My Current Book List

ALERT: Off topic post - no technical or computer information ahead!

I wanted to take a moment and dive into something personal and talk about my current reading list. I have five books on my nightstand. Two have bookmarks in them, and two were just placed there today. One has been there for a few days and I really don't want to read it, but I feel like I have to. I'll start reading one of the newest two tonight.

All of the books are from the library. My personal reading policy is that I will read everything I can for free. I will purchase the books that I need to read more than once.

Book #1 - The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life - I love the back cover quote, "The important thing is to find wet snow and a really long hill." The book is a tad dry and is fairly long, which is why I am still reading it slowly after receiving it for Christmas. I love the concept of "Inner Scorecard/Outer Scorecard" which he discusses in depth and can best be described as measuring yourself by your own standards and not the world's.

Book #2 - No More Mondays by Dan Miller. I don't work in a "Monday" world, and am reading this solely on a recommendation from Dave Ramsey. It's a very inspirational book and worth a read. I did start reading this when I was employed as a regular, full-time employee with Sharp Electronics in preparation for self-employment.

Book #3 - Building Findable Websites: Web Standards SEO and Beyond by Aarron Miller. I feel like I need to read this book as my company starts to pay closer attention to web searches and getting found on the internet. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is like voodoo to me. I don't understand it. If we're going to be paying a significant amount of money to support SEO, I want to know how that money is being used.

Book #4 - 48 Days to the Work You Love by Dan Miller and Dave Ramsey. Again, I actually requested this book before my push into self-employment, but it just arrived today. I am hoping to use this book to help keep me motivated each day!

Book #5 - Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters by Meg Meeker. I am a dad. I have only a daughter. Do I need to say more? She's my world. I want her to grow up to be a strong, confident woman with a great Inner Scorecard view (see Book #1, above). I consider this my "continuing education" section on parenting.

Just Returned to the Library - Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable by Seth Godin

It's difficult keeping five books going all at once. I hope to keep up this pace, which is a far cry from the books that I read last year. That's another story for another post.

Top 5 Ways to Save Money Using Your PC

Our Tuesday Top 10 List has had to undergo cutbacks this week, and you will only have a “Top 5” list. This is a good list to refresh your memory about using your PC to save money!

Everyone is trying to save money these days. Money is tight and getting tighter. We all have incentive to cut our costs or increase our income to meet the unique financial stress that we’re experiencing.

1) Skype – You can use Skype to make incredibly cheap phone calls. Call landlines and cell phones at great rates. Simply pay as you go or pay monthly for unlimited calls to landlines with a subscription. Skype Calling Unlimted US & Canada starts at $2.95 per month. All you need is Skype, a good broadband connection, and a headset. You can even use a Skype phone that connects into your router directly.

2) eBay & Craigslist – Sell your stuff, especially the things that you aren’t using anymore. Your trash is someone else’s treasure. eBay is great for selling unique items & collectibles that don’t appeal to eveyone. eBay is ranked 20th of all website visits. You might need that many people to sell of your Aunt Ruthie’s Fish Dish which has been sitting in your garage for 12 years. Craigslist is great for selling large items, expensive items, and items that you might actually throw away. I have sold everything from old cell phones to my wife’s 1999 Minivan using Craigslist.

3) Comparison Shopping – The one revolution that was evident in in the 1990’s was how the power of shopping shifted to the consumer. If an item is being sold in multiple places, and and a shopper can easily price compare at the click of a mouse, why would anyone choose to pay significantly different prices? Don’t forget online coupons and shopper rewards, either. Use PriceGrabber, Bizrate, Google Products or FatWallet to start!

4) Online Billpay – If you have a good number of bills each month, you can save time and money by using Online Billpay with your bank of choice. This may only save you $5 a month, but it’s worth it to cut your time and save some cash.

5) Cut Cable Bills to ZERO – Are you ‘leaning in’ instead of ‘leaning back’ to watch TV? That was the difference between watching TV on a computer and watching TV on a TV. Now, you can use internet technology to watch your favorite shows. Check out Hulu, Boxee, and AppleTV to watch programs without actually paying the cable company! Cutting your cable bill to zero requires some moderate skills, but you could save over $600 per year if you have basic cable and are able to turn it off.

WriteOnIt Slideshow

Tech Tip Summary

3/1/09 -No Daily Tech Tip. Have you heard abouthttp://www.google.org ? It's Google's Philanthropic arm.

2/28/09 - To minimize all windows at once, press the WINDOWS KEY+M. To maximize them all again, press the WINDOWS KEY+SHIFT+M

2/27/09 - It's Backup Friday again! Save Early. Save Often. Backup Always. Check out http://www.carbonite.com

2/26/09 - Check out Google Toolbar 6 for IE and Firefox! It can make your search much easier! http://tr.im/gLfz

2/25/09 - Convert a PDF to .DOC without having to pay $300 for Adobe Acrobat. http://tr.im/gLeX (Private Beta requires sign up)

2/24/09 - Top 10 Tuesday! Here are the Top 10 Items That Will Improve Your Laptop Experience http://tr.im/gEDb 127tech Blog Post

2/23/09 - Blackberry Users-Need to dial letters on your Blackberry (ie 877-MADMAIN) Just use letters & the phone will figure it out

Backup Friday

We've been using Twitter to talk about backing up your data for the last dozen Fridays.  We think that this is the most important step any small business or individual PC user can take.  Your data, music, tax returns, personal photos, and videos are worth more than the PC or laptop itself.  There are a few basic, easy steps that you can take to ensure that your data is safe when your PC crashes.

