I truly haven’t had hands-on time with a Windows laptop in quite a few years. My wife is the one Windows user in my family, and while I have tried to keep my skills tuned to understand Windows, I’m a bit behind the times. But as I write this review, I’m doing it on the Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 laptop, and I honestly have to say, I’m impressed. But this review is not about Windows (although the Yoga 9i is running Windows 11 Home); it is more about the hardware that has been engineered to take advantage of the latest version of Windows. And I’m having fun fine-tuning my Windows skills! (*Disclosure below.) Being a tech writer evaluating all types of hardware specifically focused on Family Tech as well as helping others solve technology problems, I need to be sure that I’m technically ambidextrous – being able to talk both Windows and Mac. I have even played around with Chromebooks a bit, and many years ago, I went through a period of installing various flavors of Linux on a variety of devices. But this review is about the Lenovo Yoga 9i hardware that wraps the Windows experience in physical technology. I’m actually writing this review using the Yoga 9i after spending several days ditching my usual laptop and exploring the Yoga. And I have come up with ten things that I like about the design, the hardware decisions, and how it all works together. 1 – Compact Formfactor and Design Let’s start right with the design of the Lenovo Yoga 9i. This is a lightweight, easy-to-carry laptop. There are different versions of the Yoga 9i, including an optional leather-clad version (Shadow Black). The version I received for review was the more traditional, silver version. The base has a slightly tapered body, thinner in the section closer to the trackpad. But what impressed me was how thing the entire Lenovo Yoga 9i was. It is a mere 0.6″ high and is 12.57″ wide by 8.51″ deep. This makes it highly portable yet can house a full-sized keyboard. To add to the portability of the Yoga 9i design is the fact that it only weighs about 3.02 pounds. At that weight, it is easy to throw into a backpack or bag and barely notice that it is there. 2 – Quick Dive into the Spec I always go to the specific specs listings of any device to really understand what you get (and what you don’t). So while there is a lot to dive into, I have pulled out the items that I think to be the most important and relevant about the Yoga 9i. Specs below are from my review model. Processor: Intel Evo i7 – 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1195G7 @ 2.90GHz  2.92 GHzRAM: 16.0 GB (15.6 GB usable) – note, this is not upgradable and the RAM is soldered inHarddrive: 512 GB hard drivePorts:One USB-A port 3.2 Gen2 portTwo USB-C / Thunderbolt 4Headphone/Mic jackWiFi: 802.11AX (2 x 2) Bluetooth 5.1Speakers: Stereo speakers, 2W x4 (2x woofers, 2x tweeters), optimized with Dolby AtmosBattery: Integrated Li-Polymer 60Wh battery, supports Rapid Charge ExpressPower Adapter: 65W USB-C (3-pin) AC adapter A quick note on some of the items above. If upgrade options are available, I would recommend getting the maximum RAM possible (in this case, 16GB). RAM options are 8GB, 12GB, and 16GB. Also, the available hard drive configurations are 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB. I would not go lower than 512GB for storage. 3 – Multiple Working Possiblities This Lenovo laptop is aptly named the Yoga. This name implies that it is flexible and can support multiple positions. While it is listed as a 2-in-1, there are actually three core positions that the Lenovo Yoga 9i supports: laptop, tent, stand, and tablet. As I am a writer, I prefer using the laptop mode most of the time. I like having a tactile experience for typing, and on-screen keyboards simply don’t provide that. You can fully open the Yoga to have the bottom case touching the top/screen, meaning it folds open to put it into tablet mode. When fully open in tablet mode, the physical keyboard is disabled, and all of your interaction takes place on the screen. The screen automatically adjusts as you rotate the display (landscape or portrait). (And you can use the built-in pen for interaction on the screen if you want). Honestly, while this is an interesting mode to use, it is not something that I want to use much. I feel a bit odd grabbing a keyboard, and the entire tablet feels a bit too large in full tablet mode. While my preferred mode is laptop, I do like the tent mode a lot. You basically bend the Yoga in half and prop it. This mode is ideal for watching movies or videos (or even using the built-in Alexa mode). When in tent mode, all of the interaction is done via touch or pen. There is also a stand mode where the keyboard acts as a stand. This is similar to tent mode. All of these “yoga positions” are made possible by the unique 360° hinge. 4 – Display and Touchscreen One thing that I am not accustomed to but actually do quite enjoy is the fact that the Lenovo Yoga 9i is a touch-screen device. I always yell at my kids when they touch the screen of their Macs (there is no reason to touch a Mac screen other than to smudge it up). But, with the Lenovo Yoga, you should touch the screen. I’m just not used to it. Being able to interact with content or websites or just not use the trackpad all of the time is refreshing for me. The Yoga has a 14″ display. There are two options available for the display: FHD (1920×1080) or UHD (3840×2160). The model I tested was the FHD IPS display. The FHD is slightly dimmer 400 nits of brightness compared to the UHD at 500 nits. FHD support Dolby Vision and the UHD does HDR 400. Depending on the size of your fingers, you may want to decrease the screen resolution to be able to interact with objects on the screen. Otherwise, you can also use the built-in pen for precision or those very small buttons. 5 – Pen Included Built into the body of the Yoga 9i is a battery-powered pen that can be used to interact with the screen, sign documents (avoiding having to attempt to scrawl something on the trackpad), or use any of the drawing or illustration applications available. The Lenovo Integrated Pen has a built-in rechargeable battery, 4096 levels of pressure sensitivity and is stored (and charged) in the back portion of the Lenovo Yoga 9i. While it is a bit tricky to pull out because it is housed in the back, it is great to have it integrated into the body. I’m not an artist by any means. But just spending a few minutes exploring Microsoft Paint almost made me inspired to put the Yoga in tent or stand mode to try to make what I call very “abstract art.” The pen is pressure-sensitive, and the pen nub’s movements are tracked even when the pen is not touching the screen. 6 – Good Battery Life One thing that plagued higher-end or even mid-range laptops was poor battery life. There is nothing worse than working on an article or project, only to have to go and search for a plug to recharge the laptop. Luckily, battery technology is improving, and processors consume a lot less power for the same amount (or more) of processing power. The Lenovo Yoga 9i has an integrated Li-Polymer 60Wh battery that supports Rapid Charge Express. That means, according to Lenovo, that you can get 3 hours of runtime with just a 15-minute charge. Battery life does vary by the Yoga 9i model that you get and how you are using the device. For example, if you are doing some processor-heavy work, the battery duration will be a lot less than with lighter work like word processing or web browsing. According to Lenovo, the maximum battery life is pretty darn long: FHD model:MobileMark® 2014: 17 hrLocal video (1080p) playback@150nits: 18 hrUHD model:MobileMark 2014: 10 hrLocal video (1080p) playback@150nits: 11 hr These numbers are pretty respectable. I, for example, have been writing this review over several hours of active work and idle time. The battery has only drained to about 50%. Looking at the Windows Power & Battery panel shows that I have about 3.5 hours remaining, but I know that I haven’t truly trained the battery yet. 7 – Dolby Atmos Soundbar Pivot Another innovative design that the Lenovo engineers did with the Yoga 9i (and a few other models) is to integrate the speakers into the hinge between the screen and keyboard. This hinge is called the rotating soundbar. By placing speakers within the hinge, you are ensured that sound is facing outward, regardless of what mode you have the Yoga in. In traditional laptop mode, the speakers are forward-facing, ensuring you get immersive sound. I found the speaker playback to be crisp and not muddy. Bass performance was fairly good but not thunderous. Built into the soundbar are two subwoofer speakers and two tweeters which ensures a good balance between highs and lows. 8 – Windows 11 Home I know I said that this review is primarily about hardware and not software. But, using the Lenovo Yoga 9i was my first experience with Windows 11. I have worked with previous generations of Windows in the past, and once I started interacting with Windows 11, I found myself reverting settings back to things that were more familiar to me. For example, I put the Windows menu back to the left bottom corner instead of in the bottom middle of the screen that I believe it defaulted to. Much of the underlying core of Windows is still quite familiar, but the “window dressing” has changed and improved dramatically. I did also install Office 365 as I have a few family licenses. All of the Office products seem to be quite cleanly integrated into Windows (as they should). The Windows 11 experience on the Lenovo Yoga 9i is tight and clean. I only wish that there was less bloatware to uninstall at the beginning. 