StorMan's "Phonesmart Un-conference" Hawaiian Experience

G'day and welcome to the 12th issue of our Monthly eNews, which also happens to be our birthday issue! Yes, that's right... StorMan's Monthly eNews has just turned 1 year old!

As frequent readers will be aware, my section is usually right at the end - so bear with me while I deal with writing what you're about to read, as opposed to what you have read. As expected, we'll take a bit of a look at the last 12 months here at StorMan Central, but speaking of looking... have you noticed we look a little different this month? As part of the 1 year anniversary, we have decided to give ourselves a gift and have revamped our eNews to provide a more modern look, with more content, and a design that works better in a wider variety of email clients at different screen sizes.

So without further stalling, please enjoy ...and until next time, happy surfing!

Regards,
Andy & the StorMan Software Team

To cycle through any applications that you currently have running on your computer, hold down ALT + TAB on your keyboard. While ALT is held down, tap the TAB key to cycle through the list. When you let go of ALT, Windows will display the program you've selected.

If you run a Mac system, the key combination is COMMAND + TAB

A sample of the ALT + TAB application switching window (PC)

WYSIWYG (pronounced Wiz-ee-wig) stands for What You See Is What You Get, and refers to software that will allow you to work with a file, and have it printed / displayed / rendered to look exactly the same as it looked on the screen while you were working on it.

Microsoft Word, for example, is a WYSIWYG editor - because the position of elements, colours, fonts, styles etc will all come out the same on the printer as they appear on screen. WYSIWYG is also commonly used in association with web design software, such as Microsoft's Expression Web, or Adobe's Dreamweaver.

You have a round birthday cake. With three straight slices of a knife, divide the cake into 8 equal pieces. Stuck? Answer in the next issue!

Last month's answer: 'Head for cover' (although 'Head between the covers' is also correct).

We're pleased to present another sneak-peek of a new screen from our soon-to-be-released version 8 software (the image below is a preview of the 'Invoice & Receipt' setup screen). Stay tuned next month for another sneak-peek!

I was recently given a challenge: sum up the last 365 days of things that happened at StorMan. In under 300 words. Here goes...

About this time last year, Ben returned from the 2008 Storage King conference, held up in Cairns. StorMan staff then attended a team building weekend (where Ben, Darran and Nick all bungee-jumped). In July, Ben decided to get all cozy with his software to see if it was, in fact, ergonomic (it was). Also in July, Andy wondered if you remote (he does!).

In August, Ben took on and broke the barriers of his knowledge wall, while Andy reflected on the importance of joining an association. In September, Nyree traded in her keyboard for a wheelbarrow as she visited South Africa to help build a church.

Ben was again breaking things – this time, the Yield Breakeven Point with a fantastic blog post and sample Excel worksheet on the topic. Still with Ben, October saw a great post from the 2008 SSAA Conference & Tradeshow (as did Wayne), while late October saw us open our UK office.

In November, Andy asked what your email address said about you, while Wayne pondered how well you train. In December, StorerCheck went live and Steve gave some pointers on making backups. Our Christmas newsletter was published, followed by an opening to the new year with a look at TXT messages by Ben. We also covered some great PowerSessions and took a brief look at the then-new myStorMan portal.

Ben had some great recession tactics for us back in February, followed by an interesting article by Andy – featuring none other than a photo of a trapdoor spider as inspiration for trapping your customers… and finally, in May, Wayne provided some great tips for those who are new to storage (or looking for a heads-up).

For those unaware, there's a fortnightly poll over at myStorMan, where you can anonymously cast your vote on a new topic every couple of weeks. Our most recently ended poll asked what you do for lunch - do you make lunch at work, bring something from home or go and get lunch?

Well - the results are in, and it turns out that 50% of poll respondents bring in something from home! This yielded similar results internally here at StorMan, with over 60% of staff in the Australian office doing the same.

Our current poll question puts different modes of transport up against one another, so be sure to cast your vote over at myStorMan today!

If you've ever watched the Terminator series of movies, you'll know that an artificially intelligent computer system like SkyNet is probably not the best answer when it comes to handing over control to an automated system. While we're not quite there yet, there is a neat little knowledge engine out there on the internet, called Wolfram Alpha.

Wolfram Alpha is like a search engine, but rather than just provide a list of results from websites like Google and others do, Wolfram computes information from many websites and displays the results as a series of facts. It is because of this fact (ed: pun!) that Wolfram is excellent for statistical information.

Visit Wolfram Alpha (link below) and try some of these searches: "life expectancy female age 40 finland" or "meters of railway in japan" or "australia fish production vs japan". I'm sure you'll agree that the results are amazing!

This month's Secret StorMan Shortcut is CTRL + B
...I wonder what it does?

Hi there - I'm Darran, one of StorMan's Technical Support Agents. Recently, I was asked to help out for a new eNews column - and here it is - Agent Darran's Latest Gadget. Each issue, I'll trawl through the deep depths of the internet and find you a funky piece of software, hardware or other interesting technological trinket.

Static Electricity Eliminator

Just this week I was zapped by a rather large static charge, which lead me to this month’s topic. Why are static zaps more common in winter, and are there any solutions to safely discharge this static build-up?

Static electricity is much worse in the winter months because the air is drier, and cold air holds less humidity. While the electrostatic discharge (the sparks) can be painful and also quite destructive, it is a form of electricity. This means that it can damage sensitive electronic components and also be dangerous around flammable vapours. Throughout your day, electrons are shifting all over your body and sometimes (like when you remove a jumper or exit your car), an excess of electrons attach themselves to your body. When you next touch a piece of positively charged material (your car door, your computer, or perhaps a co-worker), the electrons rush from you to the positive charge. The result: a static shock.

So how can you stop this from happening? The Static Electricity Eliminator (or SSE for short) appears to provide a solution. Simply attach it to your keyring and you'll always have it with you. If you think you are "charged," simply hold the SEE and touch the rubber tip to a grounded object (a metal desk leg, your car door, etc). You will see a little face flash on the SEE's screen, and you'll know you are static free. It's that simple. No batteries to worry about (because you are providing the electricity), you'll be able to use your SEE for years to come.

This month we welcome our newest staff member, Timm, to the StorMan Sales Team. Having worked for National Storage for over 9 years, Timm brings with him a wealth of industry experience & knowledge.

Be sure to check out our News & Blogs page for Timm's latest posts, or check out his first two (linked below).