Oh no!

It doesn't matter how many times people say you ought to backup data you always leave it until another day (or week ... or year). If you knew your hard drive was going to fail tomorrow what data would you not want to lose, what data could you not afford to lose?

Last week I was cleaning the dust out of the inside of my PC when I slipped and dropped it. Doh! After carefully finishing off the cleaning process I plugged the machine back in and I could hear a funny noise coming from my 1TB drive - the computer fail to recognise it was even connected (oh dear).

I have managed to retrieve some data that I had backed up to DVD a while ago and but there is some that is now (almost certainly) lost for good.

I suppose the one upside and it is a small one is that I got the chance to test the restore feature of Mozy, for several year I have used Mozy to backup data on my machine to a server on the internet - it is secure, it is offsite and most importantly you can set it to run and just forget about it.

The Mozy client program will sit in your taskbar and keep the selected directories or files backed up transparently to the user. You get 2Gb of storage for free if you want more you have to pay for it. The "gb of data I had backed up resotred flawlessly. I recommend you give them a go - if your pc dies you'll be glad you did.(either that or do some manual backups now!)Link
Read more!

Freedom

What makes for freedom? The ability to do what you like? or is it the ability to say "I hope apple continues to allow..."
People rave about the iPhone and those that have a Mac seem to love them, don't get me wrong I appreciate the fact that they 'just work' but I prefer a little more freedom, the ability to run any application I chose - regardless of if it is 'bugggy' or prone to crash my system (or my phone)
I'd love to run linux but so many little things just don't work quite right (or at all).
At the moment I can't log into my adsense account using Firefox so I can't see when ads have been clicked on - or if I'm going to ever get paid.

Much as I love to hate it windows is a good middle ground between the complete freedom (without boundaries) of Linux and the (Dictatorial) policies of Apple.

A dawning realisation I actually like windows, even windows mobile.
Link
Read more!

Best duct tape story ever

During a private "fly-in" fishing excursion in the Alaskan wilderness, the chartered pilot and fishermen left a cooler and bait in the plane. And a bear smelled it. This is what he did to the plane.

The pilot used his radio and had another pilot bring him 2 new tires, 3 cases of duct tape, and a supply of sheet plastic.

He patched the plane together, and FLEW IT HOME !

Duct Tape ? Never Leave Home Without It.
Read more!

Can't go back

Yesterday I went to see Avatar in 3D at the Empire Cinema in Hemel, I haven't seen a 3D film for ages - at least 10 years. This was absoloutely fantastic. The 3D effect was incredible, if you haven't seen the film yet get yourself down to see it. My only problem with 3D technology is that you have to watch what the director is expecting you to watch, several scenes have stuff in the near field which is out of focus because you are supposed to be watching the action in the middle field. However if you try to focus on the near field stuff it is still out of focus which is quite disorienting until you learn to follow the action.
Doe this mean that we will all become even more passive viewers? Or will you have to learn to use your peripheral vision if you want to 'see' the extra bits?
Either way I'm all for it - bring on 3D TV (though if it ends up being 3D HD REALD TV then someone needs to make a nice snappy title.)

I just don't think I'll be able to go back to 2D
Read more!