In today’s world e-commerce is becoming more and more important. Recently I actually went into a bookstore to get something I needed in a hurry. The time it took me to get to the store and try and find what I wanted and get home was 60 minutes. The ironic part is I did not even walk out of the store with the book I needed because their online stock was wrong. I ended up jumping on amazon.ca and managed to order my book in all of two minutes.

My experience aside why do I think the retail store is going to die.

Their are several reasons:

1. Rent is expensive is retail malls. it is cheaper to have a warehouse in an inexpensive part of town and setup an operation to ship from their. A call center/order center can be setup in the same building.

2. Online shopping allows me to shop whenever I want. The Internet is always open – stores do close.

3. I hate lineups. If I shop online I do not have to stand in line.

4. It costs money to go to a mall. Gas needs to be in the car or public transit fare needs to be paid. If I do not have to leave my home, I can save money.

5. Online shopping is really an extension of catalog shopping. The premise is all the same and we as consumers have done catalog shopping for years.

6. Many companies now offer free shipping/discounted shipping to attract customers.

7. My time is worth money. Even if I am going to the mall I can me doing something more fun.

8. The mall shopping experience is awful – crowds/heat/trying to park/dealing with the noise. This is not my idea of fun.

9. Many Online retailers offer better pricing if you purchase offline.

Many people would pose the question – am I all talk. What did I purchase Online in the last week. To answer that I purchased books, computer parts, home accessories, electronic parts and even business supplies.

I do believe food and clothing stores will always exist. These are two types of items that I will always go to the store for. As for everything else I will continue to purchase items from the comfort of my home with less stress and more time for me. What do you think?

I have added myself to the the Wakoopa community. This community shows what software I am using on my computer and which is the most popular. On my site I have added the widget on the right as well as on my social media page. I have included what I use below. Now the question is what do you use on your computer?

I was out for dinner with one of my best friends on Tuesday night. As we ate the gentleman at the next table must have spent a good half hour taking a business call on his Blackberry. He raised his voice shouting into the phone which disrupted the area around him, This is just one problem which Smart Phones can cause. I thought I would spent some time talking about Smart Phone Safety and Etiquette so you can avoid problems like this gentleman had. Without delay the following is a list of things you can do to help yourself and others:

1. Do not chat and drive with a Smart Phone in your hand – Please use a hands free device or pull over if you need to make a call. This is a big safety issue. In many States And Provinces this is also illegal.

2. Do Not Text and Drive – This is also a safety hazard and also illegal in my states and provinces.

3. Do not make calls at a restaurant table – This is just plain rude. It is rude to the people you are with and it is also rude to the other people in the restaurant.

4. Be Careful what you say in public places – Watch what you say. Remember their are other people around you and you never know who is listening. I listened to one lady give her credit card on a cell phone call to the person on the other end. This was on a packed commuter train. Anyone on this train could have noted her cell phone number.

5. Do not overly check your email – Do not spend all day checking your email when out with friends. Remember they want to spend time with you – not your smart phone.

6. At The Movies/Show/Sports Even – put your smart phone on vibrate or silent and put it away. If you need to take a call excuse yourself and take it in the lobby so you do not disrupt other people.

Remember the key is to treat other people the way you want to be treated. The other key is not to become a slave to your device but to use it as a tool that can help you. How do you feel about Smart Phone Safety and Etiquette?

I will be the first to admit that I love technology. Their is no question about it. I work in it and have technology all around me. The one thing we all need is face to face contact with people. Staying inside all day making use of technology is not good for you at all.

I look at the kids of my son’s generation. They all text their friends, chat on MSN and Facebook and play World of Warcraft. When I suggest they go play with their friends, Stephen looks at me and says he is. To some degree he is telling the truth. What I really mean is can you not put the computer games away and go out and do something? For a lot of kids and adults this is very hard to do.

Their is nothing more I enjoy then going out with my wife, friends or family to do something and have some fun. That something could be dinner, shopping, movies or even a sporting event. One reason I love to get out is I really enjoy human interaction. Their is nothing like getting out with the people I care about to have fun. Please do not get me wrong, I have great friendship’s on the Internet as well but we all need face to face contact.

It has been proven that healthier people are those who get away from technology out with people and have fun.

If you are the type of person who likes to be in front of technology all day, try and get out with some friends. Go to a show, a museum or a play and find out how much fun being out with people and doing things away from technology can be. You really will not regret it. It will make your life more enjoyable and make you healthier.

Last week I did a blog post about Staying Connected On The Go. In my post I focussed on the hardware which I use on the go when I am away from home. This hardware really makes my life easier. Hardware is just hardware. Without computer software the hardware might as well be a big boat anchor. I use a lot of software on the go and without it my life would not be as easy as it is today. For the purpose of this blog post I am going to primarily focus on the Computer software I use and I will do a third post on IPhone productivity apps I use.

1.0 Google Chrome

Google Chrome is my web browser off choice on both the Linux and Windows Platforms. I have been using Chrome for a while and find it faster especially when using Goggle Applications.

2.0 Firefox

Firefox is my second choice for a web browser. I use it when the website displays better in Firefox or just for a change sometimes.

3.0 Gmail

Email is a necessity of personal and professional life. I have 7 email accounts which forward to my Gmail account. As a result I am able to check my email from anywhere I can find a computer and a web browser.

4.0 Google Calendar

My calendar is very important to me. I no longer carry a date book so I keep all my appointment’s that are not related to my full time job in Google Calendar. This enables me to check my calendar from where ever I am. I even share my calendar with my g/f who I live with so she knows what I have planned so we can avoid scheduling conflicts.

5.0 Evernote

Evernote for me is a killer application. It is one that I use everyday and I could no longer do without. Evernote is a cross platform note taking application. I use it for everything from storing sports information for my lacrosse league to hotel reservations when I go on vacation. Evernote has a free version and a premiums version which costs $45 US a year. I use the product so much that I pay for the enhanced version. Int the next couple of weeks I will be posting my comprehensive review of Evernote. Stay tuned.

6.0 Skype

Skype is an incredible VOIP application I use. Skype allows me to make free computer to computer phone calls which makes my life really easy and cuts down the communications costs. Skype will even let you do video chat and the quality is just amazing:)

7.0 Dropbox

Dropbox is a cross platform web site which allows you to sync files over multiple computers. if you do not want to sync your files, you can store your files on Dropbox and pick them up manually. This service has saved me from not having the current version of documents I am working on many times.

8.0 LogMeIn

Logmein is an amazing application for remote controlling another pc. How it works is the LogMeIn service is installed on the host computer and you then use the web site to connect to the host. The web site does install a small browser based application on your pc to perform the remote control functions. I use LogMeIn to connect to my home Windows Server and my home Windows computers on the go all the time.

Their is both a paid and a free version. The big difference is the paid version allows you to do chat as well as send files to and from the host. Currently I just use the free version of the service.

9.0 YouSendIt

YouSendIt allows the user to send a file of up to 100MB for free to another person for free. This service is quick and is really easy to use.

Their you have it 9 applications/services I use on the go. These 9 applications/services make my mobile life much easier. The question I put to you is what applications do you use to make your mobile life easer?

I found a great site for transferring large files. It is called You Send It. This site will let you send files of up to 100MB (free version) or 2 GB (paid version) to anyone without the use of an FTP program. It is all done via a web Interface.

This is faster and easier to use then FTP or sending files via email.

You Send It

Sorry about the long absence between posts. I ended up in the hospital and found out I was diabetic the hard way. I will be catching up with a couple of posts tonigt.