Stormy weather and your business....
 

Having been through some bizarre weather recently (and continuing), I got to wondering if weather affects your online business. At first I thought, naw...it's online so no problem. Well, 3 days without power on a large area-wide basis proved the fallacy of that thinking!

So...how does it affect your online business?

How do you cope with the effects?

Any way(s) to turn the negatives associated with weird weather into money in the bank or other positives like good PR?

What other ideas would apply in various weird weather scenarios that would affect our businesses or business related things? Best way to handle them?

Sandi Bowman

‘Name A Storm After Someone You Love’™ :)
 

Sandi,

As per my usual, some Different thoughts. :)

There's always a few interesting business ideas and Creative ways to "Weather" a little PR. ;)

Think about all the Shortages of particular Products, Services and Problems caused by Weather...

And you Never know what You'll come Up with!

Study Bob's web site & business model(s)...

http://bobmccarty.wordpress.com/2007...0%99%e2%84%a2/

And my previous post...

Think about the Serious problem of Global warming... Education Hotsheets & Biz ideas?
http://www.sowpub.com/forum/showthread.php?p=7143

Phil

Re: Stormy weather and your business....
 

Sandi,

We are going through an ice storm now so I know what's going on with you. :)

A big deal about this area is every winter and spring storms roar through this area and know out power. So, the business of selling generators is a hot deal, especially right now.

As far as our own businesses, you must get a generator to make sure you are always online OR we can always sell generators! :)

Millard

Re: Stormy weather and your business....
 

Thought I answered this once but computer must've glitched. Anyway, appreciate the replies.

Phil, thanks for the links. Not what I had in mind but interesting nonetheless.

Millard, sorry to hear about your ice storms. No fun. Think I'd prefer that to what we've had, however. Still making do but improving somewhat.

The reason for the post was to generate some ideas of work-arounds for weather caused business problems. Thought if we all brain-stormed we might come up with some great ideas since we have some very original thinkers here.

Generator idea is fine but not for apartment dwellers with no garage. Even so, you'd have to store enough fuel to see you through since gas pumps don't work very well without power.

Be sure to UNPLUG your computer, phone line to your computer, and other peripherals because when the power comes on, it will surge repeatedly off and on and you'll end up frying your power supply or more despite surge protectors etc. Leave a hall light turned on during outtages so you know when the power returns.

Best bet, back up your data (off computer), more often than you think you need to. If your system fails or gets fried, you'll be mighty glad you have the backups.

A portable (battery powered) CB unit and a person to contact out of your immediate area, can be helpful for business or personal contact emergencies when power is out. Most ISP's only keep emails for 2 weeks on the server so, in event of major, prolonged, outtage, you may want to have someone else, out of the affected area, pick up and store your emails for you. They could also, if you give them access, post a message to your list or on your site stating the situation so you have less to sort through eventually.

Sandi Bowman

It was a dark and stormy night... Thank goodness I had a laptop!
 

Hi Sandi,

Sometimes the power does go out where I live. When it does, I'm glad I'm usually working on a laptop! Since if the power goes out, the laptop battery automatically kicks in - and I don't lose any work.

Also, if there's lightning around, I can unplug my laptop from the wall, and keep working off of battery power. That helps prevent any damage in case there's an "electricity" surge - which can damage your computer. (It's never happened to me, but it's happened to people I know.)

I actually have 2 batteries for my laptop - so if one runs out, I have another as a backup. I've never had to use them due to power failure, I actually keep them so I don't have to worry about running out of electricity if I want to work in a cafe or some place like that. But I guess it could be handy in a storm too!

I like laptops... In fact, I don't even use a "desktop" any more! (My last desktop computer died some time last year, and I haven't bothered to replace it, since I don't really need it!)

- Dien

Re: Stormy weather and...Dien, question, please...
 

I wondered about laptops for continuous use since they seem so limited in capacity...how do they work for every day, literally all day sometimes, use? What about plugging in peripherals like external hard drives and printers...any limitations?

I've asked others but get conflicting answers. I trust your judgement so would value your input highly.

Thanks!

Sandi Bowman

Re: Stormy weather and...Dien, question, please...
 

I've been using a laptop as my main computer since 5 years now.

There are only 2 downsides to having a laptop in place of a desktop:

1. Laptops still cost a bit more than desktops
2. You can't upgrade your laptops as easily as you can desktops

But work wise - its perfect. You can take it anywhere. (Most new laptops already come with wifi too - so you can use internet anywhere there is wifi available). Makes it very flexible. Even if you don't travel much - you can sit anywhere in your own house... no longer get stuck to a desk and chair.

