As an internet entrepreneur, my files are my most valuable assets and it is paramount to keep them backed-up and protected. Here is an un-paid review of a product we love and use in our entreprenurial lives – The 1TB WD My Book.

I’ve had my 160 GB My Book drive for over 6 months and have been enjoying the extra storage for my desktop. When I found the 1 TB version I knew it would be an ideal solution for backing up my important documents and files. The $400 price tag on the drive is a little spendy, but the data protection is invaluable.

The best part about buying this drive was taking it to the check-out. The teenage guy who was ringing me up gave me a typical forced happy BestBuy-ism greeting and “Whoa! You can store a lot of music on this!” I wasn’t in the mood for the conversation, so I thought a reply of “Yeah! and a lot of porn!” would make things awkward for the rest of the check-out and save us both the forced chit chat… it did.

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You’ve got a new plugin you’d like try. Or maybe you’d like to play with your header image. Or maybe you want to see how that colour would look. That doesn’t sound too hard. But there’s one problem. Any changes you apply to your blog will be seen by your readers.

So you create a copy of the theme you’re working on and make your changes to it. You switch back and forth between the two hoping no one catches an early glimpse of your mods while you abuse ctrl + F5 to force view the changes.

Other people might play with the theme on another WordPress installation. But that’s no fun. You can’t see how your existing posts will look and any formatting issues that may come into play. And some people don’t have the hosting resources for multiple blogs.

With these issues at hand, I’m going to share a fantastic way to “work on your blog without anyone having the slightest clue”.

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At some point in the past millennium you could start a business by focusing on the necessities and scrapping the luxuries. You could finance the business yourself, or if needed, use your credit cards or borrow from a friend or family member.

I say this because of an acquisition that was announced yesterday. CBS has reportedly paid $5 million for the Wallstrip video podcast. Not only that, but it’s said that Wallstrip initially received $600,000 in funding from angel investors.

Now, I don’t have anything against Wallstrip. It’s a very nice video podcast and I try to catch an episode every now and then. But this is either a serious sign of A) Insanity or B) Bubble 2.0.

There’s no way or reason why a show like that, Rocketboom, or any of the other video podcasts would need $600,000 to operate. You have a camera person, a host, a camera, some bandwidth, a video editing app, and the occasional prop.

I try not to make fun of old people, but it’s almost as if someone at CBS just learned what a podcast is and thinks it’ll be the next big thing. “This could be the edge we’ve longed for over other networks. Quick, write them a cheque!”

I have these strange moments when I’m coming off an all nighter. Most likely as a result of working through the night with the music cranked in my ears. Not sure if anyone has ever made this observation, but Stacy’s Mom by Fountains of Wayne sounds a little familiar, does it not?

Stacy’s Mom – Fountains of Wayne

Just What I Needed – The Cars

Here’s a list of books that I’ve been reading over the past little while and my recommendations.

Just Finished

Wikinomics by Don Tapscott & Anthony D. Williams

Interesting book about the new frontier for information sharing in the collaborative future. Covering not just web 2.0 topics, but how classic industries are harnessing the power and intelligence of the global community.
My Recommendation: Read It

iCon by Jeffrey S. Young & William L. Simon

An unauthorized biography about Steve Jobs. Steve has a great story and some mega successes in life, but it was interesting to see some of the not so sparkling parts in his past. The book did a good job of showing the “human” behind the creative machine that is Apple.
My Recommendation: Read It

The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki

Simple easy to read advice for entrepreneurs. Guy does a good job of cutting thru the crap to give good advice. I’ve already used some of the good info in the book as inspiration in my Branding Made Easy, and Cheap post.
My Recommendation: Read It

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