PCs and Tablets and Smartphones, Oh My!

by Rudy Duke
Born to Move Magazine

So you want an iPad? Do you need it? Don’t buy technology for technology sake – unless you got it like that! When it comes to technology equipment needs, you need to know what to expect from each type. For those of us on a budget, we should acquire our equipment in the following sequence:

PC (Laptops and Desktops)

When it comes to a PC, the only reason to buy a desktop is if you are in the graphic design business – and can use a 24” – 30” wide-screen monitor. For the rest of us, get a really good laptop first. The PC is for all your heavy duty computing needs: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, etc. Toshiba is my favorite. At time of this post, a good Toshiba 15.6” with i3 chip can be purchased between $300 – $350.

Tablet

Once you have a good laptop, you are now ready to add a tablet to your tech toolbox. Tablets will help check emails, browse the Internet, take notes, use apps for a wide range of needs, read e-books, etc. While there are lots of good competitors, the iPad is still the best in my book. I recommend waiting for the iPad 3 which comes out around March 2012.

SmartPhone

We all need a mobile phone these days. If you have a laptop and a tablet, a decent phone for calls is enough. If possible, step up to a smartphone, getting a good one with an affordable data plan. Here again, I would stay in the “iDevice” family with the iPhone – especially if you have an iPad tablet. You can now backup your data in the iCloud (Internet) for both your iPhone and iPad and access it wherever you are. Here too, there are lots of excellent options but try pairing your tablet and your smartphone as much as possible.

Rudy Duke

I know people who have bought a tablet to use in place of a PC or a smartphone and have been sorely disappointed. Buy in the order suggested here based on availability of funds and you won’t be disappointed.

Tell me what do you think? Drop me a comment about your experiences at rduke@nextiumsolutions.com

Where Are They Now: 1999 BDPA Chapter Presidents

One of the magic elements of the Internet is that you can reach out to people that you have not seen for many moons. Judy Jones is the founder of the BDPA Greenville chapter. She recently provided me with a file containing the names of the BDPA chapter presidents from about a decade ago. I wonder if we can reach out and find each of these brothers and sisters today?

You've heard the question before ... and now it is being asked of you --> Where are they now?

Originally Posted: 11/18/2008

• Anton Albert (Akron) -
• Gwen Williams (Atlanta) -
• Daryl Hines (Baltimore) -
• Kevin Hinkston (Bay Area) -
• Tim Wilson (Boston) -
• Richard Bell (Central Arkansas) -
• Candice Anderson (Charlotte) -
• Betty Hutchins (Chattanooga) - Betty served as National BDPA VP-Member Services for the past two years. She was recently appointed to serve on the National BDPA Board of Directors in 2008-2009 as one of our Outside Directors. She is an executive with Mayo Clinic and an active member of the BDPA So. Minnesota chapter.
• Milt Haynes (Chicago) -Milt remains active with National BDPA.   He was appointed to serve on the National BDPA Board of Directors as an Outside Director (2010-2011).
• Jessie Rodgers (Cincinnati) -
• Bruce Keene (Cleveland) -Bruce is currently the IT Program Director at Vatterott College in Broadview Heights, OH
• Chester Grice (Columbus) - Chester was chapter president for Dayton in 1999. He now live in North Las Vegas working on his doctorate in organizational leadership. Graduation is summer of 2009, begin dissertation in January 2008.
• Jackie Ockleberry (Dallas) - Jackie is running her own company, JYO Consulting, in Dallas. She came back to BDPA leadership in a gigantic way a few years ago in the role of 2004 National BDPA Conference Director. She led an outstanding annual event that took place in Dallas, TX that year.
• Dee Pearson (Dayton) -
• Renee Cunningham (Detroit) - Renee attended the 2007 National BDPA Technology Conference in Washington DC. She is currently Chief Information Officer (CIO) for P.I.E. Management in Detroit, MI
• Milton Grays (Flint, MI) -
• Pompia Durril (Ft. Wayne) -
• Barbara Singleton (Gr Columbia) -
• Wendy Wonsley (Greater Tampa Bay) -
• Judy Jones (Greenville) - Judy is an IS Consultant for MetLife. Personally, I hope that she will consider helping us rejuvenate her chapter in South Carolina.
• Valerie Thomas (Hartford) -
• Andre Romeo (Houston) - Andre is a project manager for Shell Chemical. He serves as the current president of the BDPA Houston chapter as well.
• Patrick Massey (Kansas City) -
• Reggie Watson (Los Angeles) -
• Steve Thomas (Lexington) -
• Annette McMichael (Macon Middle Georgia) -
• Morris Brown (Memphis) -
• Renee McClure (New York) - Renee later served as National BDPA President from 1999-2001.
• Beverly Johnson (New Jersey) -
• Anthony Collins (Northwest Indiana) -
• John Wright (Omaha) -
• Ron Cureton (Philadelphia) - Ron Cureton still participates in Philadelphia events and is the owner of the Cureton Group.
• Bill Trotter (Phoenix) - Bill retired from Motorola in 1998. Motorola was the primary sponsor of the Phoenix Chapter and employer of its core group of chapter members. Bill continues to work part-time as an IT Consultant. Currently Bill is contracting with an Australian based company working localy at American Express. He remains hopeful that someone will step forward that he can support in rejuvenating the Phoenix Chapter.
• Annette Yates (Richmond) - Annette is an IT advisor for WellPoint. She is incredibly active with the BDPA Richmond leadership team and can be found often on one or more of the YahooGroups in the Richmond area.
• Henry Fields (Rocky Mountain) -
• Robert Riddick (San Fernando Valley) -
• Maurice Jenkins (South Florida) -
• Mark Grady (St. Louis) - Mark is a project leader for Edward Jones.
• Paulette Lalor (Toledo) -
• Nate Wright (Triad) -
• Gerardette Furlow (Triangle) -
• Gregory Douglas (Twin Cities) -
• Rudy Duke (Washington DC) - Rudy owns Nextium Solutions. He is a strong part of the legacy of our BDPA Education & Technology Foundation (BETF). Rudy served for many years as the executive director. He is now the BETF Chief Information Officer.
• Rosamae Emily (Wilmington DE) - Rosamae lives in South Carolina now. She would be pleased to know that the chapter she founded many years ago in Delaware has been reincarnated as the BDPA North Delaware chapter today.

