Mail Thoughts - Online vs. Local

I have been doing some extensive testing with myself and my desire, ability, or simply wanting to deal with everything online. I have been doing this now for four months, and just this last week I came to the realization, that I prefer reading my email online. Until now, I have used Mail on my MacBook.

This came to me as a surprise, but I find that it is easier to have all my mail in one place. For the longest time, I convinced myself that mail on my computer was the way to go. It was always with me, and I didn't need to be online to read mail. Recently, however, I started thinking about how many times I check email without an internet connection. Never! I never check email without an internet connection.

So based on that I decided to use the Google Mail Web Interface exclusively. I find that my junk is handled well, keyboard shortcuts are great for doing the tasks I need to do, and I can read and keep current on all my mail, whether I am on my MacBook, my zareason Ubuntu Netbook, or any computer I might be in front of at the time.

So I stopped opening Mail on my MacBook, and I am using my browser for mail.

I have been using GMail to check my other email accounts for years, but now I am having it check my accounts and remove the mail from my other mail servers. Until now, I have used that setting only in my Mac Mail account.

So life is simple now. Open a browser on any computer, and check all my email accounts inside of Gmail. Simple, fast, easy!

Google Chrome - I like what I see

I don't have a chance to play with Google Chrome on my Mac since there is no Mac version yet, but since I purchased a NetBook and it is currently running Windows XP SP3, I thought I would give Google Chrome a try.


The interface is simplistic, and I love that, simplicity is one of the things that appeals to me about Mac software. Keep it simple and don't clutter the interface.


The feature that I love...create application shortcut. This feature allows you to save a page as a shortcut on your Desktop, Start Menu, or Quick Launch Bar. I have saved the important pages that I go to often as application shortcuts to my desktop.


This works out well for a couple of reasons. Let's say I want to use Google Reader. I simply double-click on the shortcut and the page opens up...but not in the regular Chrome interface. It opens like it is an application. Because of that I lose all of the search bars, tabs, all that stuff off the top of the window, which means my screen real estate all goes to the reader. Very handy on a small 10.1" screen.


I like the fact that I can type a search into the navigation bar. There is no search bar, and I found that I adapted to this quickly. 


Full Screen mode is very cool, just press F11 and everything but the page you are viewing goes away. Again, handy for small screens. Want everything back? Just press F11 again.


How about surfing "incognito", or surfing without any trace that you surfed. For those of you that may visit sites that you don't want a record of, or don't want other people to discover, this feature is for you. Under the wrench you will see "New incognito window..." select this and it opens a new window and presents you with this...


You've gone incognito. Pages you view in this window won't appear in your browser history or search history, and they won't leave other traces, like cookies, on your computer after you close the incognito window. Any files you download or bookmarks you create will be preserved, however.

Going incognito doesn't affect the behavior of other people, servers, or software. Be wary of:

• Websites that collect or share information about you
• Internet service providers or employers that track the pages you visit
• Malicious software that tracks your keystrokes in exchange for free smileys
• Surveillance by secret agents
• People standing behind you

So porn surfers have a great time with this new little feature.

So far,I love this browser and I can't wait to see it on Linux and Mac OS.

Backing up your Netbook

You bought a netbook and you are filled with excitement about this great device. Mobile, agile, and allows you to keep up with with your digital life. But how do you back it up? There is no CD/DVD writer, but you do have USB ports. The good news is that you can configure a USB Flash drive to be a bootable drive that will give you access to a USB Drive that you can use for backup.

There are two methods listed below. Open Source method using Clonezilla, and a Windows method using Paragon Software's free drive backup software.

Clonezilla

What do you need:

USB Flash Drive (2GB minimum)

USB Drive (large enough to hold your internal drive contents)

Software:

Clonezilla (This is going to do the Clone of your drive - you need the .zip file if you do this on a PC)

Live USB Helper (This will help you create you create a bootable flash drive)

    vb6stkit.dll (This is needed for Live USB Helper to work.)