Local Backup Option #1: You can set up a simple backup system using your CD or DVD Burner and a backup burning program.  Most programs like Nero and Roxio can be used to make copies of your data.  

Pros: CDs and DVDs are cheap and you can backup when your schedule allows. 

Cons: Manually scheuled backups are easy to forget.  CDs and DVDs don't last forever.  Backing up large amounts of data is very tedious and requires multiple disks.  

Local Backup Option #2: Use an external hard drive to backup your data.  Most external drives come with a program that automatically backs up your data on a predetermined schedule. You can buy a large hard drive and use it for extra storage space, too.   

Pros: Easy to set up and maintain

Cons: Higher cost initially

Remote Backup: Why not use a local backup and copy your data to an online source, too?  It makes sense to backup your data outside of your home or office.  It helps ensure your data from a catastrophic event such as a fire.  There are some great, reliable options such as Carbonite and iBackup that cost between $50 and $120 per year.  You can back up all of your data for those prices. 

Pros: Easy to set up and maintain; backup happens automatically 

Cons: Ongoing expense; your data is held by a faceless company

5 Steps To Take Before Your PC Crashes

Every PC will crash, eventually. Hard drives have delicate parts that need to work in harmony with each other. Motherboards and processors are susceptible to high heat. DVD Drives get used as cupholders! What can you do to protect yourself from the stress that will happen if your PC just won't turn on after your next power surge?

1. Back Up - Backing up your data is the first critical step in getting it returned in the event of a crash. I recommend using a local and remote backup at the same time. Use an external source like a Western Digital Network Drive and a remote service like Carbonite or iBackup.
   
2. Work in the "Cloud" - Cloud computing seems to be the buzzword of the moment, even though it has existed for years. You can work with email, documents, chats, calendars and more using Google, Google Business Apps, Zoho, or AirSet.
   
3. Got Spares? Unless you just purchased your first computer, there is a fairly good chance that you have your previous generation PC sitting around somewhere. Don't put it in a landfill! Besides having your data stolen, PCs have heavy metals that are bad for the environment. Keep your spare laptop or PC in case you need to fall back into using it due to a crash. If you have already moved your data to the new PC, run the "Restore Disks" on the old PC. When you need to use it, it'll be ready to go.
   
4. Synchronize Online - You will be amazed at how easily it is to share your data across multiple computers using an online synchronization service like Dropbox. You can sync up to 2 Gb worth of data for free, which is probably enough for your current workload. And, Dropbox just works. It's easy and can be used on Windows, Macs, and Linux.
   
5. Make Friends with your local Geek, the professional one, not the moonlighter or your cousin Joe who "knows a little something about computers." Everyone who depends on computers should have the number of their local tech support company handy. Get to know your Geek and let them get to know you. You'd be surprised how nice they can be when your PC is on fire.
   

Top 10 Outlook Tips

127tech has been using Google Business Apps for three years now; we recognize that there are quite a few Outlook users out there.  Here are our Top 10 Outlook Tips: 

1.       Add a new 'Contact' from an e-mail message - Open the message and right-click the name of the person that you want to add to your contacts.  On the pop-up menu, click Add to Outlook Contacts.   

2.      Reduce Your Data File Size - Archive - Outlook data files slow down considerably and eventually crash if they get too big. If you have a lot of large attachments, you need to occasionally purge your data file.  In the menu, choose File>Archive.  Make sure you are choosing an archive date that you are comfortable with and click OK.  

3.      Reduce Your Data File Size - Compact Your Data - After you have archived, you need to reclaim this space.  Do the following: 

·         On the File menu, click Data File Management.

·         Click to select your Personal Folder, and then click Settings. 

·         On the General tab, click Compact Now.  

·         Click OK, and then click Close.

4.      Color Code E-mail addressed to you – If you receive a lot of e-mail, wouldn’t it be nice to filter your mail that is addressed only to you?  That e-mail is likely to be more important than if you are one of fifty people in a cc list.   From the Tools menu choose Organize, and then in the "Using Colors" section hit the "Turn on" button next to "Show messages sent only to me in ."

5.      Start Outlook in a folder other than Inbox - On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Other tab.  In the Advanced Options dialog box, set the startup folder that you want.

6.      Try the quick way to print an item - Right-click the item, and then click Print on the shortcut menu. 

7.      Outlook doesn’t have a great default font setting when you first set it up – Change it! 

·         Select Tools>Options from the menu. 

·         Go to the Mail Format tab.

·         Click Fonts under Stationary and Fonts. 

·          Use the Font buttons under New mail messages, Replying or forwarding messages and Composing and reading plain text messages to choose the desired font faces, sizes and styles.

·         Outlook 2003, use Choose Font for When composing a new message:, When replying and forwarding: and When composing and reading plain text. 

8.      Sync Outlook to Google Calendar – Do you use Outlook at work but Gmail at home?  Use Google Calendar Sync to make your two calendars match up.  Works with Outlook Exchange environments, too!  Google Calendar Sync

9.      Turn off Desktop Alert – Do you need some additional privacy?  A Desktop Alert is a notification that appears on your desktop when you receive a new e-mail message, meeting request, or task request and are ripe for prying eyes! 

·         On the Tools menu, click Options.

·         On the Preferences tab, click E-mail Options, and then click Advanced E-mail Options.

·         Under When new items arrive in my Inbox, clear the Display a New Mail Desktop Alert (default Inbox only) check box.

10.  Are you an advanced Outlook user?  Try Xobni!  Find People, Email & Attachments Instantly.  Xobni