Back it up!!! There is no excuse anymore

In the last few months I know of 5 people who have lost entire drives, all their personal pictures, work data etc... All because a hard drive crashed, broke, got a virus etc.

There is no excuse anymore. A HUGE 750GB drive - enough to hold multiple backups of your drive, like little snapshots are cheap... $129 last check.. Now you can have 2 copies of your data.. Great for 99% of the time, not if your house burns down.. solution - buy two - keep one at a friends, in your safety deposit box etc... cycle them 30 days at a time.. now you have offsite redundant backup..

Use your google, mobileme account etc - that free 5-20GB of space they give you for emails etc - a perfect place to keep some offsite backups of pictures work files etc.

And for those of you on mac - make sure your using 10.5 with Time Machine - THAT TIME MACHINE IS ENABLED and that you have the drive for it... you don't need anything special etc..

Call me if you need a hand, but for goodness sake.. don't be a dolt, back it up!

Beer Belt

The guys at Uncrate have a great item posted today - the beer belt.. imagine this fishing or at the lake.. to bad you can't take bottles to the Labour Day classic!

Stop Junk Mail

Usually "Junk Mail" makes people think of their computer, but there is that other kind - the real paper one that shows up daily in your mailbox. I found an article the other day about a little known service (I didn't know anyways) that Canada Post has to stop the spam!
www.RedDotCampaign.ca is a website started to promote this service and makes it quick and easy to setup and keep your mailbox clean and save some tree's, recycling, transport, and disposal costs!

You can read the whole article HERE.

Go to www.RedDotCampaign.ca here.

PC Horror Stories

Here is a article of a crazy experience a NY Times writer went through on their PC, and a great testament to backing up often and if you need a 100% uptime PC for work, keeping a spare PC and that external backup drive around rather than selling them off.
It cost this poor fellow $800 to get his machine working again (I'm still not sure why it was that much, but whatever). It's a great read, and will usually motivate most to go backup their PC/Mac right now!

The summary:
- Backup
- Don't use Windows Vista
- Mac's a pretty good (not just me saying it!)

Read it here.

Apple 10.5.2 update out - Time to Upgrage to Leopard?

People ask me (ok Mac people ask me) if they should upgrade their machines to Leopard (OSX 10.5). My answer has been for most, no, once 10.5.1 was out, it was OK for some, but still not for people who need their machine 100% everyday. Why? Is there a problem with 10.5? None really, but more with the applications they use, and that if your machine in working fine, and you need it 100% of the time, no need to rush!
So today marks the point where I say OK for most to upgrade to Leopard, but that doesn't mean you have to do it today, I'm sure there will be a couple new things that crop up with this update. It is a MASSIVE update as far as OS updates go, 180 to 300+ megs.
So unless you feel 100% ok doing it yourself, and suffer from can't wait syndromes like me (usually), wait, or get a tech to backup your machine 100% and let them take you from Tiger to Leopard.
If your on Leopard already, make sure your Time Machine backup is ready and get going... in a couple days :)
If you (or a friend) needs tech support, I'm available for $60 an hour.. A Steal and you get to enjoy my stunning personality too!

Health - Globe Article on Healthy Eating

This is a good read, and worth thinking about and doing some research on, especially the diet pop comments. I guess water really is the best drink alternative! Some of this we know, but it's good to get it re-enforced and remember it!