HP-USB Format Tool (You only need this if your flash drive needs formatting)

Get everything above, downloaded and ready to go.

Don't plug in the USB Drive you will use for backup at this point.

Plug in the USB Flash Drive

Launch Live USB Helper - you will format, place image, make bootable within this app.

    Super simple. Click on the buttons, and follow the prompts.

Now you should have a bootable flash drive that will launch Clonezilla.

Restart your Mini and press whatever F-key is necessary to chose to launch from a USB drive.

    Likely ESC, F9 or F12 (I have an HP Mini it uses F9)

From here you just follow the Clonezilla Prompts.

    At one point it will as you to plug in the USB drive you are going to use for backup.

Clonezilla is a Linux app and so you will see lots of text flying by on the screen. Don't freak out. Just make sure you are selecting the drives you want to archive. I found the prompts confusing, but this system does work, and whether you want to use this open source solution or the following solution, please just make sure you back your machine up.

Paragon Software

There is one other option that I played with and had success with, and this may be better for you if you don't want to go the Open Source route.

Paragon Software Drive Backup 9 Free Edition for Windows

The principal with this software is the same. You are going to create a flash drive that is bootable and you will use a USB Drive for the backup. The interface on this software is very nice.

Instructions I used as a source for the Clonezilla install. There is also a method for GNU/Linux on this page.

Snow Leopard Install - Perfect!

I was down to about 4 GB space on my MacBook before I started the install of Snow Leopard. I fully expected it to tell me that I needed to clear up some space, but it never did.

I did a backup before the install, just to be safe.

Put the install disc in, and told it to install.

An hour later it said it was installed and wanted a restart.

Came right up without any hiccups at all. Checked software update, and to my surprise there weren't any updates.

Two things I noticed since the update. First, the speed of the system is screaming. Noticeably faster. Secondly I now have over 15 GB of space on my drive. This install saved me over 11 GB of space.

Nice job Apple!

Keeping it all in Sync

As I continue to research the use of the Cloud for my information, I realize that I need to keep my Apple MacBook, my iPhone and the Cloud, in this case Google, all in sync.

Google and Apple have done a remarkable job at making this possible. I would like to see syncing applications for everything that I use, but right now, syncing up calendars and contacts is possible and easy.

There are limitations with Calendar. I would like all my calendars to sync, but at this time only one works. That is fine, since I decided to put my global calendar on all devices. There are also a couple of ways to go with calendar sync. Google has created Google Sync which will do this task, but I decided to create a calendar that could be shared on my Mac and my iPhone.

We will be using CalDAV for this process, and Google explains how to do this step by step. You can also do this in Sunbird if that is what you are using.

On the iPhone you can also add a CalDAV Calendar. This means that anything you change on your computer, Google Calendar, or iPhone will be updated. Three ways to update a single calendar. This is all done using CalDAV Calendar Sync. Here are the step-by-step instructions.

Using Google Sync will sync Calendars and Contacts. I went through the steps and it didn't take the first time, which cost me about 3 hours of head-scratching. On try number two I had perfect success and everything is staying in sync. Make sure you check that this Exchange account is actually added to the iPhone. It will be in Settings-Mail, Contact, Calendars under a name you assigned. If you don't see it, do the steps again. For the iPhone you can get the step-by-step instructions from Google.

The step above does keep my contacts in sync between Google and my iPhone, however, any contacts that I add directly to my computer will not automatically hit Google or my iPhone. This requires a sync with the USB cable from my computer to my iPhone. You can sync with Google during this process as well. This works on a PC as well.

So there you have it. You can keep your Calendar in sync using Google Sync or CalDAV and you can keep your contacts in sync by using Google Sync.

A Cloud is only as good as the data that you store in it. Now you can have access to that all important contact and calendar info.

Anti-Virus - the responsibility of the OS creator?

Hell Yes! It has driven me nuts for years that you purchase Microsoft Windows and then you need to go out and purchase an anti-virus application.

