Todd Clarke's Technology Corner v2.0

Todd Clarke's ideal office setup taken with iPhone 4s

Todd Clarke's ideal office setup

Todd Clarke's ideal office setup

Todd Clarke's ideal office setup

Todd Clarke's ideal office setup

I have been pursuing my ideal office for decades and this arrangement is the closest I have come to a nirvana of office productivity.

What you see here includes 7000 gigabytes (7 terabytes) of storage, 9 screens, 4 computers all controlled by one keyboard and mouse sitting on an Ikea desk. http://www.ikea.com/
Additional equipment on deck includes 2 iPads, one Kindle fire, one iPhone, a Fujitsu Scansnap S510 scanner (for going paperless), a Brother PT-2430PC labeler and of course the all-important Aeron chair.
Most of the monitors are 22” to 24” Samsung’s with a 22” Samsung USB Driven monitor a Phillips Boom Boom monitor and a Mimo 7” USB driven monitor. The desktop computers are redundant setups with a physical keyboard/mouse switch and Multiplicity software that ties them together with the MacbookAir, and the MacMini.

The computers are task driven and run software during the day based on their portability. Starting left working right they include:

I have found this setup to be very efficient. The two HP desktops run jobs that take a long time – like backups or print runs, or they are used for big projects we have going – stuff that I want to leave up (like maps). The Mac mini is used mostly for coding apps for the iPhone/iPad. The MacbookAir is my main day to day machine – so its running email, contact management, quickbooks, and document management. It is configured in such a way that on a moments notice I can pull its plug and dash out to a meeting.

The glass wall you see to the left of my desk is a 8’ wide x 4’ tall white board that we write on and/or tape things to as we work through projects .

How is your office configured?

One of my favorite blogs – Lifehacker.com has a great gallery of office setups – including this mobile one or thi sone in a barn – and this map shows where everyone is located that has made a contribution to Lifehackers Workspace show and tell.

Just a few days after I posted this article, I came across this showcase of minimalist office setups.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/21/itronix-gd2000-a-rugged-handheld-for-your-skydiving-bullet-dod/

I don’t know much about it except that a company called iTronix is manufacturing it.

As soon as they have a model that packs a terrabyte of storage so I can carry most of my data around, I’m a buyer!

This is True author, Randy Cassingham, reports (#853, 10/17/10) on an unnamed Swedish scientist who hadn’t backed up in a while. Fortunately for him, the thief did a backup to a USB key and mailed it to him.

You, on the other hand, can’t count on a thief to do the right thing, so I would highly recommend backing up. If you aren’t sure where to start, check out our archive of backup articles. A summary of the backup process can also be found in this article.

Then check out the PogoPlug.

PogoPlug is a device that sits bewteen your home or office based Internet connection and a USB harddrive, allowing you to have remote access to your files from anywhere you can find an internet connection.

iPhone and iPad users will be glad to know there is an app that allows them access as well.

One of the biggest advantages of the PogoPlug is how easy it is to setup – pretty much plug, login, and play.

A recent UCSD study posted on Engadget indicates that most American’s consume 34 gigs of data. The study converts all of the data streams (tv, radio, cell phone, etc.) to a broadband measurement to estitmate your usage.

Now the question is, how do you back all of that up?