9 – Solid Keyboard This article is about 2000 words, all of which I have written using the Yoga 9i keyboard. I did have to retrain my muscle memory a bit to use the CTRL key versus the ALT key, but that was fine after just a little bit of practice. In fact, the keyboard is soft touch and quiet. There isn’t too much play as you press the keys, which allows you to be quite fast when typing. Other nice things about the keyboard: Backlit – there is nothing nicer than having a backlit keyboard when typing at night. Using the FN key and the spacebar, you can manually adjust the backlight strengthFull-sized – while the Yoga is compact, the keyboard is full-sized which is great for larger hands like mineTop Function Row – I quite enjoy the built-in and dedicated function keys for things like volume, screen brightness, mic control, airplane mode, screen locking, Alt-tab, calculator, Lenovo smart key, snipping, and more On the model that I tested, there is also a fingerprint reader that works with Windows Hello. I love being able to quickly log in without having to remember passwords. 10 – Webcam is Fine I did have to put the webcam into my list of things that I like. Although, what I like is less about the camera (which is the bare minimum, in my opinion) and more about the built-in privacy control slider, which I almost didn’t see until I was taking close-up photos. The webcam itself is just a 720p 1.0-megapixel RGB with a fixed focus. Unfortunately, it does NOT support facial recognition login using Windows Hello. But, the feature that I discovered quite accidentally was the privacy switch. There is a tiny little notch that allows you to slide a physical cover over the webcam. No more need of taping a post-it note over the camera! Bonus – Add a Lenovo Monitor for the Perfect Home Office Laptops are great for their portability and flexibility. But, if you are like me, having more than just your laptop screen is a huge bonus. I also hooked up a Lenovo Q24iL monitor as part of my testing. This is a basic, non-4K FHD monitor. It is 23.8″ diagonal, which provides more than enough additional screen real estate. The refresh rate is 75 Hz. The full resolution of this FHD monitor is 1920 x 1080, which makes it fine for a secondary screen. I personally wish and prefer having a 4K monitor for that extra resolution. Since the Yoga does not have an HDMI port, I used one of many USB-C hubs in my possession to connect to the Q24iL monitor (as well as charge the Lenovo Yoga). If you use the Yoga and the Q24iL monitor together and don’t use a side-by-side setup, I do recommend getting a laptop riser. I liked how the Q24iL is designed with the holding stand arm off to the side. This allows you to place items directly under the monitor and has a unique look. It is practically without a bezel and, more importantly, reduced eye strain due to lower blue light emissions. The built-in speakers are a bit too tinny and without much bass, so it is better to use the Dolby Atmos speakers of the Yoga 9i instead. Make sure that when you connect the Q24iL, you switch the audio playback back to the Yoga! Perfect for the Home Office – Lenovo Yoga 9i plus the Lenovo Q24iL The Yoga 9i is one of those all-around functional laptops that is great for work, school, or entertainment. Its multi-position capabilities (hence the Yoga name) allow you to work on an article or research paper, pivot it to watch movies or create a drawing, or carry around in tablet mode to have that “room cleaning” checklist you can use against your kids. The Yoga 9i has many different configuration options. I recommend getting the 16GB of RAM, and at least 500GB for the SSD hard drive. On the Lenovo site, the Yoga 9i starts at about $1,104.99. The model I have been testing retails for about $1,474.99 (see the specs earlier). You can configure the Yoga 9i to your liking. On Amazon, a similarly configured Yoga 9i (but with the black leather) is currently listed for $1,697. And if you want to add the same monitor shown in this review, you can get the Lenovo Q24iL 24″ FHD monitor on the Lenovo site for $229.99. You can get the same monitor on Amazon currently for $229.95. Buy on HighTechDad The product shown below (and related products that have been reviewed on HighTechDad) is available within the HighTechDad Shop. This review has all of the details about this particular product and you can order it directly by clicking on the Buy button or clicking on the image/title to view more. Be sure to review other products available in the HighTechDad Shop. Lenovo Q24iL FHD 24″ Monitor $229.95 Buy on Amazon Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Laptop $1,697.00 Buy on Amazon For someone who regularly does NOT use a Windows laptop, I really enjoyed using the Lenovo Yoga 9i. It is more than capable for a wide variety of tasks from writing to streaming media to crafting illustrations to basic work or school tasks. Disclosure: I have a material connection because I received a sample of a product for consideration in preparing to review the product and write this content. I was/am not expected to return this item after my review period. All opinions within this article are my own and are typically not subject to editorial review from any 3rd party. Also, some of the links in the post above may be “affiliate” or “advertising” links. These may be automatically created or placed by me manually. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item (sometimes but not necessarily the product or service being reviewed), I will receive a small affiliate or advertising commission. More information can be found on my About page. HTD says: If you are looking for a lightweight, good performing, multi-function laptop with a good battery life that can contort to 4 different display modes, you should take a look at the Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 laptop. And, the Lenovo Q24iL monitor complements it perfectly! To read the full article on HighTechDad.com, please visit: 10 Things to Love about the Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Laptop – Review To read other articles like this one, please visit: HighTechDad™

