchase the card at CDW. Added the first one I found to my cart, then went to click the check out button. But the forces of the universe were against me. Just before I clicked that fated button, my laptop ran out of battery. It was destiny, fate, and didn't really happen. No, it was my own conscience that prevented me from putting a production server as a first tier internet client, even if it was Linux. No, there had to be a better solution -- and buying a complete pc to use as a firewall wasn't it.

by Chris Gamble

Every company you run across these days are cutting costs, and where I work is no different. So when we lost routers at two locations, I set to the task of replacing those routers, without sacrificing any of our CEO Bonus money. Fortunately, we work with a few larger companies that had over purchased (or recently closed) some of their branch offices. Routers were plentiful. The choice wasn't whether I could find a router to barter for, but which brand I wanted. It felt better than shopping at Wal-mart... ..

by Chris Gamble