Mile High Tech Guy - Jeff Kemp's Tech Blog
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Wednesday, April 29, 2009

This Blogger blog has moved to www.MileHighTechGuy.com

This blog has moved to a WordPress blog at:


(This new site is live, with some transition as I move my other personal site to it over time.)

All posts from this blog have been imorted to the new site. Please post any comments at the new sit (not here).

There are many reasons for the move, but suffice it to say that the most important reason is that I am consolidating the following websites all into one new website:
The new website/blog will be much more content rich and with a cleaner look.

I'm also concurrently doing freelance web work for some clients so some of my personal site will move over later.

The reason I'm posting this is in hopes that you will come visit my new site www.MileHighTechGuy.com!



Jeff Kemp (Golden, CO), www.jeff-kemp.com.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

'How To Guide' for steps on moving your website to a new web host provider.

This article is a 'How To Guide' describing steps to take in order to move your website to a new web host provider, or how to just move your domain registry to a different registrar.


Follow this link for registrar contact information to assist you in contacting your current domain registrar in order to make the transfer. If you are simply creating a new website and not moving an existing website then you may still find the sections regarding 'WHY CHANGE WEB HOST PROVIDERS' and 'SELECTING A WEB HOST PROVIDER' helpful.


WHY CHANGE WEB HOST PROVIDERS?:


You may find for any number of reasons that you want to move your website to a different host provider. Here are some of the reasons that I have had in the past for wanting to move my website to another provider:



  • Site downtime. I've had many issues with site downtime over a period of several months when using Network Solutions while managing a corporate website for a former employer. Therefore I would not recommend Network Solutions. (They also charge a premium rate for domain registration.)

  • I needed more control of my website with better tools than available from my current web host provider. I currently have a website hosted using Microsoft Live because I needed something up quickly without taking the time to create a custom website (see sample Live website ). But I found that 'Live' doesn't support standard tools like FTP to upload/download my files, and many JavaScripts don't work properly, and I need more customization, therefore I'm in process of moving that site over to WordPress under a new and different domain and web host provider. This presents some additional problems since there are no "live" people to talk to for support (pun intended) in moving my hosting from them, and based on what I've read on the Live Support Forums it seems extremely difficult if not impossible to transfer a domain FROM Live (they only offer help to transfer a domain TO Live) (I'd put a link here to the Live Support Forums but the forum site is not working at the moment since they're "experiencing technical difficulties".) It seems I'll need to create a new domain, recreate the website under the new host provider, then cancel my account with Live. So I suggest avoiding using Microsoft Live unless you are a pure amateur looking for the very simplest solution for getting your website up quickly because otherwise in the long haul you'll regret it.

  • I needed a Content Management System (CMS) that wasn't available at my current web host provider (many CMS platforms can be installed and upgraded directly from your web host's control panel). In case you haven't noticed 'CMS' is the new catch phrase, many bloggers and websites are now promoting CMS, and for good reason: everyone wants to have an easier way to build and manage their websites including allowing others within their organization to edit pages without knowing how to code or design websites. (Keep in touch since I'll have another post soon specifically geared to CMS, and even how you can use CMS when your web host provider doesn't inherently support CMS and if you don't want to install an entire CMS platform to power your website.)

  • Price. This one needs no explanation. You shouldn't need to pay more than $8-$10 per month for a good hosting plan unless you need additional services such as ecommerce. HostGator offers a good hosting plan for $4.95/month (this is a special they are running since the normal price is $7.95/mnth, still a very good deal).

  • Consolidating my web properties. Even though I have used several web host providers that were good in many aspects, I found that for each new website I started that it became harder and harder to manage until I was able to move them 'all under one roof' so-to-speak. That is why I now use HostGator since they allow an unlimited number of website domains under one single hosting plan at NO ADDITIONAL COST (this is great for web designers who have multiple clients they manage). So using HostGator I currently manage about 10 websites for only $4.95 per month total! The only cost is the additional domain itself if not already registered.

  • I couldn't stand the sleezy advertizing of my host provider. After being a client of GoDaddy for a couple of years I finally pulled my account and moved my domain and hosting to another provider once they started airing sleezy commercials. It has been a few years now and I don't regret pulling my account since they continue to air what I consider to be lude commercials.

  • Bad customer service or support. I have resolved not to use any web host provider that does not offer a live person to talk to for set up and support. I have switched web host providers for this reason in the past.


You probably can add a few more reasons to this list of reasons why to change web host providers.


SELECTING A WEB HOST PROVIDER:


When selecting an appropriate web host provider, in addition to taking into consideration the above list of 'reasons why to change web host providers', you will want to shop around for a web host provider that has the technology, scalability, pricing, and customer support that you need:



  • Does your web host provider support WordPress (for blogging)?

  • Does your web host provider support Joomla or other popular Content Management System (CMS) that may be required for your website (now or in the future)?

  • Does your web host provider support PHP, ASP, .NET or other technologies required for your website (now or in the future)?

  • Does your web host provider support the ecommerce shopping cart required for your website (now or in the future)?

  • Is the pricing plan for the new web host provider competitive, or does your web host provider charge for additional domains or sub-domains to be added to your account?

  • Does your web host provider provide good customer service and support with live people to talk to?


