Cat Attacks the World Cup
As you see in my last post, we recently got a new cat in the household. Oreo has proven to be a pure delight to our family. I never thought I would own a cat but she is awesome.
We have found that our camera and video recorder is filling up with some of the kooky things she does. You can see some of the photos over at my web album here.
I was watching the World Cup on Sunday and caught this on video. I labeled the video Cat Reacts to the World Cup but my friend Jon had a better title. Cat Attacks the World Cup.
Enjoy!
Meet Oreo
Well, after months without a pet, since our 13 year old dog Roxy died back in September, we have a new addition to the family. Meet Oreo.
I’ve never been much of a cat person having been raised with dogs all my life but I don’t mind cats too much. Correction: We had a cat once when I was in high school but it was an outside cat that never came inside, and I don’t remember us having it too long either.
At first, I protested us acquiring a cat since I didn’t think we were ready for a new pet but since meeting the cute little bugger I gave in. She’s been a delightful distraction from the stress of life.
Here’s a HD video of little miss Oreo I took with my new Flip UltraHD:
eReader on a Netbook
With the upcoming release of the iPad tomorrow, everyone is going iPad crazy. Debates and discussions are flying everywhere about what is good and bad about the product; most of those I have been involved with have been over at The Unique Geek discussion group. Well, I honestly have no want for the iPad or any other tablet-like device in the immediate future. I am going to try to be patient to see what other manufacturer comes out with in the coming years. The ones I will actually be looking closer at will be those running Android. Having recently switched from an iPhone to the open platform of an Android powered device that is the Droid, I have been really impressed with that operating system. With the flux of tablet devices hitting the market recently, and in the coming months, I have high expectations that these devices will only get better, and cheaper, over time. Right now I just see no need to own a tablet device. The only need I have seen is the ability to read electronic books.
As mentioned previously, I have been on this mission to reduce space in my house with the elimination of books and other media. Well, recently I have started using the eReader application on my Droid and Dell Mini netbook and I have to say, for now, it does what I need it to do. If you have never used the eReader application, try it out, it’s free. The only issue I have found so far is that the electronic book prices in their market are a little higher than the rest of the market, as compared to Amazon’s and Barnes & Noble ebooks. If you are curious, here is what the eReader looks like on a netbook turned to portrait mode:
The advantage I have on this netbook is that the computer came with an Intel graphics card that has the ability to rotate 90, 180 and 270 degrees. All that I have to do is launch the eReader application and then hit a keyboard shortcut combination of CTRL+ALT+LEFT and the display rotates. As you see in the above picture, I can then hold my netbook almost like a standard size hardback book. Granted, this is not a perfect solution but for now this will work perfectly until 1.) I can find a practical need for a tablet device, 2.) devices advance technologically, and 3.) the devices and the media for the devices become more competitive and affordable.
Flip UltraHD Battery Charging Issue
In case you do not follow my Twitter account, I posted a short video from my Motorola Droid on Qik regarding the purchase of a Flip UltraHD back in January. Here is the video:
Well, after owning my second Flip product, I’ve run into a pretty common issue with the UltraHD that a lot of other people have run into. It took me a while to find the solution online so I thought I would post it again on my blog. Here are the steps:
1) remove the battery pack from the camcorder
2) connect the camcorder to a powered USB port on your computer
3) when the “Connected” indicator comes on, insert the battery pack into the camcorder
4) safe eject your camcorder from your computer
5) reconnect your camcorder to your computer
6) the battery pack should now begin to charge within the camcorder
Some people who have attempted these steps have stated that it did not work for them. At first, it did not work for me either but I found one owner who stated that they had to perform the steps more than once before the problem was fixed. I tried the steps again myself and the problem was fixed. So, if those steps don’t work for you try it more than once.
Good luck.
Data Backup – Part 2
In part one of my two part article on backups I submitted an old post on backups. In this post, part 2, I will discuss my research on online backup services, like Dropbox, Carbonite and others. I will also discuss my final choice of service and why I chose it.