You need to get ahold of your child. You try calling and texting but there is no response. Panic sets in and you aren’t sure what to do. Are they ignoring you? Is their phone off? Are they in danger? Or is their iPhone simply in “Do Not Disturb” mode? If it is the latter, there is a great possibility that they are simply not hearing or feeling your calls or texts. While I highly recommend setting Do Not Disturb on for “sleep time,” it is easy to turn on whenever it’s needed. Luckily, with the latest version of Apple’s iOS (iOS 10.x), parents and children can set up “Emergency Bypass” on specific contacts like mom and dad, relatives, neighbors or friends. Heck, you may even want to put your boss into that list. There have been quite a few articles recently about this new “hidden” feature – Emergency Bypass – but I felt that it warranted a little extra attention, particularly when it comes to families. For quite a while, you could set up a “Favorites” list within your contacts to allow you to quickly and easily get in touch with frequently-contacted people, and, there was and still is a setting for Do Not Disturb specifically. I recommend you take a look at that setting and see if you want your Favorites to be able to contact you even if you are in Do Not Disturb mode. Just go to Settings > Do Not Disturb and choose “Favorites.” But this setting might not be good for everybody. Let’s think about kids, for example. I’m guessing that most of your kids have lots of other, non-family or emergency-related contacts in their favorites. So, it might not be ideal to allow friends or boy/girl friends to be able to bypass the Do Not Disturb settings as it is tied to Favorites. Luckily, the most recent release of Apple’s iOS 10 enables something new for each and every stored contact called “Emergency Bypass.” How to Set Up Emergency Bypass Setting this up is incredibly easy actually. But I’m guessing you didn’t know it existed. And the nice thing is, you can set up Emergency Bypass for both calls AND texts. And, as I said, it is tied to the individual contact, not the favorite list. Simply go into the contact you want to enable Emergency Bypass on and choose Edit. From there, you can customize not only the Ringtone or Text Tone of that particular contact (did you know you could even do that?), but there will be a toggle to turn on Emergency Bypass. In Edit mode, scroll down to either Ringtone or Text Tone and go into the details. Here is where the Emergency Bypass toggle appears (as well as customizations for tones): You can then do the same thing for Text Tones and the process is the identical: Once you make one or both of those changes, be sure to save the contact. Then just repeat on other critical contacts you want to be able to bypass the Do Not Disturb setting. Pretty easy, right? Ensuring that you can get ahold of your child or parent is critical. Many of us think of smart phones as a sort of digital leash (in both a good or bad way). But, remember that technology is a tool and when used appropriately, can be extremely helpful, especially in emergencies. As a parent, I highly recommend pointing this feature out to your kids, as well as change the Emergency Bypass setting to ON for your own kids. You don’t want to miss that call or text late at night from a child in need. And if you are trying to contact your kids, this helps to potentially cut through the digital barriers. HTD says: Take a few minutes to quickly and easily set individual critical contacts with the ability to bypass the Do Not Disturb setting. The post Parents & Kids – Set Up Emergency Bypass on your iOS10 Device Now! appeared first on HighTechDad.

A few months ago, my youngest daughter who is 12 started begging my wife and I to get on SnapChat (now Snap) because all of her friends were on it. Big sigh. We had already been through this two times before with her older sisters but it seemed like every year the age when this was requested was younger and younger. The “you have to be 13 to join” excuse didn’t work. All of her friends were under 13. We had preached our usual “social media can be dangerous when you are young” but it fell on deaf ears and a mound of rebuttals. After several weeks, she was truly wearing us down (shhh, don’t tell her). So my wife decided that if our daughter were to get Snap, she would have to write a contract which would need to have a list of CONSEQUENCES if we caught her “violating the rules.” And she would have to sign it. Queue the link/click bait…you won’t believe what happened next! (Haha) Well, she wrote out the contract and all of her own, decided-upon consequences. She signed it. But then after just an hour after the ink dried, she rescinded her own contract, claiming it was too harsh and she would rather wait. Chalk up a minor victory to my wife here! There are several reasons why I tell this story. For one, I try to write about kids, parenting and social media a lot. I have a living classroom (or laboratory) for all of this stuff. I’m no expert on any of this (my wife is far more attuned to all aspects of parenting and social media than I am). But I do try to boil down things that work (at least for us) and share it. My primary advice is always – have a conversation WITH your kids, don’t just dictate AT them. And while I have written some negative and positive content about social media and kids, this is the Wild West folks. The rules are still being invented! I’ve even written some Social Media Policies for Families. Really though, any rules you make with your children should be groundwork for open discussions. That’s why I was intrigued when I was contacted by LifeLock about a site they have created with the National PTA called “TheSmartTalk.org.” (In full disclosure, this is a sponsored article – but, I truly like their approach to building towards open discussion between parents and children about online activity – so much so, I happily agreed to write this!) TheSmartTalk.org – An Interactive Contract for Discussion TheSmartTalk.org site is a carefully constructed, well thought out, interactive and engaging site that not only allows you to craft a contract between parents and kids on all things digital/social, it is also a great medium for starting and/or continuing discussion around the important topic of being digital citizens. And, honestly, I believe it is important for parents to understand these rules well, because I have seen so many mistakes done by adults as well. And guess what, kids watch our every move and they often copy our actions – good or bad! I won’t walk through each and every step along the way. It’s important for families to experience it themselves. Filling out the contract can literally take just a few minutes, but honestly, I don’t recommend that you race through it. It really is, in my opinion, a tool to get that conversation between parents and children going. You can, conceivably, talk about each and every point on it. There may be items that are not relevant to your situation and there may be some you never thought about. You start by choosing the Topics you want in the contract (or you want to discuss). The topics are: Safety & Privacy Screen Time Social Media & Respect Apps & Downloads Texting & Calling I would recommend choosing all of these actually, but again, it depends on your kids, their ages, and their activities. Then you name the child and the parent who will be on TheSmartTalk.org contract. I took a shortcut and just put in “kids” and me. But you could do one for each child. Once you name yourselves, you start going through a series of questions in the form of checklists or yes/no items. If you selected all of the topics, you will have quite a few items to go through. Within each section, there are actually areas for additional conversation. For example when talking about passwords, there is a “Bonus Talk” about choosing good passwords and links to additional information. Work through all of the sections and questions. Be honest with the discussions and decisions on TheSmartTalk.org items as they actually are quite important. Once you reach the end of the agreement, you are ready to print and sign it. This is a great last step that “formalizes” things between the parent and child and makes it official. Print it out, sign it, and hang it up somewhere. And TheSmartTalk.org actually recommends you review or renew the contract periodically. Kids grow older and they want to do more with their devices and on social media. Below is a sample from the Safety & Privacy section to give you an idea of the final product. So, there you have it. Not only do you have great, fun tool with TheSmartTalk.org site, but you also have a structured method to have the serious discussion with your kids about Internet, Social Media and Device Safety. Take some time on the weekend to go through this with your child/children. You won’t regret it and while it is indeed “screen time,” it is also important “family time!” Disclosure Text : This is a sponsored post and I have received compensation in the form of a service. All opinions within this article, unless otherwise noted, are my own and are not subject to the editorial review from any 3rd party. More information can be found in my About page. HTD says: I have always said you need to have regular, open dialogs with your kids about online and digital safety. TheSmartTalk.org truly helps you get that conversation going! The post TheSmartTalk.org Makes a Social & Digital Safety Contract for Families and Gets the Discussion Going appeared first on HighTechDad.