Check it out: Globe & Mail Article

The Author has a good site, with articles, Recipes etc: LeslieBeck.com

3D Holograms - Your next TV

While everyone is running out and buying HD Flat Panels like crazy, I often wonder what the next real evolution of TV will be. I adopted HD about 3 years ago now - right onto a 92" screen, double the size of most of the TV's people are buying today. The picture looks great to me, and I'm far more critical of video than MOST of the general buying public.
Top that off with the fact that most people are watching 720p or 1080i images (often not even scaled properly, which is another story, but basically it means that panel you bought isn't displaying the image as sharp or as well as it could be). The best HD out there is 1080p and I'm guessing most people won't ever get around to watching 1080p content on their set for a few years (if ever).
Just look at the yawn approach to Blu-Ray and HD-DVD to see that semi-HD quality is "good enough" for many. If your still not sure, just look at the sales of MP3 players.
I've seen the next evolution of HD - so called "4k" sets - basically double the resolution of 1920x1080p (todays best)- in simple terms. Yes they look stunning, yes they do look more "3-D". However I'm not convinced that they are anywhere near enough to make people run out and get them. Not to mention you need "4k" content.. oh boy.
It seems that slimmer and slimmer TV's like Pioneers 9mm/~3/8" thick Plasma prototype showed at CES will be what brings customers back in the door for a while.. Yawn.
So the meat of this post - well check this out: 3-d Holographic Images
Yep, that I'm guessing will be the next major revolution in TV - a long way off, but I just can't see resolution being the next big driving force.
So go get a shiny new Plasma or LCD etc.. They are great, but in the mean time I will keep dreaming of 3-D Holographics..

Review - Brunch at the Castle (Delta Bessborourgh)

The Castle - Saskatoon's best know landmark and probably one of the prettiest settings for a fairytale hotel in Canada. While the "the Bess" is known for it's character, weddings and receptions and great location, it's also a great place to eat. We often think of the Samaurai and it's great Japanese, but I've always wanted to try the sunday brunch at the Garden Court Cafe I hear so much about at. Well today was the day... MMM MMM Good!

I trucked down and found a good parking spot close to the hotel, it was a beautiful day out, so driving along Spadina and taking in the review views was a nice start to the day.

The cafe is a great venue, bright, open, quiet (a nice break compared to some Sunday breakfast places). Service was good etc etc..

The Buffet is great.. lot of fresh fruit and salads, omlete bar, sausage, eggs, pancakes etc etc. The juices are great and not your usual cheap and non-tasty fair! The Egg Benedict was fantastic.

One dish that stood out to all of us was the Banana rum topping - sliced bananas, brown sugar, butter and Rum all heated for a delicious looking topping for your pancakes, omlette or whatever! I didn't indulge, but one of my dining companions Trish did and loved it.

All in all a great place to have a relaxing morning breakfast with friends and chat. You'll leave full and happy I'm sure!

Where are they all coming from?

So building is booming, rental units are non existent... where are all these people coming from? Well one place I never thought of until reading an article yesterday is DIVORCE. Makes sense when you think about it, we all know the stats.. 1 in 2 marriages 5 years and under and another 1 in 2 of the remaining by 10 years if memory serves. So that divorce rate means 2 buyers and livers rather than one co-op unit of a family.
The thing we don't think about is the environmental impact this can have, now there are 2 homes, 2 furnaces, more driving, two of everything bought etc etc. By two people who 20-30 years ago would have had a smaller footprint.
I'm not saying stay together for the sake of the environment, but we need to look at city planning, housing sizes etc etc and plan accordingly or the waste and cost in $ and to our environment may be more than we can bear in the future.
Combine this with our desire for bigger, better, nicer and wanting it faster than any generation before us and the problem seems to compound itself beyond comprehension!

Something to think about anyways.. Post your comments and let me know what you think...

Mac Buyers Guide - When is a good time to buy a new Mac/iPod

We have all done it before, gone out and bought something only to have a new better model come out 2 weeks later. It sucks and usually we can't do anything about it after the fact, however there is no law against being an informed consumer ahead of time.
With buying Apple products, a great site to help you out is the Buyers Guide on MacRumors.com. Based on product life cycles and average time for sale, you can see if it's a "good" or "bad" time to lay down your hard earned cash.
If you don't need it today, you can sometimes wait and get a new better model when it's brand new. What do you get - Faster machines, newer generation chips, more RAM and Hard Drive space, newer cosmetics etc.
One big thing you get if you are waiting on a "2nd" gen platform is fixes to glitches, product design issues etc that the first gen may have had. An example is the iPod Nano. The first gen had a beautiful acrylic front, however this scratched up easily and made the product look worn before it's time. 2nd Gen Nano fixed this with some different styling and materials. This does 2 things for you - makes you feel better & increases your resale value. Imagine buying that first gen 2 weeks before Gen 2 came out :( I would wait the 2 weeks.
Now this is all estimations - sometimes stuff comes early, sometimes it is seriously late. If it's your year end and you need to buy for this year for tax reasons go ahead.. but if you can wait and it's not a great time to buy.. Why not wait.

