Well I’m not sure if it’s actually a firesale, however RIM (makers of the BlackBerry PlayBook) has knocked off HUGE money off of their PlayBook line.

In Canada you can pick-up a 16gb PlayBook for $199.99 (regular $499.99), a 32gb for $299.99 (regular $599.00) or a 64gb for $399.99 (regular $699.99).

The original prices are too inflated.  I think at this price, they will move a huge number of devices.

I was thinking of getting a 7″ Acer Iconia A100 for $299.00 (only 8gb) but the PlayBook is a better deal and it has WiFi or I could plunk the same amount into a 32gb PlayBook.

What to do?  What would YOU do?

Here is a pre-defined Google search for BlackBerry PlayBook for your convenience.

Are you passionate about what you do?  Do you enjoy what you do?  Or are you there simply to collect a pay cheque and be content with coasting.

New flash – managers can tell when employees are coasting, and generally they (coasters) don’t get new assignments, opportunities for promotions or anything else that may pique their interest at work.  Once someone has decided that they are content with coasting, generally there is going to be very little that a manager is going to be able to do – and eventually they will coast themselves out of the job either on their own (by quitting) or by getting themselves fired.

While many will roll their eyes at anyone who is passionate about their career, there are those that truly are.  Not sure what percentage of people that may be, but I’m happy to say that I am one of those.

I love my work.  I love what I do.  I’ve always enjoyed what I do.

My career started out in Accounting.  OK, I hated accounting – it really wasn’t my cup of tea.

But everything I’ve done after that, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed!  My next career switch was to go back into IT and specifically Software Development.  I loved it.  I still love it, but can’t imagine myself spending 10+ hours in front of a monitor anymore.  I still remember thinking to myself “They actually pay me to do something I love” when I started my first career related job at Saville Systems (later ADC Telecommunications, and since has gone through several hands…) as a Software Developer/Analyst.

My passion ensured that I moved onto more interesting projects, had the opportunity to travel to Mexico and Japan and work towards a Project Manager position.

Even with what I do today – manage a small Customer Support center, I still love what I do.  Every call can be a challenge, dealing with people can be daunting – but at the end of the day when you know you’ve helped someone resolve an issue no matter how big (or small) it is there is a certain satisfaction you gain.  I also love the challenge of managing people, and developing processes that ultimately decide how good (or bad) my department will function.

I am passionate about what I do because I don’t always want to direct the group, eventually I want to move up to VP in Customer Operations or Operations.  In fact when polled about what drives them, most employees said:

• Greater opportunity for advancement – 27%
• Better management team – 21%
• More flexible work environment – 21%
• Better compensation – 17%
• Less work pressure – 14%

Source: http://www.theworkbuzz.com/employment/employees-want-advancement-opportunities-more-than-better-compensation/

Having worked in IT I would say that the list will be a little different, with one of the top items being the ability to take on more technically challenging opportunities.  In fact when I was in IT, advancement opportunities were secondary to taking on more challenging development roles.

What drives you?  Anything from this list, or something else?

image source: http://www.ideachampions.com/weblogs/archives/2011/03/_one_of_the_mos.shtml

Wanted – CLOUD STORAGE, willing to pay $0.00

Yup.  I know I’m dreaming, there will always be a cost associated with cloud storage.  Many services out there will give you between 1gb and 5gb free.  Google will give you 25gb with Google Apps for free but come on, the days of measuring storage in the GB are done.

I was speaking with someone the other day and the topic came around to storage, and media.  He told me that he has 12tb (yes TERABYTES) of documentaries stored on a home server all connected to every TV in his house.  Many friends that I have are doing the same, perhaps not on as grand a scale, but have successfully networked their home so that they can pull TV shows, movies and music from anywhere in their house and in some cases when they are outside of their house as well.

For power users in the home measuring storage in TB is the new normal.  But what about for devices such as iPad, iPhone, Android phones and tablets, or even Windows powered phones and tablets?

iOS devices don’t allow for any additional memory other than what you purchase — and trust me 16gb is not enough (I’ve since learned with respect to my iPad).  For Android and Windows powered devices you have more options in way of micro SD cards – however the largest I’ve seen is 32gb and for the prolific picture or movie taker (on your portable device) this is still not enough.

What is the solution?  Cloud storage.

Who is out there, what will you get and what will it cost for more?  I did a bit of research to see what’s being offered and at what cost.

I found several companies offering the type of service that I wanted: Apple, Amazon, Dropbox, SugarSync, ZumoDrive, MemoPal, and Box.

