Driving in the Clouds!

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Who knew one could fly so high? Sure, I’ve been in a plane recently and it drives me crazy that I’m without internet for hours. However, nowadays, if I'm grounded and have access to a computer, any computer, and I’m in a situation where I need some of my files fast, I can get them right out of the sky.

The Groovy Reflections team (my other endeavor) is scattered across the United States: New Hampshire, Florida, New York, Michigan, and California. We reside in three different time zones; sorry Mountain Time! I get online between 6 and 7 AM Pacific while members of my team are getting hunger pains long after breakfast has faded away for them.

And now, things have changed.

The team is groovin’ in a cloud! Two team members investigated and came up with the best solution for us. Criteria included finding an answer that was free or low cost to start with the capability to grow with the company. 
And they found one...

...It’s not relevant which solution was the chosen one. What IS important is how it is starting to change the way we work together. And here are just two examples:

We can all add to spreadsheets. For several things we’re working on lists are created first. And as each item on that list, of which the majority are quick hits, are completed, they are highlighted in yellow to alert the other team members that the task is completed. These are items that several members of the team can assist with. And the lists grow as more items are added, however see those highlighted areas shows us that things are getting done and keeps us moving. 

I admit to having a challenge when those lists grew rather long and needed to be sorted alphabetically! Apparently, some browsers were not allowing me to bring the file into the full-fledged version of the software where the sorting capabilities were, however, it didn’t take long to figure that out. In addition, I learned that you must close and get out of the file when you're done with it so that another team member can access it. Lots of little learning curves!

And the second example: Our original photo library is growing. Currently, it resides in my computer. So far, I’ve uploaded just 15 photos to the library so that the other team members can use them. There is a system in place to let team members know when a photo has been used so that we don’t repost it anytime soon (if it is reposted at all). Bringing the fans original, exclusive material is important to us. I knew this photography hobby could come in handy for something (and yes, all of the photos here were taken by me)! 

Being part of a virtual team has many challenges. Keeping your eyes and mind open and seeking out ways to make it easy to collaborate and communicate brings the team closer together, especially when everyone is working towards making it work!  

And we are soaring! When I see that a team member has added more useful information into our cloud I’m flying high with the feeling that we’re moving forward!

The Orb were likely feeling elevated when they originally released this tune below in 1990 that features the voice of Rickie Lee Jones of “Chuck E’s in Love” fame. Check out ModlandUSA in the internet galaxy:
visit on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ and Groovy Reflections at their Facebook page, as well as on Pinterest, Twitter, and Google+. Thanks for reading.

Hotel Rooms, Clouds, Data, and You.

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As I sit here in a hotel, I can’t stop thinking about safety and security, especially when it comes to my computer and all the information on it.

Thankfully, while I haven’t heard of anyone I know having their computer stolen from a hotel room, I DO know of friends whose laptops have been stolen from their homes. In all cases, the information was backed up. Whew!

Also noticed that computers just don’t fit in hotel room safes.

But wait a minute…I don’t even see a safe in this room, though it is a swanky place. And should I feel secure just because some semi-retired person glances at me as I stroll to the elevators?  SOMETIMES they ask to see my room card. So technically, anyone can slip by and go wherever they want. Security? Ha.

But wait! You can prevent the worst from happening to you. Nowadays, there’s something called Cloud Computing. Oh, it’s been around awhile, it just didn’t have a name. Basically, it’s the ability to access your data and / or software from anywhere; think of it as being up in a cloud in a big beautiful sky. For many years, I’ve been able to access software and databases that I’m subscribed to via any computer; I just need to sign on and do what I need to do. Even your email accounts such as Hotmail and Gmail are a part of Cloud Computing.

Great! So what does this mean? It means that you can back up the data on your computer into a cloud. Now how convenient is THAT? In the near future, we won’t be lugging around laptops anymore and accessing our data from “wherever” …so why not start now?

What are the other options? An external hard drive for starters, however, if you’re someone who accumulates masses of photos like I do, you could easily run out of space in a short period of time. And yes, you could buy another hard drive, but isn’t this starting to sound complicated?

Another alternative is saving data on jump drives and discs; both very limiting. Remember when we thought that floppy disks were amazing?

Why DO we have so much information nowadays? Because we can! Take photos, for example. Used to be that you had to line up that ONE good shot because you only had 20 on the roll.  Your prints were either good or bad, but you shared them with everyone regardless. Nowadays, with digital, you can take 20, 30 or 40 of the same object from various angles, etc. and pick just one.

Do you save the remaining 39 or do you delete them? The storage space erodes very quickly if you hang on to them all.

Of course, data backups translate to data as well; spreadsheets, word docs, PowerPoint presentations. Luckily, the first two don’t take up a lot of space, but presentations can, dependent on how graphical they are.

Now you’re probably worrying about all that data on your computer. According to recent information from Kroll Ontrack, while most folks place high importance on the information in their computers, close to a quarter do absolutely NO backups and about two-thirds back up their data less than once a month.

Scary.

Now you know why I’ve written this. Perhaps getting the message out can prevent some unwanted aggravation.

In respect to cloud computing, click here for a tune about how “clouds got in my way.”

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