 


CONSIDERATIONS BEFORE MOVING YOUR WEBSITE OR DOMAIN:


Before you initiate a transfer to move your website to a different host provider, or to move your domain registry to a different domain name registrar, there are a several important steps to consider:



  • Make sure your local copy of your website contains all of the latest files. You may need to sync or download your website to bring all of the most recent files to your local computer from your web host provider (including all folders, images, and scripts).

  • Make a backup copy of your local website files (date it and store it in a safe place in case your website transfer doesn't go as planned). For the additional security of offsite backup try Mozy .

  • If you own or manage multiple domains, in order to aid in consolidating and managing your domains you might want to consider pointing the DNS for all of your domains to an online tool such as ZoneEdit.com or EasyDNS.com that can manage all of your domains, domain forwarders, email forwarders, etc. all within a single location. ZoneEdit provides 5 free 'zones', with 10 additional zones available for a nominal $50 fee. ZoneEdit's help screens as well as their email based customer support are both very helpful in the event you need assistance setting things up.

  • Your domain must not have a Registry Lock on it. If it does, go into your current host provider (or possibly your registrar) control panel, look under Domain tools, select your domain, and remove or disable any Registry Locks. You can re-lock your domain once it is confirmed as moved over to the new provider.

  • Your domain name must have been registered with your current registrar for at least 60 days and is in good financial standing to be allowed to transfer your domain.

  • Your domain name must not be expired and cannot be within 10 days of expiring. If the domain has expired or is about to expire, you will need to renew with your current registrar before transferring to a new registrar (registrar contact information). Under this scenario you would need to wait another 60 days before transferring your domain.

  • If you have Domain WHOIS Privacy enabled, it must be disabled. This can be done through your current registrar (registrar contact information).

  • You must have access to the email used when registering your domain. If you don't have email access you must contact your current registrar (registrar contact information).

  • If you also need to move your MX records, which control email for your domain, you will want to download and make a backup of all of your email from your current web host provider. Any email addresses, email forwarding, email filters, or spam filters will need to be set up once again with the new host. I recommend you don't specify MX records, but rather configure ZoneEdit's simple MailForward service by domain or individual email address.




"A" records make sure that visitors to your web site will connect to the web server that your web host provider has assigned to you, and "MX" ("Mail eXchanger") records make sure that people who send you e-mail will connect to your web host provider's mail server.


 


SETTING UP YOUR WEBSITE WITH YOUR NEW WEB HOST PROVIDER:


Once you have selected and signed up for a new web host provider you will want to proceed with the following to set up your website:




  • Copy all of the code and images over from your current web host provider to a new FTP location for the new site. This is usually accomplished by uploading your local website files to the new FTP location provided by your new web host provider.

  • Make sure that secure access is applied to any directories or sub-directories that previously had secure access. This is accomplished through the file management tool located within the control panel of the web host provider.

  • If you have a way to preview web pages locally from your 'local host' or by using a testing server by using a web page editor such as Dreamweaver, (hitting F12 or other key combinations in Dreamweaver sends the page to your browser but displays locally rather than as coming from your web host provider over the internet), then do a cursory check page by page of the navigation, links, and images for at least a few select pages.

  • Check all web forms throughout the site to be sure they have been set up to work with your new web host provider.

  • Set up email addresses, email forwarders, etc. via your web host (unless you can use the preferred way of managing email forwarders using ZoneEdit, which makes it easier to manage should you move your website again).


TRIGGERING YOUR WEB HOST PROVIDER AND/OR DOMAIN TRANSFER:


To initiate a domain transfer:



  • You must first obtain an authorization code from your current registrar. To do this you will need to contact your current registrar and request an authorization code for domain transfer. (Registrar contact information is located below.)

  • Provide the authorization code for domain transfer to your new web host provider so that they can proceed with transferring your domain.

  • Before pulling the trigger on transferring your domain I strongly suggested that you wait until late on a Friday night at the beginning of a weekend since the newly assigned DNS (Dynamic Name Service) pointers for the domain will take 24-72 hours to propagate throughout the main DNS servers of the world. This means there will be down time for your website (there's no way around this). So timing as to when to initiate the transfer is critical and may depend on whether you have an ecommerce store, and when the slowest times are for your business. You will want to time the transfer to be just at the beginning of your slow time so that you can take the hit on your site downtime during your slowest business period since the transfer will cause a period of site downtime. You may not see the site go down immediately after pulling the trigger to transfer your domain, so be patient and give it a little time. It will usually take several hours, up to 72 hours, for the DNS to propagate to the world's DNS servers in order for them to clear out the old DNS information and now point to your new web host provider so that your website will display based on pages hosted by your new web host provider.


CHANGING DOMAINS:


If you are also moving your website over to an entirely new domain then there are an additional set of issues to be aware of. In this case you would also be concerned with the following:



  • Check the website domain name throughout the site (within the code) to be sure it has been updated properly in all HTML links and text (if necessary).

  • Check email domains throughout the site (within the code) to be sure they have all been updated properly in all HTML links and text (if necessary).

  • You should just be able to do a site-wide search and replace for these (website domain and email domain), but be careful since what you want to replace within a domain may also exist within other text in the site that you want different capitalization on


VERIFY YOUR DOMAIN TRANSFERRED SUCCESSFULLY:


There are a few ways to verify that your website domain has transferred to your new web host provider and/or domain registrar, but I believe the easiest way is to keep a web browser open on your computer with a tab set to your website domain, and continue to refresh your webpage every hour or so until your website is visibly back online.


You will want to be sure your browser isn't displaying a cached page, so do a 'hard refresh' of the page each time by hitting Control-{F5}.