All offered between 1gb and 5gb of free storage and then plans if you needed more. Companies like Apple and Amazon will allow you to store products purchased from their services without any limit, so you could have several hunderd GB of music stored on Apple or Amazon and it won’t cut into your free space.

Most offered an iOS app or Android front-end. There were some that also offered Windows and BB applications as well, but I wasn’t interested in those.

I’ve not looked at any other platforms other than mobile, as the intention is to look at mobile solutions I’ve also not considered pure storage type of services (for backup purposes only) as my needs are primarily to be able to store photos and HD video to an online service that I can access through an Android or iOS app over several devices.

While all these services did offer something for free, I really wanted TRUE unlimited space and well, there isn’t anything out there — at least nothing I was able to find. So that’s when I started looking at GPL solutions that I could implement onto one of my own domains. The one I found most promoted and talked about was something called ownCloud.

Some of the information that follows is taken directly from ownCloud.org, I’ve added my own emphasis in certain places to stress things that were important to me:

ownCloud started with a keynote by Frank Karlitschek at Camp KDE’10 where he talked about the need of a self-controlled free and open source cloud. It is part of KDE’s, a project connecting you with your peers in the community. The Social Desktop aims to bring the power of online communities and group collaboration to desktop applications. What’s more, the Social Desktop integrates sharing and exchanging knowledge into your apps.

They don’t currently have a version of the client for Android, but one is in the works – you can find a beta version at http://gitorious.org/owncloud/android. However there is a WebDAV client available for Android, iOS and BB available at http://seanashton.net/webdav/.

I have only started to work with ownCloud and hope to get some time to install it in the next few weeks on one of my domains. Once I’ve had a chance to install it, use it on my iOS and Android devices I will provide an update.

Setting up ownCloud will require some technical skills, it’s not as easy as installing WordPress - however if you’re inclined to try it yourself you can learn more about ownCloud by visiting their site at http://www.ownCloud.org.  To learn more about what ownCloud can to today visit http://owncloudtest.blogspot.com/2011/06/what-you-can-do-with-owncoud-today.html.  Development is ongoing, here is the latest post of recent enhancements and additions to the application http://owncloudtest.blogspot.com/2011/08/new-in-owncloud-overview.html.

A whole bunch of goodness has been added to ownCloud – check the blog post http://owncloudtest.blogspot.com/2011/08/new-in-owncloud-overview.html for more details:

• Contact syncing
• Tomahwak media player
• Bookmarks
• Sharing
• Interface improvements

I’m really looking forward to installing ownCloud and working with it on my Andriod and iOS devices.

If you’ve installed ownCloud and are working with it, I’d love to hear from you – what challenges did you have when setting this up?  Is it meeting your expectations?  What should someone be aware of when installing ownCloud?

Most people that read this blog are not yet ready to retire – but what are you doing for your retirement?  Are you counting on your employer (not even government employees can count on their employer any longer – even employees in large [automotive/finance - insert industry here] corporations learned the hardway that everything is fair game when you’re having to restructure.

Are you counting on the government to help?  In Canada there are many safety nets, but it’s often a difficult landscape to manouver and there is a lot of paperwork to sift through.

An interesting article on CNN today from a US based perspective on Social Security – have a read at http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/20/opinion/granderson-social-security/index.html?&hpt=hp_c2

What are YOUR retirement plans?  Who are you counting on?  Wife, kids, government, LOTTERY – don’t laugh, many are.  Love to hear your thoughts.

A week or two ago, as I was channel surfing I watched an excellent program on TV called “A World Without Oil” – it was pretty scary but a very realistic view of how the world would change if there were no more oil.

Part of the show that struck me the most was how city living would be altered, and migrations.

I remember through high-school Social Studies classes we learned about how when the first trains started rolling in the US and Canada most towns started to spring up around them as this was the main commerce routes.  As technology advanced (and we didn’t like living near noisy trains) and other means of moving people and goods became available we moved away the tracks and built cities farther away.  On the program as the oil dried up and was reserved for moving goods (in particular food) people started moving back towards the primary routes of commerce (and food) which were — trains.

The second thing that struck me was the mass migrations of people from northern climates to warmer areas of the continent.  This brings back memories of studying how the “cavemen” migrated from one part of the continent to another to escape the cold.

In a world without oil, everyday life would be greatly affected, from food production to space industries to being able to keep a satellite in space or even replacing aging satellites.  Think of international travel – it would come to an end.

