Technology

Just a few years ago, next to my desk you’d find a stack of CD-R’s or DVD-R’s that I would use for backup  Today, it’s a stack of Internal hard drives.  I initially purchased internal hard drives’s for use inside my Mac Pro, but since I’ve discovered USB drive docks, I’ve been using them to back up all the computers in my office.  They’re not ideal for long term archiving since every hard drive will eventually fail, but right now nothing matches the cost, storage size, and convenience of hard drives. 

Because hard drives are relatively cheap, I keep two backups of my most valuable data- things that can not be replaced, pictures, home videos, important documents etc.

Seagate Barracuda LP 2 TB 5900RPM SATA 3 GB/s 32 MB Cache 3.5-Inch Internal Hard Drive $79.99
or
Western Digital 2 TB Caviar Green SATA Intellipower 64 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Desktop Hard Drive $79.99

Use the a drives with a dock like this:

Thermaltake Sata HDD USB Docking Station $29.50

If you’re looking for an excellent entry level SLR, here’s a great deal for the Canon Rebel T2i and a telephoto lens at Amazon.com.  I recently picked one of with a similar deal on Black Friday. 

For about $800 you get the Canon T2i, TWO lenses, and a 4 gig flash card.  The lenses that you get are the 18-55mm kit lens and the 55-250mm telephoto.  Both are image stabilized lenses which helps prevent blurriness when zoomed in.

To get the deal go the Canon EOS Rebel T2i + Telephoto Lens page and add the T2i and the 55-250 lens to your cart.  The 55-250 is a much better lens than the 75-300 lens that is also listed because 55-250 is image stabilized while the 75-300 is not.

Add the Transcend 4 GB Class 6 SDHC Flash Memory Card to your cart and you get it free.

I’ve been playing with my new Canon Rebel T2i for a day and it’s nice.  It’s a huge upgrade from my original Digital Rebel.

GamaSutra.com: Angry Birds Dev Announces 2M Android Downloads

The Android version, which Rovio said achieved 1 million downloads in its first day, is ad-supported and free to download. Rovio said via Twitter that “paid apps have not done very well on Android,” but the company also tweeted that the Android version’s next update will introduce a “paid ad-free version.”

Paid apps don’t do well but free ad supported ones do well?  I think Google could care less about paid apps since their whole business model is about selling ads.

Cult of Mac: John Sculley On Steve Jobs, The Full Interview Transcript

I remember going into Steve’s house and he had almost no furniture in it. He just had a picture of Einstein, whom he admired greatly, and he had a  Tiffany lamp and a chair and a bed. He just didn’t believe in having lots of things around but he was incredibly careful in what he selected. The same thing was true with Apple.

A fascinating interview with John Sculley, former Apple CEO about Steve Jobs.  Great insights into how Steve Jobs and Apple does business.

NYTimes.com: Nokia Profit Falls on Tough Smartphone Competition

“We believe that the Nokia N8, the first of our Symbian 3 devices, will have a user experience superior to that of any smartphone Nokia has created,” Mr. Kallasvuo said. The new handset, he added, will be followed by others that will “give the platform broader appeal and reach, and kick-start Nokia’s fightback at the higher end of the market.”

Not superior to the iPhone or Android?  This is a case of doing your best isn’t quite good enough.

Got my iPhone 4 about an hour ago.

My initial impressions:

• The iPhone is an absolutely beautiful phone.  Extremely solid with a finish that makes every other phone I’ve owned feel like a toy.
• The screen is incredibly sharp.  Must be seen to really appreciate how clear everything looks.  The screen is closer to the top glass so images look like they’re on the surface of the glass.
• The internal memory seems slightly smaller or iOS4 is bigger as I’m having trouble copying everything from my nearly full iPhone 3GS on to the iPhone 4.
• The main camera is super sharp.  You can also take pictures with the front facing camera.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

UPDATE: Google has changed the default behavior, removing the background picture.  Hopefully it stays as a user controllable option.

