Nice try, but try again…
Apparently, other stuff was happening in the world last week but everywhere I looked people seemed to be talking about the new Apple iPad. Will you be rushing out to buy one? No, nor me.
The iPad ushers in a ‘new category of device’ for ‘the largest mobile device company in the world’. At least, that’s according to Steve Jobs. Having watched the launch event on the Apple website over the weekend I think what Apple have actually produced is a very pretty looking device that completely fails to deliver anything new, and which over-charges for the ability to do the same old stuff on a different size screen.
Don’t get me wrong – I don’t entirely hate it. It does look nice (one thing about Apple is that their current range of products is very nice to look at) and the multi-touch interface that was debuted on the iPhone and iPod Touch is getting better and better. From a using it point of view, I can see the attraction.
But from a useability point of view, it doesn’t appeal at all. Starting at $499, Apple is asking potential customers to shell out the same sort of money that, anywhere else, would get them a netbook or a low-end laptop with all the features and abilities of Windows or Linux to choose from. But from Apple, what your $499 gets you is a large iPod Touch. It can’t even be compared to the iPhone because of the lack of featues; there’s no camera (and I would expect an iSight at the very least) and while you can pay $130 more to have the 3G version – and shell out extra for a data plan – you can’t use it for making calls.
I love my iPod Touch, I use it every day. But it was over-priced. I love my iMac, I use it every day. But it was over-priced. Both of these together cover all my computing needs. There isn’t room for a third device, no matter how much Steve Jobs may say there is. To me, to be successful this device needs to be able to perform all the functions of the two devices it sits between. It can do the iPod Touch stuff fine, but it can’t do the desktop stuff because it doesn’t have a fully-fledged operating system. You can do what Apple want you to do, and that’s it. On a device like the iPod Touch that’s not so bad. On a device like this, it’s a killer.
When is a back-up not a back-up?
I was reading this article over at The Apple Blog about the worrying number of Apple Time Capsules that go to heaven after only about 18 months and it got me thinking about what really constitutes a back-up.
The author of the piece was using a Time Capsule to back up all his data, and suddenly it dies because of a known fault with the power system. The hard drive is fine, and could be used to recover the data if Apple would allow it (the basis of the article is control of the user’s data).
But has he really got a back-up of his data? Well, on one hand yes he has because he’s taken the data off of his main machine and put it onto another machine in case the first one fails. But on the other hand, no he hasn’t because his equipment is faulty and he can’t access the data.
Having more than one copy of your irreplaceable data is A Good Thing ™. It means that you recognise that technology is not infallible and you’re taking steps to plan for the day when something breaks. Think about the things that you keep on your computer – how much of it can you afford to lose? Your contacts? Yeah, you can probably re-create those from your phone or PDA but it’s a pain. The pictures from Junior’s last birthday party? Nope, those you can’t get back. So you need to protect what you can’t afford to lose.
Apple’s Time Machine and Time Capsule combination offers Mac OS X users a simple way to do this; the Time Capsule is permanently plugged in and the Time Machine software automatically backs up the data every hour. For most people, I think that’s a little excessive – my data doesn’t change on an hourly basis, that’s for sure.
But this convenience is also its downfall. First, it’s always on. Therefore it will be prone to things like overheating power systems. Second, it’s automatic. This, to me, is not as good as it sounds. Taking a back-up of your data should be something that you make a positive action to achieve. Yes, automatic back-ups don’t get forgotten but if you think you’re going to forget to back-up your data regularly, set yourself a reminder. You need to think about what data you’re backing up, why you’re backing it up, and whether you can afford to over-write the previous data set or whether you need to keep it – not just let the computer decide. And then, once it’s backed-up, you need to test that it is usable.
You also need to plan for catastrophe. An external hard drive that stays plugged into your main machine all the time is going to be subject to the same dangers that your main system is – fire, flood, power surge, theft. Ideally, you want them separated – in different buildings if possible. If that’s not possible, then find a nice secure place for your back-up drive. Keep it unplugged when you’re not using it. And, preferably, have two that you alternate.
As a guide, this is my ideal back-up scenario:
Main computer: iMac with 250Gb hard drive, approximately 60Gb of data that needs to be backed up. Plenty of music files (which I could rip from CD again, but who wants to spend all that time?), loads of photos that are irreplaceable and a bunch of other documents that need to be kept.
Frequency of data change: when I add new music or pictures, or when new documents are created. None of this happens very often, so a once-a-fortnight back-up is probably enough. Interspersed with one-off transfers of new sets of pictures as they are taken.
Back up solution: two 250Gb external USB hard drives. Powered from the computer – so no separate power unit to fail and take the whole piece of kit out – they’re small and convenient. One time, use drive A to take a copy of the necessary folders. The next time, use drive B. Only overwrite a data set when the drive becomes full. And yes, I do mean take a copy; just drag and drop folders. I prefer not to use back-up software, as while that will save space, it also adds another layer of complexity to the mix.
Storage: drive A at the office, drive B at my girlfriends house. Convenient for the frequency that I need them, and safer than having them all in the same building.
With two 250Gb drives and 60Gb of data to back up once a fortnight I’ve got space to have four months of back-ups available. With two drives, I’m not totally sunk if one fails. And storing them in two separate places – neither of which is in the same building as the computer they’re backing up – means I’m covered for acts of God, thieves, and so on.
To me, Apple’s Time Capsule / Time Machine combination isn’t a credible back-up solution and if your data is important to you, you won’t rely on it to be one.