Back in late-2007 I started a journey. I was brought into a company which rented out bare metal servers. Racking and stacking was their bread and butter, charging for space in a data center, leasing hardware and managing physical infrastructure. Hired as a Technology Evangelist, I wasn’t employed to spread the gospel of the tangible world, but rather to educate about something new, something called “cloud computing” – perhaps you have heard of it? And just a year earlier, a company that sold books and other products launched a series of services which would revolutionize computing, storage and infrastructure. Yes, that would be Amazon. Source: http://ift.tt/2ewWxIV Cloud, back then, was new. It was a peek into what now is a staple, dare I say, a commodity. Infrastructure on demand that was scalable and billed by usage was something unheard of. Sure, virtualization technologies existed but frequently those instances were contained within private data centers or on people’s personal computers. Companies large and small began to pay attention. There was a lot of hype, fear, uncertainty, distrust – the things fairly typical to anything “new.” Concerns over stability and security, which are still concerns even today, frequently overshadowed the potential of this new IT change agent. IT executives struggled to not only understand this movement but also how to control it. Armed with just a credit card, developers had the ability to spin up infrastructure ad hoc. As I said, it was revolutionary. But it was also evolutionary. People always champion Darwin’s concept of survival of the fittest. With the introduction of cloud computing, companies suddenly had the ability to evolve differently – to adapt the best characteristics of the cloud and fold it into their own developing business and technology strategies. Clouds are Cloudy and Complex But there was (and actually still is) a problem. This evolution, I have discovered, is bumpy. Despite the efforts of me and my colleagues, businesses, the media, marketing and sales organizations and the even members of public in at large, there was a misperception of what cloud was or what it could do. And honestly, this confusion still exists. It was and continues to be a journey of education, information sharing, collaboration, invention and risk. source: http://ift.tt/1K1LQWM After 6 years of championing the cloud, I stepped away for a few years. At that point, 2013, I did feel there was less fear and fewer misperceptions, and more adoption and innovation – by companies using the cloud AND by the cloud providers themselves. In 2012, Gartner showed Cloud Computing as being well beyond the Technology Trigger and Peak of Inflated Expectations and even moving quickly through the Trough of Disillusionment. By 2013, businesses were becoming “enlightened” by the possibilities. It’s now the end of 2016 and it is incredible to me how this IT evolution has progressed. Cloud is established. Business niches have been formed. Start-ups and established providers are innovating at break-neck speeds. And if a company doesn’t have some sort of a cloud strategy, it is losing its competitive advantage or edge. It’s Still About Education But the issue of education still persists. It could be due to increased IT complexity or the number of players in the space or legacy IT mixed with the next “bright and shiny” thing. source: http://ift.tt/1OHUAVD As of this writing, I will have completed about a month at Riverbed. And I’m honestly shocked to find out how little I now know about cloud and the surrounding ecosystems. It’s been only three years but as we all know, a year in the technology space is multiple in the real world. And I wonder, if I’m scratching my head, how are business and IT leaders faring? I offer this advice. The solution is in learning and education, talking with your peers, reading trade journals, engaging in discussions, getting POCs and demos from solution providers, and asking lots and lots of questions. Over the past few weeks, I have been doing just that. And the changes from the dawn of cloud and present day innovations are significant, so much so I thought I would note a few of them here. A Learning Moment Here are just a few things I have recently discovered which perhaps can help those trepidatiously testing the waters: “Digital Transformation” has replaced the “cloud” buzzword – This actually was a new buzzword I had to quickly learn and interpret. Also known affectionately now as “DX,” it’s appearing on presentations in boardrooms and in emails throughout modern business. While probably the subject of an article on its own, it represents the adoption of cloud, the integration of disparate IT systems (physical, on-premise, virtualized and in private/public clouds) and the evolution to a holistic view and management of all. But it is more than this, as it is coupled with businesses leveraging these technologies into their own business practices, models and processes. It’s not about shifting CapEx to OpEx anymore – While back in 2007 I was touting how companies no longer had to purchase infrastructure and how they could move expense to operations, now this is no longer the case. Yes, the cloud, for example, does offer a much better means to control IT spend and lower that percentage of unused IT resources – I have learned that there is a much better story now. Optimizing your resources, applications, networks and connected infrastructure can actually reduceboth CapEx AND OpEx. Searching for buggy code manually or programming networking devices via CLI is time consuming and error-prone, and all increase OpEx. Using a software-defined approach can both automate and standardize manual processes of the past. And gaining visibility can reduce the problem of Shadow IT. IT has become even more complex – It’s not just compute and storage anymore, it’s network and application performance, unified communications, SaaS optimization (think Office365 – read Steve Brar’s discussion on optimizing the end-user experience for Office 365), legacy integration, and much, much more. To be successful, you must have granular insights – Application and network performance monitoring has matured to the point where I have learned that you cannot simply analyze summaries or roll-ups of data points; you must look at each and every point to view hidden patterns. Jon Hodgson has a fascinating presentation that outlines the importance of data-point analytics. Case in point, at around 28 minutes into the video, the scatter-charts he discusses are eye-opening. But watch the whole video and then think about how your organization does analytics. Don’t ignore “living on the edge” – Improving capabilities of all tendrils of organizations, from headquarters to data centers to branch offices to remote workers – all should be empowered by finely-tuned, closely-monitored and analyzed, and well-optimized IT. And deployments of branch office IT should take hours and not days or weeks, as Alison Conigilaro Hubbard outlines in her explanation of modernizing Edge IT. Forgetting the network means disaster – While compute and storage continue to advance, so does the network. But often, businesses neglect this aspect of IT. Bandaging old routing hardware into private and public networks without defining which protocols or apps should traverse one over the other can cause a hemorrhage within a dispersed infrastructure. Dedicating confidential data transfers via an MPLS link seems obvious enough but would SharePoint traffic benefit by following the same route? Probably not, as Mason Coffman outlines. And this is where software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) Digital Transformation is a journey, not only of research, implementation and usage, but also of education. Perhaps like me, you are a student. Or maybe a teacher. Regardless, it is through conversation and the exchange of ideas that individuals and businesses can grow and succeed. But what I really want to know is, what have you seen to be transformational over the past few years within IT? What is revolutionary? What is evolutionary? What has become commoditized and where is the next innovation coming from? HTD says: We’ve entered the stratosphere of IT — connecting clouds with terra firma and everything else in between. And whether you are a pilot or a passenger on this journey, we are all in it together. The post A Journey from Terra Firma to the Clouds and Beyond appeared first on HighTechDad.