So check out MacRumors.com Buying Guide if your thinking of buying a new Mac or iPod.

I'm sure buying guides for other products exist too - just spend some time on Google. An informed consumer is a better consumer!

Needed - Company Name

So as I get ready to launch my new life, I need a new company name. I need your help!!!

I need something that can be applied to multiple industries/fields. Something somewhat unique so I can secure the website for it. Something catchy. I'm leaning towards combo words to create a name - the best example - take already unfortunately is this: Smarketing - IE: Smart Marketing - How cool of a name is that! Other Examples - Opentech/opensales, provetech/provesales etc etc

So call me, email me, whatever - just send me your ideas. The best gets braggin rights and probably a beer next time I see you!

DON'T put your ideas as comments -don't need webcrawlers stealing ideas! :)

R.I.P - Windows - Is Windows Dead

Windows Vista can probably be considered a flop at this time in many circles. Microsoft is offering free "upgrades" to XP, some manufactures of PC boxs have started to ship computers with XP as an option, or standard if memory serves. The next Microsoft OS is not due out until 2009 at best (probably just Vista refreshed) and 2011 for a real rework. Can business, your home use etc really keep using XP for 3-4 more years. Yes it probably can, but it will cost you. So if you are looking to make a capital investment and want to work efficiently, is an OS that is going to be pushing 10 years old what you want to hang your hat on? Food for thought...

Alternatives - Linux, Mac OS

Marketing - Some Good Tips & Ideas

I love marketing ideas - especially cheap ones and ones that come from people who have made them work. I think marketing ideas are like diets or exercise, they are tough to maintain and track. Follow up is key, so if you need to work on it, do what my buddy Tom does, not make it a "To-Do" but actually mark time on your calendar - say an hour a week to review it. If you can't keep that time yourself, book me and we will conference or meet and review your efforts and plans together. Spend your money wisely.

Another note - you may be saying I'm too busy to worry about marketing! Well 2 questions - are you getting the right jobs and maximizing your income? When things slow down or go soft, will people know/remember who you are and seek you out?

Summery:
- Pay a small fixed bonus to installers for a sale they bring - $25 (may be low these days)
- Referrals - be active, get the names & numbers/emails, get letters of reference, reward your customers for good leads - movie rentals etc
- Get Active - join and PARTICIPATE in industry groups!! Builders Associations etc
- Train your allies - architects, designers etc
- Send a target allies 1 free (not 1 pair) speaker and offer to give him the other after he has a dinner meeting with you to review things you can do for him!

Much much more in the full article... So read it and book the time to get your plan rolling!

Read the whole article here.

Got a good marketing idea? Click the Comments button and share them... We would all love to hear them.

Kijiji - The easy way to sell your used stuff

You have junk, used stuff etc to sell or get rid of.. Check out www.kijiji.ca - It's a FREE online bullitin board type of service, you post your item, a picture and what you want for it. It works really well, I've bought and sold a few things through it.
It's much easier than e-bay, you don't have to ship stuff, do paypal etc as it's based on local transactions. You list your item in your town, and local buyers find it and buy it.
What can you sell/buy - anything! Cars, computers, books, furniture, houses etc etc. Jobs, events and other things are posted too.. You can also post a wanted ad if your looking for something too.

Check out Kijiji today!!
Sell your junk and put cash in your pocket!

Computers - Finally of Age?

So I was doing some upgrading to my system yesterday and realized that everything ported easily, nothing needed re-installing or updating. Also on a day to day basis, I never really have to do anything to my system, just use it, and that is beautiful, the apps, processes etc all work the way they should. So with Macs and Leopard 10.5 have we finally reached a point where the software and hardware have come of age. I think so. So 25+ years after the PC first came out, and 24 years since the Mac first came out the industry may have finally come of age and be what many have thought and believed it should be.

If your still on a PC - for any reason - get your head out of the sand and come breathe some fresh air!

Just a random thought..

Help for the color blind designer

This came through on the RSS feeds today.. very cool little helper for picking out color combos for your designs - the bonus - each one submitted is voted on, so you can see if people like it or hate it! The big bonus is the Mondrianum plug-in that works with you apps on your Mac! So easy..

