September 23, 2007

The internet is fast growing into our day-to-day lives, and becoming a substitute for more and more things normally done solely on the computer. For example, Google has been competing with Microsoft with free database and word-processing software.

IBackUp have decided we no longer need to back-up our files manually, and are offering an online backup
service. Starting at $10 monthly for 5GB storage, they have an automated file transfer process.

Backing up online is a great concept as it is so much less risky - and takes that much less effort - than backing up in the home. I have heard many a wail from someone as a cd or dvd back-up didn’t work due to unexplained reasons.

With IBackup you can drag and drop your files from your desktop straight onto their system. You can also select files you want constantly backed-up - IBackup will detect the changes in the file and make the necessary adjustments rather than sending the whole thing through again.

For people with gigantic amounts of information - 100GB and upwards - IBackup sends over a hard-drive and gets you to send the information back on it. From there, they will do incremental backups via the internet.

It’s a nice site and a really well thought out service. The price puts it out of the range of casual users, but for businesses that can’t lose their data - and that’s pretty much all businesses - this would be great for piece of mind.

Hi all

It seems to be a very common experience for people travelling to Bangkok, Vietnam or various other countries to get some clothes tailored for them.

That’s great but you must do your research or else you will be ripped off. At least 90% of the Bangkok tailors will take you for a ride. When I was there - last October - the amount of dodgy operators I saw was simply staggering. Westerners lose their pricing perspective when they go overseas - everything’s meant to be so darn cheap, right? But the old adage holds true : you get what you pay for. If you want a cheaper version of the cheap suits back home by all means go ahead. But in my opinion, you should take advantage of the price differential to buy yourself a truly good suit.

If you’re going to Hong Kong, Bangkok or Vietnam I can tell you where to go. I know which places have the good reputation. Feel free to use me as your friendly information resource. I can help on pretty much any country by asking the right people on your behalf.

A couple of lessons for the intrepid traveller:

1.) Avoid the places that sell tailoring packages such as one suit, five shirt sand five ties for $200. They’re all bad news.

2.) Don’t listen to fellow travellers. They are probably getting ripped off too.

3.) If they say they can do it in a day, don’t walk - run! I’m serious. A good tailor is a craftsman who takes pride in his work. You will need three fittings to get the suit right.

4.) They’re telling you they have Zegna or Boss fabrics? Notwithstanding the fact that Boss fabrics are crapola anyway, they’re lying. The fabric alone in a Zegna suit costs hundreds of dollars. That goes for ‘100% cashmere’ suits as well. Don’t touch them.

5.) A good tailor has good word of mouth and hence, no need to solicit your business. So if they’re trying to drag you in off the street, they’re bad news.

6.) Finally, do some research. In many places it’s quite hard to tell whether a tailor is dodgy or not on face value unless you really know what you are looking for. Use Google, StyleForum, Virtualtourist.com and Tripadvisor.com

A few minutes ago I was contemplating the question - am I the world’s worst handy-man?

The answer is this : I’m not even a bad handy-man. I’m a non-existent handy-man.

My last three DIY type projects have been absolute, total screw-ups which has killed my confidence and relegated me to the “Open up the Yellow Pages” Brigade. Yes, that shameful.

There’s a couple of reasons for this. First, I’m a klutz. Second, I’m a rush-hurry. But third, and most important, I have no able guide!

Do It Yourself.com wants people to learn how to build bookshelf amongst other things. It’s one of those types of websites that make you say… “why didn’t I think of visiting this kind of place sooner?” There’s a gigantic treasure trove of information but most handily a highly active forum. Foor example there’s 25,000 threads in the automotive section. The section on “Basements, Attics and Crawl Spaces” has more than 5,000. This is one seriously active site.

My younger brother is currently having some pretty serious car trouble. It’s smoking up quite a bit. They don’t have the $$ to take it to a mechanic unfortunately. I’m sure this kind of resource would prove well.

Also given the amount of stories you read about disaster renovations, the ooportunity to tap into a gigantic field of knowledge such as this one would be quite valuable one would think! The main draw-back of the site is the dated design, inlcuding an annoying top navigation. But I think we can forgive them this for the time being.

SP: Knowledge Is Power