This is the inagural “Tapping the Tech Hive.” The format might change a bit as I tweak it based on reader/editor/and participant feedback. Also, I want to create space for one question to be submitted by readers. To do that, I’ll need to start lining up Q&A participants in advance, so people can submit specific questions via Twitter, email, etc.

Bio:
Dane Jasper is co-founder of Sonic.net, a Santa Rosa ISP founded in 1994 that
just launched next-gen DSL service in Sonoma
County, San Francisco and other Bay Area cities.
Web
site: www.sonic.net
Blog:
http://corp.sonic.net/ceo
Twitter:
@Dane

DailyGeek:
What OS do you primarily use?
Jasper:
Windows Vista.
For most of my work I use just email and a web browser, so the OS isn’t
very important. It just needs to be
reliable and familiar. I used to use
Linux, which was far more reliable than Vista,
but application support and ease of administration drove me back to something
mainstream.

DailyGeek: What search engine do you use?
Jasper: Google, which I love for the integration of search
with maps, news and shopping.

DailyGeek: What social network applications do you use?
Jasper: I use Facebook and Twitter.

DailyGeek: What program(s) do you prefer using for
Twitter?
Jasper:
I use Tweetdeck on the PC, and Tweetie on the iPhone.

DailyGeek: What is your favorite Open Source
software program?
Jasper:
OpenOffice. It makes no sense to pay for
basics like word processing and
spreadsheet tools, and OpenOffice does a great job. Every budget conscious enterprise should
switch.

DailyGeek: Favorite Web sites?
Jasper:
http://www.dslreports.com/
http://xkcd.com/
http://news.google.com/
http://atheistmedia.blogspot.com/
http://nytimes.com/
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/
http://www.sonic.net/ (Home page)

DailyGeek: Favorite way to get news?
Jasper:
Aside from picking up things people are talking about
on twitter, I visit Google’s news, the NY Times, and the PD daily. I also read comics on Chron.com.

DailyGeek: Preferred Internet browser?
Jasper:
Currently I’m using Chrome. It’s got some real
advantages over Firefox, but I’m losing patience because it is missing key
features like bookmark synchronization (FoxMarks).

DailyGeek: What type of phone do you use?
Jasper:
I use a 2G iPhone.
It’s the best mobile browser available, supports IMAP for email sync
with the desktop, and is fun to use.
That said, it crashes frequently.
I’m unwilling to upgrade to the new 3G version because I don’t like the
$10 monthly price hike that comes with it.

DailyGeek: Favorite productivity tech tool?
Jasper:
Hiveminder, http://hiveminder.com/

DailyGeek: Favorite piece of technology that is not
mainstream?
Jasper:
I’ve got two.
First, the Fujitsu ScanSnap S510 scanner. I convert most paper documents to PDF. The ScanSnap does optical recognition on the text,
which Windows Vista then indexes. This
allows me to easily find things I’ve stored, and it’s not a complex or
proprietary document management system.
The second is a Drobo disk array, which I back up daily to using
Sonic.net’s new online backup service.
The Drobo is great because you can add any size disk at any time,
growing storage as needed.

DailyGeek: What question should have I asked?
Jasper: How do you access the Internet? Currently I have
Sonic.net wireless access at home, but am looking forward to installation of
our new carrier based product there.