Working Hard Is not Enough. Here's 18 Ways to Work Smart

All of us work hard in life – there is no doubt about it. We work hard in our jobs so we can excel at work. We work hard to maintain our relationships. We work hard so we can achieve the best results in our life.

After working hard for an extended period of time, there comes a point when we realize that there’s only so much we can do by working hard. Don’t get me wrong – working hard is important. I’m a firm advocate of hard work – I can be quite the workaholic. I can go on working non-stop to get something done. Hard work is definitely the brick of success. [read]

Backup your hard drive or else. . .

Backup is a MUST today. So much of our lives are stored on our computers’ hard-drives: documents, emails, photos, videos, work, etc. The reality is that hard-drives fail and if you think it won’t happen to you, think again.

A number of years ago I had a hard-drive fail and lost nearly everything. I swore that wouldn’t happen ever again. So, like many of you, I have an external drive where I back-up those irreplaceable files. Here’s the problem – many don’t do regular back-ups and the hard-drive sits right next to your computer. If you don’t backup regularly and your main drive fails, you lost everything since your last backup. And, Lord forbid that anything happens to your home or business, like theft or fire, because then you just lost everything, including the backup.

Here’s an easy solution and it’s known as the “3 -2 -1 Backup Strategy”.

3 Backup copies
2 Different storage media
1 Offsite storage site

3 Backup copies – greatly improves your chances of recovery.
2 Different Storage Media – means CD/DVD and/or Disk and/or Tape Online Backup and/or Online Backup.
1 Offsite storage site – Relative or friends home, bank deposit box or best option is Online Backup Service.

There are lots of online backup solutions. Some offer initial free space, such as Mozy and DropBox and then you can pay for additional space. Popular paid solutions include JungleDisk and Carbonite.

I like and use DropBox while working on a clients project. After the project is done, I transfer the files to a more permanent space, freeing up my 2 gigs of free space.

JungleDisk is inexpensive, at least at the surface. It’s somewhat complicated in that you pay so much per gigabyte of storage and another fee to upload and download that information. You have to do the math and see if it’s the most cost effective solution for you.

Carbonite is much more user friendly. But, while considering their service again (I had a previously bad experience with them) I had what seemed like an “EASY” question for them. (Below is the transcript). I signed up for their 15-day trial and I’ll see if there service is better than their customer service reps. I would advice the manager to teach their people to READ. Stay tuned.

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Carb Rep.: Hi, my name is Carb Rep.. How may I help you?
Carb Rep.: Joe, how are you doing today?
Joe: Good – I have 4 internal drives on my mac.  Using the non-pro version, will I be able to backup all 4 drives.  If not, does Carbonite determine which drive gets backed up?
Carb Rep.: So that i may better assist you, i want to know that is all your drives are internal?
Carb Rep.: As Carbonite does not back up your external hard drives.
Joe: All 4 are internal
Carb Rep.: Alright, please allow me a quick moment.
Carb Rep.: May i know which operating system you are using.
Joe: Leopard OS 10.5.8
Carb Rep.: Please allow me a quick moment.
Carb Rep.: Are all your hard drives internally placed in your MAC.
Joe: Yes they are all inside the computer, all internal.
Carb Rep.: If you wish i will take access of your computer and fix your issue. Is that ok?
Joe: What?  Before I sign-up I want to know if, I have 4 internal drives (on my Mac), will I be able to back-up all 4 drives using the non-pro version?
Carb Rep.: Yes you will be able to back them up if they all are internal and placed inside your MAC.
Joe: Thank you

World's Largest Vuvuzela Blows a Mighty BZZZZZZZ

This is the world’s largest vuvuzela. While it may look like a fun prop, it’s actually—terrifyingly—fully functional. And if you thought a stadium full of these was annoying, just listen to what gigantor here can do:  (poor people who live in the apartments at the receiving end of this beast).

