Quick, Backup Awareness Month is almost over

June is/was Backup Awareness Month. Who knew?

I guess I was subliminally motivated last week when I posted my urging on backing up personal data… Personal Chaos: Backup your data. I mean it! NOW!

Hard drive manufacturers Maxtor and Seagate banded together to spread the word.
BackupAwareness.com

Here are a few highlights in case the site goes away:

Backup Best Practices

Becoming a diligent backer upper is easy when you do it right.

Develop a backup schedule.
The easiest way to remember to do something is to make it routine.

Back up everything.
The size of today’s external hard drives has made it easier than ever to back up all of your data to one location.

Give yourself room to grow.
When selecting a backup solution, we recommend investing in storage that’s twice the size of your internal hard drive.

Back up automatically.
Set it and forget it. Use a solution that’s easy to set up and provides automatic backups.

Rotate backups.
Simply backing up to a local hard drive gives you a solid, base level of protection. You may also want to protect yourself in case of an earthquake, fire, flood, or theft by backing up to two separate drives and rotating them one at a time to an off-site location.

Don’t procrastinate.
Sadly, most people learn that they need to be backing up their data from a bitter, costly experience. Protect yourself today so you won’t be sorry tomorrow.

I also heard via the Mac Geek Gab podcast that The Mac Observer has put out a comprehensive backup guide. Definitely check it out. They documented strategies for different user types, software and what to do in case of emergency. A must read!

My personal favorite external hard drive is the Seagate ST3400601CB-RK 400 GB External Hard Drive FireWire/USB 2.0. Check it out!

What do you think? Please post your comments below. Thanks.
-Roland

Roland Reinhart is an interactive marketing professional. His observations can be found at Chaos365.com and AdMadMan.com.

©2006 Roland Reinhart. All Rights Reserved.

Professional Chaos: The Four-Day Week Challenge

I came across a very thoughtful article: The Four-Day Week Challenge on A List Apart.

It includes a practical list of time management tips and resource links.
I encourage you to check read it.

What do you think? Please post your comments below. Thanks.
-Roland

Client Chaos: Warning signs of a nightmare client

An interesting post I found via the Search Engine Watch newsletter:

Three Warning Signs of a Nightmare Client and why we sometimes don’t heed them

The warning signs are basically distilled to:

“I need to do this as cheap as possible”
…an indication that you’ll spend more time than the effort is worth.”I need it yesterday”
…an indication of lack of planning and foresight.

“My current web designer won’t call me back”
…an indication that the client is difficult to work with.

SearchEngineGuide.com blogged about it from an SEO perspective

Come to think of it, these are pretty dead on. It illustrates how important it is not to take every scrap of work possible. Of course, your economic situation may desperately need it, but at what cost? Don’t take some urgent assignment at the risk of not fulfilling other valued client deliverables.

Plus, don’t trick yourself into thinking that doing the client a favor now will guarantee you the reward of future work.

Finally, don’t be afraid to charge a premium or rush fee. There has to be a penalty for unscheduled work that will cause a strain on your scheduled work.

So, assess the risks and stay in control of the situation.

What do you think? Please post your comments below. Thanks.
-Roland

Roland Reinhart is an interactive marketing professional who has been abused by many clients during his career. His observations can be found at Chaos365.com and AdMadMan.com.

©2006 Roland Reinhart. All Rights Reserved.

Protect your personal info. Tips for data safety.

This is a rant. My first blog rant. But I’m pretty passionate about this one.

It is incredible how almost every week I find another article about a company (i.e. bank, lender, insurance company, health provider, security firm, investment company, employer, retailer) that has lost consumer personally identifiable information.

The problem is staggering. This is outrageous and people/companies should be held accountable, even punished.

I get even more angry when I read that a spokesperson blows it off as a brief “computer glitch.” That’s a big lie! Ultimately, human beings are behind it all…

• The person traveling with personally identifiable info of thousands on his/her laptop or thumb drive.
• The IT department that allowed someone inappropriate access.
• The disgruntled worker who stole info.
• The courier who lost tapes via transfer to another location.
• The employee that published info to an insecure server just to make it easier to access the info for administrative work.

And it goes on and on and on. In some instances the data ends up in the hands of an evil doer. In many, it’s just lost and those who have it might not be able to access it. But in an age where so much information is being shared for marketing purposes and published as part of the public record, it is critical for individuals to be wary.

No one will watch out for you. You have to take control. Don’t be afraid to be vocal and adamant about not giving out your SS# and other Personally Identifiable Information.

• DO NOT give your social security number to anyone that asks. I’ve even been asked at the supermarket when signing up for the savings cards. No way.
• Don’t give out your spouse and kid’s info. And teach them not to give it out either!
• Do not give your SS# to health care providers (i.e. insurance company, doctors office, pharmacy). No way. Don’t do it. They have no business or right to ask for it.
• Do not give your SS# to insurance companies (i.e. home, auto, life). Decline and ask them to create a unique personally identifiable number if necessary.