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Capella University. A few weeks ago, I wrote a sponsored article about Capella University and a free CEB Skills Assessment being offered to test one’s soft skill proficiency. It is geared toward helping IT professionals better understand themselves, their soft skills and identifying areas where they may benefit from additional training. It is not designed to make IT professionals more technology proficient but rather to help them identify skills to make them more well-rounded individuals. Understanding what makes a person “tick” and working on further developing strengths and identifying areas of improvement makes IT professionals more marketable and has the potential to boost career paths. As part two of this sponsored series, I take a look at the actual CEB Skills Assessment itself. The CEB assessment currently being offered for free for a limited time, focuses on three areas: Working Collaboratively, Adapting to Change, and the third assessing how one Balances Analysis with Judgment. Image Source: Capella University, 2016 While, as I mentioned, this is a sponsored post, I would be remiss if I didn’t understand exactly what I was writing about, and if I didn’t actually take the assessment myself so that I could speak from authority. So, I decided to take the CEB assessment. Change is always lurking around the corner within Information Technology and since I live in the San Francisco Bay Area where tech companies are born, bloom and fade away (or succeed) on a regular basis, change is always something important to understand. There are plenty of people who enjoy the status quo and who believe change should be avoided at all costs. And there are others who think change is always good and a means to better oneself. While I know that I’m a creature of habit more often than not, I also consider myself an early-adopter of technology as well as business processes. But I wanted to discover what the assessment would tell me. Taking the CEB Skills Assessment Armed with my laptop, the appropriate browser, and an Internet connection, I set out to take my free CEB Skills Assessment. First, you register on the CEB site. This will allow you to continue the Assessment if you are interrupted and also to have a record of the Assessment having been taken and received. By the way, you need to take this Assessment via a computer and not a mobile device. Image Source: Capella University, 2016 That being said, you can view a sample assessment here which should give you an idea of how the results look. For starters, the assessment consists of a variety of questions. Depending on how much you think about each question, the assessment should take you a minimum of 25 minutes. I believe mine took a bit longer. Each question has three statements which you need to evaluate as “most like you” or “least like you” and one that you leave blank. These are challenging, on purpose. You need to do a self-assessment to match as close to your personality as possible. I often found that I wanted 2 or all 3 of the questions to be “most” or “least” but you must make a decision. I have generalized a few of the subjects that appeared within the Assessment I took. This should give you an idea of what to expect: How you approach project management How you face challenges How you talk about your success Your thoughts on the future There are other subjects, but the ones above are a couple which jumped out at me. Once I completed all of the questions within the personality assessment, I Image Source: Capella University, 2016 received my results within one business day. My results were broken down by specific topics and confirmed a lot of what I knew about myself already. Knowing my areas of potential improvement makes me a more well-rounded individual in the long term. As the report states: “The information in this report is not intended to be definitive – it should be seen as a starting point for discussing your development plans in the context of your current role and career potential.” It is designed to help you develop an action plan. There are 12 competencies discussed and I was evaluated based on my answers for each of these competencies. Within each competency, there is an overview for IT Professionals and then a couple of bullets specific to my results. At the end, there is a worksheet in the CEB Skills Assessment to help you start on your action plan. Overall, for me I felt it was great to “have it all in writing” to both confirm what I already knew but also to get greater details on why a particular competency is important to an IT professional. Image Source: Capella University, 2016 So my advice to you if you are an IT professional looking to better understand how well-rounded you are (or aren’t), carve out some time to take the free CEB Skills Assessment being offered by Capella University. You may be surprised at the results! Disclosure: This is a sponsored post and I have received compensation to prepare to research it as well as write it. More information can be found in my About page. HTD says: It is always important to continue to grow professionally and when you are provided tools to assist you in better assessing your skills or lack thereof, use them! See graduation rates, median student debt and other information at http://ift.tt/2bCTD1d var ts=document.getElementById('ti-pixel-tracker'); var axel = Math.random() + ""; var num = axel * 1000000000000000000; var ti=document.createElement("img"); ti.style.display="none"; ti.src="http://ift.tt/2dwGJY3" + String.fromCharCode(38) + "i=r78ue" + String.fromCharCode(38) + "ord="+ num + String.fromCharCode(38) + "s=" + encodeURIComponent(document.referrer); ts.parentNode.replaceChild(ti,ts); JSON.stringify({"program_id":"210ddc60-52aa-11e6-abe1-22000a7d00a4","post_id":"db4a665a-540f-11e6-a595-22000a66c666"}); The post The Results are In! Free CEB Skills Assessment for IT Professionals appeared first on HighTechDad.

From time to time I’m asked to voice my “expert”opinion on a variety of topics ranging from parenting to technology to digital marketing to writing. I put “expert” in quotations because I must acknowledge the fact that I am by far NOT an expert in any of those topics. I have, however, had lots of experience with each and formed my own opinions along the way. And, given the fact I have been writing about them for many, many years, I guess a few people have read my thoughts and ideas and taken notice. Recently I was contacted by Imperial Leisure, a creative communications, viral marketing, digital advertising and social media agency located in London wondering if I could share my insights into a few topics, specifically brands, blogging, influencers, technology and more. Of course, I was honored, flattered and happy to share my thoughts! The interview was originally published on the Imperial Leisure blog, but I have also included the questions and answers here for convenience. If you have questions or comments on any of my answers, feel free to leave them on this article but I encourage you to do so on their original interview as well. Repost of Imperial Leisure interview Imperial Leisure: Collaborations between brands and influencers are popping up all over the place. Some involve campaigns with flashy photography, others focus on driving social conversations. While these projects come in different shapes and sizes, one thing is for certain: influencers are here to stay. We wanted to get some insight into the inner world of an influencer. Behind our respective screens, we sat down with the US-based technology blogger Michael Sheehan to do just that. His blog HighTechDad has been going for over ten years, and while Michael doesn’t love the term ‘influencer’, tech companies are queueing for him to write about their products. Here, Michael talks to us about blogging, integrity and where he sees influencer marketing going. Imperial Leisure: Tell us a bit about your background. I know you did a degree in English. What made you jump from that to technology? Michael Sheehan: Believe it or not, I have encountered quite a few people who also work in the technology field and who have liberal arts educations. I think it boils down to liberal arts education teaching how to read, write, analyse and articulate. But also, I live and work in the San Francisco Bay Area, a place ripe with everything from tech startups to established technology companies so as I have been exposed to tech for many, many years, it seems logical that I might also jump to technology. But, the reality is, I just really enjoy technology. I believe there are some people who understand tech and some people who don’t. I guess I just get it. IL: You’ve been blogging for over a decade now. What made you get into it? MS: Over a decade ago, a friend suggested that I write a how-to book. This was long before blogging formally existed. But as I researched what was involved in writing and publishing a