So the problem at the moment is that Google has apparently changed the API that allows the posting of images into Blogger via Open Live Writer. This means that Open Live Writer needs to be updated to accommodate this. Unfortunately, even though Open Live Write is now open source there doesn’t seem to be anyone willing to take on that task. Thus, Open Live Writer really no longer works with Blogger when it comes to uploading images.

Yes, there are some kludgy temporary work arounds but that is not what I’m after. That means it’s looks like I’ll have to abandon the Blogger platform for this blog and move it elsewhere. That is going to be a major pain because it also means that I’ll need to probably move all the previous posts as well.

However, first things first, I need to go off and search for a new blogging platform to use that will allow me to totally compose offline, using some tool as well as retain all my history. If you have any suggestion of where I should head to for this, let me know.

So, until I can get this all sorted and potentially migrated, there unfortunately won’t be as many posts as normal.

Tech is as much a lifestyle choice these days as it is a career. The geeks and nerds have risen to rule the world. Don’t believe me? Ask Bill Gates! Sometimes it is good to step back and take a wide look at how technology has changed the world we live in – for better and worse. My selection below I have found to be enjoyable and thought provoking in many different ways and I recommend them to everyone who is interested in tech.

You can follow all the books, tech, business, non-fiction I read and want to read over at Goodreads where I have an account. You can also view my activity via:

https://www.goodreads.com/director_cia

or just follow me on Facebook:

www.facebook.com/ciaops

1. Daemon – Daniel Suarez [Fiction]

A glimpse into the future of where drones and augmented reality may take us. That may not necessarily be a good place either.

2. Freedom TM – Daniel Suarez [Fiction]

A follow up to Daemon. What happens when technology dominates the world? Who benefits?

3. Ready Player One – Ernest Cline [Fiction]

Much like the Matrix. What is life like if you live inside the machine? You can be just about anyone you choose. I also love this book for all the retro technology that was part of my life. TRS-80 anyone? This book has become so popular that there is now a movie. Believe me, the book is better.

4. Future Crimes: Inside the Digital Underground and the Battle for our Connected World – Marc Goodman [Non-fiction]

Technology will ultimately doom us all I believe because we are building our world on stuff that unfortunately places a low regard for security and privacy. This book will show you why that is a road to ruination.

5. Countdown to Zero Day: Stuxnet and the Launch of the World’s First Digital Weapon – Kim Zetter [Non-Fiction]

If you don’t believe cyber warfare is real then read this book to understand how software is now a weapon as potentially devastating as any nuclear device.

6. Beyond Fear: Thinking Sensibly about Security in an Uncertain World – Bruce Schneier [Non-Fiction]

Security is important but it is important in context. We need to be rational when we consider our security not emotional. A great level headed approach to how we need to be secure.

7. American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt or the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road – Nick Bilton [Non-Fiction]

An amazingly detailed book on the rise and fall of Ross Ulbricht, the creator of the Silk Road web site. In here are asked to think about whether technology plays something more than a neutral role in today’s world.

8. The Cuckoos Egg – Clifford Stoll [Non-Fiction]

Before the Internet was in the public sphere it existed in the world of academia. This is the story of how one man’s search for the source of an accounting error uncovered something are more sinister.

9. Takedown – John Markoff and Tsutomu Shimomura [Non-Fiction]

The pursuit and eventual capture of notorious hacker Kevin Mitnick makes for great reading.

10. Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution – Steven Levy [Non-Fiction]

Ah, the good ole days when it was more about proving how smart you were than trying to actually cause harm. If you think hacking is something new, then you’re in for a surprise with this book

I didn’t get through as many books as I would have liked this year, even though I did a lot of travelling. To be honest, I found a of well recommended books were simply duds for me. I have them on the bookshelf to revisit at later stage when the learning may sink in. But here again are what I believe are the ‘must read’ business books, in order, adjusted for 2019.

You can follow all the books I read and want to read over at Goodreads where I have an account. You can also view my activity via:

https://www.goodreads.com/director_cia

or just follow me on Facebook:

www.facebook.com/ciaops

Here’s my current top business books in order:

1. The Art of War – Sun Tzu

The all time classic on strategy. As relevant today as it ever was. A very short read but very deep.

2. The Millionaire Fastlane – M.J. DeMarco

I love the brutal honesty of this book. It doesn’t mince words about what it takes to shift from a pay check to actually living the life you want.

3. The Tipping Point – Malcolm Gladwell

The world is all about not what you know but who you know. This book explains exactly how this works and how to use it to your advantage.

4. The Four Hour Work Week – Tim Ferriss

Many people believe this book is about shirking responsibility. It is in fact a blueprint for how to free up your time to do things you want and enjoy. It will challenge the way you look at your career.