Five days ago, I was reading about Windows 7 and how great it was going to be. Okay, I'm open to that. Three days ago I read that if you use Windows 7 XP mode that this leaves the system wide-open to security issues. Come on Microsoft. It is your job, your responsibility to make sure that the operating system is secure, no matter how it is used.

Apple has not had issues with viruses. We can argue why, but I will continue to give credit to the underlying Unix operating system. Today it is leaked the Snow Leopard is going to include anti-virus functions. Anti-Virus built into the OS. Yes! That is the way to do it.

The responsibility for the security of our operating systems is not ours, it belongs to the manufacturer of the operating system. Thank you Apple. Microsoft...Wake the hell up!

Here is some more reading on why Windows will never be secure...

http://www.itworld.com/security/75601/why-windows-security-awful

Do we need an Operating System?

I think the obvious answer to this question is yes. We need an operating system, but for what? I am in the process of experimenting with using Google as my resource for everything.

Obviously I'm blogging using their technology, I use Google Docs for sharing documents with associates at work, I share photos and video using Picasa, of course my email is GMail, and I just set up my Calendar. All of this begs the question, "Does it really matter what my computer is, or do I just need a browser?"

With Google Chrome OS coming, I am curious as to what they think the future really holds.

Earlier this week I was convinced that a web-only universe wouldn't work. I like having my own data on my computer, but as I continue to look at the way I need to share information and the way my kids (ages 16 & 11) work with technology, sharing and a web-centric universe makes sense.

My biggest issue is that I like having control over my data. I like the desktop applications that make working with data easier, and I like having that data on my computer. I am also a FileMaker database programmer, and as of yet, I am unable to do that kind of work on the web. I make my living as a Final Cut Pro Editor and obviously a desktop OS is needed for professional editing applications. That being said, most everything else I do, does have a web counterpart.

I'm not a Microsoft fan and so I focus on Apple Computer and Linux as my choices for computing. Primarily an Apple user, I find that OS X has almost everything I need out of the box. This holds true for Ubuntu Linux distributions as well, load it and go.

I needed an office application and I went with NeoOffice (free) to handle my office document needs. I need to share these documents and the easiest way to do this is with Google Docs. This Office/Docs solution is perfect. I can do major formatting on my desktop, load it to Google Docs, share it and start collaborating. I would do everything on Docs, but I don't care for the latency issues and it is not yet at the point where it operates as well as a desktop application.

Email wouldn't happen for me if it wasn't for GMail, but I rarely use the web interface. I like to download my mail to my machine and deal with it when I get a chance. Using Apple Mail I have a ton of rules that manage my mail for me, sort it out and let me know when certain people write me. Here I prefer the desktop app, but I like the stability of GMail and the flexibility of their system. Of course, I use the Web interface whenever I am not next to my computer, but with my iPhone I simply check mail on it instead of the web.

Photos & Video need a place to live before they get shared, but what value is a photo if it can't be shared with others. Picasa is fantastic. The video quality is not as good as I would like, the photos are great. I love the fact that I can simply share everything from an album in iPhoto to Picasa with a couple clicks of a mouse. Desktop is necessary, but value is in sharing on Picasa.

I think at this stage in technology we need a combination of technologies. I don't believe that you could live your computer life with just the web. There needs to be a computer that you place your data on before you move it to the internet. Is that going to change? Maybe. I am convinced that you can't live without the internet. If you want to share information then you need to have the internet at your service.

Will we ever be able to live our lives with just Cloud computing? This would mean all data in the cloud...email, documents, photos, video, everything would need to live on some server on the internet, and not live on a desktop computer. Think NetBook with only the ability to connect to the internet, and no local storage. Will it use a Browser or will something like Google Chrome OS be the answer?

I don't see this happening yet, but I do believe it could happen. Will it be free or cheap? Will Google master this universe or will Apple and Microsoft jump into the game? Only time will tell. I will say that our computer experiences are better with Cloud computing than without it.

BD