The only fairly legitimate reasons to provide SS# are for tax reporting by your current employer or your bank and investment companies.

Please take it seriously. Guard your information fiercely. It’s up to you.

ARTICLES:
Yahoo! News (June 2006): Sailors’ Social Security nos. on Web site
“The Navy has begun a criminal investigation after
Social Security numbers and other personal data for 28,000 sailors and family members were found on a civilian Web site.”

Security Focus (June 2006): VA data theft affects most soldiers
“…the leak potentially affected nearly 80 percent of all active-duty personnel.”

InternetNews.com (June 2006): Hotels.com Warns Customers on Data Theft
“Hotel booking site Hotels.com has begun sending out letters to some 243,000 customers whose names and credit card numbers were on a laptop stolen from an employee of Ernst & Young, the accounting firm.”

MSNBC (June 2006): Employers rushing to stem data theft tide
“Companies, agencies scrambling to secure laptops, information.”

ComputerWorld (May 2006): Deja vu for Wells Fargo: bank loses computer with confidential data
“For the fourth time in the past 30 months, Wells Fargo & Co. has begun notifying customers about the potential compromise of confidential information following the theft of a company computer containing data on mortgage customers and prospective clients.”

MSNBC (June 2006): Feds hit by rash of data breaches
“FTC said Thursday that it had lost laptops containing sensitive data”

MSNBC (June 2006): Hacker breaks into USDA computer system.
Personal data on 26,000 workers may be at risk
“A hacker broke into the Agriculture Department’s computer system and may have obtained names, Social Security numbers and photos of 26,000 Washington-area employees and contractors, the department said Wednesday.”

MSNBC (April 2006): Military thumb drive exposes larger problem
“…drives sold at street markets in Bagram, Afghanistan, contain intimate details on everything from U.S. soldiers to secret informants. Data that, in the wrong hands, could easily lead to murder.”

MSNBC (Nov 2005): Help! I left my identity in the back seat of a taxi
“Wilcox Memorial Hospital in Kauai had to inform 120,000 past and present patients that their private information had been misplaced. Their names, addresses, Social Security numbers, even medical record numbers had been placed on one of those tiny USB flash drives — and now, according to a letter sent home, the drive was missing.”

C|Net (June 2005): Credit card breach exposes 40 million accounts
“Of those exposed accounts, about 13.9 million are for MasterCard-branded cards, the company said in a statement. Some 20 million Visa-branded cards may have been affected and the remaining accounts were other brands, including American Express and Discover.”

MSNBC (June 2005): Citi notifies 3.9 million customers of lost data
“Computer tapes with personal information lost in transit.”

Computer World (May 2005): Scope of bank data theft grows to 676,000 customers
“Bank employees used computer screen captures to snag customer data”

Business Week (April 2005): Personal Data Theft: It’s Outrageous
“Americans seem to be concerned, but not outraged, by news in recent weeks that two big data collectors sold detailed personal information on nearly 500,000 people to buyers who had absolutely no business getting it.”
“Being required to notify California residents, it was hard for data collectors ChoicePoint (CPS ) and LexisNexis, a unit of Reed Elsevier (ENL ), to hide the fact that they had improperly given out data on 145,000 and 310,000 individuals, respectively.”

MSNBC (Feb 2005): Data theft affects 145,000 nationwide
“145,000 consumers nationwide were placed at risk by a recent data theft at the company.”

News.com (Feb 2005): Bank of America loses a million customer records

Look who uses such data…

San Francisco Chronicle (Nov 2003): Arrest in Wells Fargo data theft
Net surfing tips cops to stolen computer, customer records

What do you think? Please post your comments. Thanks.
-Roland

Roland Reinhart is an interactive marketing professional who is concerned about how companies handle consumer data. His observations can be found at Chaos365.com and AdMadMan.com.

©2006 Roland Reinhart. All Rights Reserved.

Clients and the Waterfall Effect

I am constantly amazed how big clients with multimillion dollar budgets can create some great work (with the help of their agencies). In the same respect, I’ve witnessed too many instances of big brands that are so disorganized and chaotic that they end up pushing their internal chaos down to all branches of supporting partners.

As much as agency partners try to help their clients, the clients are at times clueless as to how disruptive they themselves can be. It is frustrating and demoralizing. After all, how do you incent your internal team to continue to brainstorm and be on the look out for great ideas when they just get swallowed up into the client’s quagmire?

Help your clients to understand that their delays in brand decisions, releasing budgets, approving business plans, legal reviews, internal production, etc., etc., etc. — all have a negative impact down stream. They throw off the agency forecasts for budgets, staffing, resources, program implementation, co-branding opportunities, event planning, etc., etc., etc. Plus, they throw off schedule the vendors we contract with for media buys, printing, etc.

