Why I plan to buy an iPad

Oddly, my reasons have to do with owning a lemon Apple, and wanting to SAVE money.

Currently, my primary computer is a MacBook Pro that is a couple years old. I have a very old Apple Cinema Display attached to it. I've had to send this computer back for problems twice and it still does not run at 100%. Though I usually have a back-up computer, for a long time, the back-up could not do everything I needed it to do. So after the second time having to send my main computer in for repair, I bought a refurbished iMac. It has run flawlessly.

So as time rolls on, and I need to upgrade, I plan to build a little cocoon of refurbished iMacs - three, nicely aligned on my desk to replace my current 3 screen set up.

Price wise, buying two more refurbished iMacs can be done for less than a new MacBook Pro and Display.

New MacBook Pro & External Monitor: $3000
Two Refurbished iMacs: $2200

The only drawback is I lose portability. But I seldom move my current MacBook Pro because it is such a pain to disconnect it from everything, and it's such a lemon, I worry it will fall apart if I move it too much.

After work, I put it to sleep and then play on my refurbished iPod Touch.

With an iPad then, I can go ahead and make my work set-up all iMacs, and have the iPad available for very rare portable client needs and very often portable personal needs.

So beside getting a better, faster, cleaner, cheaper, office set-up, it affords me the opportunity to get hands on experience on a new medium with much potential.

And most importantly, offers me much more ease and opportunity to work outside.

•  2.27.10
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Zinn and the art of Acronyms

Two dominant thoughts on my mind this week - the passing of Howard Zinn and the promises of web buzz type sites popping up everywhere.

The most important lessons I took from my major in History were from the combined influence of Professor Cliff Minor, Thucydides and Howard Zinn. It was from them that I learned that history is fluid. History is not one tale, but the voices of the masses as best as they can be heard echoing through time.

It's easy to hear the majority, but difficult to hear others. From my Prof, Dr. Minor, Thucydides and Zinn, I learned it is important to seek out the lesser voices, even vital, for only then can a picture gain in clarity, dimension and depth.

In the web world, there has been much improvement to allow for more voices. Yet too often those voices only echo the same message over and over.

Such shallow repetition brings to mind the other subject on my mind this week: web buzz acronyms, hype and promises.

Seems like everyone has an angle of expertise on this topic as of late, but nearly every site I visit, every article I read, seem to use the same words in different order -- just an endless supply of empty words strung together.

It seems to me success online can be best summed up in four very unglamorous letters: W.O.R.K.

Of course there is expertise involved, toys to learn, communities to study, web culture to respect... yet that is only the start. To ever make an impression in a real way, it takes time, commitment and authenticity.

It's not how you say it, or even to how many people you say it. It's what you've got to say and what that means to those who hear it.

Rest in Peace Howard Zinn, your voice will always echo in my thoughts.

•  1.31.10
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My Pair Networks Experience

I have been with Pair Networks since April of 2004. Each year I just find more reasons to dig their service. Here a few little stories that describe why.

Bob Egan and the digital download

Geek tale: Bob Egan is an indie musician and member of Canadian band, Blue Rodeo. I've been maintaining his site for a number of years now. When he released his last album, "The Glorious Decline", one of the tracks was to be featured on a major publication and they wanted to offer a download link to his server. So many, many people might be downloading a track from his site.

This was a very good thing, but also a problematic thing since it would demand much from his site on the technical side. A small site on a low level account at Pair, that kind of sudden high demand to download a music file, could have been a potential server crash.

But I contacted Pair support, told them of the situation, and they solved it by moving Bob's site temporarily to a "high volume" account which could handle the demand. They did this very quickly AT NO CHARGE.

English translation: Pair saved my client money.

Tuff Gong Books and the Bob Marley Facebook Page

Geek tale:Tuff Gong Books recently started a contest to win a free book. They promoted this on Bob Marley's Facebook page.

Tuff Gong Books is on a "virtual private server" at Pair.

But a post on Bob Marley's Facebook sends a massive rush of traffic in a very short time - a massive server killing influx.

Through 2 lengthy calls to Pair support technicians, they assisted me in creating the most efficient pages and scripts to get done what needed to be done to handle such a high volume in such a short time. Their advice turned a potential server crash into a successful campaign.

English translation: Pair saved my client money.

Steve Wynn and the CD Store

Geek tale: Musician Steve Wynn has a lot of CDs. To make all of his catalog available to fans takes up a lot of space. He was near his max space allotment on his current account. Going up to the next level offered a lot more services than he needed. So a call to Pair. I explained the situation of just needing more space and asked if that was an option. Pair doubled his limit AT NO CHARGE.

English translation: Pair saved my client money.

It's common.

I've been with Pair a long time, I've brought in quite a few accounts for them. But every time I call, I'm just another customer. This is just the level of service they offer. Pair Mailing Lists, Pairnic, Pair Sales, Pair Support -- I've called and written all of them many, many times over the years, and have always found their response quick and more importantly, direct and relevant.

•  1.25.10
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The key to Social Networks is the Unsocial

The more popular the social network, the more it depends on technology - blind, cold, insensitive, unsocial - lines of code.

Occasionally, the silent underpinnings of endless happy social buzz, can get a wrench thrown into it. There are many, many ways this can happen - some are glitches, some are intentional, some are reactive.

Google is a prime example of this. Most folks use some element of the massive google machine all the time and have no problems. Yet, every now and then, something goes awry either in the case of an "gmail down" moment, or an individual awakes one day with no more gmail account.

The key thing to note here, is that we are all at the mercy of the labyrinth underbelly of google which churns out all that fun stuff we enjoy and take for granted daily -- I'd go into more details, but my human sister always scolds me for even uttering the word "algorithm" in polite company.

The point is, if this happens, and your social world suddenly falls silent: chill. Chances are it is a technical glitch, and soon your digital world will be righted.

But it's also a good idea to know this happens, and don't put all your digital eggs in one basket. With all the services and web toys available out there now, it is very easy to expect them always to be. They may, the may not. Not long ago Yahoo was digital king.

Blanket and backup.

Try not to rely too much on one service. If you want to share music or a video, add it to a few sites. If one goes down, you've still got somewhere else to tap into. And definitely don't trust any one site or any one person with your content. Always keep a copy under your mattress.

•  1.11.10
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