book, I realised it was cost prohibitive and had other challenges. The introduction of blogging via WordPress was the perfect solution. For starters, since I wanted to write about technology, gadgets and consumer electronics as well as how-to and fix-it articles, having an online environment made the most sense. It was much more “living” that a printed equivalent. It could be easily updated and shared, and it promoted discussion. I’m still kicking around an idea of writing a book and someday perhaps I will attempt that, but for now, my site provides me with energy and enjoyment via sharing helpful and informative articles. But honestly, I started reviewing tech products many years ago because I couldn’t actually afford to purchase the gadgets myself. It’s a bit of an addiction. I had a friend who had a PR agency and he started sending me smartphone cases to review and over the years, it snowballed to many other types of products. IL: What’s made your blog so successful? MS: Ha ha, well success is relative I believe. While I am extremely happy with the number of visitors and views I have, as well as the many opportunities I have been given from brands and companies, I also feel like I’m just getting started and have much larger aspirations. My blog is currently really just a hobby. But back when I was just writing about tech, my family was young. I realised that there were plenty of sites talking about and reviewing technology and other sites about parenting, but there weren’t any or were very few sites that talked about how technology works within the family environment. So I decided that was the niche I would pursue. It gave me the luxury of receiving and reviewing tech and gadgets, but also allowed me to look at the tech from the perspective of a parent. In all of my reviews, I do my best to fold in how a product or service actually works (or doesn’t) within a family environment. While that niche is fairly specific, it seemed to work pretty well. But also, I believe the success came from writing about topics that were timely (e.g., advice to parents about social media), helpful (e.g., how to fix software or hardware issues), and relevant (e.g., reviews of the latest and greatest trendy gadgets). IL: You hold a full-time job in the technology sector. How do your blog and day job feed into one another? MS: I recently realised that having a site like mine is extremely relevant to being a content and digital strategist professionally. It allows me to see and understand both sides of a campaign or strategy. On HighTechDad, I’m pitched by brands, companies and agencies on a regular basis. I know what I like and what gets me excited to work with a brand, as well as what doesn’t. I can then take that knowledge and use it on my professional side as I formulate content, marketing or digital strategies and campaigns. For example, continuity is extremely important. On the HighTechDad side, I really enjoy working with those brands who build a relationship with me. While I’m happy to do one-hit opportunities, longevity and continuity go a long way. As a professional, I also realise what I would want an influencer, advocate or blogger to do with my product, service or brand. So when I write on HighTechDad, I make all attempts to keep that in mind, especially if they are sponsored pieces of content. Both sides, professional and blogger, feed and enrich the other. IL: From a company’s perspective, how do they benefit from working with an influencer like yourself? MS: It’s interesting actually. I don’t really like the whole “influencer” title. I use it currently because it is popular and people understand it, and heck, who wouldn’t want to make a living off of being influential about something. But, I would rather characterise myself as an “advocate” which is a little bit different. I feel (and preach about this) that influencers are a bit over-hyped. They potentially get paid lots of money to merely mention a product or brand. There is no guarantee that they believe in the product or have even used it. And frequently their audiences are so large, they cannot truly interact with them. Advocates, on the other hand, tend to have smaller audiences or followers, but are extremely passionate about products or brands and truly engage with their followers. I feel that advocates are a bit more authentic and while their audience numbers might not be as large, they are more willing to work with a brand to be successful in their activities. And they are often much less “expensive” than influencers. So while I will use the influencer term to describe myself, I would rather categorise myself as an advocate, using my descriptions above. IL: Where do you see influencer marketing heading? MS: I feel that it’s peaking. I feel that influencers are overpaid and marketing organisations are wasting precious budgets on influencers who may get a temporary initial spike in activity but who then move on to the next opportunity with little or no affinity to the previous activity. I think that marketing organisations will begin to realise this and move on to the next big thing. But, influencers are often tied to the social platforms they are influential within. So there are ways for influencers to emerge and keep the trend going. I do hope that brands and marketing organisations will be careful in choosing who will represent them within these audiences and social programs. Would things be better handled with a few advocates or one influencer? And I believe it is important to understand the type of content these “influencers” are producing. Is it relevant? Is it engaging? Is it intelligent? Is it helpful? I think, though, influencer marketing will continue chugging along until the next big thing appears. Then it will be a staple much like content marketing is, and it will be folded into all things digital. IL: What do brands expect when they get in touch with you? MS: There doesn’t seem to be a standard of expectations, honestly. There are times when I contact a brand because I really want to review a product and see it in action or because one of my readers asked me about it. Other times, I am pitched by brands or their agencies either because they have a new product or service they want to amplify or introduce, or they need to get some bounce to their existing product or service. And there are times when I’m asked to generate sponsored content. In those cases, the sponsored content must be relevant to me and my audience. But in terms of expectations, many times, there aren’t any. Most of the time, I will not share drafts of my articles prior to publication, the exception being with sponsored content but even then I need to maintain integrity. Obviously, brands expect people to rave about their product and service. So when you think about integrity, you need to be sure you are balanced and honest. IL: How do brands take to your honesty when writing about their products? MS: Honesty, authenticity and transparency are critical to me. If someone gives me something for free, pays for a trip to have me see a product first hand, or pays me for content, I must disclose that not only because it is required by law, but also because I don’t want people to think of me as insincere. From the beginning of my writing, I have always followed these ideas – if a product is horrible or I just can’t find more positive than negative in it, I will simply not write about it. It doesn’t do me any service and it doesn’t provide the brand any help. I will provide direct feedback offline to the brand if they want it. For those products or services that I do write about online, I will always talk about the great thing, but also mention things I would like improved. Constructive criticism is important. I think brands understand this and it makes the content more authentic. IL: Your love for technology seems to know no limits – what’s the one gadget or programme you can’t envision life without? MS: That is a tricky one to answer. Perhaps that “can’t live without” gadget hasn’t been invented yet. I have “ADH…ooooh shiny” and I’m easily distracted by the next exciting consumer electronic or gadget. But I’m always in search of relevant and helpful technology, for me, my family and others. I’m always excited to answer any questions brands, marketeers, parents and others may have. If you’d like to chat, please fill out one of my Contact forms and I will get back with you quickly. HTD says: It’s always an honor to be asked an opinion about something. I encourage others to listen and ask questions, as that is what allows us to grow as people and individuals. The post My Views on Blogging, Influencers & Brands – Interview with Imperial Leisure appeared first on HighTechDad.

