Monthly Archive for June, 2010

Future Web Design sponsors Junior Achievement award

Published on June 16, 2010 in News. Closed

This year, I had the pleasure of sponsoring the Best Website award for Junior Achievement of Prince Edward Island.  Junior Achievement is one of my favorite organizations.  As a junior achiever myself (not that many years ago) and winner of the Best Website and IT Manager of the Year awards, it was wonderful to be able to sponsor and present the award this year.  There is nothing better than sitting in a room filled with future business leaders.

Junior Achievement allows young people to experience business first hand and risk free through their Company Program.  Junior achievers start and run their own business as part of this program.  Junior Achievement does not get enough credit for the great work they do in the run of a year.

(Rhyanne Beatty, Vice President of IT at BB4GG;
Nicholas MacLeod, Owner of Future Web Design;
Philip Reid, Company Program Manager)

The winner of this year’s Best Website award was Bath & Body 4 Gods & Goddesses (BB4GG).  Rhyanne Beatty (Vice President of Information Technology Services) with BB4GG did an excellent job of marketing their products and company online.  Their website can be found at http://bb4gg.web.officelive.com/default.aspx.

Congratulations and keep up the great work!

Review: Dropbox, GoogleDocs, and QuickOffice for iPhone

Published on June 8, 2010 in Review. Closed

Since my recent switch to the land of Apple and iPhone I have been on the hunt for great apps that will make my (mostly mobile) life a little easier.

One problem I have while on the go is documents. I am always in need of a price list, estimate, or template while I’m away from my desk. A friend of mine referred me to an application called QuickOffice. This application started as a service where you could email a document to a specific email address and have it transferred into the iPhone app where you could edit and send it back. While this seemed a little cumbersome for me, I investigated further and realized they had recently added new features.

The QuickOffice application now allows you to connect to Dropbox (famous for syncing files across many computers and mobile devices). I can now simply copy a file into my Dropbox on my desktop or laptop and it will sync up with both the Dropbox and QuickOffice apps on my iPhone. For people who need to use documents and spreadsheets on the go, this is a life saver.

What about GoogleDocs?

Another of my favorite web applications is GoogleDocs. I use GoogleDocs for mostly personal documents (I’m still a little shy of Google because I think they are going to take over the world). There is nothing of great importance in my personal documents so they can do with them what they wish. To my surprise… QuickOffice also allows me to access my GoogleDocs on the go as well. I have now mastered both personal and business documents in a single application.

At a price of $9.99 in the iTunes store, this app may seem a little pricey. I found that even though this application was expensive, I got my money’s worth the first time I was in a bind and needed a file.

Check it out for yourself. You won’t regret it!

My Digital Life…Unblended

Published on June 2, 2010 in Fun and Information. Closed

Have you ever seen the “Will it Blend?” commercials on YouTube that are created by BlendTec?  I find these commercials quite amusing.  Unfortunately these commercials are not so amusing when your digital life feels like the making of one.

Imaging a giant BlendTec blender… Throw in “my digital life”… Which consists of four desktop computers, five network laser printers, a laptop, a tablet PC, a NAS (Network Attached Storage), an iPhone (or BlackBerry depending on the day), and almost enough network gear to power NASA. To equate the number of files I have stored.. drizzle about six filing cabinets full of paper over the top like you would chocolate sauce.. Will it Blend?

I have found that, in fact, all this stuff will blend perfectly and make your digital life a living hell.

It surprises me how much influence my digital life has on my actual life. We think of technology as a tool that we use on a daily basis that has no more impact than the toaster sitting on your counter in the kitchen.  Would life continue normally without a toaster? Would it continue normally without a cell phone?  For some people the answer to both of these questions would be yes.  For me, I could live without the toaster but definitely not without the cell phone.

Back to the blender full of stuff… The reason my stuff is in a blender is because I neglected my digital life for a while and eventually it started to fall apart.  As you can imagine my “snarl” (definition: a complicated or confused condition or matter) of technology can be difficult to maintain on a good day.

I have spent the last month trying to “unblend” my life.  (NOTE: First step is to turn off the blender!) I can officially say to you today that my “snarl” is no longer blended (much like Chuck Norris in this commercial).

It has been a complex process to get everything working properly. My VPN is once again communicating to all the computers on my network, all the laser printers are working and are accessible from anywhere (not sure why but it’s cool), my files are somewhat contained to two file servers, and my iPhone seems to fit in just fine as “the new kid on the block”.

From this I have compiled a list of tips to keep your digital life out of the blender.

  1. Think of files as real paper. If you take it out, or create it, put it away when you’re done.  This may sound a little like your mom telling you to clean your room, but it will save lots of time. (NOTE: Your Desktop should be used for quick access for files for a short period of time, it should not be a dumping ground.
  2. Sync. Sync. Sync. There are some great tools out there to synchronize your files across computers, networks, or even to a USB flash drive.  SyncToy is one that I have like.
  3. Don’t neglect it or you’ll regret it! If part of your digital world becomes obsolete or stops working.. Fix it now to prevent problems later.  You’ll be surprised how interconnected technology is.
  4. Backup. Backup. Backup. It doesn’t have to be anything complex.  Even if you backup to a USB flash drive with the SyncToy software mentioned before. Do it!  Nothing will bug you more than losing files to a hard drive failure.
  5. Tidy up. Just like you would clean the garage or the closet, a couple times a year clean your digital world.  Archive old files, delete the files you don’t need, and sort some files into new folders.  It may also be time to get rid of things you saved but don’t know why (Bunny with Pancake)

For those of you that thought I fell off the face of the earth and have been looking for a post… I’m still alive!

On a company related note (since this is a company blog)… I am working on several new projects with summer launches.  Stay tuned.