This forces a clean reload of your page rather than pulling it from your browsers cache. You will want to do a WHOIS lookup to verify that your domain registrar, DNS information, and contact information are all registered correctly. One way to verify that new web host provider is displaying your site and that it is not your old web host provider hosting the page or that it is not a cached page, (and I think this is the easiest method as compared to pinging and doing a trace route), is to make a minor textual change on the home page with your HTML editor (something that won't be noticeable to anyone else), and upload this new home page version to the new host provider. You can always remove this textual change later. When refreshing the page look for this updated home page to display as evidence that your new web host provider is now hosting your website, and that your DNS is properly pointed to them, and that your DNS has propagated to at least some of the main DNS servers out there by this time.


TESTING YOUR WEBSITE:


Once your domain has been transferred successfully and is active then you want to proceed with the following:



  • Check all of the navigation, links, and images to make sure that everything is working properly.

  • Check all web forms throughout the site to be sure they work properly.

  • Make sure that secure access to any folders that should be protected as private are working properly and asking for a username and password before displaying.


REGISTRAR CONTACT INFORMATION:


A very useful table found within the iPower Knowledgebase is a great resource listing the best way to contact various domain registrars.




Please let me know with your comments if you found this information helpful. Thanks!


~Jeff




Jeff Kemp, MileHighTechGuy (Golden, CO), www.jeff-kemp.com.


For more info: 

Jeff Kemp's website:  http://www.jeff-kemp.com

Email Jeff, MileHighTechGuy: jeff@milehightechguy.com


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Sunday, April 26, 2009

The free Pandora app for iPhone saves the day on a road trip with my teenage son.






My 19 year old son and I were on a road trip from Orange County, California to Denver, Colorado. It was a 16 hour drive, split up into 2 days.

At nearly the midpoint in Flagstaff, Arizona, at the beginning of our second day it became apparent that there was a lot of tension through the first half of the trip since we couldn't agree on what music to listen to. Both of us wanted to figure something out to fix this.

Typically I listen to Christian Praise and Worship, or sometimes the news, or even classical. But when I'm on a road trip I want something totally out of the ordinary: I might scan to a radio station that plays 70's or 80's music that often times brings back memories from an old song from my youth or other years.

Or I might scan to a country station when on a road trip since I don't normally listen to country even though I like it, and there are a ton of country stations to be found when driving through the West. I might listen to a Christian station for a bit, but am ready to move to something else quickly since generally it doesn't suit my road trip mood. For me, loosing connection to a station and having to scan to something else is half the fun since you don't know what you're going to get.

I especially like to hear the radio stations that are local to the areas that I'm driving through, with their quirky commercials and sometimes funky DJ's. And the main point is that this is totally out of character of what I would listen to at home on my iPod, my CD collection, the radio, or Pandora (more about Pandora in a minute).

My son likes Christian Praise and Worship some too, but what he listens to the most is techno; something I can't stand because of the driving beat that gives me a headache within 2 minutes, and the repetitiveness, repetitiveness, repetitiveness.

So we basically argued every time he would put one of his techno CD's in, or when I would scan to a new radio station.

Suddenly he asked for my iPhone, which he does sometimes in order to play games that I have downloaded. He then realized I had downloaded the Pandora app onto my iPhone. I introduced him to Pandora a couple of months ago. He and I now each have our own play lists created within Pandora on our PC's and iMac at home.

We were both surprised to find that I had a strong 3G connection while driving in remote areas of the West...

He launched Pandora on my iPhone. We were both surprised to find that I had a strong 3G connection while driving in remote areas of the West, and that he was able to bring up my playlist since we had a 3G connection and Pandora remembered my login. He wasn't interested in my playlist, so he quickly created a new playlist by typing in a song name or two from his techno stuff. He was able to listen to music on my iPhone using the earphones that came with the iPhone while the iPhone remained fully charged using $30 a car charger that I keep in the car. And I was able to listen to the radio at the same time.


So for the rest of our trip we both listened to our own music while we drove through the rest of Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado. To our surprise we had a good connection on the iPhone with Pandora the entire way. We were both much happier since now I could listen to my music on the radio and he could listen to his on the iPhone.

Yet another reason why I won't travel without my handy iPhone.

My only complaint about Pandora is that it does seem to repeat the same songs quite a bit. This may have something to do with the way I am using it. Maybe I haven't set it up properly. I often have to select the option that says "Don't play this song for another month.". I think the algorithm Pandora uses needs more interaction from me to tell it what I like or don't like, so I get repeat songs until it receives my input. This is my best guess anyway, but I still really like Pandora. I find myself using my iPod a lot less at home since Pandora is always right at my fingertips at the computer.






Jeff Kemp, MileHighTechGuy (Golden, CO), www.jeff-kemp.com.



For more info: 

Jeff Kemp's website:  http://www.jeff-kemp.com

Email Jeff, MileHighTechGuy: jeff@milehightechguy.com
















Monday, April 20, 2009

How to create a Facebook Group and a Twitter account to promote your business or social group.


This article is a quick 'How To Guide' for setting up a Facebook Group and a Twitter account for low cost marketing on a budget.

In this recession based economy it's very important to capitalize on some of the free marketing tools available for business and social groups. Not only are Facebook and Twitter free, they are also some of the most cost effective means to reach out to your audience while consuming very little or your precious marketing budget or other resources (although time can get consumed at a rapid clip if you get too immersed within social marketing, so use good judgement).