First, lets start with an old favorite I was using for a couple of years, Box.net. I believe this is one of the few first online backup service that offered the option to upload your files for data storage and data sharing. I first tried their 1 GB free service almost three years ago, mainly to share files with friends and family, and for times I needed to post videos and such to this blog (before I discovered Vimeo). But then I found out that their free service only allowed a 10 MB file upload limit – they have since changed that to 25 MB. Due to that limitation I decided to sign up for their 5 GB storage for $5 a month; I used that service up until a month ago, for over two years. To keep this article relatively short, I will only post the key features of Box.net and the other services I researched.
- Good: Web link to private files for sharing; files accessible from anywhere via web; online drag and drop files; 1 GB free
- Moderate: folder sharing, but only with another Box.net user
- Bad: No desktop client synchronization; no security for personal edition (business edition only); $5/month for 5 Gb; $10/month for 10 GB with 1 GB file limit
One of the few reasons I left Box.net was because they do not have a desktop client for easy uploading and synchronization. I’ve contacted their customer service about this and they stated that there is no plan in the near future to offer a desktop client.
- Good: 5 GB free; desktop client; files accessible from anywhere via the web
- Moderate: N/A
- Bad: Adds Live Desktop remote desktop (mirror drivers installed) without the option to deselect; no security; No web link to private shared files
I was using Live Mesh for close to a year until I ran into an issue with the mirrored drivers that are installed when you install the Live Mesh client. As mentioned above, these drivers are used for the remote desktop feature that allows you the ability to remote into your computer from anywhere you have an internet connection. I believe the service is still in beta so I hope in the future they change this so that you have the choice to install the remote desktop client when you install the Live Mesh Client. Also, since I use Logmein Free to access my computers remotely, there was no need to continue using Live Mesh.
- Good: 25 GB free; folder sharing; online drag and drop files; files accessible from anywhere via web
- Moderate: Desktop client synchronization via third party tools (SDExplorer)
- Bad: no security; No web link to private files
- Good: 2 GB free with the ability to gain extra storage with every referral; desktop client; files accessible from anywhere via web; sync files of any size; secure transfer and online encryption; use on unlimited devices; works on Windows, Mac and Linux
- Moderate: folder sharing, but only with another Dropbox user; Public folder with web link to files; $10/month for 50 GB
- Bad: No web link to private files
For most people who want online storage and have less that 2 GB of data, I would highly recommend Dropbox. The ease of use alone is one of the main reasons I would recommend. For someone like my Dad who only has a few documents but has more than a 100 MB of photos, this was the perfect choice for him. I’ve used it (and still use it from time to time), mainly, for purposes of sharing files with my family.
- Good: 2 GB free; folder sharing; desktop client as a Windows Explorer view; $10/month for 100 GB; sync files of any size; use on unlimited devices; works on Windows, Mac and Linux; secure transfer and online encryption
- Moderate: sharing folders is a little difficult to setup
- Bad: No web link to private files
Before a friend’s recommendation, I had never heard of Spideroak. I first signed up with Spideroak’s free service to check out their desktop client and was immediately impressed. With services like Live Mesh and Dropbox, their client is a predetermined folder that is installed on your computer. To backup files you have to dump your data into this folder. However with Spideroak’s desktop client you have a explorer-like interface that will show you the folder structure. If you want to backup a folder or file all you need to do is make a checked selection on that folder or file for it to be backed up. Very simple.
- Good: desktop client that encompasses the entire computer; $55/year unlimited; works on Windows and Mac; sync files of any size
- Moderate: N/A
- Bad: only sync one machine; no web access to files; no sharing of files or folders
With Carbonite, its only function is to backup your computer, at that’s it. Once you install the client all you need to do is right click on a folder or file and enable Carbonite to back it up to the “cloud“. Its really straight forward and nothing fancy about the service.
- Good: $60/year for 100 GB
- Moderate: N/A
- Bad: client – after installing I couldn’t create the free 2 GB account they advertised because it would not allow me to choose a storage package. Also, it minimizes to the system tray but has no option to close without killing the process in Task Manager; works only on Windows
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