I have 2 TB’s (that’s 2,000 GB’s) of External Hard Drive storage AND I have Virtual Off-Site Storage as well.

Why???? Well, I love overkill.

No, really it’s because even if  you have your files backed up on an external hard drive (which, at the very least you should) they could still be lost due to theft, fire, flood, or just plain old crashing. And losing all your stuff sucks – big time. My computer crashed a couple of years ago – nothing dramatic, I did a “Restart” because it was running slow and…..it never came back on! Luckily, I had all my applications, files, music and photos backed up on external hard drives, so I was safe. But it could have been awful. So don’t be in a position where you are cryin’ like a baby if all your data disappears! Get backed up – NOW!

Here’s a good article on WHY backing up is important and why you need to do it. I read it on Top Ten Reviews:

Superheroes need it, police rely on it and everyone that uses a computer should use some form of it. In the world of mainframes and microchips it’s called data backup or data recovery and it can mean the difference between a slight computer setback and living through your own electronic apocalypse.

Let’s face it; our computers are a bigger part of life than ever before. We shop, work and play using computers. They’ve replaced stereos, encyclopedias, even the mailman. They’ve become journals, photo albums and canvases for our art.

But computers aren’t perfect. Files become corrupt, motherboards malfunction, CPUs call it quits taking our precious data with them.

The best defense is data backup software. Backing up data is vital for businesses; lost information can cause a major crisis or worse, lead to business failure. Individuals who don’t backup computer data run the same risk. While this may not cause financial ruin, it can certainly be frustrating and even heartbreaking.

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Just saw this on Google News – from the NY Times – I knew most of them, but learned about a couple more. Thought it was good info to pass on!

1. Use the “site:” operator to limit searches to a particular site. I use this one all the time, and it’s particularly handy because many site’s built-in search tools don’t return the results you’re looking for (and some sites don’t even have a search feature). If I’m looking for WWD posts about GTD, for example, I could try this search: GTD site:webworkerdaily.com.

2. Use Google as a spelling aid. As Rob Hacker — the WWD reader I profiled last week — pointed out, entering a word into Google is a quick way to see if you have the right spelling. If it’s incorrect, Google will suggest the correct spelling instead. Additionally, if you want to get a definition of a word, you can use the “define:” operator to return definitions from various dictionaries (for example, define: parasympathetic).

3. Use Google as a calculator. Google has a built-in calculator — try entering a calculation like 110 * (654/8 + 3). Yes, your computer also has a calculator, but if you spend most of your day inside a browser, typing your calculation into the browser’s search box is quicker than firing up your calculator app.

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Lots of great video tutorials here:

http://wordpress.tv/category/how-to/

WordPress.tv is Your Visual Resource for All Things WordPress!

I met George Plumley when he was speaking at the Seattle WordPress Conference. I was impressed with his knowledge and when I heard he was writing a book on WordPress I knew it would be great.
And I was right!

The book is easy to understand and there is a companion CD with a video for each chapter. I’ll be giving this book to my clients as part of their “project package” and will be recommending it to everyone I know that works with WordPress

WordPress 24-Hour Trainer by George Plumley

Don’t let WordPress intimidate you. WordPress 24-Hour Trainer is a unique lesson-based book that walks you through the essential parts of WordPress. Each lesson is streamlined to teach a specific aspect of WordPress, helping you to focus on just what you need in order to get the task accomplished. If you learn better visually, this book provides you with a video to accompany each lesson.

When I got the opportunity to write a book about WordPress, I wanted to write something for the day to day users who need to quickly find an answer to common questions but at the same time be able to learn WordPress from the ground up, step by step.

Wiley’s 24-Hour Trainer series was a great vehicle for that kind of book, because they take a lesson-based approach combined with a DVD of video tutorials.

WordPress 24-Hour Trainer is a series of 38 lessons that go from installation to editing images to optimizing your site for search engines.  You can use it to start a website from scratch or to help you use a WordPress site that someone else built for you.

And when I say “website” I mean website.  This is not a book about blogging, it’s a book about WordPress as a content management system for all types of websites.

Buy it on Amazon

Visit George’s web site too – which has great video tutorials as well:
www.seehowtwo.com

“The country of my affection lies just to the east…
I walk in the desert seeking a semblance of peace and always get that primal recognition that less is more.”
Jim Witty

My friend Jim Witty’s book just came out!
Meet Me In The Badlands – Exploring Central Oregon with Jim Witty

If you are in Oregon – you gotta get it! If you are traveling to/through Oregon, you gotta get it! Basically, you gotta get it – get it? Tons of trails and wonderful stories to go along with.