To create a Facebook Group:






  1. Go to the Search box on Facebook.com (upper right hand corner).

  2. Type in the word 'groups' (or simply click on the image provided here or this link: Facebook Groups page).

  3. Click on the 'Groups' option in the drop down box (from the Search box on the main page this takes you to the Facebook Groups page).

Groups page on Facebook where you can create a new group.

  1. Click on 'Create New Group' (the new group button is located just below and to the right of the Search box).

  2. The rest is simply a matter of populating your group with a name, logo/image, description, etc.

  3. Set up the moderation rules for your group (determines whether others can join without an invitation, and whether it is a public or private group).

  4. Then you can invite members to join your group by sending them invitations from within Facebook. It's helpful to use the tools that Facebook provides to search your online email accounts (Yahoo Mail, Gmail, etc.) for other Facebook users that you know (they don't have to be current users of Facebook, but it helps since you are more likely to get them to accept your invitation).

  5. To keep the attention of your members (and to gain new members) you should post lots of content like news articles, discussions, and photos as much as possible.

  6. Be sure to put links to your new Facebook Group on your main website.

  7. There is a handy free iPhone Facebook application available on the iTunes App Store that lets you view and update your Facebook info from your iPhone. (See how I used the iPhone Facebook app during a power outage to keep in touch with my friends on Facebook and LinkedIn).


To create a Twitter account:



  1. Go to www.twitter.com.

  2. Click on 'Join'.

  3. Enter your username, password, email address, etc. (be careful to pick a useful username since this will be your Twitter identity, such as: http://twitter.com/milehighmarketing)

  4. Invite others to 'follow you' on Twitter by sending them an invite from within Twitter. Just like Facebook, it's helpful to use the tools that Twitter provides to search your online email accounts (Yahoo Mail, Gmail, etc.) for other Twitter users that you know (they don't have to be current users of Twitter, but it helps since you are more likely to get them to accept your invitation).


  5. Add a logo or other image such as a photo of yourself; this is done from the profile page. Twitter will size the image automatically, but you may want to edit your image outside of Twitter first so that you can get a good arrangement for the square aspect ratio postage stamp-like size allowed).

  6. Start 'tweeting' by sending out status updates and other useful tidbits of information like your current goings on at your company or social group. Keep in mind that 'Tweets' are like SMS text messages in that they are limited to 160 characters, so use your letter count wisely.

  7. Select other people you want to 'follow' on Twitter. This makes you more likely to gain 'followers' for yourself as Tweeters reciprocate (often a kind of a 'tit-for-tat' experience). You can also add famous people you want to follow like John McCain and Barack Obama or other famous people (there are several others suggested for you, plus you can search for more). I'm following John McCain, and he is also following me! (Well, someone from his camp is, anyway.)

  8. There are handy free iPhone applications available on the iTunes App Store such as TwitterFon that let you send and receive Tweets from your iPhone.

  9. Happy Tweeting!


Jeff Kemp (Golden, CO), www.jeff-kemp.com.


For more info:

Jeff Kemp's website: http://www.jeff-kemp.com

Email Jeff: jeff@milehightechguy.com

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Having an iPhone comes in handy during a blackout.

We live at 7500ft elevation in the foothills of the Rockies in Genesee, a community within Golden, Colorado. On Friday April 17th at 10:30pm our power went out due to the recent 3ft of heavy wet snow we had received over a period of a couple of days.


 


The power remained out for over 27 hours, which meant that all through Saturday until 1am Saturday morning we had no lights, no heat (except for our gas fireplaces), no stove (ours is electric), no refrigeration, no TV, and no land line phone. I'm sure though that the folks at Xcel Energy did their best to get everyone's power back on as quickly as possible.


Amazingly my iPhone not only had a good 3G connection so I could use it for phone calls to alert my family about the power outage, but I was also able to keep up with my email, Facebook, and LinkedIn updates throughout the weekend without skipping a beat.


With my iPhone, even though we had no power and we're buried in 3ft of snow, I was able to keep connected to the world.


An added bonus is that the iPhone gives off a good amount of light,



so I sometimes use it to get around the house instead of a flashlight since it is always at my side in it's handy holster.  In extreme cases when I really need more light I use a free iPhone application that I downloaded from iTunes some months ago aptly called 'Flashlight' that is a very simple full screen of just white that gives off an optimum amount of light, more than say, if you were looking at your email for instance. 'Flashlight' is really handy for giving you the light you need for getting your key into the door at night, or for helping you find something you dropped in the parking lot in the dark.


I didn't worry too much about running down the battery of my iPhone even though our power was out since I knew that if the battery ran too low that I could plug it into my car charger for a bit and it would be good as new. I happen to have a cigarette lighter type plug in my Nissan Xterra that works without requiring to turn on the car's engine.


Another nice feature native to the iPhone is the alarm clock. That comes in handy too when the power is out.


Okay, now that my iPhone and I can't be separated during even a blackout, I'm ready to make one of stupid those commercials where the person says: "I'm an iPhone". Oh, right, that's Microsoft's stupid commercial where they say: "I'm a PC". But you get the gist. Me and my iPhone are becoming 'one'. It's getting kind of scary.




Jeff Kemp (Golden, CO), www.jeff-kemp.com.