5. Secrets of the Millionaire Mind: Mastering the Inner Game of Wealth – T. Harv Eker

The successful are defined by a different mindset. This mindset can be learned. It can be trained. This is a great book to show you how to do just that.

6. Talent is over rated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everyone Else – Geoff Colvin

Demonstrates that the best comes from implementing a system. Having a system allows you to focus on the right thing and do that work that is required. If you want to take yourself to an elite level, beyond just good, then read this book.

7. Book Yourself Solid: The Fastest, Easiest, and Most Reliable System for Getting More Clients Than You Can Handle Even If You Hate Marketing and Selling – Michael Port, Tim Sanders

You can’t survive in business without a steady flow of customers. Selling to people is the wrong approach, you instead need to attract them to your business. This book helps you achieve exactly that.

8. Profit First: A Simple System To Transform Any Business From A Cash-Eating Monster To A Money-Making Machine – Mike Michalowicz

Business is about making a profit. This then gives you the freedom to do what you want with that profit. This book helps you focus on profit and setting up systems to make the most of the profit you generate.

9. Barking Up the Wrong Tree – Eric Barker

Conventional wisdom does not always apply and in some case can actually be detrimental. Challenging what is taken for granted should be in the play book of everyone who wants to achieve at the highest level. Important lessons can be learned in the strangest places and form the strangest people. Have an open mind and you might be surprised at what you have believed to be bad in fact turns out to get just what you need.

10. Unbeatable Mind: Forge Resiliency and Mental Toughness to Succeed at an Elite Level – Mark Divine

Another mindset book. Business is not always going to be easy or take the intended route. This is when you need to have the determination to see your plans through to success. This book shows you how to develop the mental toughness to make this happen.

11. The E-Myth – Michael Gerber

The classic on ‘procedurising’ your business and creating a structure that doesn’t need you to survive. The simple secrets inside this book can transform any business from hardship to joy.

12. Tools of Titans – Tim Ferriss

There are few books that take the learnings for so many exceptional people and puts them at your fingertips. This is one such book that packs a lot of business and life learnings between the covers.

13. Predictably irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape our Decisions – Dan Ariley

Although we like to think logic and rationality rule our world emotion is by far the more powerful influence. Understand this in the context of business and you are well on your way to understanding why people make the decisions they do and how to best profit from them.

14. Extreme Ownership – Jocko Willink and Lief Babin

Moving beyond blame is tough. This book illustrates the ownership of the problem and the environment is a key to success in the military or in business. It is a path few will elect to take voluntarily, however more may do so after reading this.

15. Peak Performance: Elevate your game, avoid burnout and thrive with the science of success – Brad Stulberg

Success is largely about developing a winning system. This book show you how to approach that pragmatically. If you want to see results use this book to help you build the system.

16. Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking – Malcolm Gladwell

The older you get the more experience you get. This experience is aggregated in your ‘gut feel’. Trusting your ‘gut’ may not appear rational but this book will help you understand why it is in fact your best option in many cases.

17. The Now Habit: A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt-Free Play – Neil A. Fiore

Plenty of great productivity learnings in here that help you take action. It shows you how to focus on the right stuff in the right priority. Even if you are not a major procrastinator there is plenty in this book that you can take away.

I do need to dedicate more time to reading in 2019 but have struggled somewhat in 2018 due to the number of dud reads that appeared worthwhile. That’s the challenge of finding those real gems and hopefully my list give you some inspiration to try a few from my list.

Let me know what you think. Do these work for you? What’s your top business reads? I’d love to hear.

Open Live Write is currently unable to post images to Blogger. An error 400 appears when posting. I’m not the only one having the issue as evidenced here:

https://github.com/OpenLiveWriter/OpenLiveWriter/issues/786

and on Google

https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/blogger/nJbedfynH7o

Appears to be an issue with the Google side of things.

Hopefully, we can get someone to look at this so I won’t to keep using sign language here!

I will happily admit that I am not a big app user. I have a number of keys apps that I use all the time and many that I test. However, the ones I test normally don;t last long and get deleted. I like to keep my devices as clean as possible rather than being filled with lots and lots of random apps.

To see what I was using at the beginning of last year check out the article:

My Apps – 2018

My most used apps on mobile devices over the last year were:

Podcast Addict – for all my podcasts. Easy to use, listen and update as well as working in the car thanks to Android auto.

Google Authenticator – used to provide two factor authentication for access to Google accounts as well as for Lastpass password manager.

Microsoft Authenticator – I use this for a number of select web sites as well as Office 365.

Android auto – connects to my daily drive to provide the ability to listen to podcasts (via Podcast Addict) as well as use Waze for navigation.

OneNote – is a must on every device I own. Syncs all my notes to every device. Allows me to not only truly have my information everywhere I am but also capture information quickly and easily.

