I’ve bought a few portable hard drives in recent years and they all just stopped working one day. I’ve never dropped them, froze them or barbecued them, my computer simply stopped detecting them. I’ve also head a lot of people having the same problem so I simply switched to a not so portable external hard drive.

I’ve read the problem lies with the fact that portable USB hard drives needs to have ample power in order for it operate properly. Giving it less power than required would is like bringing it to an early grave. The solution is to get thos Y-USB cables and plug it in to another usb port for additional power.

Data storage isn’t just about having a secure place to store and backup data. Accessing data would is also an important factor when deciding on what data backup and storage hardware to buy. For my next hardware, I’ll be buying a network storage center. Sure they’re not that portable but it allows you to access your files anywhere in your house, while you’re connected to your network and even online if you attach it your internet.

You see those icons and pop-ups everyhwere — inviting you to chat with a real human being in a world of digitalness we call the internet. But do they work? Are they just there to annoy visitors and waste a company’s resources?

It seems that they do according to this blog post. The main purpose of having a live chat button is to instantly interact with first-time visitors and returning customers, according to the editor of Online Live Chat. With it, companies can quickly provide troubleshooting, answer pre-sales questions within seconds without the slowness and formality of email. We’ve sure come a long way since email is now considered slow by today’s standards!

Anyway, in the greater scheme of e-commerce things, live chat isn’t really necessary; you might think of live chat as an optional optimization tool. You see, nobody’s gonna chat you up unless you have done some promotions for your website and you’re getting relevant traffic from SEO,PPC, email, media buys, yada yada yada.

Second, you also have to build up your brand first, and you might not even need a live chat software if you’re already an established brand. but then again, it seems that we’re in the instant gratification age and people do expect companies to instantly respond to their queries. Oh well, so yes it’s an essential tool for any e-commerce site.

Is outsourcing tech support still a good idea? Of course but it will depend on your company’s unique situation. However, here are the two main reasons that would justify outsourcing:

1. Savings - a company has to spend a lot of resources to retain employees. Besides the monetary costs - wages, taxes, social security, etc.. - you will also need a great deal of time to manage them. With tech support outsourcing companies, they can do the same job more efficiently and you don’t have to spend as much time managing them. This translates to more $ and time to pursue your business goals.

2. Expertise - this is related to savings as well, but a 3rd party tech company might be more effective in handling day to day tech support tasks. An in house staff might not be equipped enough, due to lack of resources and training, to implement tech strategies and respond to changes as they happen. Any delays and downtimes are lost opportunities and can be equated to a dollar value.

We’re about to get another player in this high-tech wars..

After partnering with Yahoo, reports have surfaced that Microsoft is talking with Adobe and are doing so because of apple’s dominance in the mobile phone market. Ironically, artsy people prefer to use adobe products with apple hardware. So what will happen to all creatives who swear by the apple + adobe combo?

There are some rumors that apple is currently talking with google to allow its apps into its eco-system with the recent approval of google voice.

So will adobe get its product name chaned? just like what microsoft did to terminal services and renamed it to remote desktop services. A lot of people got confused, (even microsoft engineers) up until now.

I think the future model of outsourcing would mean that outside IT providers will share the strategies and goals of their clients.

It seems that microsoft is launching another bid to capture the mobile market with its announcement of Windows 7 mobile. from http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13970_7-10453467-78.html?tag=newsLeadStoriesArea.1

Dedicated tech support companies provide great services to SMEs since most SMEs do not have the infrastructure and capital to maintain a pool of talented tech. support staff. The answer is to outsource to technical companies the task of providing product support to the paying customers.