One of our 'Fill the Beetle to Feed the People' events

With the help and feedback of many clients and Nerds, we have now had 3 weeks of Nerd News (our Friday newsletter).  We encourage you to check them out (clients should have them in your mailbox as well, starting with last week’s newsletter:

More options:

If you’d like to subscribe to our weekly newsletter, click here. You can view all past issues here. Subscribe to the RSS feed here.

As always, we would love to have YOUR feedback. Anything you’d like to see us add to our weekly newsletter? Let us know in the comments, via email (socialmedia[at]nerdsonsite.com), or on Facebook and Twitter.

Here are the latest issues: November 11th, November 18th,  November 25th

[This post is from Wendy Smith, a Nerd in Johannesburg, SA.]

[Another local Nerd] brought up a VERY interesting question at our POD Meeting on Friday. It went something like this…

How much did you learn on a ‘not-so-good’ day, as opposed to how much did you learn on a good day when everything went well?

I learned more than I could have ever imagined possible this week during my “not-so-good-week”, which was fraught with crisis on top of each other. I dug deep and made sure I used the towel to soak up the tears instead of throwing it in. I discovered an ability to make the most out of extenuating circumstances, and I persevered beyond the point I normally would not have! I’ve become a better person for it – I have much more peace in my heart – I know I can OVERCOME – I know there are many in the team who helped in my time and need, and their support is MUCH appreciated.

Thank you for easing the bend in my learning curve! In hindsight: I’m thankful for my ‘not-so-good’ week, and look forward to ones to come, because I WILL overcome them!

What would you do if a disaster happened?

When people mention they have backups, we ask them if they have an OFFSITE/Online backup. Most don’t – and once we remind them about Fire/Flood/Theft, and How INEXPENSIVE Nerds Backup ($1.50 per GB) is compared to losing all their files…they’re eager to sign up!

In regards to security concerns, your files are protected using 448 bit Blowfish Encryption before they leave your PC. This extremely secure “bank grade”encryption algorithm has never been cracked. Your files are then stored in this encrypted state at our secure data center. This means that each user also gets a unique encryption key tied to their username and password. This encryption key ensures that while your data is securely stored at our data center, only you have access to your data. In fact, even our most privileged systems administrators do not have the ability to decrypt your data.

Your data is kept in a state-of-the-art data centre alongside the systems of several major banks. This highly secure physical infrastructure includes the latest in biometric authentication, video surveillance and round-the-clock security officers. Your data is stored at one of Acpana’s data centres and only you have access. All data stored at the data centre and any communication with the data centre is two-way encrypted.

More information about our security methods and FAQs can be found on our website.
All clients should have their data backed up! We encourage you to try Nerds Backup for free for 14 days! If you have any questions, feel free to ask via email (backupservice@nerdsonsite.com), phone, Twitter, or Facebook!

We are thrilled to be working with the folks over at London LAWN (@londonlawn) to bring free WiFi to downtown London, Ontario. Local businesses are working together to make downtown London a WiFi enabled area, and here is an article from their perspective.  A BIG thanks to our London computer repair team!

Here is a page showing real-time usage of the London LAWN WiFi network. In the past week along, 544 clients transferred 68.14 GB!

“Launched in September  2011, LAWN (The London Area Wireless Network) currently covers three blocks of Dundas Street, from Talbot to Wellington Streets,” mentions the article. “It is an open and publicly accessible WiFi network that provides free access to the core’s growing population of smartphone, tablet, and laptop users. Whether you work, live, or shop in the city’s core, or just welcome an extra incentive to make the downtown experience better, LAWN is providing a viable and valuable service.”

We helped with a similar project in Lethbridge, Alberta.

If this sounds like something your city or town would be interested in, please let us know!

Nerds On Site Gift eCertificates are a great way for your associates, friends and family to get to experience the passion eNerds have for technology and what it can do for people.

You can purchase a Gift eCertificate in any amount ranging from $50 up to $250, in increments of $50.

The Gift eCertificate will be sent to you as a link in an email. When you open up that link in a web browser, it will display your Gift eCertificate. You can forward that email to the intended recipient or print it yourself for a physical copy.
Obtaining a Gift eCertificate is fast and easy – simply click on the purchase link above or read our FAQ section for more information!

[this post is from Ben Wiper, a Nerd in Nova Scotia, Canada]

“It’s waaaaay faster!”

Those are the words of my client who recently switched from another provider’s dedicated web server to Nerds Shared Linux Hosting package.

My client had a dedicated server with assisted server support from another provider for around $300/month.

After confirming some things with our Hosting Team, I approached my client about switching to Nerds Hosting with Nickel NerdCare (no CMS, so Silver is not an option).

With much (MUCH!) assistance from our team, we were able to migrate their massive subscriber and article database, front-end, back-end, and email distribution scripts over to our new system.

The end results:
-client now has a trial subscription form, subscribe online form, and daily publication distribution mechanism that is far more secure
-Client retains the same level of support for their hosting
-Client will save about $225/month
-Proven 20-30% faster performance on database queries and page load times
-Happier client with more money in their wallet!

The client is now planning to convert their site to WordPress with Nerds and upgrade to our Silver NerdCare in the next 6-12 months!

[this post is from Tim Frayne, a Nerd in Kelowna, Canada]

It’s Movember, the month formerly known as November, dedicated to growing moustaches and raising awareness and funds for men’s health issues, specifically cancers affecting men. Please support my efforts by making a donation at http://mobro.co/timthenerd/d.

We only have a month to grow and support these Movember moustaches, so please come along for the ride. I will be updating my Mospace page daily with pictures and posts.

Thank you for donating at http://mobro.co/timthenerd/d and for helping me change the face of men’s health.

[this post is from Jonathan Arnoldussen, a Nerd in Lethbridge, Canada, and co-leader of our Online Services Team]

Great News on NerdSpotting! The response to this new app & website has been incredible! Our team has been working extremely hard on this since we launched it, and we have even more updates to report.

First, all posts are now automatically posted to our blog (yep, this one right here!), which then appear on our Facebook fan page and our Twitter account!

Second, you can now visit NerdSpotting, and on the right column you can now filter the images based on geographical location.

Thirdly, our Android app is currently in testing and will probably be submitted to the Android App Store within the next couple of days!

This week, we launched NerdSpotting.com, which is a fun (and free!) iPhone app (direct link to App Store) that lets anyone instantly take a photo of a Nerd from Nerds On Site, of their NerdMobile, or both! It’s a cool way to show that we have Nerds helping business owners with their technology around the world!

Nerds On Site is a GLOBAL team, and now you can see just how global we are! Check out the website to see some of the places our Nerds and NerdMobiles have been spotted!

[this post is from Dennis Houseknecht, a Nerd in Virginia, USA]

QR codes are popping up everywhere – and they are very convenient. Not surprisingly, they are also an opportunity to send users to malicious websites.

This is a significant risk, especially for Android users. Whether you love and Android or “not-so-much”, there is not doubt that the wide-open nature of the platform makes is more susceptible to attacks.

Norton recently released a new free scanner that helps mitigate the risk. It checks the URL first, even if it is obfuscated behind a shortened version. An IOS version will be coming soon.

“If you’re like us you are seeing QR codes everywhere these days”, explains Symantec’s website. “They’re on TV, on the subway, on your mail. There’s a good reason — they make it easy to get more information using your mobile phone or tablet. But the problem is that a QR code can point to a website, and it’s often impossible to tell if the website is safe.”

This will not eliminate all risk, but every little bit helps.

Note: The QR code above links to the Android marketplace application page.