Dale Chihuly’s glass art is nice to look at, but hard to read text against on the default Google background.  What’s worse is that there’s no way of removing the background picture and going back to the Google page.

Google allows you to replace the picture with your own and I created a white background, but it doesn’t look right since the Google letters are still white.

I ended up settling on a black background which slowly fades in.  It makes Google seem slow to load.  At least I’m able to search Google through the search box on Safari.
Here’s an image of a black background that you can use.  Just click to enlarge and then save it to upload to Google.

Here are some of my iPad first impressions after using it all weekend.

iPad Hardware
Size
Most people’s reaction when they first see it is that it’s smaller than they expected.  But, after you use it, it seems to be the right size.  I find it solidly built, maybe a bit heavier than I would like.  Most of the time I have it resting against something, my belly, the desk, the bed, etc.

Screen
The screen is sharp and beautiful, but picks up fingerprints like crazy.  Fingerprints are a lot more noticeable than on the iPhone.  I think I’m going to have to invest in some lint-free cloths to wipe down the screen.  The cloth that I used over the weekend wasn’t quite lint free and now I have dust on the edges of the iPad case. 

The screen is extremely glossy so glare can also be an issue.  I might try buying a matte screen protector to cut down on glare and fingerprints.

Speaker
The speaker is louder than I expected and works well for watching videos.

Battery Life
The battery life is so long that I don’t really think about charging it.  Normally when I use my Macbook Pro, I’m always thinking about when or where I can plug it back in. But with my iPad, I wouldn’t be afraid to head out for the day leaving the charger and cords at home.

The iPad won’t recharge when connected to my Macbook Pro or my Mac Pro.  Both of my computers are a few years old and do not provide enough power through the USB ports to charge the iPad.  The small iPod charger did charge iPad battery overnight, but probably slower than the 10V charger it comes with.

Apple Case
I like the Apple case a lot.  It’s got a nice rubberized feeling when holding it in your hands.  I haven’t used the stand much, but it feels a little wobbly when I’ve tried it.  The case is matte and seems to pick up dirt pretty easily.  (between the screen and the case, I’m beginning to think my place is really dusty.)

Software

Safari
Safari for the iPad is a killer app like it was for the iPhone.  But it is some much nicer with the extra real estate.  It’s amazing to see the difference in web pages between this and the iPhone.  It’s so good that you wonder why some companies are bothering creating iPad apps for their websites.

Some sites that do work, have a few problems.  The Google Reader RSS website seems slow and somehow less responsive.  The Google Reader website has multiple columns that require the use of a two finger motion to get the columns to scroll.

Twitter client
I’ve tried both Tweetdeck and Twitteriffic.  I like how Tweetdeck shows multiple columns by I don’t like how it wastes half the screen for the Tweetdeck icon.

eBay App
eBay tried to differentiate their app from the website by showing for sale items in gallery format- like a store.  I find this app totally unusable without having the ability of showing search results as lists.  I also don’t like the fact that it does have the saved searches from the website.  I’d much rather use the eBay web page than this.

Scrabble
Scrabble looks amazing.  Problem is that the iPad keeps beating me.  If you have iPhones or iPod touches, you can download an App that allows you to use your iPhone as a letter tray while using the iPad as the board.

Marvel Comics App
It shows comics in two ways, traditional panels or a more cinematic, frame by frame way.  This is one you really need to see.  Comics can be bought through the App for $2.00 a comic.  If they every came out with a Netflix like monthly fee, this might be worth it.  Otherwise, I’ll pass.

Numbers
Haven’t played with this much, because getting files in and out seems a little awkward.

This hydra like mess is the NOKIA 10 In 1 Cell Phone USB Charging Cable (Black) from the Cellular Factory.  While some make get a kick out of being able to charge any phone known to man, others will find carrying around all these extra adapters that you’ll never use to be really annoying.  I wonder what would happen if you plugged in all 10 different cell phones at once.