Online BackUp - Carbonite

I finally decided on online backup as a method of backing up my computer data. I never thought I would pay a subscription fee for any internet service, but it is well worth it. I was pretty good about backing up my data on hard drives and DVDs, but as gigabytes of Caden's photos started to accumulate, I started to worry. A while back, a bunch of Caden's photos were on my compact flash card and somehow the card got corrupted. We were so sad because those pictures meant a lot to us and there was no way to get it back. We would do (or pay) anything, just to get those pictures back. Luckily, it seems that memory flash cards crash frequently and there was software out on the internet that tries to rescue those files. It took many hours, but I was able to restore 99% of the photos :)

So I thought about all the ways to backup my data since they are more precious to me than anything.

1. External Hard Drive - Very fast and convenient. But what happens if my internal drive gets larger than my external drive? Then I would have to keep buying larger and larger external drives. Also, what would happen if I connect my USB external drive to back up my internal drive and something happens? Like a power outage or whatever. It could damage BOTH my external and internal drive in which my data would be lost on both drives. What if there was a fire?

2. DVD - Inexpensive. But a lot of my data is growing larger than the 4GB capacity. Therefore, I have to span my backup across several DVDs. And what happens if I change a file on my computer after I already backed it up on DVD? I would have to do burn another back up. You have to be diligent when it comes to backing up your data on DVD. You have to know what you have or have not backed up and you have to back up often. Also, I heard that DVD media just like CDs dont last forever. I just cant imagine that after my PC crashes, I would go into my binder full of DVDs and find out that they all arent readable. All that work for nothing. Again, what if there was a fire?

3. Online Back Up (Carbonite) - Let me just list some of the PROS that I experienced thus far with this service:

• Unlimited Storage: Go ahead and store you're terabytes of data. All other online backups have a limit.
  
• Set it and forget it: You dont have to manage it at all. It will automatically backup whatever you specify. It will do it in the background and will NOT slow down your internet connection. Its smart enough to detect that if you are using the Internet, it wont do any backup transfers.
  
• Inexpensive: The price is just right. $5 per month. Its actually cheaper than $5 in their 1 or 2 year subscription. So instead of buying that external hard drive or all your DVD media or paying someone to retrieve data on your crashed hard drive, use the saved money on the monthly fee.
  
• Restore deleted files: Ever delete a file and then empty the recycle bin and then wish you could take that back?
  
• Restore files easy: When you install the software, it will add a Carbonite drive in your my computer, just like your C: drive and your dvd/cd drives. Just double click it and you'll be able to navigate through your already backed up files. Then just right click the file or folder you want restored and select "restore". That's it. Just wait and presto, the file is back on your computer in it original location.
  
• Fire proof: So let's say that you have a fire and your computer is burnt to a crisp. No problem. When you get your new computer, just install the software and download all the files that were on your burnt computer.

Now you might ask, what can go wrong? Okay let me tell you how you can lose all your data even with Carbonite. All of the following need to occur at the same.

1. Your hard drive crashes
2. Carbonite's server hard drives crashes.
3. Carbonite's backup data center crashes.

If only 1 of the above occurs, you still have your data right?
If your hard drive crashes, your data is still safe with Carbonite.
If Carbonite crashes, well duh, you still have your data on your computer.

I just signed up for a 2 year term. I highly recommend them.
For more info, click here to go to their website.

Haha, as I was finishing up writing this post, I blew a fuse at my house and my computer shut off instantly. Luckily, my computer survived. Phew.

Video on the Web - Update

Last year i researched and tested out dozens of video sharing sites so that I can post and manage my personal videos online. Unfortunately, I couldnt find one that I liked.

In my intial post about video on the web, I stated that I wanted 4 key features:
1. Quality
2. Flash Video
3. Sharing
4. Free

Most of the sites satisfied all of them except for the MOST important one - quality. Seems like all the sites had really bad quality when they do their conversion to the flash format. Sorry, but i just cant accept that. Youtube videos look really bad.

So until those video sites get better in their quality, I'll stick with my very manual but better quality method. I use Adobe premiere elements to edit and export the video. Then I use Flash Video Exporter that comes with Flash Pro 8 to optimze and convert the file to flv. And as a result, a much better quality video. Check out this silly video of my son.