Office Lens – available on all platforms. Allows capturing of information such as documents, whiteboards, etc to OneNote. I have written about the importance of this app previously:

A mobile device must have

Tripview – One of the few apps that I have happily paid for. I use this to let me know the Sydney train schedule to help me get around when I need to negotiate the ‘real world’.

Audible – If I can’t read my Kindle then I can normally always listen. This app allows me to listen to my audio books where ever I am.

Amazon Kindle – If I don’t have access to my Kindle then I can still read my books. In my case that will most likely be on my iPad. I also use the Kindle app on the iPad when the ebook has a lot of images that sometime don’t display well or are too small for the Kindle device.

The following as currently only iOS:

Oak – For mindfulness, breathing and meditation

Rode Reporter – which I use for recording many of my presentations when I am out on the road.

Of course I have all the social media apps, such as Twitter, Linkedin and Facebook on my devices.

I also have all the Microsoft/Office 365 apps. The ones I use the most are probably To-Do, Outlook, SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams and Yammer, although Word and Excel also get used regularly. Just about every Microsoft Office 365 service has an app that you should have on your mobile device.

I’ve also added the Intune app to all my devices so they can be better managed.

I use the Microsoft Next Lock Screen on my Android device.

Some occasional ones I use include:

– Meetup

– Pocket

– Duolingo

The above are my used apps across my various mobile devices. I certainly use a wide variety of apps on my devices by prefer the desktop versions if available simply because my finger are too fat and my patience too short to be productive for long stints on mobile devices. My kingdom, my kingdom for a full keyboard and screen I cry.

Here’s last year’s post for comparison:

My software and services – 2018

All my PC’s are running the latest version of Windows 10 (1809) without any issues and none during the upgrade process either. I do have Windows 10 and Office Insider builds happening on an original Surface PC as a testbed. All Windows 10 Pro machines are directly joined to Azure AD and managed via Intune. All machines run no third party AV as Windows Defender is a far better option in my experience.

The WD Sentinel DX4000 Runs Windows Storage Server 2008 and I would really like to upgrade this to a newer version of Windows Server, but given an in place upgrade is risky, it will probably be replaced at some stage. However, for the time being it is till doing its job but I’m starting to get more and more issues connecting to it using the Windows 10 Pro machines that are purely Azure AD joined so I maybe forced to make a change soon. I am kind of hanging out till I get better broadband when the NBN rolls into my location (due any day they tell me). When that does happen I’m going to see whether I can shift my whole on Windows Storage Server infrastructure completely to Azure and access it all remotely. I’m kind of hesitant to shell out for new hardware that I don’t really need. Moving all or part of my environment to Azure is going to give much more experience in accomplishing this which is a good things as more and more businesses are looking to do exactly the same. If I can lift and shift to Azure and with all my workstations now directly Azure AD joined it should be a seamless experience, however I won’t know until I try it. Stay tuned here for progress.

My two main tenants are an Office 365 E5 demo and Microsoft 365 Business production environments. The Windows 10 Pro machines are Azure AD joined to the Microsoft 365 Business production domain.

I use all the major browsers:

– Edge – mainly for logging into my production tenant

– Firefox – used with demo tenants

– Chrome – mainly used for non Office/Microsoft 365 browsing. I log into the Chrome with my Google identity to sync extension, bookmarks, etc as well as login to Google properties like YouTube

– Internet Explorer – mainly for logging into my Office 365 E5 tenant and the Azure environment that is also connected to that

I also generally use in private sessions in all the browsers to move between different online identities as needed.

Services like SharePoint Online and OneDrive I use regularly both in the demo and production tenant. I have the OneDrive sync client installed, running and connected to various locations on my production tenant. I am looking forward to the up coming OneDrive sync client feature that well allow me to sync across different tenants with the one sync client. That will allow me to easily sync both my production and demo environments.

I used to have Skype for Business automatically load at start up but that has been replaced by Microsoft Teams which is now my main messaging application. All the CIAOPS Patron resources like the intranet, team, etc all reside in the Office 365 E5 demo tenant but I connect to it on my desktop normally via an Azure B2B guest account from my production tenant. Thus, I can admin the Patron resources in a browser if need be but I get the same experience on my desktop as any Patron would. Handy to know what works and doesn’t work with Microsoft Teams guest access.

I use Lastpass to keep my passwords and private information secure. It allows me to do things like generate and store unique passwords for each website that I sign up for. It is also available across all browsers on my machine (including Microsoft Edge). I also now also use Lastpass to store secure notes.

The extensions I run in all my browsers are:

– LastPass

The extensions I use in Chrome are:

– Windows 10 accounts (allows Single Sign In to Azure Ad identity)

– Windows Defender Browser protection

– Pushbullet which connects alerts from my Android phone to my desktop browser and allow me to share information easily between them.

– GetPocket which allows me to save and categorise websites URLs, which I then typically read at a later time. Has its own dedicated mobile that I can use on any device.

