It has happened to nearly everyone at one point or another; we have lost some or all of our data – whether it be due to a computer crash, virus, losing the only disc, or deleting the only copy. Whatever the case may be, there are steps you can take to reduce the risk and not be put in that position again.

The key to backing up your files is to devise some type of system that works best for you and stick to it. You may choose to do it manually or use an automatic backup program. Whatever your case is, stick with it and do it frequently. Also, name and date your backups. If you have multiple versions, you will be able to tell which version is the most recent.

External Hard Drives
Today external hard drives are so cheap that everyone should have one. They are not only perfect for storing all of those family photos and mp3’s, but the perfect solution for backing up critical files and in most cases ALL of your files. They are also a fast way to backup large files that may be too big for CDs or even DVDs.

CDs & DVDs
Backing up your files on a CD or DVD is also very important. Hard drives can go corrupt, get viruses, and can crash. Once your files are burned on a disc they are relatively safe. Blank discs are so cheap that it should be a part of everyones backup procedure. Discs are also a perfect solution for archiving files that you no longer need on your computer.

Offsite Backup
It is also extremely important to have at least some form of off-site backup. You could have a dozen backups at your home or office, but something could happen to that location such as a fire, theft, or a natural disaster. They will not do you any good if they are all lost. A simple fix is to keep a copy of your files at both your home and office. Or mail CDs or DVDs of your files to a friend or relative in another location. If something were to happen you would at least have that as a “fail safe”. Also, Online Storage is another form of off-site backup.

Online Storage
There are plenty of online options such as Mozy that range in price from free or start at around $5 a month. You may also use your current web hosting as another form of backup. Most hosting plans offer at least 5 gigabytes of hosting space. You could create a folder on there called backup and upload all your files there.

Other Alternatives
Most web-based email accounts offer a large amount of storage space that could be used to backup files. Either upload your files there, if that is an option, or simply email yourself an attachment and you have another copy of it online. There is a great service called yousendit that allows you to email large attachments. It only stores them online for 7 days, but it is a good way to send a large file from the office to your home to then backup later.

Battery backup systems for your desktop computer are a must have in case of a power outage. They will keep your computer running for several minutes giving you time to save and shut down your computer. No more losing files due to power outages.

So we finally broke down and created a Twitter account. www.twitter.com/digital_skratch

I have to admit I always thought it was rather silly but have been using it the past couple of months for iHoops and starting to use it for AgencyWeb and some other projects, so my views have changed haha. So I created one today and applied a custom background to it as well as iHoops.

We just received our business cards from BlackBooks and they look sick! I was blown away with how cool they actually are. These photos won’t do them justice as you need to feel the cards. They are on a nice thick cardboard type stock and the etching is amazing. The back of the card features a circle pattern that feels cool to touch.

They are expensive for business cards but well worth it if you are trying to impress a client or potential business prospect. As a web design agency it is critical to have a professional and creative image and these cards help with that.

I also came across a cool free set of watercolor brushes for Photoshop today and used them in a mock up for a project.

We seem to be blogging quite a bit lately, maybe we can keep it up! So keep checking back and tell your friends!

Apple is closing in on another historic milestone, 1 billion app downloads. That is mind boggling considering the iPhone is less than two years old and the actual apps themselves have been around for less than one year. You can almost imagine Steve Jobs ala Dr. Evil holding his pinky finger up to his face saying to Blackberry we have 1 BILLION DOWNLOADS!

I remember July of 2004 when the iTunes store was closing in on 100 million song downloads and thought that was very impressive, especially how only a few short years earlier downloading music online was the wild west. Fast forward nearly 5 years and we are again looking at something remarkable from Apple.

Just as the iPod pretty much crushed the competition for other MP3 players the iPhone is already on it’s way to do the same in the smart phone market. The only thing holding it back is it being limited to AT&T, once it is available on the other carriers game over for everyone else.

