NateCreates.com

Blogcatalog has let me down.

My little network of friends and neighborhoods disappeared.

My avatar evaporated (ok that’s probably not a bad thing - especially since I’m not really smiling right now).

Information that I’d spent the last week building, adding to and watching grow - just swept away.

Ok, if you’re a Blogcatalog user you’re probably experiencing the exact same let down. If you’re not a Blogcatalog user, you still likely use Gmail, Google Apps, MySpace, Linkedin, or one of the many other virtual apps for working, connecting and socializing.

So this event made me think - how do I backup my information that’s hosted on these free spaces. What happens when your entire network disappears. (For some, this is a significant chunk of their life). Thank-goodness for the real word because you could find yourself literally friendless in seconds on the web.

It seems there should be a way to backup your data on these sites, some XML file that gives you a bit of insurance that you’re not going to be going back to the same sites and authors you happened across before and thinking…haven’t we met before??

P.S. I guess one positive - it gives you an opportunity to reinvent yourself.

An article in the Wall Street Journal, titled Outsource Your Life (June 2, 2007), brings home (quite literally) the concept of outsourcing. Of the seven outsourced examples from the story, only tutoring didn’t involve some sort of design.  

Yes. It’s a tough pill to swallow…or is it? Where there’s a threat, isn’t there opportunity? While I contemplated ways to integrate outsourcing into my own design workflow (who wouldn’t like to be able to take on more work, be priced more competitive and not work nearly as hard), I suddenly realized what this meant for all of us designers out there who, in addition to our day jobs, and side jobs, get these other job requests. Suddenly outsourcing sounded good.

These other job requests typically come from a relative wanting a logo for their business idea (not yet launched), and they only have $50. Or a mechanic your mother knows, also sells car parts, and wants to get a web site up. Oh and they have an idea, just needs someone with skills, and it shouldn’t take but two hours (since they know web design). “Say, does $150 sound good?” (more…)

For anyone preparing to travel with electronics, the first thing to get is a converter. And the more paraphernalia involved with establishing your new electronic base when you arrive at your overseas destination, the more secure you feel in your ability handle any current regardless of the wattage.

There’s always a sense of dread when you plug in for the first time - especially when you’re not an electrician and you have $1500 in electronics at the end of the plug. But I was feeling pretty confident with my notebook plugged in, and the AC light engaged.

Then the smell of burning plastic.

I recalled a similar smell in Eastern Europe last year. It never amounted to much then so I chose to ignore it this time. But after five minutes and the melting plastic smell only getting worse, not to mention the fact that the converter was hot-to-touch, I figured I should probably take a closer look. I was also vaguely aware that my wife would soon appear from the bathroom, and be wondering what THAT smell was.

Pulling the converter from the plug revealed a steady stream of smoke. Later, a Google search revealed this was probably not a good thing (read “Stay Safe” courtesy of wikitravel.org ).

While I’m out an expensive converter, what knowledge this experience did impart, was that I didn’t need the converter in the first place. Luckily I had a enough juice left to do a few searches, and learned that the the AC adapter already acts as a converter of sorts, and as long as the “brick” indicates the correct range (120-240V) you should be safe.

Save the converter for the hair dryer.

A Tourist’s Quest for Universal Postures

Nothing screams tourist like two people animated over a discordant five-fold city map on a busy street corner. It’s a scene as common in Portland (where I’m the one who gets to laugh), as in Budapest (where unfortunately, I’m not laughing). To avoid this scene, every pre-trip planning session has involved some thought on ways to reduce this scenario.

One way to avoid this scene is through Universal Postures. By Universal Postures, I’m speaking of postures, where without the aid of all props, the engaged posture would still be recoginized. For example, the posture of holding a hot latte while standing at a bus stop, with the, ‘I’ve got a Starbucks’ sip. This would belong to the Business People set of Universal Postures. And tourists have their own unique set.

Tourist postures, like the peering over a map, or the skyward pointing toward some distant landmark, are the sort of thing that attracts the attention of pickpockets and sneers from the locals. They’re the postures you want to avoid.

Thanks to the viral spread of white ear buds, there’s a more accepted Universal Posture that can combat this. It’s the ‘I’m Scanning My iPod Playlist’ posture.

Using a combination of Notes files (simple text files) placed on your iPod and the occasional reference photo snapped from Google Earth (for maps) or other pics from guidebooks, you can effectively have access to a wealth of tourist assistance. From step by step directions, to local language phrases, landmark photos, maps and emergency info, you have easy access to anything you might normally have to pull out a map for, or flip frantically through a guidebook to find. Or worse, trying to engage a local in your lost cause.