It’s just beautiful and I am so proud of him and his amazing family and friends for getting it finished. Jim died suddenly last year and didn’t get a chance to complete the book he had started. Close to a year after he left this planet, his book came out – it’s quite an accomplishment for his friends and family.

Go here to get the book: http://jimwitty.com/

Here’s some more info about Jim from the book’s web site:

Jim Witty wrote the Outings column for The Bulletin in Bend Oregon. In his articles, he took you with him on the trails, lakes, rivers and mountains of central Oregon. Jim’s unique writing style won him many fans. He wrote like he was: friendly, outgoing, enthusiastic and humorous. No wonder his readers felt like they knew him, even though they never met him.

After Jim’s untimely death in 2008, family and friends took it upon themselves to finish a project he was working on for years… to publish a book of his articles. With the help of The Bulletin and countless volunteers, this dream is a reality.

Jim wrote, “The country of my affection lies to the east…”

Meet Me In The Badlands is titled to give tribute to Jim’s favorite area in central Oregon. His spirit lives on in the Badlands.

Jim Witty was a son, brother, husband, father, friend, writer, musician, singer, lover of rock n’ roll, but most of all, a free spirit and a loving soul.

This article is also on my FAQ page – but posting it here as a lot of people check out my blog for WordPress info.

WordPress.COM & WordPress.ORG

WordPress made its name as a blogging software. But WordPress has morphed into much more than that and along the way it has created some confusion as to what sort of features it offers and which WordPress is for the casual user and which WordPress  is for the web developer. Hopefully this article will help explain the differences between these two WordPress options.

With WordPress, you can just have a blog, or a web site, or, you have a WEB SITE with a BLOG on it, like my site does.

Since I don’t have all day to go into the difference betwixt a blog and a web site, go to these sites for further illumination if you desire:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_site

True fact: a blog IS a web site – as it is a site on the web, see? But a blog is usually set up so the owner can update the content themselves on a frequent basis.

Having a blog on your web site will help keep the content fresh – notice how I post new info on mine every week or so? And Search Engines like seeing fresh content and will give your web site higher placement if you keep your blog updated, which will make it easier to find you on the internet.

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Totally enjoyed the day at WordCamp Seattle. It was a good event, got to see the Adobe complex, and it was a brilliantly beautiful day as well.

There were some great speakers there, check out the list here and visit their sites:
http://www.wordcampseattle.com/speakers/

I especially liked these folks:

Chris Pirillo – and not just because he told us about the Bebot app for my iPhone!

Jane Wells - Jane works with the WordPress core development team, I liked her happy attitude and general joie de vivre – she loves her job and it shows.

Ian Lurie – good ideas on web page set up for better SEO

George Plumley – I really enjoyed  Georges talk on videos for your web site.
I especially like George’s site http://seehowtwo.com/
Its a FANTASTIC RESOURCE for WordPress Tutorials – absolutely check it out.

George is publishing a book that should be coming out in November, a guide for our CLIENTS on how to update just the basic features for their WP web site.

There are books out there – like WordPress for Dummies – but there is too much info in there for the casual user. So I am looking forward to this book as something I can give my clients when we finish their WordPress site. Sign up for his newsletter to get updated on the launch date.

Also, Mark McLaren has a lot of WP resources on his site :
http://www.mcbuzz.com/wordpress/

Scott Porad – Saw Scott at WordCamp San Francisco, he’s an engaging and thoughtful speaker. Lots of info and and insights on how his company tests out different web sites to see what flies and what doesn’t. Great for modeling.
http://icanhascheezburger.com/ and the other sites in the LOL umbrella attract millions of visitors and participants a day. They duin’ it rite!

Ignite:
Fast paced and great info – funny too!
Participants had 5 minutes to share a slide presentation (15 seconds per slide) about what they are doing with WordPress.

Next WordCamp? I’d love to go to one in Spain, or Brazil, or Australia…Thailand….

I recommend WordPress to a lot of people – the free blog site.

This is a pretty good step-by-step tutorial to get you up and running if you are unsure of how to get started. Go to wordpress.com and set up a blog while watching the video. This video is NOT put out by WordPress, just an avid user.

The guy, Chris Abraham, that does the video is kidding around when he acts like he doesn’t know what he’s doing! He’s a geekasaurious.

OR, Click HERE to watch it on YouTube

WordPress does recommend some tutorial books, http://wordpress.org/about/books/

I have WordPress for Dummies (doh!) and it’s quite good. More info than the casual user needs, but should cover everything for the novice and anyone interested in venturing into the .ORG side of WordPress.

Also, lynda.com has an on-line training library you can subscribe to – but that might be an overkill commitment for the casual user. However, if you are web inclined and want to learn about WordPress and other programs, it’s a great resource for a few bucks a month.