The slogan you hear in the iPhone commercials is dead on “An app for pretty much anything.” You can seriously find an app for anything you can think of and if you can’t just wait a few months and chances are you will find what you are looking for. One can only think of the type of apps that will be coming out later this year with the 3.0 OS Software due out later with the push technology and other exciting features.

A few weeks ago we ordered some stencils of the Digital Skratch circle logo and have some custom etched business cards coming soon from BlackBook Stencils. They are a cool company located in Fort Lauderdale that specializes in stencils, die cut business cards, etched books, sticker kits, basically anything relating to stencils and graffiti. We will be painting some skateboard decks with our DS stencils and will post pics when those are complete. We also worked with BlackBooks for the signs at our office for AgencyWeb.

We are going to be working with them and my good friend Jay on an upcoming project that we have been talking about for years. It’s exciting to finally get that going. Should be pretty creative and a nice long term thing we can really sink our teeth into.

One of my favorite design sites Smashing Magazine just posted a new article about Backgrounds in Web Design. The article talks about the new trend in web design about using backgrounds as the main focus of the design. The sites they feature are very impressive and I can’t wait to have the chance to try out some new ideas.

My favorite would have to be the SilverBack web site, resize your browser smaller and wider to see what I am talking about, very cool stuff!

The good thing is I have been designing sites like these over the past year or so for here at Digital Skratch or at my other company AgencyWeb. I’m looking forward to trying new trying some new techniques and keep coming up with creative designs that are also functional and search friendly.

Body and Content Background as One
www.greengarbagedesigns.com
www.lifeskillssouthflorida.com

A Subtle Texture
www.agencyweb.com
www.digitalskratch.com
www.localmojo.com

A Simple Gradiant
www.universalhc.com

Semi-Transparent Content Backgrounds in Layered Designs
www.ihoopmadness.com

I’m so excited our app is finally up! I’ve been working extremely hard on this project the last few months over at my other company AgencyWeb. This was a fun project as I got to be the project manager on it. This was the largest project I have been in charge on and really enjoyed it. I worked closely with Luke from Group Zero on a daily basis which was great. I made sure the app and back end of the website was easy to use and navigate while still maintaining nice aesthetics. I designed the front end of www.ihoopmadness.com and skinned the blog at www.ihoopmadness.com/blog.

We have had the app complete and ready to go for a week or so but have been in talks with BURGER KING® about sponsorship of iMadness 09. Thanks to them we are able to offer the first 100,00 downloads for free! So go download the best NCAA Basketball Bracket app for the iPhone for free while you can. Make sure you tell your friends so you can make leagues and fill out a bracket for the 2009 college basketball tournament. If your friends don’t have an iPhone or iPod touch they can still play along with you. Simply register for free at our site.

Also give our post a Digg to help get things started!

iMadness 09 is Available on the iPhone App Store

I changed the skin of our blog today. I think it reflects our corporate web site better and ties in nicely. I also changed the look of the AgencyWeb blog today. Now that we have this one updated, AW and the iMadness blog running maybe I’ll start to blog on a regular basis!

We have been working very hard at AgencyWeb over the last 5 months on an exciting project. We have developed iMadness 09, a college bracket app for the iPhone. Now when you do your office pool for the NCAA Basketball tournament you won’t have to fill out sheets of paper and try to keep track of everyones picks and scoring. iMadness will track the performance of your bracket, has the option for custom scoring with upsets, and can email a PDF file of your bracket for those who wish to print it out. The cool thing is you can create leagues with your friends who have iPhones and even those who don’t. The site will also link the leagues together for iPhone users so you can be in the same league as your friends across the country.

The app is due out very shortly along with the back-end of the web site. So check back here for updates or visit www.ihoopmadness.com and www.ihoopmadness.com/blog.

We launched the website for Green Garbage Designs. They specialize in eco-friendly clothing and jewelry. Go check them out for some cool gift ideas for the holiday season. We also launched another new site for Jack Lannom – Lannom Worldwide.