Adobe® kuler is an online community where you can explore and find great color themes. kuler’s color themes are contributed by its users, many of them designers or in the creative business. You can share with the community your own chromatic ingenuity, too.

Lithoglyph’s Mondrianum is a powerful plug-in that enables Mac applications to leverage the resources of the kuler community. Once installed, Mondrianum acts like a built-in, system-wide color picker, available in any Mac application that supports this feature of Mac OS X. Apple’s own iWork™ and iLife® suites, Google Sketchup™, and renowned applications like Coda, CSSEdit, and many more, all work well with Mondrianum.

Mondrianum combines the best of the kuler community and the nativeness of Mac applications. If you work with colors on a Mac, be sure to check it out!

http://www.lithoglyph.com/mondrianum

Government Gone Crazy - Budget Issues

Ok, so you don't spend based on what you are planning on making next month or next year (or at least I hope not). We would all hope that our government wouldn't do it. They should spend based on what is in the bank. Well.. They don't!

The morons at the Bloq want the current gov't to spend based on forecasts - if they don't they (the Bloq) won't pass the budget.. and we get to spend about $250+ Million (that means it costs you about $10 to vote) on a new election no one wants.

Quote from Globe and Mail:

"Mr. Duceppe says the government can afford to meet the Bloc's demands because of the huge budgetary surplus forecast this fiscal year."

Crazy.. the law should only allow for spending on what they have, not what they may..

Read the whole thing here: Globe Article

E-Mail Duceppe to tell him he's crazy - Duceppe.G@parl.gc.ca
E-Mail Harper to tell him not to fold and not to spend money we don't have - pm@pm.gc.ca
E-Mail the Liberal spenders and tell them not jump on the bandwagon - Dion.S@parl.gc.ca
E-Mail the NDP and tell them spending doesn't save the country all the time - Layton.J@parl.gc.c

Email your MP and tell him to not to spend based on forecasts - only on last years income!

Stop the insanity!!

Avocado - Restaurant Review - Saskatoon

New non-Greek restaurants in Saskatoon are pretty rare, so a new a Mexican restaurant opening up ranks in the should get reviewed. So here it is...

We went for lunch the other day (last week) to Avocado on 8th St in Saskatoon. It's a Mexican restaurant located in the old Poverinos/Pizza Hut building - near circle drive beside the SuperStore. The have a website, but it's not showing up on Google yet, so no link at this time (UPDATE - a reader sent this in: www.avocadosgrill.com). Impressions:

- Nice decor - looks renow'ed - has a earls/moxies feel
- Signage just says Avocado - should say - fine Mexican grill or something too - but what do I know about marketing
- The parking is weird and the main entrance is on the side with poor signage too - looks like the service entrance (I now know how to spell this) or something
- Menu is kinda small - burritos and the like..
- We tried a few dishes and all were good
- The sweet potato fries were awesome
- Service was OK, little slow and needed to ask for refills and wait - they could use some more training and manager support during the meal - the place isn't that big
- The restaurant is split into 2 areas - one part has a bit of a lounge feel with a couple TVs
- It can get a little noisy - why don't restaurants put at least a little noise control in??
- Pricing was OK, but at $14 for a plate it's not a cheap lunch after drinks etc

So it's a good place, writing this I would go back.. the need to do a little more work on the menu, service and building and they would have a great place

Buyer Warning - Health Check Label Means Squat

As I hover at 240lbs (I need to loose weight yes) I am paying more attention to health stuff and food. The fact that I am unemployed helps too, as I now have time to. So for those of you slaving - this is worth a few minutes of your time.

CBC Marketplace (a decent show usually) did a show on the Heart and Stroke foundations "Health Check" logo that is on food - great idea.. but:

- Food producers pay to get the logo
- Only foods submitted are tested
- Really only looks at salt and fat levels - nothing about vitamins etc etc
- Really crap foods get this logo
- They want to be the only gov't certified logo and tester for Canada...

So watch the show at CBC Marketplace for full info : http://www.cbc.ca/mrl3/8752/marketplace/hyping_health.wmv

(Yes I know WMV videos suck - tell CBC)

Read about it here: http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/files/health/healthcheck/index.html


Notice: Totally my opinion - show is older so I'm sure the label is "better now" but still beware.. read all the stuff on labels