For more info: 

Jeff Kemp's website:  http://www.jeff-kemp.com

Email Jeff: jeff@milehightechguy.com

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

My experience moving over to a Mac from a PC

iMacNearly 2 months ago I 'went over to the dark side' and bought a Mac for the first time. I'm now the only person in my whole family of long-time PC users who owns a Mac. It's been an interesting transition moving over to a Mac. Some of it good, some of it not as good as I expected.

"If you are considering making the jump from PC to Mac, perhaps you can learn from some of my difficulties and observations after taking the plunge and becoming a reluctant new Mac convert."

Background:

Since my laptop was now a few years old and had once again fallen behind the technology curve and had gone past it's point of being useful for my work due to the slow processor and limited memory and disk space, I needed to upgrade my laptop PC.

So I began the shopping process using online comparisons (Dell, HP, Staples, BestBuy, etc.) as well as some in-store browsing at brick-and-mortar retail stores. After a couple of months of searching I had a nice powerful $1,000 Asus laptop picked out at BestBuy (I decided to take advantage of their 18 months interest free financing and good customer service).

Since I've been an avid 'power user' of PC's since the early days of the x286 processor using Windows 3.0 all the way up until now with the XP (and a little of the Vista operating system), I have a lot of PC in my blood. I use the PC for graphic design and photo editing (Photoshop, CorelDraw), website design (Dreamweaver), and office programs like Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Access (including back-end programming in Access). I've used the PC both in my own business, as a home user, and at the workplace in high-tech office jobs.

Suddenly at the last minute of my shopping for a new PC one of the BestBuy sales reps mentioned I should have a look at a Mac laptop. At first my eyes rolled at the thought, but then I got a little smile on my face when I considered the possibility of me actually owning a Mac. (No, it had nothing to do with the 'Mac vs. PC' commercials of late).

Ultimately I decided to purchase an iMac (all-in-one desktop) computer rather than a laptop since they are fairly compact and come with faster processors, more memory, more internal disk space, and larger monitors for comparable versions of a Mac laptop.

"Over the years I've had several objections as to why a Mac wasn't a viable option for me. As I considered an upgrade to my current laptop my Mac objections began to dissipate one-by-one. Here are some objections, issues, and resolutions I've had with moving over to a Mac."

Objections and issues to overcome when considering moving from PC to Mac.

OBJECTION #1 - Prohibitive cost:
Mac's were finally coming down in price to where I could actually afford one. The question then became an issue of how much 'Total Cost of Ownership' (TCO) was involved since I'd have to buy new software and maybe even some new hardware peripherals. (As it turns out, two weeks after I purchased my iMac, Apple announced a big price drop and a new line of Macs. Thankfully BestBuy was very amicable in working with me to allow a return of the iMac I had just purchased for the new model that Apple had just released which had better specifications including a faster processor, more RAM, more disk space, and a larger monitor for the same price I had paid for a lesser model.) (Thanks BestBuy!)


OBJECTION #2 - Steep learning curve:
Since most PC's are now selling with Vista, and I've been primarily using XP, I figured there was going to be a learning curve for me whether I stayed with PC or went to a Mac. Also there is another major Windows upgrade from Vista to Windows 7 coming in about a year, meaning another learning curve is on the way. So the learning curve issue became less of a prohibitive excuse not to get a Mac. (Mac is also promising another revolutionary upgrade from Mac OS 10.5 Leopard to Snow Leopard also in about a year from now). So in the world of computers OS upgrades are inevitable.

Now after 2 months I'm finding there is still quite a learning curve if you want to get beneath the initial surface functionality of what a Mac has to offer.


OBJECTION #3 - I would need to re-purchase all of my software:
As I thought about it, much of the software I use is browser-based or available free for Mac or PC over the internet anyway. I'm moving more and more towards Software As A Service (Saas) model for my software such as Salesforce.com for CRM (Customer Relationship Management), Toodledo for task management, Pandora for music, and the list goes on-and-on...(more info about the latest online tools in subsequent articles). Other software I use such as iTunes and Firefox are free downloads.

I also use graphics, photo editing, and web design software, which I understand the Mac is really made for in the first place. So what software would I have to re-purchase? I made a list of all of my software and which ones would be supported natively under a Mac and found I actually didn't need to re-purchase much.

The big breakthrough for me came when I learned that for $99 there is a great OS emulator called VM Ware Fusion 2 that can run all of my other XP or Vista software seamlessly on the Mac. So I didn't need to repurchase Dreamweaver, Photoshop, or even MS Office.

Windows Genuine Advantage Kit for XPI found out that my old version of XP which I had on disk would not authenticate since it was apparently sold under an OEM volume license that had expired. So after returning 2 different OEM versions of XP I purchased at Amazon.com that also would not authenticate, I had to contact Microsoft and purchase a Windows Genuine Advantage Kit for XP at $149 for an official XP license.

Warning shown under XP when Windows does not authenticate:

My plan would be to use the emulator initially for 'must have' PC software, and over time replace my PC software with Mac versions. I have since re-purchased the Adobe Creative Suite Design Premium CS4 which contains Photoshop and Dreamweaver and some other great programs like Illustrator, Indesign, and Acrobat.


OBJECTION #4 - Would I also need to buy new hardware peripherals (external disk drives, routers)?:

Netgear ReadyNAS Network Attached Storage (NAS)External storage: I use a lot of USB external hard disks for my photos and backups of my data. Namely I use a Netgear ReadyNASNetwork Attached Storage (NAS) disk drive with additional attached USB drives as a primary source of centralizing computer files, making them accessible over the wireless network from all computers in my house rather than storing them locally on any one computer's hard disk, and not having to worry about running out of disk space on my computer.