I recently started a new job and one of the perks was that I could choose between having a Mac or PC laptop. While I consider myself to be ambidextrous when it comes to Mac versus PC, I definitely prefer using a Mac whenever I can. All was great on day one of my new job. My Mac came fully configured – even with the latest versions of Microsoft Office which included Outlook (version 15.x) which were to be used in a business environment. I was definitely a happy camper. That is, until I clicked on an email link and all of a sudden Apple Mail launched. Unlike setting your default browser on a Mac, setting the default email client is a bit less intuitive. BUT, it can be done! Here’s how. Unlike with browsers which typically and periodically prompt you when you launch them to set them as the default browser, setting the default email client on a Mac is a bit of a different process. It’s a bit less intuitive, but the process I map out below does work for MacOS Sierra and El Capitan. It’s important to follow all of the steps or it might not stick (as I found through experience). Ready? Let’s go! How to Set the Default Email Client in MacOS Sierra & El Capitan So the scenario is this: while you like (or dislike) the Apple Mail app, you need to change the default to be a different email client like Microsoft Outlook, Airmail, Thunderbird or something else. Perhaps you need it for a work environment like I do and want to just use the features within Outlook. When you set the default browser on the Mac, you go to System Preferences > General to do so:   Easy enough, right? Wrong if you want to do the same thing for the default email client. It’s simply missing. So just to be sure, I went into the Microsoft Outlook email preferences to see if perhaps there was a setting there: Nothing there either! So, after scratching my head a bit, I decided to open up the Preferences for Apple Mail and guess what? The setting is there in the General tab! Great, right? Well don’t go popping the champagne corks yet. There may be some other things you need to do after choosing the default email client in this setting. First, though, you will want to choose your default email client (or reader) in this preference panel. So, I chose Microsoft Outlook.app as my default. I closed the pane and exited out of Apple Mail. Then I tried to click on an email link and…it opened Apple Mail. Wait, what?! I reopened Apple Mail and went back to the setting and it had defaulted back to Mail.app. Hmmm. So I tried it again, this time after rebooting my Mac. The same thing happened! Then I realized something –> I hadn’t set an account up in Apple Mail.  I then set up an account within Apple Mail and did the same process of selecting the default email client. I exited Apple Mail and clicked on a link. Guess what? It worked! So, here is the critical thing you must do to make this setting stick. You must set up an email account within Apple Mail. I’m not sure if the order of this process matters (set preference first and then an account or visa versa). Nor have I tested removing the email account later to see if the setting sticks (if someone tests this, please leave a comment!). I’m not quite sure why Apple chose this route to go. It would make sense to me to put the default email client selection right with the default browser selection within the System Preferences. I guess there is a reason for everything. (A few years ago, I wrote a How-To on browser selection if you had multiple instances of Chrome for example.) Anyway, I hope this helped alleviate some frustration and get you productive again! Be sure to leave a comment if you have questions or just to say “it worked!” HTD says: Sometimes even the most simple of preference setting can be a bit more complicated for one reason or another – but there is always some sort of solution! The post How To Set the Default Email Client on MacOS Sierra & El Capitan appeared first on HighTechDad.

Do you like doing laundry? In the past, I didn’t. But now I do. And there are a few reasons why I don’t view it as much of a chore as before. For the past few months, I have been testing out the 2016 Samsung Clothes Dryer (Model: DV50K7500GV) which is their relatively new, top-of-the-line model. In my family, we produce a LOT of dirty laundry. We do multiple loads every week and the process pretty much takes up part of our day. But there are some features of this 2016 Samsung Clothes Dryer that make this task just a little bit easier and less of a chore. While I can’t just press a button and “flash dry” things in second (maybe some day), I can easily make a setting and then walk away and later be notified when our clothes are crisp and freshly dry. This 2016 Samsung Clothes Dryer is the matched pair of the 2016 Samsung Clothes Washer – model: WF50K7500AV (you can see my review of that here). And just like the other clothes washer review, I crafted a video review (also available directly on YouTube) highlighting many of the features of this stellar clothes dryer. But I realize that some of you like reading reviews as well so I wanted to highlight some of the important features of the 2016 Samsung clothes dryer. If, after watching the video and/or reading this review, you have additional questions or comments, I encourage you to leave a comment below. As I continue to use both the clothes washer and dryer, I become more of an expert and while I may not have used each and every feature, I will do my best to give you the information you need. Review of the 2016 Samsung Clothes Dryer This review of the 2016 Samsung clothes dryer includes the following topics: Massive Capacity Multitude of Features Blocked Vent Detection Connectivity Lint Grabber And Some More Thoughts So where to begin? This dryer is equally as rich in features as the companion washer. Both are EnergyStar rated, for example. I should point out that this review is of the gas version of the dryer. There is also an electrical version which is slightly less expensive, however I vastly prefer gas as I feel it is less expensive to run and seems to dry clothes quite well. Massive Capacity Similar to the Samsung clothes washer, the 2016 Samsung clothes dryer has an extremely large capacity. The stainless steel drum is 7.5 cubic feet in size. When you think about it, this is quite important especially if you are using the Samsung washer (which has a capacity of 5.0 cubic feet). When you wash clothes, they tend to become compact as they get wet. But what happens when you dry them? They expand. So if you max out the 5.0 cubic foot washer and put all of those clothes in this dryer, they will expand to use up most of the 7.5 cubic feet. Also, having a larger capacity also means that if you are drying a smaller load, the drying cycle will be faster as more surface area of the clothes is exposed to drying. The drum is stainless steel which means that it doesn’t get as easily scratched by zippers or buttons. Also, there is a rack that comes with it that fits inside the middle which allows you to flat dry items like shoes or sweaters. I haven’t tried this setting yet, particularly because it isn’t quite sweater season, but I do want to test it out. Multitude of Features Just like the washer sibling, the 2016 Samsung clothes dryer has a turn dial to select the cycle and a touch pad control panel to customize the settings even further. There are 14 drying presets. So pretty much any type of clothes drying condition you have, there is a setting for it, or you can customize a pre-existing setting and save it as your own “My Cycle.” I actually don’t use the My Cycle (yet) simply because I find the settings to be pretty close to my needs and only tweak a few things. Most of the settings are sensor-driven. These sensors detect the level of moisture in the clothes and adjust the drying time based on your desired dry level and the amount of moisture. So, you may put in a load and chose a cycle and it may say it will take 45 minutes to dry, but over time, it could increase or decrease that amount of time based on the dryness level. The cycles which have a moisture setting are: Normal, Eco Normal, Heavy Duty, Bedding, Permanent Press, Wool, Delicates and Active Wear. There are also some timed dry cycles specifically: Quick Dry, Time Dry and Air Fluff. You can easily adjust the time up or down using the Adjust Time buttons or setting the time when you start the cycle. Lastly, there are some Steam Cycles, specifically: Refresh, Wrinkle Away and Steam Sanitize. I wanted to spend a little bit more time with this because this was a new feature to me. I know there are some other clothes dryers which have this function but many of those require you to fill and refill a water reservoir periodically. I was actually surprised when this Samsung clothes dryer was being hooked up because the installer screwed on a Y-valve to the cold water and attached hoses to both the washer AND the dryer. Because of the connection to the cold water supply, this particular model does not have a water reservoir so you don’t need to fill anything. The steam cycles are pretty great, although I have only used the Wrinkle Away cycle. What happens