– The Great Suspender which puts unused tabs in Chrome to ‘sleep’ to save memory.

– Nosili which provides productivity enhancement thanks to background sounds. My favourite is rain.

– Timeline Support which integrates the browser history into Windows Timeline. Really, really handy across multiple machines.

I use the automation sites If This Then That and Zapier to automate many different tasks. A good example of one of these is automatically publishing to various social media sites. I am now using Microsoft Flow more and more for automation and I am still looking to dive deeper using things like Azure Functions in 2018. I also use Socialoomph to post precisely scheduled social media posts, however I am aiming to replace this totally with Microsoft Flow this year.

For my Office 365 and Azure email newsletters I use Mailchimp.

My preferred public social networks for business, in order are:

1. Twitter

2. Linkedin

3. Facebook

Google Plus, which I use for posting my blog announcements to is going away shortly, so that’ll be one less thing to worry about.

The Apowersoft software allows me to display both iOS and Android devices on my Windows desktop which is really handy for demonstrations and presentations.

I also use Yammer extensively but for more specialised roles and thus don’t consider it really a ‘public’ social network, more a private one.

I consume a lot of content from YouTube both for business and personal interest. I also also use YouTube extensively for my publicly available training video training.

Microsoft Office desktop software is still part of my everyday workday via applications such as Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. I use the desktop version of Outlook on my Surface Pro 4 which lives on my desk but I only use Outlook Web App on my travelling Surface Pro 3 device. I could happily not use Outlook on the desktop any more I believe but I still use so I understand the experience for most users. However, I do see the day when Outlook on the desktop begins to lose its appeal.

One of the things I have just added to my desktop version of Outlook is a digital certificate that signs every email that I now send. This helps the receiver confirm that the message they have received is in fact from me and that it hasn’t been altered in any way. I need to spend some more time playing around with email certificates to understand what role they can play in enhancing email security. Add yet another item to the ‘to-do’ list.

The key application from the suite for me is OneNote. OneNote is my go to Swiss Army knife for just about everything digital. I use it to capture all sort of data. I even use it as a diary as I have detailed previous here:

One of the ways I use OneNote

The reason OneNote is key is because:

1. Just about everything I put in there us searchable

2. It is freely available across all platforms.

3. All my information is synced and accessible on all devices.

4. It is available on the web or offline if needed.

There are now two version of OneNote, the Windows store OneNote and OneNote 2016. Microsoft have confirmed that there will be no future upgrades to OneNote 2016 and in fact they are starting to remove it from Office 365 implementations. I fully understand support that move BUT the Windows store version of OneNote does not yet have nearly feature parity with OneNote 2016. I’d love to make the switch to only using one version but can’t until many of the features I use in OneNote 2016 appear in the Windows store version. C’mon Microsoft, let’s get them to feature parity please.

Another key service I use everyday along with Office 365 and OneNote is Azure. Typically, I use it for running up virtual machines that I test various things with but I also use it to backup my local data as well as that of other members of my family using Azure Backup.

Azure desktop backup

There is just so much that can be done with Azure and I pretty much use it everyday.

For a subset of my local data that I wish to remain secure I use Truecrypt to create encrypted volumes. All my Windows 10 machines run with full disk encryption thanks to Bitlocker, but stuff like financial and customer data I keep inside Truecrypt volumes for that extra layer of security. I understand that Truecrypt is no longer maintained and may have some very minor security flaws, but for how and why I use it, it is more than adequate.

To capture my desktop for my online training academy or my YouTube channel I use Camtasia. I use SnagIt to capture screen shots and add highlights and emphasis to these. Snagit allows me to capture complete screens or specific areas quickly and easily.

To compose and publish blog articles I use Open Live Writer.

The majority of images I get, like the one at the top of this article, I get from Pexels. Pickit is also another great option and I use the desktop app regularly.

For improved meeting management productivity I use Microsoft FindTime.

A major addition in 2018 was Visual Studio Code in which I do most of my PowerShell editing and publishing. The end result typically is my GitHub repository where you will find a range of scripts and other resources that I maintain regular. With Visual Studio Code I can edit publish and sync all my machines and my GitHub repository no matter where I am. Very handy.

Here are also a few of the other items I use regularly that are not for business:

Amazon Prime Video – only place to the latest The Grand Tour action. I also liked the Jack Ryan series and well as the Gymkana Files.

XBox Live Gold – access to all the online Xbox goodness.

Duolingo – language learning, Japanese and Italian at the moment

Tinycards – language and facts learning via flashcards. Also handy for certification exams.

So there you have it, the major software and services that I use regularly. I continue to search out additional software that will improve my productivity and I speak more about what I have changed in an upcoming article, so stay tuned. If you use something that you’ve found really handy, please let me know and I always keen to explore what works for others.