I would recommend you atleast get 40-80gb harddrive. And 1gb-2gb RAM (actually, if you don't intend to use Windows XP or Vista - then you can make do with less RAM. But because its hard to upgrade laptops - investing in more RAM from before makes good sense).

Oh - and go for Pentium Centrino - the battery lasts really long (3-6 hours depending on what you are doing on it).

Most laptops usually come with 2 usb 2.0 ports and a firewire port. But you could get extra usb ports for all your other hardware (printer, hard drive, tablet or wireless keyboard/mouse - thats 3. If you use all of them - go with 4 usb ports. You'll very rarely need more than 4 usb ports).

Before buying a laptop, search for coupons online. I saved about $500 on my last laptop because of a coupon...

Re: Stormy weather and your business....
 

Thanks for the valuable info, Ankesh. Really appreciate you taking the time to respond and help me.

Sandi Bowman

Re: Stormy weather and...Dien, question, please...
 

Hi Sandi,

Ankesh already gave an excellent reply! So here are a few more comments...

I've been using laptops of one sort or another I'm not sure how long - certainly for more than 10 years. However, I've always had a "desktop" computer too, until around halfway through last year or so...

I haven't found any trouble using a laptop. I think you can do almost anything with a laptop nowadays that you can do with a desktop. The main limitation, I think, would be for heavy "gamers" - people who want advanced graphics capabilities so they can play the most graphics-intensive games around! For me that's not an issue...

Until October last year, I was using a Toshiba Satellite laptop which I had bought in January, 2003. You could plug in anything you wanted - it had a parallel port for the printer, and so on...

In October last year, I bought a MacBook, and as well as running the Mac operating system (Mac OS X), I also installed Windows XP, so I can run either one. The main issue with peripherals with a MacBook is it only has USB ports. However, I think you can get adaptors so you can plug most things into USB ports nowadays...

Over time, I've owned probably around 6 or 7 laptops. Some of them (my early ones) were bought second-hand, while others (my more recent ones) were bought new. One issue I have always had is with the screen dying! That happened to my Toshiba I mentioned earlier, and also happened with other laptops I've owned (Compaq, Dell). You can still plug in an external monitor, though, so even if the screen dies you can still use it if you get an external monitor. You can also get the screen fixed, but in my experience even a fixed screen still "dies" again later on...

Personally, though, I still love laptops. I think I really like the portability, which is of course what they're there for!

I agree with what Ankesh says about hard drive size and RAM. Having very little RAM can really slow down your computer. (My current MacBook has 1 Gigabyte of RAM, and an 80 Gigabyte hard drive.)

I hope that helps... :)

- Dien

Re: Stormy weather and your business....
 

Thanks, Dien. That bit about Macs and USB ports only is especially useful. Never thought to check that aspect. Duh... Strange thing is that I currently have to use adapters on my USB accessories because I don't have enough USB ports and this old machine is creaking and groaning even now so don't want to try upgrading it any more than I have.

Wasn't aware of the dying screen thing...is that an across the board phenomenon regardless of screen type? Unless it is repaired, don't you essentially lose the portability? If so, what would be the point in working on a crowded (for my rather large hands) keyboard just to have a laptop? No point that I can see.

Thanks again to you and Ankesh. Lots of food for thought and further research.

Sandi Bowman

Re: Stormy weather and your business....
 

Thanks, Jim. I'm not in the market just yet but I know someone who would love to know about the source.

Mac's are a strange animal to me...don't understand the heirarchy or most of the stuff they mention unless it's also used on PCs.

Appreciate your thoughtfulness.

Sandi Bowman

Re: Stormy weather and your business....
 

Hello everyone,

Sandi - Ankesh and Dien have already given excellent responses about laptops; I hope the info. I provide can be helpful as well.

I've used a laptop strictly since 2000 (when I graduated from college; I actually gave my desktop to my stepbrother, since my laptop was more advanced.) I've found a laptop to be more useful to me because it takes up less room and you don't have as many wires getting tangled up, thanks to the monitor and computer being all-in-one.

Ankesh brings up two great points about the downsides of laptops:

They are still a bit more expensive than desktops (though not nearly as bad as they used to be - you can get a solid laptop for under $1000, and you can get some of the more advanced laptops for just over $1000.)