If you haven’t seen this show, you should visit National Geographic at http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/aftermath/4462/Overview.  I would highly recomment you watch the program if you get the opportunity.  It is really an eye opener.

There are several shows in their Aftermath series:

• Population Zero
• Swallowed By The Sun
• World Without Oil
• Population Overload
• When The Earth Stops Spinning

Click on the EPISODES drop-down to see all the episodes in this series.  I’ve seen Population Zero and it’s great!

HP triggered a firesale on their HP TouchPad (webOS) this past weekend.  If you were lucky, you scored a 16gb HP TouchPad for only $99 or a 32gb for $149.00.

Yes, they just released this only a few months ago.

Yes, quite a few purchased at the FULL retail price and are pretty pissed off now.

Yes, it is running WebOS and there are not a lot of apps out there for it – but there is a group of hardware/software hackers that are trying to get Android running on the HP TouchPad.  If they succeed, they will breathe new life into a “failed” product.

• http://rootzwiki.com/showthread.php?t=3327
• http://techcrunch.com/2011/08/24/hp-touchpad-android-port-bounty-now-over-2000/
• http://hacknmod.com/hack/hp-touchpad-android-1500-prize/
• http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1079

Interested in getting one?  Try Ebay or Craigslist where you can score a HP TouchPad for 300% or more over the selling price.  Yah, that’s crazy especially in light of the fact that HP probably has hundreds of thousands of units sitting in their warehouse and will release more — but will they be released at the current fire sale prices?  Who knows…  If you want one, head over to the HP website and register your name to be notified when more are available for sale.

I’ve signed up.  I want 5 – not for reselling, but for family overseas that want a (much) cheaper alternative to an iPad or many of the other Android tablets out there.  For most it will be web surfing, and e-mail so this is ideal.

Millions of children around the world live in poverty.

In recent years, the Middle East has seen its share of “breaking news” from the fall of Saddam to the destruction of lives in Afghanistan due to the actions of a few groups that fight in the name of religion.

Unfortunately all of this has hurt the most vulnerable in any society – children.

A study by the University of Arizona in 2004, indicated that 14-15 per cent of US edible food is untouched or unopened, amounting to $43 billion worth of discarded, but edible, food (“US wastes half its food”).

Another survey, by the Cornell University Food and Brand Lab, found that 93 percent of respondents acknowledged buying foods they never used (From Farm to Fridge to Garbage Can).

That is a lot of waste.

I’ve got to admit, that as a family we tend to waste and buy more than is necessary.  Just think of how much you would save if you only bought what you really needed for that week or only cooked what you needed for a few days?

There is an excellent post on the David Suzuki Foundation website that talks to these figures for Canadians.  One of the items suggest that we throw away about $600.00 worth of food per year!

As a family we support several worthwhile organizations, locally and internationally.  One organization that we were introduced to several years ago is Child Aid International.  CAI is a NGO registered in Iraq that helps feed children.

From their website:

Child Aid International is a registered NGO in Iraq (NGO #2K70812)

Child Aid International is a not-for-profit organization that respects and champions the rights of all orphan children – regardless of race, ethnicity, gender or faith.

The war in Iraq has devastated thousands of lives – families have been destroyed, homes have been lost, and countless children have been orphaned. There is a serious orphan crisis in the country without thousands of recently orphaned children in dire need of aid.

Founded in 2004, Child Aid International seeks to help rebuild the lives of these orphan children.

The organization has developed its Orphan Child Sponsorship Program through which it provides donors with the opportunity to help transform the life of an orphan child in Iraq. Sponsorship covers the healthcare, food, clothing and education cost for a child.  Child Aid International currently sponsors over 400 orphan children in Iraq.

Child Aid International is a registered NGO in Iraq, and a not-for-profit society registered in the province of British Columbia, Canada.

Whether you support CAI or any of the other organizations that help bring food to families or children, as individuals living in a land of plenty we should take a few moments to appreciate what we have and donate what we can (a little, when combined with many other small donations becomes a lot which goes a long way) to help improve the lives of others.

You don’t need millions or billions to be a philanthropist – every dollar you give in causes you believe in and support is all you need.

I have mentioned several times that I am a workaholic, and I know many others that are.  However what you may not know that being a workaholic isn’t something necessarily to be proud of.  You see it could be construed several ways.

Workaholic = Lazy, Inefficient, Lacking Time Management Skills

You’re a workaholic because you lack the time management skills to get your job done in the course of 8 or 9 hours; as a result you’re there all hours of the day always playing catch-up.

