Hey there hidi-ho neighbor!
Sorry, had a Tim Allen “Home Improvement” flashback.
Anyway it’s Friday and that means we need to talk about some backup stuff.
Today is going to be lightweight.
Once you have your backups done, it important to get them away from the computer with the original files. Store your backups in a safe place.
Here are my top 5 places to store my backups.
1) Bank Safe Deposit box
· Great because it’s temperature controlled, fire protected, and pretty darn secure. If they are protecting cash and other valuables, it’s a chinch the ole hard drive is in a safe spot.
2) Home Fireproof Safe
· Not a bad choice but most fireproof safes are somewhat expensive. However most fire resistant safes will hold your drive for a short period of time before heat may become a factor. Of course the safe could be in your garage as an extra level of safety.
3) Locked in a desk drawer at work
· Make sure to take it with you if you get released.
4) At a family member’s home or home of a trusted friend.
· Make sure that you can trust that friend or family member to take good care of your valuable data.
5) With a online data backup company.
· This can be a choice if you have small amounts of data. Companies like Mozy or Carbonite are choices to look into for online backups. You’ll need a high speed internet connection to use this type of backup. The more data you have, the longer it takes to backup that data. Also if the company goes out of business, so does your data. So choose wisely. This would be my last choice.
There are probably other places to store your backup, but these are the ones that I have used and I really don’t like digging holes in the back yard any more.
The important thing is to keep a second copy of your data somewhere away from your Mac or PC so that if your computer got destroyed or stolen, you would have your data to restore to the replacement Mac or PC.
Of course Friday is the day we must have a musical selection to start the weekend with.
This week I stumbled upon this flashback favorite from the days of Big Hair, really too tight pants on men, moon boots, and such. Enjoy!
Make sure to tune you radio to 760 on the AM dial for "The Internet Advisor Show" . I will be on with the gang from 4-6 PM on Saturday 1-30-2010. Get more details at the website.
It’s called the iPad.
Yesterday Apple revealed the latest device to get us all excited.
If you haven’t read about it click here.
It’s really a sleek beauty and as I was looking at it I wondered “What would I use this device for?” I see all the things Apple has suggested; email, browsing the internet, reading eBooks, watching movies, photos, iTunes, calendar, contacts, you name it.
My first thought was as a drawing pad. When I was younger, much younger, I’d take my drawing pad around with me and cuddle up to a corner on the couch and draw. I’d sit in a chair and draw. I’d sprawl across the floor and draw. My drawing pad went everywhere with me. That behavior lasted until college and me eventually getting too busy to take my drawing pad everywhere with me.
There are apps that let you create drawings on the iPod and iPhone, but really now. The thought of using the iPad for something like that is exciting.
I’ve already thought about my uses for the iPad.
It is very appealing to me and creativity.
Do you like the iPad?
What would you use it for?
Hmm, what to blog about today? Is there anything going on in the Apple realm?
Of course, anyone in the Apple blogosphere posting today about anything other than the new Apple device, which the whole world expects to be some sort of tablet, is wasting their time.It seems like the entire tech world is holding its breath waiting to see what Jobs and company have for us this time.
When the first iPhone was announced, many thought they knew what to expect – and Apple surprised just about everyone. Today, everybody thinks the new tablet/slate/pad will be a larger iPhone/iPod Touch. That certainly seems to be likely, but I would never bet against Apple coming up with something else to surprise us.
So what can I say that hasn't already been said in the rumor sites? Nothing. I can tell you that I hope the new device gives us a choice of data carriers (if indeed it's connected, as pretty much everyone believes it will be). I'm also hoping for a camera that faces the user for video chats (and wouldn't it be nice to have one facing the other way as well?). We already know that the iPhone can support decent e-readers, and so with the expected larger screen, we can hope for a better e-book experience.
I would also expect the price point to fit somewhere in the $600-$800 range, otherwise you're getting too close to a MacBook. Of course, when the iPod Nano came out, and it was close in price to the far larger (in capacity and size) "classic" iPod, I thought Apple had priced it way too high – and they couldn't make enough of them, so what do I know?
I'll be updating this post after the announcement with my impressions of the new device (and any other announcements that may be made) but I won't change the above to make my predictions look better
. So after you follow along on the web (a couple of great places that usually do live blogging are Engadget and The Mac Observer) come on back for my take.
Update: Ok, as Steve says below, the iPad has been announced, and at a somewhat aggressive price point. I'm still not sure I'll be getting one – there are some nice features (the superior ebook experience, the video at a size I'd be willing to look at for more than 5 minutes, and the iWork suite – yes, I know there's document read/write programs for the iPhone, but the screen is too small for me to do any real editing). I also like the keyboard/dock (wonder if it will work with an iPhone?). But other tan the e-book experience, I'm not sure it's worth it since I already have a MacBook Pro I take a lot of places. I probably would take the iPad to some places I wouldn't take the laptop. So I'll have to think about it.
If you're looking for a cheaper system than a MacBook for mainly web surfing, email, and light documents, I think this is a winner. While it doesn't run Mac software, getting, say, a MacBook Air doesn't do you much more good, because it's too underpowered for tasks much heavier than e-mail/web/documents. So something to keep in mind.
I've been providing tech support for more years than I care to remember, on both Mac and Windows. The panic call that I receive most often is "I can't find that file, and I need it now! Oh, and I can't remember what I called it." Great. Dandy. Sheesh.
Now, my physical desk and office are never neat, I admit it, but I've always tried to not let that extend to my computers. Organizing a computer is not that difficult, and it simplifies finding and backing up files.
Think of your hard drive as big filing cabinet. Each drawer represents a folder in that drive, one for Applications, one for Documents, one for System. Get the picture? There are subfolders in each of those drawers. My Documents folder (drawer) is broken up into subfolders for various categories, like MacGroup, business files, financial documents. The Financial documents folder is broken down by tax year. Is the picture clearing more?
