all of the below is the opinion of William Curtis Sleeper. This only reflects his opinon and does not meet the standards for what is called Journalism.
Got a Question for Curt Sleeper. I will certainly try to answer your question.
Tech changes quickly and I dont anymore...
You can send your questions or comments directly to
CSleeper@XLab.com or give us a call at the Scribe. 636-465-0166
Febuary 28th, 2010
Found a great deal on a desktop. Well I think so. Check it out. They may still have some left.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883147106
Item#:N82E16883147106
What I like about it is that it comes with one terrabyte of storage, Lightscribe DVD, an amazing 8 gigabytes of ram along with quad four processor. This machine should perform well in Video and Photoshop applications. Not proffesional level unless you consider the price!
Good storage. Although I would preferr faster drives than 5400 RPM and I like RAID 5 this still has capacity for location redundancy families. With the proper external backup storage and backup policy the 5400 rpm 1,000 gigabyte ( TerraByte ) drive will perform well when most likely under 50% utilization. ( Space Used )
Great machine for the office. Having Windows 7 and 64 bit capabilities earns this box a good four year forecast by me. I also took the time to check , Ebay, Craigslist, Buy.com and Amazon to try and find an equivilent deal. I was not able to. I decided on checkout to purchase the 1 year of extended warranty to make our new computer more like new...
Febuary 27th, 2010
To buy or Die?
To buy or Die? It is hard to decide if the "at home computer repair" man is worth the price. When they leave what warranty have they given that you will not be in the same boat six weeks from now? For my clients I usually boast that I have two prices. Easy 75.00, Hard 150.00 any more than that and I have to reccomend a new machine because it will usually come with one year warranty. What makes it hard is no onboard recovery option. There are other issues that can make it difficult to justify. If you need me to back your files that cost another 35.00 dollars. Suddenly it is hard, you want a memory upgrade and backup. Now you have spent 200+ dollars and even I can only give you a couple days warrantly. Do some home work at Amazon, Ebay, Craigslist, NewEgg, Buy.com and other etailers before you bust your bank on that old pentium. 64 bit processors are going to make paper weights out of your 32 bit anything within the next 18 months. Well that is what I believe. Remember the transition from 16 bit to 32 bit. Everyone said those 486 would hold value, Ha!
Note for the Day Oct. 19th.
I am seeing a lot of traffic today with this email from my mail server. Of course I run my own mail server and understand that it is not set up to ever contact anyone. Nasty little virus or hack no doubt. Seems a lot of people are falling for it. I would rank it right next to the "You need to reset your security code on your bank account" email I get weekly. Then there is the distant cousin of mine that died in Africa and left me 100 bazillion. Ok, end users, work with me. Don't fall for thess feeble attempts. Regardless of any attraction, junk mail is junk mail. If it didn't work in the numbers people would stop doing it. Dont buy, don't click. Get it local.
Why you need a website
Growing Market Penetration
Hardware prices are at an all time low. This means people can afford more computers. This means people who could not afford a computer last year can now.
Broadband Accessibility
It is more affordable to get on the internet. Average cost is under 40.00 per month
New delivery methods will increase the “Wired” community to include rural areas.
Consumer Intelligence
More and more people of all ages are increasing their understanding of technology. More and more people are using the internet for communications and informational resources.
Community Organization
From Presidential campaigns, clubs, organizations, schools and more. What was only a few social networks is exploding in to every possible interest. If you want to shop local you only have to pull up your local internet portal and see the latest offerings from local small business.
Content Availability
Community, sport, medical, educational. The content continues to grow on the internet. Most children in school today work on their homework and do research on the internet. More and more shoppers are looking on the internet.
Cost of Advertising
With all of the above happening today it is important that small business get on line. The rising cost to advertise even in the small local newspapers is rising. The staggering cost of traditional print is a large burden on small business. The environmental nightmare that these companies cost is also a major factor in the world working on paperless advertising.
An advertisement on a local website can be read over and over. It may still be working for you a year latter. Not sitting on the bottom of a bird cage three days latter.
Marketing Tool
When you build your own website you have just created a multi page marketing package. You can send your prospects and customers to your web brochure any time. You can update your brochure without any need to throw away a pile of printed material. You can communicate with your customers and create loyal repeat business by staying in touch with your customers. You can offer specials, sales, event announcement and advertise your site on other sites in the community. You can hand a person a single business card with your website on it. You have just handed them a 15 page brochure for their review at their leisure.