How to revolutionize the way you backup your data

I always struggled with backups. I manually used to copy my data all over the place, and the only automated backup technique I implemented on a Mac was Time

 

Machine. But that had positives (was natvely built in and supported by the OS and more importantly, when doing a bare-metal restore), and negatives (I didn't always trust it, it requires more disk space than what you're backup up and it is physically next to your device; a fire would take both out).

 

And of course, it isn't cross-platform. Not an issue in my household, but it might be in yours.

 

 

I have "talked" about Dropbox before, but its too expensive when you're planning to backup 500GB or so of data (yes, my pics and music is that big). I always struggled with what to use, and then came across two excellent services; Mozy.Com and CrashPlan. I ended up using CrashPlan primarily because

1. it supports machine to machine backups (you don't need to buy the cloud service)
2. its cheaper when you have multiple systems

 

I've got it seutp and am banging away at cloud and machine-to-machine backups. Lets see how it goes! But so far, very impressed with the tech and the concept.

 

OS X Lion

I downloaded and installed Lion from the Apple App Store. Grrr.

 

 

Definitely not going to tell you anything you don't already know or can't read from other sites. Just some thoughts;

 

1. Having a 4GB download sounds like a brilliant idea, until you realise you live in a country with shit broadband. Advice: copy the installer from the Applications folder to somewhere else after you've made the big investment
2. One of the least touted features of Lion is the Recovery Partition. Its excellent, and a welcome addition
3. Augmenting the above is the ability now to encrypt the entire OS file system using FileVault.
4. The natural gestures, LaunchPad (for iTards) and Mission Control are gimmicky. I've left them on, but don't think its anything wonderful.
5. The Apple ID is now quite pervasive in the OS; you link it to your user account, you assign encryption recovery keys to them etc, all pointing toward more powerful user and identity management across devices

 

Overall, on the surface, it feels like a maintenance release rather than a massive shift. But fundamental changes that improve security and manageability are never bad things. We'll just have to see how the big download concept works when you're not in the US or Europe.

B&W MM-1's

B&W is an old-school speaker manufacturer, and they've applied the same skills and history to computer speakers - the MM-1's.

 

These have been extensively reviewed, so here are the salient points;

 

• externally powered
• USB sound input (which utilises the on-board DSP)
• cabled output in case you want to run headphones
• a remote control (which integrates into iTunes)

 

They are phenomenally clear, with powerful bass which is amazing given the lack of a satellite sub-woofer. They're also attractive and fit in well if you're running any Mac.

 

A good purchase indeed.

Klipsch Image Audio X10i in-ear headphones

In-ear headphones are great; they're discrete, sound is generally good because its right there (no dispersion loss), and your skull is an awesome natural amplifier. Problem is, there are so many different varieties out there, its hard to tell which ones are decent.

 

I had a pair of Sennheiser CX-300's for a long time, and they were awesome. I had an opportunity to try something different, and ordered a pair of Klipsch's. These headphones are bar none the best in-ear headphones I've tried. They're ridiculously priced, but the audio quality is unparalleled. The controls on the cable are also very convenient, esp. when you can't reach your device to control pause, increase volume, etc.

 

Due to their design, they do attract quite a bit of gunk quite quickly (ew), but they include a fancy paper clip to clean them, so guess I'm not the only one.

 

Highly recommended!

 

PS. The provided case, while very pretty, isn't very durable and certainly won't last in a backpack filled with other stuff.

Sennheiser RS-180 wireless headphones

I'm a little fussy about the headphones I use; I've always been a fan of Sennheiser, and bought my first pair of over-ears from them - the PX200's. Besides for coming with the most ridiculous case, they are pretty good, and currently serve use as the resident bedside headphones.

 

They're light, relatively inexpensive and let enough noise in without affecting audio quality - useful for night-time listening. I had a pair of canal-ear style CX300's (excellent value for money) and CX400's (not worth the price difference and far too short a cable), but needed something for the office (see here for the current portable cans). I bought a pair of HD515's, but found the cord a real PITA on a desk; wires everywhere, too long, too short, etc, etc.

 

So I bought a pair of RS-180's for use at home; its sat on the shelf for a year, but the cord hassles at work forced me to try this out; I am truly amazed! These headphones are not only comfortable and attractive, but the cradle looks like a piece of art, and thanks to the Kleer technology in use, audio reproduction and quality is amazing.

 

Range is pretty good too; I can go for about 50m line of sight before encountering artifacts. Highly recommended!

 

PS. Price wise, they're outrageous. But so are good hearing aids ;-)

Android Market now available in SA!

One of my longest standing gripes with Google is the lack of availability in South Africa of paid market-apps! An announcement was made that clarifies that; the full Android market is coming to SA.

 

Brilliant news, and about bloody time!

Xoom running Honeycomb 3.1

I've managed to hack Honeycomb 3.1 onto the Motorola Xoom I am evaluating. The highlights that are outlined are all implemented, and to summarise;

• its faster
• screen transitions are smoother
• Adobe Flash seems to have less impact on the device
• Stock system widgets are now resizeable - duh!
• Most importantly, the e-mail client now actually deletes mail from IMAP servers

 

Its an incremental upgrade and should have been called 3.02. But hey, marketing.