when you can't wake your mac

I loved the old mac days when you could go into the system files and customize/tinker with them. As iPods, iPhones and iPads became more commonplace, more people moved to using all Macs (yay!) and Apple thought it advisable to hide some of the system folders to keep new users from inadvertently - or incorrectly - changing them. That’s great for families and casual users, but for pros, it meant giving up some control.

I work off a MacBook Pro connected to a Cinema display and this morning I couldn’t wake it from sleep. I had been advised to leave my laptop plugged in when using the Cinema display, but always working from direct power isn’t good for the battery, so my compromise has been to unplug my MacBook when I’m not working and it’s asleep. When I couldn’t wake it this morning, I carted it off to the Genius Bar to see if they could help me, and that’s exactly what they did- something I don’t think I could have done from home.

One of the new features of Lion is that your mac will start up every program you had open when you shut it down- a nifty feature if you tend to se the same programs every day. Your mac will start up and bring you back to just where you left off the previous session. But the more programs & windows you have open when you put it to sleep, the more your mac must remember each time. The only way to clear out all these remembered items is to actually turn the mac off and restart it, and if you never turn your mac off, eventually the space allotted for remembering items will fill up and your mac won’t wake up at all. The folder for this sleep data bank is hidden, so most users will need to bring their laptops to the Genius Bar to have the folder emptied. To avoid this eventuality, just remember to shut down your laptop sometimes and restart it, instead of always putting it to sleep.

Put our knowledge and expertise to work for your business— visit our webpage and then contact Canzani Graphics today! All content ©2011Canzani Graphics

You should know these numbers

I listen to CBS Newsradio 880 in the morning, and I usually catch the Small Business Report when it airs. One morning I heard an interview with Google VP and former congresswoman Susan Molinari with some stats that really struck me. She stated the 97% of people look online before the shop. 97%!! Yet 53% of NYC businesses have NO web presence; that’s slightly better than the national average of 60% of business without a web presence, but still quite a disparity between those looking for products and services and those selling them. Molinari  stated that if you put two businesses side by side, selling the same product(s), the business with a website will be twice as successful, hiring twice the number of workers and making twice the money.

The numbers in this article by WebVisible are slightly lower, but they are still startling.

“Though 63% of consumers and small business owners turn to the internet first for information about local companies and 82% use search engines to do so, only 44% of small businesses have a website and half spend less than 10% of their marketing budget online, according to research from Webvisible and Nielsen.…This disparity, according to Webvisible, clearly illustrates the reasons why consumers have difficulty finding small business information. Many consumers report that they have struggled to recall the name of a business in their area or wish to quickly check the website for store hours, directions or a phone number, Webvisible said. However, when using a search engine to find a business they know exists, only 19% of survey respondents report never or rarely encountering trouble locating that business online and 39% say they routinely have difficulty.”

With so many people now using smart phones, meaning they can search on the go, not having your company represented online is like actively turning business away. It’s not necessary to spend thousands on a website, either; a simple one page site with basic information and a contact number can be inexpensive and will pay for itself in increased sales.

If this entry has you thinking about creating a web presence for your business, or upgrading your current efforts, contact me @ Canzani Graphics and I’ll give you a free one hour consultation.

Put our knowledge and expertise to work for your business— visit our webpage and then contact Canzani Graphics today!
All content ©2011Canzani Graphics