"Get out of Verizon Wireless Contract" for Free

Verizon Wireless is increasing the text messages to 15 cents for receiving and sending on March 1st. Therefore, that allows us to cancel our contract without having to pay the normal cancellation fee. This is bad timing for Verizon since the new Cingular Apple iPhone is coming out in June. Verizon could potentially lose a lot of customer. I think Im on a 2 year contract, but I love Verizon because I never have any problems with them whatsoever. Read more about this here.

Apple iPhone - First Impressions

Today, Apple announced their new iPhone. To be honest, I didnt care much about it. That was until I actually saw pictures and features of the iPhone. This might be the phone that I've been waiting for. An all-in-one phone. A phone that can browse the internet, take pictures, listen to music, and that can also be your PDA. Yes, there are already phones that are capable of this (ie. Palm Treo, Motorola Q, BlackBerry, etc). But they seem to make things more complicated. Or sometimes, some features work well while others do not. The iPhone supposedly solves all that as I will discuss its features below.

Features

• Screen - The screen makes up most of the phone, since the keyboard is also on the screen. The other PDA phones are usually half screen, half keyboard which results in a small screen and a small keyboard. Also, you can tilt the iPhone to either vertical or horizontal and whatever is on the screen will conform to the portrait or landscape view. This is really good for displaying video or browsing the web.



• Keyboard - The keyboard is on the screen instead of physically on the phone. That's a good thing. But the question is, how well does it work with your fingers since it doesnt use a stylus. Oh yeah, no stylus, thats another good thing. Supposedly, its an "intelligent" keyboard and that it will know which letter you want to press without accidently pressing another letter. Hard to tell by looking at only screenshots, but my guess is that as you hover over a letter, the letter will pop out larger in size. If thats the case, then that's cool.



• Music - Plays music like an iPod. Nuff said.



• Video - Plays video like a PSP. Nice!



• Sensors - When you put the iPhone to your ear, the screen automatically turns off to prevent inadvertent touches. Now this is exactly what was need on my LG chocolate phone. Everytime, I would answer a call, the buttons on the front panel would be active, so when I put the phone to my ear, I would inadvertently press lots of different menu options and such. This is totally annoying. But I wonder how the sensor knows that Im putting it to my ear?



• OS X - Not Windows Mobile, Not Palm, Not blackberry, but OSX?! Wow, first time a phone PDA actually uses a real OS, instead of some modified and customized version of an OS. Does this mean it can run OS X applications too? Powerful!



• Phone - Oh yeah, its a phone too. Phone looks really easy to use. Especially with large and simple icons and using your fingers to dial.


• Wifi - connect to your wifi router for internet.



• Bluetooth - connect to computer or other cool bluetooth stuff.



• Multi touch - Okay so this is something really cool and exciting. Its all about the natural way we would interact with a touch panel display. This involves how the iPhone reacts to your finger movements. For example, how would you normally browse photos? The old way would be to use your stylus and click on the "next" button. But on the iPhone, you would just put your finger on the picture and swipe it to the left or right and you will see the next photo scrolling sideways accordingly. Hard to explain. But check out this video at a TED conference to find out more about this interaction.

Final thoughts

Im actually really impressed with what Apple has done with the iPhone. They really solved a lot of key issues when it came to the cell phone PDA market. Im also surprised and wonder how they kept it secret for 30 months without any leaks.

Now the question is, will I buy it? I dont think so, but we'll see. I would have to change my wireless provider from Verizon to Cingular (Verizon is the best!) I would also have to pay a lot more monthly for the internet plan. Do I really need to surf the internet when Im not at a computer? Very cool, but not a necessity. But then again, i dont have to use it for internet.

I think these are going to sell like hotcakes. Way to go Apple.

Simplicity Is Highly Overrated

I ran across Don Norman's article called "Simplicity Is Highly Overrated". It's exactly how I feel about today's products. Most of today's products contain way too many features and are therefore too complicated. I mean how many of the features do we really use? Dont get me wrong, I love features too. But when features start getting in the way of simplicity, that's where I draw the line.

Im a very simple person. I like things simple. I like things that make my life more simple. However, it seems that most of things that are suppose to make my life more simple actually does quite the opposite. Im mostly referring to technology and the internet. Seems like we are working more for them, then they are for us.

And that's where my blog comes in. My goal is to find technologies and websites that actually make our lives simpler. Im a lazy person and I want technology to do most of my work instead of the other way around.