As a good agency partner, you must keep the faith. But gently remind your client at every opportunity about the impact their decisions or lack of decisions may have. It will cost them — in money, achieving goals and credibility.

So… Go out back and kick a trash can. Scream and let it all out. Then breath deep. Relax. Refocus. Roll up your sleeves. Dive back into the pool.

What do you think? Please post your comments. Thanks.
-Roland

Roland Reinhart is an interactive marketing professional. His observations can be found at Chaos365.com and AdMadMan.com.

©2006 Roland Reinhart. All Rights Reserved.

Backup your data. I mean it! NOW!

I’ve suffered through a few huge loses of data over the years. Not from a lack of knowledge, but more from becoming complacent. Hardware will fail, eventually. As much as I’ve become dependent on technology to complete professional and personal tasks, and as much as I know about the risks, I still occasionally slip into complacency and get burned.

Two years ago was my last bad experience. Six months of professional emails lost because my company had no proactive means of backing up Outlook archives at the time. We were encouraged to archive our email to our hard drive, not the network. I found out the hard way when my hard drive crashed hard and a data recovery firm said it was unsalvagable.

WHAT DID I LEARN?

1. Losing data isn’t the end of the world. Sure it sucks. I struggled for several months afterwards because much of my professional correspondence was lost. But I survived.

2. Take matters into my own hands. Since the company didn’t (at the time) have an archive process in place, I started having my email archive files burned to DVD once per month. I also started saving HTML or TEXT versions of important emails to our network project folders to help make sure there was redundant documentation.

3. On a personal level, I’ve looked more carefully at how I save my personal files. Backing up is time consuming. So I prioritized and worked out a method I’m comfortable with.

Monthly: I got an external hard drive and perform a full backup of my main hard drive personal files at the end of each month. That gets backed up to CD/DVD. Getting into the habit of backing up every 1-2 weeks would be ideal. My preferred hard drive is the Seagate ST3400601CB-RK 400 GB External Hard Drive FireWire/USB 2.0 using SuperDuper! by Shirt Pocket Software instead of the BounceBack Express software that comes bundled with the Seagate drive.

Quarterly: I’ve taken thousands of digital photos over the past 2 years. So every 3 months I sort through them, delete the bad ones, and burn a complete backup to CDs or DVDs.

Yearly: I do a full backup of my digital music files once a year. This is the least important to me since I have the physical, original CD for most of what I listen to. Music can always be bought again, but family photos and other personal document cannot be replaced so easily.

4. Store an extra set of backup CDs/DVDs offsite. Big companies have long known it is essential for disaster preparedness to maintain full backups at an offsite location. That way if the primary facility is damaged, backups located far away presumably maybe safe. So when backing up to CD or DVD, make an extra set and keep it some where you think is far away or safe, such as a relative’s house or your bank’s deposit box.

Backup, Backup, Backup.

5. We still don’t fully understand how long CDs and DVDs will last. Plus, some studies indicate that cheaper media may degrade at a faster rate. There are actually very few manufacturers, and most of the brands found on shelves are just repackaged/rebranded versions. Take some time, do the research. Consider paying more for archival quality media.

DEVELOP YOUR STRATEGY AND STICK TO IT!
Photos and video are tricky. With consumer adoption of digital photos and digital video, come new challenges. Shoe boxes of film negatives served us well for many decades, but now it’s time to rethink and retrain people’s behavior.

Photos are easy to burn from your PC to CD/DVD. But what about your video? I specifically bought a camcorder with A/V input so I can import old analog video from VHS tapes and 8mm video into MiniDV. I can pull from any device (VCR, tape deck, Tivo) that has traditional composite connections. That makes it simpler to keep the most important older footage on a current media that is easier to import eventually to a PC for editing or burning to DVD.

UNDERSTANDING DIFFERENT TYPES OF MEDIA

VideoHelp.comDetails on DVD

PCWorld: Backup Medium Comparison Chart

GET STARTED. READ ABOUT BACKUP STRATEGIES:

MacWorld: Make your images last

The Mac Observer: Dr. Mac’s Guide to Backing Up Your Mac

PCWorld: Keep Your Data Backups Safe, Simple, and Fast

PCWorld: Backup data to separate partition

What do you think? Please post your comments. Thanks.
-Roland

Roland Reinhart is an interactive marketing professional. His observations can be found at Chaos365.com and AdMadMan.com.

©2006 Roland Reinhart. All Rights Reserved.

Your career: Get out of that slump

Entrepreneur Magazine posted an interesting article, Get yourself out of a slump.

You may have heard of these tips before, but it is a good refresher.

Self motivation, whether professional or personal, is difficult. But sometimes you just have to put your foot down, turn of that TV, and make it happen. No one will do it for you. You have to take steps to affect change and control your destiny.

Good luck.
-Roland

Roland Reinhart is an interactive marketing professional. His observations can be found at Chaos365.com and AdMadMan.com.

©2006 Roland Reinhart. All Rights Reserved.

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