Workaholic = You’ve taken on TOO MUCH work from others!

You are a workaholic because you have taken on too much work from other people or departments.  You’re a “yes” man (or woman).  This isn’t good either, because you have to learn to say “NO” and focus on ensuring you, and your department/team is the best it can be.  How can you build a solid team if you’re busy helping everyone else build a solid team?  Answer = YOU CAN’T.

Where do you fall in these two examples?

If you are a workaholic, but can prove to those around you that the work and effort you are putting in are delivering results – then you can probably be forgiven for working crazy hours.  However if you’re not getting results then you are probably just wasting your time, ruining your health and slowly destroying your relationships with friends, and family.

Over the years I’ve worked crazy hours, but I like to think that my results speak for themselves.

Click on the link to be taken to the source of the image.

OK – this is getting ridiculous.  I am a LION (LinkedIn Open Networker) wich means that I will not IDK (I Don’t Know) individuals that want to connect with me.  So over the last few weeks I’ve noticed a significant increase in connection requests and naturally being a LION I have said “yes”.

The odd thing is that most of the request are from “internet marketers” and today I found out that most of these “internet marketers” are actually SPAMMERS.

I was spammed by three people from LinkedIn.

I reported all three to LinkedIn.  I also reported them to their hosting provider, and all three had their accounts terminated.

Was I being a jerk?  Probably as I normally just ignore them.  But what pissed me off was the fact that when I accepted the connection with these individuals, it was done so that we could connect professionally – it was NOT to give them the OK to spam me.

There must be some internet marketing guru out there urging people to SPAM their LinkedIn connections.  What the guru didn’t think about was the fact that most people on LinkedIn DON’T take kindly to SPAM and will report those that do.

LinkedIn is a great resource for professionals and those making their way up the ladder.  It’s just a shame that the IM crowd thinks that simply accepting a connection is the same as giving the OK to SPAM.  It’s not, and I seriously hope that LinkedIn will take a hard look at this.

They are going IPO and the last thing you want is to be a safe haven for spammers.

Today with Facebook, Twitter, WordPress Blogs, LinkedIn and a host of other social media out there the lowly professional business card is becoming lost in the shuffle.  But they are still used – but now you need to think about custom business cards.  The industry that my company is in, sales executives frequently attend trade shows where the business card is still used to establish contact with suppliers, vendors and potential clients.

But business cards do not need to be old, and boring.

The new generation of business cards are anything but boring (tip: DO NOT make your own business cards – they look cheesy).  Think about these potential styles of business cards:

• Plastic and transparent business cards (http://www.alltimeprint.com/pvc_clear.php)
• Cards that have magnetic strips on them
• Die cut cards (http://www.psprint.com/die-cut-cards)
• Cards with embossed numbers or lettering
• Cards with rounded corners (looks very classy)
• Mini cards (http://us.moo.com/products/minicards.html)
• For the environment conscious, recycled business cards (well, printed on recycled stock):
  • http://www.rebinder.com/business-card-recycled-cards
  • http://www.enmassemedia.com/

If you want to stick to the traditional business card, you should do something to set them apart from the dozens of other cards that may be competing for business.

Items like gold/silver foil set your card apart – but welcome the card (and the potential client) to the digital age and do more with your card than you thought possible.  Most business card printers now make use of both sides of the card and use multiple colors – why not?   You need to stand out from the crowd.

Now some of these cards are not for everyone – but they are stunning and shows you how you can create business cards that show off you, and your organization.  Design and order business cards that set you apart.

These are only two designs, but if you search Google for unique business cards you’ll find links to dozens of site that show you the endless possibilities out there.

When you are ready to take the plunge and order something unique here are a few sites you can visit:

• http://us.moo.com/
• UK based – http://www.plasmadesign.co.uk/default.htm
• http://www.morningprint.com/index.php

These are only a few of the hundreds of sites that I found, but picked these (just because).  If you do something unique and want to be listed in the post, simply comment with some details about your business along with the URL.

If you opt for a plain-jane regular business card then consider adding some of these items to your card to personalize it:

• QR Codes that when scanned by a smartphone with the right software, directs the individual to your website
• Your website URL should be on the card – what, no website?  We’ll help you fix that – soon
• Your e-mail address, please NO Yahoo/GMail, HotMail or any other generic addresses
• Phone number – cell numbers are better
• Something about what you do – don’t get wordy, you want to entice the recipient to visit your site