Posted by Chuck on 13th February 2006
If you are interested in Mac productivity, odds are that you are a mobile Mac owner of some kind. You probably took a long time selecting your iBook, PowerBook 12″, 15″ or 17″, or perhaps you are anxiously awaiting the arrival of a new MacBook Pro. But were you as thoughtful in selecting how you transport one of the big guns in your Weapons of Mac Production (WoMP) arsenal?
Choosing a bag may not seem interesting or even important until you realize that you’ll be using this product each and every day, relying on it to transport and protect the substantial investment you’ve made in that slab of silicon, plastic, titanium or aluminum. You also have a substantial investment in the files on that computer - commercial software, shareware, your all-important personal productivity environment and the even more-important data files, and that doesn’t count the extra equipment you need to achieve maximum productivity on the road. Are you going to place all that value in something with no more thought than you give to, “paper or plastic?” And lug it through airports, in and out of taxi’s, and from Board room to locker room without thinking about how it will work for you?
Here are some tips, things to consider and features to look for to make your bag an asset and not an afterthought.
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Posted by Chuck on 10th February 2006
So it can’t happen to you, eh? Well, it happened to me. Once last Fall, and again just last week.
In October, my trusty Ti of a few years started making strange noises. Within a day (a day!) the hard drive sounded like a blender full of bolts set on frappé, and was quickly reduced to a rather noisy paperweight.
Last week, after performing like a champ since it was purchased, my PowerBook refused to boot. I mean really refused to boot. No warning, no strange sounds, no nothing. Just that dreaded blinking question mark taunting me. In spite of a strict regular maintenance schedule, it gave up the ghost overnight.
Strangely, I couldn’t start from an external drive or even the Mac OS CD. Booting into Target Disk Mode finally gave me access to the PowerBook’s drive from my tower, and a trip to Disk Utility revealed a message that you hope to see only in reference to someone else’s machine:
Note the S.M.A.R.T. status message, in red letters no less: Failing.
When your hard drive admits to you, in red, that it is failing, it is time for a new hard drive.
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Posted by Chuck on 8th February 2006
More time has passed than I intended for the next in my blog postings on effective backups. Two factors contributed to this, both for the better.
First, Tiger arrived and necessitated some changes in backup software selection. Second, the first, second and third parts of Why & How to Back Up Your System The MUG Center Way drew lots of interest, emails, recommendations, shared backup strategies and more that a number of them had to be investigated before going on.
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Posted by Chuck on 8th February 2006
The presentation materials from the “Productivity For The Mobile Mac User” session on the Taste of the Conference Stage at Macworld Expo San Francisco 2006 are now online and available for download.
The session, presented by MacProductivity Editor Chuck Joiner, was described in the Expo show guide:
| With wireless connectivity everywhere and laptops reaching parity with their desktop counterparts, more and more users are opting for portable Macs and working from wherever they happen to be, whenever they happen to be there. An experienced mobile professional will deliver information on what hardware, software, services and techniques are essential for Road Warriors of all levels, how to make the choices, and how to do your best work no matter where you are.
|
Included are a PDF and movie of the presentation slides as well as links to products and services discussed in the presentation.
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Posted by Chuck on 8th February 2006
If your focus is on production there are few things more frustrating than having to backtrack and re-do work that you already completed.
Worse is when double jeopardy strikes and the tools you use let you down. Not only do you lose work already completed, you also lose production time while you reassemble the collection of software, settings and preferences that let you get things done. That’s why an effective backup strategy is critical to maintaining productivity.
At the same time, you don’t want to be a slave to your backups.
In a series of four articles originally published on The MUG Center blog, we take a look at the issue of backups.
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Posted by Chuck on 8th February 2006
The first and second parts of Why & How to Back Up Your System The MUG Center Way, talked provided some thoughts on why you need to backup your Mac, how to quantify the potential value of those backups, in both time and money, determine your goals for your backup strategy, and discussed some recommendations for hardware and software to effectively implement that strategy.
This time, I want to share my personal strategy, not as the perfect solution, but as the one that works for me, and hopefully will give you some ideas on developing your own.
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Posted by Chuck on 8th February 2006
In the first installment of Why & How to Back Up Your System The MUG Center Way, I told you about some of my recent unpleasant experiences with hard drive failure and explained how my backup strategy saved me from any lost data. I also covered some critical success factors to consider when devising your own strategy, as well as gave you a way to quantify the potential costs of not backing up.
In this entry, we’ll discuss my goals for my backups, the equipment (hardware and software) I use and why you may want to consider my choices or something similar.
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Posted by Chuck on 8th February 2006
Welcome to the new web site that will help you get more out of your Mac. Our name is our focus: Mac Productivity. If your Mac is central to what you do for business or pleasure, then we’ll show you how to do it better and faster.
There’s a story that management guru Tom Peters used to tell in his seminars about the new dean of a university who wanted to improve the efficiency of his institution. After touring the campus and sitting in on a variety of classes, he determined that the first, best way he could improve things was to have chalk available at the start of each class. (Yes, chalk. It’s an old story.) Doing so would increase the actual teaching time dramatically.
The point is that productivity and efficiency improvements often come in small, simple steps. Our focus will be the Weapons of Mac Production (WoMP), the hardware, software, services and techniques that can help you get the job done. Some are simple…but then, so is having a classroom ready for the teacher.
You will also find occasional articles that have nothing to do with your Mac but everything to do with productivity. The goal is to get the job done using the best options available and to help you be more efficient and productive.
You are invited to share your own productivity tips as well. A good idea can come from anywhere and should be shared.
Welcome to MacProductivity!
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