I had read that the Mac does not support writing to NTSF formatted disks, which mine happened to be since that is the latest and most used format for PC based disk drives. So I had to reformat a couple of my USB drives and move some of my data around the network to make everything work properly so that the Mac and the other PC's in my house could all access the data.

I'm still having trouble with TimeMachine, the backup software that comes with iMac. I reformatted one of my 750GB Seagate FreeAgent USB drives to use exclusively for TimeMachine since TimeMachine requires a dedicated disk for backups (formatted specifically for TimeMachine).

iMac TimeMachine
TimeMachine seems great at first. The interface is cool to look at. But when you come down to actually using TimeMachine it's not so great. I get continual errors that my 'backup failed', but with no explanation or error code. For a while I checked my backups and they were a-plenty (being saved every hour over the last several weeks), with backups dating back to 3 weeks prior. Then one day I checked my backups, and mysteriously I only had backups as far back as the current day. Where did my other backups go? I still don't know what's going on with this.

Keyboard: The iMac keyboard uses 'chicklet' style keys, which, for the life of me, after several weeks I can't get used to (it's available in Bluetooth or USB versions; the USB version came with my iMac). Mac keyboardSo I ended up plugging in my old USB PC 101 keyboard. I also still keep the Mac keyboard plugged in since the Mac keyboard has a couple of special keys such as the Mac Command key that the PC keyboard does not have (this consumes a valuable USB port so I may consider another Bluetooth keyboard later).


Mouse: The iMac mouse is cool looking but is just as hard to get used to as the iMac keyboard (it too is available in Bluetooth or USB versions; the version that came with my iMac is Mac mouseBluetooth). I found myself having a terrible time navigating simple web pages and applications. After a few days of struggling with the sleek looking but functionally useless mouse I ended up plugging in my old USB wireless mouse.

Routers:
My 802.11g wireless Netgear router works seamlessly with my new iMac. At some point I plan to upgrade to the newer higher speed 802.11n protocol, at which time I'll consider buying a Mac router (which are more costly than their non-Mac counterparts but are touted as being very reliable).


OBJECTION #5 - I'm in the business world most of the time and need a PC:
I am finding that the Mac is a good graphics and web designing computer, and really more of a user-friendly home computer for the family, but not necessarily cut out for most major business applications compared to a PC. MS Office 2008 for Mac is so foreign to me after using MS Office 2003 and MS Office 2007 for PC that I find it mostly not usable.

I don't do anything too sophisticated with MS Office 2008 Word, so that one seems okay, and I haven't really tried PowerPoint yet, but I have a problem with Entourage as a replacement for Outlook since it is entirely different and seems to lack many of the business and calendar features of Outlook.

Also I find Excel for MS Office 2008 a disappointment. Excel for Mac only supports Apple Script, so it doesn't support any of the macros that I have created and use daily with Excel for managing my bills, sorting lists, etc. When you open Excel for Mac it asks if you want to disable macros or forever remove them altogether from your Excel file. Deleting all of my macros is not a good option for me since I am still using Excel files with other PC users and also under the VM Ware emulator, so I am pretty much forced to use VM Ware's Fusion 2 whenever I want to use a macro in one of my Excel files.

Also for business meetings it may be necessary to revert to a PC laptop for compatibility with overhead projectors unless you have all of the necessary cables for connecting (most projectors use a VGA or RCA input).


OBJECTION #6 - I don't want to have to know the world of Mac and the PC world both (I'd have to pick one or the other):
This is probably still a valid concern. None of the useful keyboard shortcuts and hot keys that I learned over the years and use with PC applications work with the Mac, so I am forced to use the mouse a lot more than I would like to.

Overall I believe the consensus is that there seems to be a lack of business software for the Mac as compared to the PC. So depending on what you are using a Mac for this may influence your decision on whether to buy a Mac (unless you are willing to use the PC emulator most of the time).

I'm still working out issues like how to deal with Outlook-based meeting appointments I might receive from clients or vendors for since I am no longer using Outlook. Presently I'm using 2-3 different contact managers and calendars for different purposes, so I need to narrow this down to one solution for all of my needs (look for a future article concerning good contact managers, task managers, and project managers).

After about 2 months of owning a Mac I have found myself reverting to my old PC laptop only once or twice, and even then it really wasn't necessary. So the Mac is slowly but surely replacing my PC.

Other issues and observations:

Printing and CD-ROM use under the XP emulator:
I can access the CD-ROM with no problems under the VM Ware XP emulator, but when the emulator is running and I insert a CD I want to rip to iTunes under Mac it doesn't work since the Mac is not recognizing the CD-ROM except for under the emulator (which is not where iTunes is installed). I'm assuming this is probably something I just have configured wrong and need to learn how to use better. I believe I can configure the CD-ROM drive to either be recognized by the emulator or be available to the Mac OS, but not both at the same time.

Also I cannot seem to access my network printer even though it seems as though my printer is shared. This may take a tech support call to VM Ware.

OS and application differences:
OS: I like the icon dock on the Mac that you can configure in various ways to hold your application icons and desktop folders.
I also like the easy access to downloads, documents, pictures, and movies.