They are harder to upgrade than desktops (though I usually don't upgrade mine - I haven't had a need to this point with either of my laptops, though that may change in the future, but with 1 GB RAM and 100 GB HD, I feel I'll be pretty well-set for the next few years. :-)

Regarding the USB ports, I'm not sure what peripherals you are considering, but most peripherals nowadays come with USB connectors (or are supposed to be connected to USB ports,) so I wouldn't think that would be much of a problem. Even most laser printers and inkjet printers come with USB ports or USB and parallel ports, so you shouldn't have to come up with too many adaptors for most peripherals (though I think they exist also if you need them.)

Like Ankesh said, most laptops come with 3-4 USB ports, depending on whether you have a FireWire port, an S-Video port, a parallel port, etc. But most of the laptops I've seen come with at least 3 USB ports. You can also purchase USB hubs to give you more USB ports if you need them - I have a USB 2.0 4-port hub that works like a charm - I have my rollerball mouse plugged into it, with no lag time between the movement of the mouse and the pointer on the screen.

Additionally, if you choose to have your next PC customized, you could also let them know how many USB ports you want as well.

I also have an external hard drive and a flash drive - those two plug right into my side USB port and work without any problems. Some companies suggest that side USB ports don't give as much power to the items that are plugged into them like the USB ports on the back of your computer give. This is sometimes true, but for virtually all of my peripherals, the side USB port supplies the necessary power (this is also true of my scanner as well, as it's normally plugged into my side USB port.)

One other thing regarding laptops - because of their portability and the advancement in technology, virtually all laptops can get pretty hot, so it might be a good idea to consider getting a "laptop cooler," a device with fans that will keep your laptop cooler, prolonging both your battery life and your computer's life.

I have a Bytecc Laptop Cooler that I purchased at Newegg.com in March 2006 - you can see it here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834999336 (NOT an affiliate link.)

Just make sure you know the exhaust system of your computer - most laptops take air up through the bottom of the computer and push the hot air out of the back of the computer, but there are still a few that will push the hot air through the bottom of the computer. My laptop cooler pushes the cooler air up through the bottom of the computer, as my laptop pushes hot air out the back, but the fans are reversible for those who need the hot air to be pushed out of the bottom of the laptop.

I would recommend getting a laptop with at least 1 Gig RAM and a 80 GB HD (though if you can get 100+ GB HD, that might be better; those specifications fit better when I was purchasing my Toshiba A75-S213 in October 2005. :-)

Dien - thanks for the tip about external monitors - I will definitely have to keep that in mind in case my screen ever goes black (hopefully, not for a while!) By the way, do you have to change any computer settings for the external monitor to display anything or not?

I hope this info. is helpful - good luck in choosing a new laptop when you decide to purchase one. :-)

Take care and have a great day!

Sincerely,

Joe Chengery III

Re: Stormy weather and your business....
 

Very helpful, Joe! Thanks a million.

Sounds like everyone who has a laptop loves them and manages to work around any problems they present. Interesting.

Sandi Bowman

Re: Stormy weather and your business....
 

Hello Sandi,

You're quite welcome! :-) Glad to see it was helpful!

Personally, I wouldn't go back to a desktop unless I absolutely had to (like I really needed a cheap computer, and then you'd still have to pay extra for a monitor, so there really wouldn't be much savings when you add it all up.) I don't mind desktops, but for me, a laptop saves on space, can do pretty much what I need it to do (surf the Internet, do Internet marketing research and article writing, can play videos and music (especially with high-speed Internet, which I hope to get soon,)) and you can take your laptop with you on the go if need be.

I'd check out several of the electronic retailers (Circuit City, Best Buy, CompUSA, Staples, OfficeMax, OfficeDepot, etc.) as well as online vendors like Newegg.com, Amazon.com, Buy.com, SuperWarehouse.com, etc., read up on the latest laptops, read the reviews, maybe check some of the independent reviewers like PCMag.com, PCWorld.com, and take some time to think about what you want in a laptop and how much you want to spend before you make your final decision.

Also - check out these two sites:

http://www.dealhunting.com
http://www.currentcodes.com

These sites were on the local news here in Cleveland recently - they showed where these little-known codes could save you several hundred dollars on certain computers and laptops - you just input them into the "code" section of the order page, submit them, and observe the adjusted lower price.

Hopefully, this is helpful as well! Good luck in choosing a laptop.

Take care and have a great day!

Sincerely,

Joe Chengery III