Having the folder hierarchy in place and understanding it is only good as long as you use it. When you save a document, DON"T just blindly hit save. If all you see is a short menu when the save dialog box comes up, click on that little triangle next to the file name and you will have a much better finder window to work with. Click through to the specific folder for that document before you save. Even if you can't remember the name of the document or the date it was created, you have at least limited your search area.
If you are working on something that is going to take several sessions to complete, you can save it to the desktop to make it easier to find, but please don't leave it there. The desktop may seem like a good place to park things, but do it on a temporary basis only. The more cluttered your desktop, the slower your computer will run. When you finish with something, but it away in the proper folder. When you look for it six months from now, it will be much easier to find.
And before someone calls me out on it, yes, you will find more than one Application, Documents, etc. folder. You have the root level that gives access to all users on that computer, and you have User level which keeps files available to that user only. As you can see from the screen captures, I keep all of my applications and documents at root level. I'm the only one who uses my computers, and if I need to create a clean identity to troubleshoot problems, I still want access to my files. Use whichever you like, but be consistent.
Use data detectors to create/update contacts
Mac OS X Leopard and Snow Leopard offer Data Detectors in Mail. This means that the Mail app is scanning the message you're viewing for common things like phone numbers, addresses, dates, email address etc. You can use these Data Detectors to update your Address Book. You can use them to either update an existing contact or create a new one.
Use notes to keep other info about the contact
I use the notes field at the bottom of the contact record in Address Book all the time. It's great for additional information about the contact that I don't want to necessarily create a field for. For example, one of the uses I use it for is to put in the hours of operation for a business or store. Since notes also sync to your iPhone/iPod this information will be displayed when you bring up this contact on your portable device too.
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I'd like to extend a warm welcome and thanks to those NEW members that recently joined and existing members that renewed:
Welcome New Members
Juanita Jones, PMP
Mark Niemenski
William Nolan
Welcome Returning Members
Cliff Bennett
Frances Carr
Gay Eversole
James Miller
Bruce Mitchell
Robin Moulder-McComb
Erick Reickert
Anthony Strump
Martin Waldman
Thank you for continuing to make MacGroup Strong!
As you may know by now, every week I try to bring you something that is useful in the area of data backup. Sometimes it may be a hardware piece or some new and nifty software item. This weeks blog will not contain either. We will focus on a simple practice of not hoarding useless data.
I was inspired.
A friend of mine who is an avid photographer found that he had over 30,000 photographs that he really did not use or need in his computer. Of course because he backs up his computer on a regular basis, he was also backing up 30,000 photographs he really did not need. Realizing this, he decided it was time to delete these “useless” files and save him from keeping data he did not need.
Cleanliness is next to happiness.
So you say, “what do you mean by that Calvin?” Well, let me tell you. There are a lot of benefits to “cleaning house” of files you do not need on your computer. I will list those benefits here.
1. Faster Backups – Less data to copy, faster backup.
2. More space for new projects – why take up space on hard disk storage with stuff not being used or wanted.
3. Less wear and tear on hard drive – with less for the system to keep track of, the less hard drive activity.
4. Less to worry about in case of loss – Why fret over losing 100 gigabytes of data when only 20 gigabytes of data was really being used.
5. Easier to find things – Even with Spotlight and a well planned out folder system, when the number of files get really large, the search can be long.
6. Last but not least – WHY BE A PACK RAT?
So with Spring coming in a few months, why not consider planning on doing some cleaning of the hard drive of your computer as well.
For the stylish “Geekette”
I was doing some research on the Internet and came across this item of apparel that should be a must in all female Twitter fans wardrobe. I would imagine this would have been a real style setter at last weeks Detroit Auto Show Charity Preview. However a pump or slingback would be more appropriate than a T-strap at the Preview. I am sure there was some tweeting going on there that night.
Of course no Friday post would be complete without a classical music video selection
This week I offer up the 1983 video that shows when an underdog or someone who is viewed as “not so cool”, gets her revenge against the oppressor. It goes with the Twitter hose. Also nothing says more about who you are better than a fur covered guitar. Enjoy!
Catch me this upcoming Saturday evening between 5PM and 7PM on Radio AM 760 WJR as I co-host “The Internet Advisor Show”! Of course if you miss it, you can download the podcast of the show from the Internet Advisor website.
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One of the wonderful things about Address Book is that it works with many other apps and functions. Having Address Book sync across my computer, iPhone and MobileMe is a combination made in computer and time-management heaven.
I love being able to enter a new contact while I’ll out and about and have that information at my computer when I get back in front of it.
Address Book works as a Contacts manager but it does this in helpful ways that you might not think of, for instance with Safari. No doubt that some of your contacts have web sites listed within their contact information. What if, one day, you needed to visit the site. You might think that you have to open up Address book, retrieve the contact and click on their URL link.
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Well, yes you would. But having a shortcut preference set in Safari is a much easier and faster way to access this information. It brings all of the web sites from your Address Book contacts to you.
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I bought several wireless Mighty Mice and one wired one when they first came out. I really like the Mighty Mouse, except for the trackball. You know, the one that gums up and then eventually dies (or only works in one direction). When it all works, it's great, but the frustration of the trackball failures (all but one of my mice – the wired one – are broken) just leaves you wishing for a better product.
So I was very happy to see Apple introduce the Magic Mouse. I picked up a couple, one for my main machine, a first gen MacPro, and the other for my first gen Intel iMac.I have to say, I *love* this mouse – on the iMac. It tracks very well, the scrolling works perfectly, and it never disconnects. I wish I could say the same for the one on the MacPro.
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