I find the 'command-tab' toggling through Mac applications cumbersome because even if you toggle to an application it still may be minimized inside the dock even though it seems that you have toggled to it. Another app window issue that takes some time to get used to (that I don't care for) is that you can close a application window and the app still remains open until you actually quit the app. So I find myself having to toggle through several windows to discover what is actually still open that I want closed (to me this is not as user-friendly as the Windows icons in the task bar showing open applications or app groups).

Finder: Finder is the equivalent to Windows Explorer but it doesn't seem to allow copying or moving files in the same way as a PC, so I'm still getting used to the methods for copying or moving files, or in some cases I find the need to open an additional Finder window so I can drag and drop files. Initially I liked the thumbnail and cover flow views, but once I had about 10,000 photos in a single folder these views no longer worked (thumbnails were no longer viewable). I don't necessarily like Windows Explorer better than Finder, but I think I just need to get more used to the nuances of Finder (plus there are a few improvements that could be made to Finder).
Mac Finder
A huge learning curve for me with Finder is that Finder doesn't allow you to cut and paste at all, only copy and paste to another location, so if you want to move the file off of your other volume, or thumb drive/hard drive you will have to copy it to a new location and then delete it. That scares me since many times the copying process did not complete without errors (usually undefined errors) so I am not comfortable deleting the file. I prefer XP's functionality here which moves and then deletes a file with the cut/paste feature only once the file transfer has been properly validated.

Another thing that really surprised me (in a bad way) is that when copying files to another folder and there exists a file with the same name, Mac asks if you want to replace the file but doesn't tell you the dates (or file sizes) of the files so you can compare which is newer, and only when copying folders (not files) tells you the one you are copying from is newer, but still doesn't tell you the date of the file.

Very good comparison information as related to Mac OS X to Windows XP file handling is available here.

Spaces: I don't care for Spaces (I like the concept but the current version needs work), which allows you to set up different open applications to open under different windows that you can toggle to. It seems a good idea that is not quite ready for prime-time. It takes too long to navigate to the window that actually contains the application that I am looking for, and it doesn't allow you to permanently assign an application to open under certain window locations each time, you have to assign it after you open the application. I prefer the 'alt-tab' toggling through apps available under windows.

iLife '09iPhoto: Beware of iPhoto! iPhoto, which comes with a new Mac as part of iLife '09 is a 'disk hog' that sucks up too much disk space. iPhoto makes duplicate copies of many of your photos, especially if you are using the Faces or Places features new for iLife 2009. Since I use Lightroom for photo editing and viewing I already have a Lightroom catalog that takes up disk space on top of the actual photos themselves. iPhoto goes much farther in consuming disk space by creating an iPhoto catalog, but also actually duplicates many photos as duplicate JPG files that contain faces or places (with many of them incorrectly identified as faces or places).

To remedy this issue that iPhoto created I did a search in Finder for files with 'faces' now in the file name and found that for me iPhoto had added thousands of extra photos on my hard disk that I did not want, so ultimately I deleted these extra photos and no longer use iPhoto.

It's not all bad...things I like better on Mac compared to PC:
  • -I like the application dock on Mac.
  • -I love the big and beautiful 24" monitor that came with my all-in-one iMac.
  • -I like the System Preferences interface for system configuration options.
  • -I'm sure there are other things that I eventually will learn to love about the Mac over time since I probably have not really scratched much beyond the surface of what the Mac has to offer in the last 2 months.
Summary:
After only 2 months it's probably not fair to make a full judgment, but overall I have to say that for the long term I am glad I bought a Mac, though the Mac does have it's limitations, and the learning curve in moving from a PC 'power user' to a new Mac user seems easy at first for the simple functionality but more steep when trying to do real work using Mac applications. VM Ware's Fusion 2 XP emulator saves the day as a fall back for when I have to revert to PC software.

Ultimately I'm optimistic that I will be able to learn the Mac as well as I currently know PC's and PC applications, and eventually I think I'll be happier for the transition, especially once I learn all of the cool media authoring tools available on my new Mac. But, alas, once the new Snow Leopard or Windows 7 come along the whole computer world will change once again, and we'll all be in the same boat I'm in now of having to learn a new operating system and upgrading software.

Your experience will likely be totally different. If you are considering moving from a PC to a Mac, or have made the switch recently, I'd love to hear about your experience (difficulties, resolutions) and if you have additional tips you can offer for overcoming some of the challenges involved with the transition moving from a PC to a Mac.



Jeff Kemp (Golden, CO), www.jeff-kemp.com.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Using LinkedIn and Facebook for Effective Business Promotion.

Social and professional networking tools are now some of the best ways to get the word out about your product or service as a business; not to mention that it is free! LinkedIn and Facebook, among other professional networking sites and internet tools available, offer a prime low cost solution for putting your business’s message onto the internet while consuming very little of your company’s resources.

LinkedIn has emerged as one of the top professional networking websites, while Facebook has emerged as one of the premiere social networking sites. What many people don’t seem to realize yet (or at least aren’t taking full advantage of) is that in addition to promoting your professional profile or keeping in touch with friends or colleagues, LinkedIn and Facebook can be a very effective marketing tool for promoting your business. The reach of these networking sites is global, yet depending on your business and the type of content you post, with these networking sites you can easily target your local area as your primary focus.

By creating a LinkedIn and/or Facebook group, your business can have an extension of your corporate website that can be used as a marketing tool. If you have a smaller company you might even be surprised to find that your new networking group attracts more web hits than your corporate website, and that it enables you to reach your local market better than many of the other marketing vehicles available such as phone books or online yellow pages.