The 114-foot-long was erected by Hyundai in Cape Town, and is blown at the start of every World Cup game. Presumably by the South African equivalent of Paul Bunyan. [Gizmodo, Buzzfeed, Chris Rawlinson]

Business School Swaps Google Apps for Microsoft Live@Edu

IDG News Service — A French business school plans to trade Google Apps, used by around half its staff and students, for Microsoft’s rival Live@edu service.

Skema Business School’s 6,250 students, 500 administrative staff and 128 teaching staff will have access to Microsoft’s Live@edu hosted e-mail service, which includes calendar and contact management, instant messaging, video conferencing and 10GB of storage space, the school announced Wednesday. [read]

Hulu's Paid Subscription Service Inches Toward Reality

Video streaming site Hulu has been home to free clips and television episodes for nearly two years, but it’s been working on implementing a paid subscription service for a while. According to previous reports, the proposed changes won’t completely eliminate free content from the site; the five most recent episodes of shows will remain free, but users will have to pay around $9.95 per month for other episodes and seasons.

Bloomberg reports that Hulu is in talks with CBS Corp., Viacom Inc. and Time Warner Inc. to add television shows to the website’s paid subscription service to attract more customers, according to unnamed sources involved in the talks. The website would have to renew rights to many programs by the end of the year anyway. [read]

iPhone 4 Loses Reception When You Hold It By The Antenna Band?

This is a reader video found on Macrumors forums illustrating something weird. When the guy holds the iPhone in his hands, touching the outside antenna band in two places, he drops reception. Placing the phone down gets him 4 bars.

We’re not sure if he’s doing something particularly weird, like holding the metal antenna in such a way that it’s shorting out. But it is strange. Or, it could be just a bug in the software, showing no bars and no reception even when you do have reception. But, he does hold the phone with the glass, and it doesn’t have this reception issue. [read]

How to Get the Best Results from Ultra-Wide Lenses [photography]

These days, most kit lenses on consumer DSLRs are wide-angle. 18mm on an APS-C sensor camera (or 27mm in old 35mm speak) is wide enough for most occasions. Ultra-wide angle lenses are those that are shorter than 16mm in focal length. It is here that we’ll strike new creative possibilities and new obstacles.

On cropped sensor lenses, a 30-35mm focal length provides what we call a ‘normal’ Field of View, which is roughly equivalent to what the human eye takes in. At 18mm, the Field of View is almost twice as wide and you can cram lots of things into the frame. At 12mm, you get 50% more FOV again, and now we’re a long way from ‘normal’ – you amost have to turn your head to take in all the detail. [read]

26% of iPhones Break Within 2 Years [REPORT]

According to SquareTrade, the warranty provider for the iPhone and other electronic devices, 25.6% of iPhone owners experienced a failure in the first two years of use.

It sounds like a lot, but it’s actually below the industry average. Even more importantly, the iPhone is improving in this regard; the expected failure rate over two years was 33% one year ago, when SquareTrade only examined the iPhone and the iPhone 3G.

Finally, most of the failures (18.1%) result from accidental damage, while only 7.5% are a result of a hardware malfunction. [read]

Now Apple's really "for the rest of us"

No longer supported only by die-hards, the company is all about the mass audience

When it was released in 1984, the tagline for Macintosh was, “The computer for the rest of us.” With fairly limited (but unique) capabilities and a relatively high price, it wasn’t quite clear who “the rest of us” really were. Given the Mac’s natural affinity for graphics and the fact that unlike other computers of that era, Macintosh did not ship with a programming language, the core audience that gravitated to the platform were artists and other creative types.

Alesis ProTrack Handheld Stereo Recorder for iPod [review]

Unlike mobile microphones such as Blue’s Mikey which take a simplified approach to capturing audio, the Alesis ProTrack goes in a more complex, but still portable, direction. The device itself is relatively large—about seven and one-half inches long, just under three inches wide, and not quite two inches deep. The ProTrack provides a sled, with dock connector, into which your iPhone or iPod is placed. The device records to the iPod classic, fifth-generation iPods, second- and third-generation iPod nanos, and the second-generation iPod touch. It also worked with the iPhone in my testing. [read]