So there you have it. I will blog about cool/useful web sites and write reviews on computers/electronics/services. I will tell you what I love and what I hate without holding back. And occasionally, I will post some crazy bargain deals as well as some not too personal stories of my life.

rogerchew.com 2.0

Happy New Year! What better way to bring in the new year with a site redesign. Yeah, yeah. I know...another redesign. I just wasnt satisfied with the design of my site. The previous designs weren't "web 2.0" enough for me. I also changed my web hosting provider in which I'll post a review of later. Anyways, I didnt add much stuff, but Im planning on it adding lots of cool new stuff this year. This year I plan to spend more time on updating my blog (at least once a week?). I'm going to try something new. Im planning on posting reviews of products, services, and web sites. So stay tuned for more.

Why the Button Fly?

I swear that the last 5 pair of pants I bought were button fly. WHY?! I hate button fly. What's wrong with the zipper? It is suppose to be more "fashionable"? You cant even see it. I googled this topic and I found an interesting blog about it that I totally agree with (see below). I dont know anyone who would prefer button fly vs. zipper. If you do, please let me know. Otherwise, I think we should get rid of the button fly.

As I was putting on a fairly new pair of pants today, I wondered why the clothing company had decided to use a button fly instead of a zipper fly. Three of my four newest pairs of pants have button flies on them, and while I like the pants for other reasons, I can't stand having to button them up. What exactly do people find so compelling about button flies, anyway?

The way I see it, zippers have several advantages:

They are easier to use: Grab the tab and pull vs. find the slot, hold the button just right, insert the button through the slot, repeat.
They are quicker: They take less than a second to use, compared to five or more fumbling seconds with the button fly.
They are less visible: One simple flap easily covers the zipper, as opposed to a second flap that bulks up the fly area and can be seen from the right side.
Now, I suppose some may view the third bullet point as an advantage for the button fly, but I'm guessing most are with me on that one.

So why would anyone prefer button flies? Do they last longer? Are they less likely to come undone? Are they part of a larger trend toward 19th-century style?

Can somebody enlighten me on this one? If anyone out there prefers the button fly, please post a comment explaining your rationale.

Check out the comments on this post, they are hilarious.

Free AVG Antivirus no longer free

AVG antivirus was the free program I used on all my computers. Starting January, it is no longer free.

So I found another free antivirus program that I've been using to replace it.

Its called Clamwin.



UPDATE: Looks like AVG was trying to trick us into upgrading to a paid version with all of its warning pop up messages. But in fact, AVG will still be offering a FREE 7.5 version.
Available at www.free.grisoft.com
For more info, check out the forums

Black Friday Deal - 1GB Sandisk Micro USB Flash Drive

Lots of deals this past Black Friday. Nothing I wanted except for a USB flash drive. The 42 inch Panasonic Plasma for $999 at Best Buy was a good deal though. Anyways, I got the Sandisk 1GB Micro USB Flash drive for cheap. Too bad I had to wake up at 6am to buy it online at Staples. Staples Easy Rebates are the best. No need to submit the receipt and the upc code. Everything is done online. This is how all rebates should be done.

$39.98 - $25 (instant coupon) - $7 (easy rebate) + tax = $9.

The Perfect Laptop Mouse

My pursuit of finding the perfect laptop mouse has ended. But before I tell you which mouse it is, let me give you some history.

A couple of years ago, I wanted a mouse for my Dell 700m laptop. My laptop is very small and has 12 inch screen. So I wanted a very small mouse to match. It would look ugly with a regular size mouse.

I found the Kensington Mini USB pocketmouse. I chose it because it connected via USB, it had a retractable cord, and it was extremely small.


Then came wireless usb mice. No wires...cool. But with wireless mice, you need to bring 2 things along, the mouse and the usb adapter. Thats just silly. Why do I want to bring more things along. So I got a mouse that had the usb adapter that seamlessly fit inside the mouse. COOL!


Then I started thinking to myself. I still have to carry both my laptop and mouse separately. Wouldnt it be cool to have a PCMCIA mouse, that way the mouse is always inside the laptop? Low and behold came the PCMCIA mouse. And last but not least, the ultimate laptop mouse. A bluetooth, PCMCIA mouse. Why is it cool?

1. No usb connection whatsover
2. No batteries needed because it charges inside the laptop.
3. No need to carry it around since its stored inside the laptop.
4. No wires.

Nuff said. Stop drooling. Introducing the Bluetooth MoGo Mouse:


Too bad I dont have internal bluetooth on my laptop :(