It’s always a good idea to have some back-up and safety measures in place around your PC, especially as we keep more and more of the details of our lives on our computers. The latest issue of Maximum PC has a great article on how to protect your PC and data, 9 Ways to Disaster-Proof Your PC. From suggestions like using an off-site backup method (it’s easy to set up these days!) to the latest techniques for avoiding viruses, this article is chock full of good advice for computer users.

If you don’t have a back-up system in place, you should definitely read this and implement one, because I can almost guarantee that at some point you’ll experience a hard-drive failure. Maximum PC is a great resource for the latest info on keeping your home computers safe and up-to-date.

Look Inside >> August 2009

The latest issue of HOW magazine has an inspiring article meant for designers, but applicable to almost anyone about pushing your creativity. Are You Stretching or Stagnant? offers 8 ways to stretch yourself and expand your creativity. Using real-life stories to illustrate each idea, along with prodding mental exercises to drive the points home, this article will show you some new approaches to pushing yourself to be as creative as you can be.

Look Inside >>  August 2009

The latest issue of Discover magazine has a fun feature on Twenty Things You Didn’t Know About Movies. This article will be especially meaningful for history buffs, as many of the interesting items are about the early history of film and movie-making. But there’s some modern tidbits, too. For instance, did you know that Apollo 13, Armageddon and Around the World in 80 Days are all in the movie collection NASA keeps on the International Space Station, or that an IMAX projector costs 5 million dollars, weighs as much as a male hippo, and the bulb is so bright that if it was pointed upward it could be seen at the ISS? Now those are some fun facts!

Look Inside >>  June 2009

If you’ve been considering getting one of those new, nifty little netbooks, there’s an article in the latest issue of eWeek that you should definitely check out. Ten Things You Should Know About Netbooks covers ten facts that you should be aware of if you’re thinking about buying. There’s a couple of convincing reasons to consider holding off on that netbook purchase today, if you care about things like a bigger screen (Acer is coming out with a 11.6 inch screen version soon) or a complete package that includes Internet access (AT&T will be rolling that out this summer).

eWeek is one of newest additions to Coverleaf and it always provides a fresh and timely look at technology issues. Just click on the image below to read Ten Things You Should Know About Netbooks for free.

Look Inside >>  June 1, 2009

Turning “garbage into gold” sounds too good to be true, but that’s exactly what Tom Szaky’s eco-startup company TerraCycle appears to be doing. The current issue of ReadyMade has a fascinating profile of Szaky and his fledgling company TerraCycle, that is currently making home and garden products out of what you and I would probably consider garbage. Szaky dropped out of Princeton to pursue his dream of building a company that made useful things out of garbage, “upcycling” as he likes to call it, and he’s off to a great start.

TerraCycle had $6.5 million in sales in 2008 and is expecting to double that this year. Their first successful product is TerraCycle Plant Food, a fertilizer made out of food waste and packaged in used plastic soda bottles and rejected, misprinted boxes. Another product line Szaky is developing is based on those little foil drink packages made popular by brands like Capri Sun, which when cleaned and flattened can be sewn together to make totebags or other similar items. Szaky has no shortage of ideas and he’s busy making partnerships with companies like Frito Lay and Nabisco to make useful products out of their waste materials.

Look Inside >>  June/July 2009

The latest issue of Maximum PC has a really helpful article on how to improve your PC’s performance without spending a dime! Make Your PC Better, Faster, and Stronger shows a bunch of things that can be done to improve a sluggish PC by just going in and changing software settings. From tweaking your operating system settings to compressing files to overclocking your processor, it turns there’s a lot of things you can do speed up that sluggish PC before heading off to the computer store to upgrade your system.

If you’ve been feeling like your PC is slower than molasses lately, you’ll definitely want to give these tips a try.

Look Inside >>  July 2009

When you buy a PC it usually comes just with the Windows operating system and not much else. In order to get productive you’ll need to install some applications, and this month’s issue of Maximum PC offers up a list of 32 essential applications that would be good to have on just about any system. Because They’re Freaking Awesome provides detailed descriptions of the recommended programs, along with URLs for each one.

Most of the programs on the list are free so there’s not much risk in giving them a try. And you can take advantage of reading this on Coverleaf with our active links, which means you can click directly through to any of the programs that interest you. You’ll be downloading in no time!

Look Inside >>  June 2009

There is a growing trend of using a PC for the hub of the living room entertainment center. There are several advantages to adding a computer to your TV set-up, not the least being that you can save a bunch of money on TV costs. But there are serious issues around integrating a PC into an entertainment center, especially around the noise that traditional home computers make. The fan noise that might be acceptable in your study, doesn’t usually cut it in the movie room. There are also issues to consider around making sure your mulitmedia PC is truly up to the graphics processing that will be required, as well as the size and aesthetics of the machine that you’ll probably be placing next to your A/V components in your living room.

If you’ve been thinking about adding a PC to your entertainment center or are struggling with any of these issues, Maximum TV from MaximumPC will be well worth a read. This article walks you through the steps needed to build a fast, capable, and quiet multimedia PC that will plug in nicely to anyone’s home video plans.

Look Inside >>  May 2009

Have you been noticing all the recent fuss about Twitter and wondering what it’s all about? If so, you’ll appreciate this cool little article from Maximum PC on 9 Awesome Uses of Twitter. The new “micro-blogging” service seems to be taking the world by storm, and everyone from celebrities to journalists are starting to use Twitter to post short 140-character messages to their followers (called “tweeting” in the new vernacular). Twitter is easy to use and free, so if you’ve been wanting to find out more about this craze or if you’ve already dived in and are looking for more interesting ways to use Twitter, you should definitely give this article a read.

Don’t just take my word on how good this article is though, LeVar Burton just tweeted it!

Look Inside >>  April 2009

The current issue of AdvertisingAge has a fascinating article on the rise and fall of GM’s Saturn automobile brand, and the lessons that other car companies should take from Saturn. Saturn was originally started as an independent “skunk works” project within GM to combat the rise of foreign import cars that were cutting into GM’s marketshare. Initially Saturn inspired incredible brand loyalty and GM is credited with doing many things right to launch a successful brand.

But it didn’t take long for things to change, and as other brands inside of GM competed for precious internal resources and Saturn wasn’t able to launch to compelling new products, the brand has faltered. There are many examples here of what worked and what didn’t for Saturn, and valuable lessons for any business to learn about developing and maintaining a brand.

Look Inside >>  March 9, 2009