I am uncertain how this will turn out, but, we will keep updating this particular post until we have located all of the brothers and sisters on the list. Ideally, we will have comments personally shared by some of the folks listed above. In the meantime, I invite all BETF-Blog Readers to simply enjoy the journey of rediscovering some of our legendary leaders from before the 21st century.

We need your help! Please post a comment below if you know the current whereabouts of any of these past BDPA legends.

Fundraising Tip: How To Bring More Donors To Your Cause

BDPA Education and Technology Foundation (BETF) is convinced that our cause is a worthy one. After all, if our nation is to win the future then STEM-based programs like we have in 45 cities around the nation are a key component. As such, our challenge is getting IT professionals and other African Americans to see what we're all about. How can we attract more eyeballs to our online message?

I think that the following fundraising tip provides some excellent ideas for getting more donors to check out your nonprofit organization (or local BDPA chapter).

Apply for a Google Grant

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Getting new potential supporters into your pipeline is a key concern for any nonprofit — cutting through the clutter and marketing yourself is a key component of bringing new donors to your organization. Google provides many free tools and opportunities to help nonprofits spread the word about their good work: Google Grants for online advertising, expanded YouTube channels, Google Apps software, and premium Google Earth features. And now U.S.-based nonprofits can fill out a simple application to access all of these free services at www.google.com/nonprofits as well as access tips on how to make the most of Google's software, and their new nonprofit marketplace, which lists companies that offer free or discounted services to nonprofits.

At the very least, definitely sign up for a Google Grant (www.google.com/grants). A Google Grant will get you $10,000 per month in free "AdWords" advertising, so people see your link above the other results when they search Google. It's an easy way for you to get more exposure for your cause, which is key to raising more money.

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BETF recently signed up for some of these services -- http://tinyurl.com/BDPA-Google -- and we've asked a volunteer, Diane Hampton (Chicago), to do some research on how we can best leverage these services.  We probably need to take a closer look at the Google Grant opportunity as well.   This is an idea that our CIO, Rudy Duke, may be able to examine after the current transformation of the BETF website is completed later this fall.   

This tip is inspired by Darian Heyman's new book, 'Nonprofit Management 101: A Complete and Practical Guide for Leaders and Professionals'.

Does this tip seem like one that you might use for your local chapter or nonprofit? If not, do you have a fundraising tip that you would like to share with us?

This Week in BDPA (Jul 5-11)

BDPA has 51 chapters around the nation. You can always find programs, services or networking activity here or here. BDPA supports your efforts for career advancement in the IT industry.

Are you taking advantage of these programs? Here is a weekly preview of upcoming events gathered from the centralized BDPA calendar :

• Jul 8: No. Delaware - Program Meeting, 'The Rewards of Volunteering'



• Jul 9: New Jersey - Program Meeting, 'Interviewing Skills'



• Jul 10: Washington DC - Networking, 'First Friday 2.0 Social Event'

We encourage all BDPA leaders to take advantage of the centralized BDPA Groupsite Calendar to post your upcoming events! Please let us know of other BDPA events that we may have missed. Most importantly, let us know if you plan to attend any BDPA events this week.

Finally, I hope you will visit our redesigned BETF website. We are very pleased with the work by our volunteer CIO Rudy Duke. Let us know what you think of the redesign if you have time or inclination to do so.