Jason’s Random Thoughts

How often do you back up your files?  I know I’ve asked this question several times before, but with so much of our personal lives now being stored in digital format, protecting that data has become a critical part of our regular computer maintenance.  You do maintain your computer … right?

I recently found out about an online backup service that offers free accounts up to 2 GB for users, and an unlimited service for under $50 a year.  IDrive-E is an incredibly easy to use service that has many useful features not found with the competition, such as Mapped Drive support.  Considering how the service was free for the first two gig, I created an account and downloaded their IDrive-E Classic Interface software to give it a test drive.

After a quick backup of some hefty files, I can sum up my experience with this software in one word:  slick.

I’ve been looking for some insanely easy to use software for family memers as they have thousands of digital photos, a DVD burner, and yet never once made a backup of these digital memories.  In the last few years they’ve lived through several computer failures, and each time they lose data.  Some can be recovered, but in many cases, pictures and documents are somtimes lost forever.  What they need is something that will run in the background and back up their files intelligently everyday, or every few days.  But the software needs to be easy, and they don’t want to pay money for the service.

IDrive-E fits the bill perfectly.

There are several aspects of this service that I like.  The data is encrypted before being sent over the internet and archived, the backup schedule can be set to whatever you need it to be, backups are incremental (meaning that you’re not sending files again and again if they haven’t been updated), and you even have version control on files.  This can be incredibly useful if you need a copy of your resume from two weeks ago before you accidentally over-wrote it.

For people wanting to back up more than two gigabytes of data, there is a package available for $4.95 a month (or $49.50 if you prepay the year) and this will provide “unlimited storage”.  That said, according to their Conditions of Use page, unlimited really means 150 Gig.  This should be plenty for most people, as backing up large video files or audio collections shouldn’t be done online.

Are you using an online backup service?  What features do you look for when choosing one?

This has been a sponsored post obtained through PayPerPost.

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After several weeks of silence on NASA’s Rover Mission page, the rovers have resumed operations!

NASA’s twin Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, are beginning to move again after being put into a deep hibernation mode for six weeks due to the severe dust storms that swept across the planet in late June.  The storms hit just as Opportunity was poised to enter Victoria crater, which scientists believe may contain crucial geological records of past conditions on Mars.  However, after a month-long dust storm, I wonder how easy it will be for the machines to maneouver and get through all the sand.

The storms had blocked most of the sunlight required for the rover’s solar panels to generate power.  Both robots had to stop driving, and Opportunity was running so low on power that NASA through it might “freeze to death” during the frigid Martian night.  Luckily, the storms have receded and both rovers are about to start driving towards their targets.

Dust left over from the storms is still causing some problems, however.  Some dust appears to have fallen onto the lens of Spirit’s microscopic imager when the protective cover was opened.  The imager is one of several instruments attached to the end of Spirit’s robotic arm and is used to return detailed observations of rocks and soil.

In an attempt to remove the dust, scientists have been pointing the imager directly down, then opening and closing the cover as a form of “robotic blinking”.  Some dust has come off this way, and the image quality is a bit better, but still less than before the storms.

As dust settles out of the atmosphere, some is also landing on the rovers’ solar panels and blocking some of the sun’s rays.  But this is not expeted to become a serious problem.  Gusts of wind help clean the panels from time to time, which is something that seems to have happened to Opportunity once already since the end of the storms.

Opportunity has also started driving and was expected to arrive as early as Monday on a spot on Victoria crater’s rim, where it will make some observations.  These will help the team evaluate targets in the crater and possible routes to get inside.

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According to the blog trackers at Technorati, the blogosphere is continuing to grow, with a blog created almost every second.  In their latest State of the Blogosphere report, they report the number of active blogs being tracked stood at 72.2-million, up from 60-million this past December.  The report goes on to suggest that, on average, the number of blogs is doubling every five months.

But how does someone start a blog?  What tools do they need?  What should they look out for?  These questions are often asked by people just starting out for the first time, and visiting some of the most popular blogs on the internet could make someone think they need to be a professional writer or have consistently killer content.  While both of these can certainly help when it comes to reader retention, they’re not absolutely necessary.

Luckily, there are sites out there that cater to the new blogger audience at the Beginner’s Guide to Blogging at preblogging.com.  This site provides tips on blogging and earning some revenue in a highly readable format, and even offers a simple guide to starting a blog, complete with screenshots and targeted links.  I really liked how Becky broke each step down into easy to digest segments and, since I happened to have a guinea pig available, I wanted to put the steps to the test.

A friend of mine has been thinking about starting a blog for months, but never got around to it.  I had offered to set one up for him, completely installed, configured and ready for content, but he just never wanted to invest the time (which probably means any blog he created would have a lifespan of about 20 minutes).  However, throwing caution to the wind, he agreed to follow the Beginner’s Guide and set himself up on Blogger, then went about adding some content.  Maybe when he gets tired of saying “zOMG” and writing Chuck Norris jokes, I’ll post a link

Aside from just showing people how to start a blog, Becky offers tips on how to monetize the site using PayPerPost, AdSense and other programs, as well as how to direct more traffic.  One post I found particularily interesting showed us how to update our blog’s thumbnail in both Technorati and Alexa.  I’ve wanted to do this from time to time, but never invested the effort into finding out how.  Thanks, Becky!

If you know anybody that’s been thinking about starting a blog but hasn’t committed, or if you’re relatively new to the Blogosphere and want to improve your site and gain more readers, then a visit to PreBlogging.com is definately in order.

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Today Reiko and I made the trek down to the Nagoya Immigration Office to pick up my Certificate of Eligibility (a document from the government saying that I was legally permitted to live and work in Japan) only to find that instead of another piece of paper, my passport was updated with an approved spousal visa!

w00t!

According to quite a bit of documentation and a number of sites about international marriage (in Japan, and Canada), we would have had to apply for a spousal visa after obtaining this certificate.  It might have been necessary to fly out of the country for a few days, too!  But luckily, this was not the case, and I can cancel my trip to South Korea as it’s no longer required.

It would have been fun to go, though … I’ve wanted to visit Seoul and Jeju Island for a few years, now.

Oh well.  Now that I can legally work in this country, it’s time to really start canvassing for a job

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I first heard about Blog Action Day through Spud over at Nice4Rice and, after a quick read through the site, it sounds like a great project.

The idea is to get thousands of bloggers discussing a single topic on a specific date in an effort to raise awareness of a cause.  This year the cause is the environment, and the date is October 15th, 2007.

“For just one day, we’d like to unite as many of the millions of bloggers around the world and speak about one issue - the environment.  We want to display the potential and the power of the blogging community, which is a disparate community but one with an amazing size, breadth and diversity. By bringing everyone together for one day, we can see just how much can be achieved, and how much we can be heard.”

- Collis Ta’eed, an Australian blogger from FreelanceSwitch.com, and cofounder of Blog Action Day

As an alternative to blogging about the environment, bloggers can opt to participate by donating their blog’s proceeds from October 15th to several environmental charities.  Greenpeace International, The Nature Conservatory, the National Wildlife Federation, the Conservation Fund, and The Sierra Club are all associated with this event.

Seeing as how this site’s average daily income is around 8 cents, I’ll be donating all revenue aquired between October 1st and the 15th to the National Wildlife Federation.  To keep things a little fair, I’ve also imposed on myself a minimum donation of $20.

Now to start writing that great environmental post….

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