These networking groups can succinctly promote your business’s product or services, contain links to your main website, and perhaps most importantly provide a platform for providing collaboration that allows others inside and outside of your company to post content such as videos, photos, notes, and links.

This collaborative posting and managing of content, part of what makes ‘Web 2.0’ what it is today, is an invaluable resource that should be leveraged by your business. These groups are also a great place to post job openings, and can provide loyalty to your brand while connecting current fans as well as current or past alumni (employees, vendors, contractors) associated with your company (see the D-Link Alumni group that I created recently in order to get back in touch with former colleagues). Even old forgotten customers may come back into the picture that you have lost contact with!

So if you haven’t yet tapped into the valuable resource of a LinkedIn or Facebook group for your business, there’s no reason not to get started today!



Jeff Kemp (Golden, CO), www.jeff-kemp.com.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Technical Writing: Proper use of i.e. ('that is') versus e.g. ('for example')

Technical Writing: Proper use of  i.e. ('that is') versus e.g. ('for example')

Ever wonder whether to use 'i.e.' or to use 'e.g.' in a technical document? I have. So I thought I'd post this to help anyone else who may have wanted to know the distinction.


Here is the proper use of  i.e. ('that is') versus e.g. ('for example'):


__________________________________________________________________


'I.e.' (id est, 'that is') precedes a statement of amplification or explanation. 


Examples of usage:


"Reboot the computer (i.e., press the Control, Alt, and Delete keys simultaneously)."
__________________________________________________________________


'E.g.' (exempli gratia, 'for example') precedes a specific example or examples. 


Examples of usage:


"Several groups attended, e.g., the church association, the PTA, and the teachers' union."

__________________________________________________________________


In many contexts, to avoid confusion, the long version use of 'for example' or 'for instance' can replace the abbreviated 'e.g.' or 'i.e.'.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Forward your old Verizon cell number to your new iPhone...how to set up call forwarding with Verizon

After waiting a full year I finally have an iPhone (woohoo!). I've had it about a week and I love it! I'm very impressed with it, actually.

My new iPhone even saved me $18 yesterday. I was totally out of toner on my printer. I went to BestBuy to purchase another printer. I remembered that I had received a 10% off coupon from BestBuy in my email, but I was so totatlly out of toner that it wouldn't print. So when I was at the register, in about 30 seconds I pulled up my Yahoo! email, pulled up the BestBuy coupon, zoomed in on it, and showed it the the cashier, asking if they would honor it since I couldn't print it out. The cashier called the manager over, who then promptly approved the use of the coupon, saying that they had the same phone (iPhone). Thus I saved $18 on my new printer that I couldn't have done without my iPhone.

I was reluctant to switch over to AT&T from Verizon, but I felt the iPhone was worth it. You may find yourself in a similar situation...with the question of 'What do I do with my old cell phone and my old cell phone number from Verizon?'

Here is my suggestion...set up call forwarding from your old cell phone to your new iPhone.

The call forwarding feature serves several handy purposes:


1) It allows me to not have to pay the $145 early termination fee that Verizon would charge to cancel my old number. Once my plan with Verizon is up I can choose to cancel it at no cost at that point, or I can keep it.

2) By keeping a separate cell number for forwarding to my iPhone, one that I use only for posting publicly to websites, job boards, and resumes, it allows me to keep my iPhone cell number private for just close friends and family. By keeping my iPhone number private this also greatly reduces unwanted telemarketing calls to my iPhone.

3) Friends that I haven't given my new iPhone number to can still contact me by using the old number they are familiar with (I can pick and choose who to give the new number to).

4) I can turn off my old cell phone, and even let the battery run dead, and I will still get calls that are forwarded to my iPhone. I also never have to upgrade my really old 'brick' cell phone that is on Verizon (I was able to use the 'new every 2' $100 credit to upgrade to a new cell phone for another member of my family who still uses Verizon.

5) I only have to carry one phone (unless I need to carry my Blackberry from work, as I am not yet using the Exchange mode with my iPhone, which I hopefully will be able to do soon).

A few other points:
If I am running over on my monthly allowed minutes with AT&T I can always drop back to my old cell phone on Verizon for a bit (which has plenty of minutes available even with the most basic plan) until I have more minutes to work with on AT&T.

If I want to conserve minutes on my iPhone, and I am willing to temporarily turn off call forwarding and use my old phone, I can use my old Verizon cell phone to talk to other members of the family without using up my minutes due to the 'friends and family' type feature.

I've been doing this for a few years now and it works great...originally I was forwarding calls to my Blackberry, now to my iPhone. The only down-side that I've experienced is that if someone sends a text message to my old cell phone I won't get it on my iPhone, but I find that most text messages I receive on that line are spam text messages anyway, so the up-side far out-weighs the down-side.

Here is a simple process for setting up the 'call forwarding' feature on Verizon...

Verizon call forwarding:

1) Enter *72

2) Enter the 10 digit phone number you want to forward to, plus include a 1 if it is forwarding to a different area code (long distance).

Follow this format (1, area code, 7 digit phone number): # ### ### ####

Example: 1 800 555 1212

(I'm pretty sure it doesn't hurt to put the 1 in the number even if you are forwarding to a local number.)

3) A beep will confirm that call forwarding was set up successfully.

4) *73 turns off call forwarding at any time.

I'd love to hear your comments, especially I'd like to know if this helps anyone in any way.

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