Gadgety goodness
Anyone that’s read this blog for a while will know that I’m a fan of Apple computers; I use an iMac on a daily basis and I love the simplicity and the ease of use of the OS X operating system.
I’ve sat and watched numerous keynote addresses by Steve Jobs, demonstrating the latest software and hardware advances and I’ve drooled over them just like anyone else, and wished I had the wherewithal to rush out and buy them.
I’ve wanted an iPhone since they were released, but it costs a fortune and the phone functionality isn’t terribly impressive, from what I’ve read. Couple that with a low-spec camera and a bunch of included stuff that I would never use and I’ve steered clear.
Likewise, I’ve never owned an iPod. Again, high price for what you get. Couldn’t really justify it.
And then last week, I got given a second generation iPod Touch as an early birthday present (despite my protestations that – even at the Amazon price – it was way too expensive) and I’m totally hooked. In much the same way as when I first I tried using OS X I didn’t want to go back to Windows, I now wonder how I ever lived without this amazing little gadget.
Firstly, it’s a great little unit from a tactile point of view. It’s lovely to hold, and to use. It fits perfectly in the palm of your hand, and the much-talked-about multitouch screen is so smooth and responsive. Joyous.
Then there’s the fact that it syncs so seamlessly with my iMac. My current devices – a Nokia 6500 Slide and a Palm Tunsgten E – don’t, so they’ve become more and more sidelined over time. I used to put all my stuff on the Palm when I was still using Windows, because it was easy. With OS X, it only sort of works so I gave up.
With the Touch, it syncs with iCal, with iTunes, with Address Book, with Safari and so on and makes it all so much simpler. The addition of To Do from Appigo has given me a great task manager – which also syncs with iCal – and suddenly my Touch is indispensable. Just today, I’ve lost count of the number of tasks I’ve added and which – when I complete this post – are all completed.
And the Touch has become so useful so quickly because it is so easy to use. As the old Apple saying goes “it just works”. When the technology is so easy to use, it gets used a lot.
I can use it for email, for surfing the web, there’s a WordPress app so I can update this blog, I can track stocks, the weather, activity on Facebook and so much more. I can even – amazingly enough – listen to music on it.
So far, I haven’t found anything I don’t like about it – even the much-maligned standard issue headphones seem pretty good to me. All-in-all, if you’re in the market for a PDA or an MP3 player – or both- I’d recommend you take a look at the Touch.
Brief Notes
Couple of things that I’ve noticed recently:
1. Apparently, from tomorrow Sainsbury’s will be asking anyone who looks as if they’re under 25 to prove their age before they can buy age restricted products. The sign I saw didn’t specify which age restricted products they were talking about, but according to the Trading Standards website all the restricted products such as knives, alcohol, tobacco and so on can be sold to anyone over 18.
Which leads me to wonder why anyone that looks under 25 is being carded? Surely you only need to prove your age if you are over 18 but don’t look it? It’s a ridiculous policy and should be outlawed.
2. Mobile phone directory 118 800 is getting a lot of coverage at the moment, unfortunately (for them) none of it positive. In case you haven’t heard, they’ve attempted to launch a directory enquiries service that enables people to ring up and get connected to your mobile phone. The directory has, apparently, been put together from lists already in the public domain and covers approximately a third of all mobile numbers
As described by 118 800, the service they operate won’t actually reveal your mobile number to anyone and you won’t receive any calls that you don’t agree to. What you will get, though, is a text from 118 800 to tell you that someone wants to speak to you; you then decide if you want to take the call and, if you do, they get put through.
When the 118 800 service is back online (they are having “teething” problems at the moment and have taken themselves offline), you’ll be able to ask for your number to go ex-directory and it’s this that seems to have got everyone worked up. For some reason, people have assumed that their mobile number is somehow uniquely private and that no-one should be able to know what it is. This, of course, is patently not the case; none of the mobile operators (as far as I know) promise to keep your number secret and every time you give your mobile number to a third party, you’re risking that data being sold on.
I think the idea does have merits; so many people now have their mobile as their only phone number that it seems a good idea to have mobile numbers in the directory alongside landline numbers. But in these days where around 50% of landline customers are ex-directory, it would have been a much better idea for the mobile operators to get their customers to opt-in to a directory and then make that information available to services like 118 800.
Mac Software
Over the weekend, I came across two ‘must-have’ pieces of software for Mac users, so I thought I’d let you all in on the secret.
The first is Typinator, a little program that allows you to automate repetitive key strokes. For instance if, like me, you visit a lot of websites where you have to put in your email address to log-in, you could use Typinator to create a keyboard abbreviation to save you having to type it every time. Or you can use it to insert an image of your signature at the bottom of letters. It also acts as a correction service, too, with built in sets of commonly mis-typed words.
Basically, it’s the Auto Correct function from Microsoft Office, but applied on a system-wide scale. So far, I haven’t found any applications where it doesn’t work.
You can buy Typinator from their website or you can do what I did and get it free from MacHeist.
If you’ve spent a lot of time using Windows systems – like I have – you’ll have got used to your Home and End keys working in a certain way. And you’ll probably be quite annoyed by the fact that they don’t work like that in OS X. Previously, I’ve used KeyFixer to solve this issue, but it’s not perfect and doesn’t seem to work with every application. Which is why I’m so happy to have found Double Command, a donation-ware utility, that does.
I’ve been using Double Command for the last couple of hours and so far haven’t found any application where the remapping doesn’t work. As well as remapping Home and End, it also gives you freedom to make other changes, too.
If you’ve got any tips for ‘must-have’ Mac software, drop me a comment.
Wolfs Helpers