is, during the drying process, steam is blasted in, either sanitizing or reducing wrinkles or static. For the Wrinkle Away cycle, I had a couple of dress shirts and slacks that I didn’t have time to iron. The manual recommends only putting in a few articles of clothing for these cycles, in order to get the best results. You just throw in the clothes (it takes less time if they are dry) and then just turn it on. The results were good, relatively few wrinkles. It, unfortunately, doesn’t eliminate ironing completely but does go a long way to better looking clothes right out of the dryer. There is also an Anti Static setting which also blasts in steam to reduce static electricity. This could potentially reduce the need for using anti-static dryer sheets. Let’s take a look at some of the other cycles and features. For the most part, I only use a few cycles, specifically Normal, Bedding and Delicates. Each of these are preset for the dryness level and the temp (you don’t adjust Time as it is automatically calculated by the sensors). With the normal setting, Eco Dry comes on by default (you can change that if you want). While I’m all for conserving energy (yelling at my kids to turn off lights all of the time), I have been actually turning that setting off simply because it almost doubles the amount of time it take to dry clothes. You can either push the Eco Dry button to turn it off, of you can change the Dry Level setting, which is what I actually do, to More or Less Dry. I usually choose More Dry. There are 5 moisture detection settings to choose from: Damp Dry all the way to Very Dry. And there are 5 temperature settings as well, from Extra Low (good for Delicates) to High. And for the Time setting, you can go from 20 minutes to 60 minute increments but you can adjust the time up or down manually as well. Because I do have 3 teenage girls, I do have to mention the Delicates drying cycle. In my old dryer, I was pretty afraid of drying any delicates. Sure, I could have chosen an air fluff timed options is a minimal amount of heat, but I didn’t want to risk the wrath of my daughters if I ruined some of their clothes, so for years, I have been hanging all of the delicates out to dry in the sun. But now, with this 2016 Samsung clothes dryer, I have a Delicates setting. When you think about it, hanging stuff in the sun outside is great, but you also get pollen and dust and even spiders invading the clean clothes. So now, with a majority of the delicate washes, I use the Delicate setting. It uses a very low temperature (this setting still uses the moisture detection sensor). I believe this low temperature is about equivalent to the hot sun. But the bottom line is I can now actually dry the delicates in less than an hour (depending on the load size) and my girls are happy to get it right away! Blocked Vent Detection I decided when I got this Samsung clothes dryer that I would replace the duct vents so that everything would be new and fresh. I was shocked when I took out my own duct work to find it clogged with a TON of lint. I had never cleaned my duct work before. I hadn’t really thought about it. But after doing some research, I learned that clogged or blocked ducts is one of the leading causes of home fires. And it’s no wonder. Clogged ducts are tubes of tinder! You actually should take time periodically to clean out (or replace) your duct work. Lint grabbers simply can’t get everything. As part of the set-up process with this Samsung clothes dryer, you need to run it through a blocked vent detection procedure. As if by magic, it will test the flow of air within your ducts. If air is blocked or severely restricted, you will get a warning. If you do get a warning either at setup or during regular use of your dryer, you need to take action of cleaning or replacing the ducts and vents. My old dryer was simply dumb. It would just keep trying to push out air to the vents even if they were completely blocked. This Samsung is smart! Connectivity Speaking about being “smart,” this 2016 Samsung clothes dryer, like the clothes washer, has an option to connect to your WiFi network which means you can then connect it to the Samsung Smart Home mobile app. Like the washer, you need to purchase a USB Wireless dongle which cost about $30 or so. You plug this into a slot on the top of the dryer (just like the washer) and then run through some configuration screens using the Samsung Smart Home app. After connecting to your WiFi network (be sure you have a good signal in your laundry area), you open up some really great functionality. Let me explain how great this is for my family. Our laundry room is in the lower level of our home. And you actually have to go outside to get to it. This is really a pain, especially if it is raining. I can’t tell you the number of times I have gone down to the laundry room to check on the status of the dryer only to find out it has a lot of time remaining. Oh and to make matters worse, my old dryer was completely manual, with no digital readout tell me how many minutes remain. Obviously, this Samsung does give you a readout of time remaining, but you have to be physically looking at the control panel. Now I actually can find out how much time is remaining by just looking at the Samsung Smart Home app. And I get notified when the load it done. So using the Smart Home app, I can see when both the washer and dryer are complete, so I make one trip for both appliances. The Smart Home app does let you control your washer as well. You can start and stop it as you see fit. However, with the GAS dryer, you CANNOT control it. You CAN control the ELECTRIC dryer though. And this makes sense. Gas can be dangerous. You are talking about fire here. So just know that you can only get notifications and time remaining from the Gas version. Lint Grabber I felt like I did have to mention the lint grabber, especially as it relates to the blocked vent detection above. A good lint grabber will capture most of the lint and is easy to clean. In my old dryer, it was just a slide in screen, so to speak. With this Samsung clothes dryer, it seems to be much more robust. It is easily accessible via the front of the door (oh, by the way, the door mount can be changed to open to the left or to the right). You slide it out and you then press a clasp button to unfold it. It captures lint on multiple side. (You can actually see me take out the lint grabber in the video but unfortunately it’s hard to open with just one hand). What I actually find interesting is that I’m actually capturing less lint now than with my previous dryer. I believe this is because the Samsung is being a bit nicer on the clothes drying process. If you are getting a lot of lint, it means that your clothes are degrading a bit faster. At least that it my hypothesis. A Few More Thoughts Again, I haven’t tried every function of this 2016 Samsung clothes dryer but I have used it enough to know a lot. If you have questions, ask away! There are two versions of this top-of-the-line, a gas and an electric version. And, as I mentioned, they come as a matching set. Side-by-side, they look extremely similar. The retail price for the 2016 Samsung GAS clothes dryer is $1599 while the ELECTRIC version is $1499. Remember, these elegant appliances ARE the top-of-the-line version and with both you get a ton of great functions and features. Note: you can even get the washer/dryer pair on Amazon for about $2,200! I will echo the comments I made on my review of the Samsung clothes washer, these are both great for busy families, especially with the optional connectivity to get notifications of when loads are complete. Also the massive capacity of this dryer (and washer) allows you to do larger loads which means fewer loads as well. I was able to reduce the amount of time it takes doing this “chore” and I’m not continually checking to see if things are done. Remember, I didn’t cover everything but be sure to watch the video review of this 2016 Samsung clothes dryer to actually see it in action. The settings are easy to use and the clothes come out dry! Those are the important things, right? Disclosure Text : I have a material connection because I received a sample of a product or service for consideration in preparing to review the product and write this content. I was/am not expected to return this item or gift after my review period. All opinions within this article are my own and are typically not subject to the editorial review from any 3rd party. Also, some of the links in the post above may be “affiliate” or “advertising” links. These may be automatically created or placed by me manually. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item (sometimes but not necessarily the product or service being reviewed), I will receive a small affiliate or advertising commission. More information can be found in my About page. HTD says: I don’t mind doing the laundry now because of the big capacity and optional smartphone connectivity that comes with the 2016 Samsung Clothes Dryer! The post Review: 2016 Samsung Clothes Dryer – Super-Sized, Several Settings & Stupendous (Model: DV50K7500GV) appeared first on HighTechDad.