Truth A: People make mistakes

Technology is designed and built by people.  Many of those people spend many hours in depressing cubicles, wishing they were elsewhere.  Some are overworked, some of them helped build technology at 2am while on a tight deadline, half asleep, sitting in a depressing cubicle, wishing they were elsewhere.

You get the idea!

Truth B: Technology breaks down

Most computers still hard drives with lots of moving parts.  Hard drives can last years, but they can also break down within months.

When your hard drive goes, you will probably lose all the data stored on it (operating system, games, documents, photos, everything!).  Since there is this huge variability in the lifetime of a hard drive, you need to protect yourself against this somehow.

Just think… what would you do if your hard drive fails?

Truth C: Software has bugs

All software has bugs.  Bugs can be minor little problems (like a feature is not working properly), or major architectural flaws (this software can’t do that because it’s not in the design).  Software you buy in a nice box has bugs, software you ask someone to write for you has bugs, that’s just the way it is.

Companies can spend lots of money on testing and quality assurance, but that just reduces the likelyhood of bugs.  Web software is usually a better bet than installable applications simply because its easier to fix things, and the costs are usually lower.

Has someone told you the software you’re getting is bug free?

Truth D: Websites go down

Between your computer and the website you are trying to see, there are lots of complicated pieces of technology (see point B), with lots of software packages installed (see point C), designed by people (see point A).

You can see where this one is going.

BONUS: You get what you pay for

Sure, your friend’s son can build you a website for $100…

Sure, that hosting plan is super cheap…

Sure, that taco is way cheaper than tacos should be…

… but do you really want to pay that little for those things?

• How much are you paying attention to, and how well can you absorb it?
• Is the information relevant to you?
• Are you paying attention to how effective your web presence is?
• Are people talking about you and your brands?

You might think that this is a lot of work, but given the right tools, it’s a snap!  With a few simple tools you can optimize the way you find and filter the information, and then you can easily current!

Most sources of serialized info today (blogs, news sites, etc) publish feeds of their information (technically called RSS feeds, Real Simple Syndication).  These feeds can be collected into a tool called a Feed Reader (like Google Reader).  When you connect these feeds to a feed reader, the data starts coming to you!  You can check your reader for the info (rather than the individual web sites), and filter/organize it however you want.  It’s like your own personal newspaper, all the time!

You can even hook up other things to your feed reader, like Facebook, Twitter and forums.  Not only will you be able to track more information, but you’ll get it sooner, and in a way that is easier to manage!

Stay tuned for some interesting things you can hook into your feed reader!

Here are a few options:

Watch Canadian content online, for free

CTV, Global, Showcase, HGTV provide latest episodes of some of their shows:

CTV (including Comedy Network, Discovery, etc)
HGTV
Global TV
Showcase

Watch US content online through Hotspot Shield

Hotspot Shield connects you to their service in the US, and provides some level of security when you’re connected to public WiFi networks. It also fools Hulu.com into thinking you’re in the US!

Hotspot Shield
http://www.hulu.com/

Yar! (Watch TV the Pirate way!)

Finally, there are less scrupulous ways of acquiring the episodes you want. Services like Bit Torrent and Usenet provide access to content that will even get your parrot excited!*

*Please note I am not condoning any actual piracy, including looting, pillaging, keel-hauling, and of course, downloading illegal content. I’m sure you can find other ways to excite your parrot.

So if you need to stay caught up on your favorite shows, the Internet may have what you need! You might also find you have some extra free time, now that you have escaped the influence of the boob tube.

Think about your goals. Do you want to promote yourself? Do you want to promote your company? Maybe you just want to socialize.

Here are a few tips I can suggest:

1) Try and find people local to you. Go to the Twitter Advanced Search page and find people near you. At the very least you can complain about the weather!

2) Use the Twitter search to find people that share your interests, and start following them. Maybe you like video games or baseball? The search interface can be very useful! search.twitter.com.

3) Think about the websites you read, and the blogs that you follow. Are any of the authors using Twitter? Follow them! BONUS: If you tweet at them and they tweet back, their reply will show up in their feed, and some of their followers might follow you!

4) Just start tweeting! Talk about the things you are doing. People will find you based on your tweets about your interests (probably using the Twitter search). If you are slick enough, you can optimize your tweets for searchability (then people will find you).

For example, rather than tweet something like “On my way to work today, it’s raining”, try posting “Commuting on the GO Train on my way to Toronto. Damn this Canadian weather!”. It will appeal to people searching for commuting, go trains, toronto, canada, and weather!

5) Follow lots of people, and socialize, but remember, it’s not a competition to gather the most followers. If you have too many, your Twitter feed will be too cluttered to be useful. Don’t be afraid to “prune” your followers.

And finally:

6) It might feel like you’re “Stalking” people when you follow them… but you’re not, this is how Twitter works! Think about it, they’re tweeting, so they WANT people to read it.

Have fun! (oh, and follow me!)

1) It is a web application, and Google is always improving it. No more service packs or updates!

2) It has one of the best anti-spam systems in the industry. I receive very little spam through GMail.

3) It is available from anywhere, and you only need a browser to access it. Don’t mess around with configuring your mail client anymore! (But you can use another email client if you want to)

4) You get practically unlimited storage, so you don’t have to worry about backups. And it’s fast!

5) It is super easy to find and organize things… Google is the web search champ!

You might think “Well, my mail is already on my existing service, so i can’t switch”, but there are a number of ways to migrate your mail over to GMail. The service uses all the popular mail standards, so it is a snap to move mail into and out of it, if you need to.

Give it a try!  A few little tweaks to your domain name info and you’re off to the races.

Take this little test:

1) Are you using Firefox? (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, then the answer is probably no)

2) Do you have an email address you can keep if you change jobs or internet service providers?

3) Do you read more than 5 websites every day?

and finally…

4) When you use the Internet, do you ever wonder that there is probably a better way to do things?

Stay tuned!