Killer Review of the Apple iPad (watch it carefully Gals)

Ok i may have had my fun earlier with this — but please you must watch this and laugh your brains out!

the iPad! (and we are not joking about Maxi Pads either!)

Greetings Folks, and here we finally have the big big yet again industry chugging gadget: THE iPad!

My observations:

Despite me being an Apple Fan dude, i would just like to say that can apple’s  Books Store compete with the amazon Kindle? The reason why the Kindle (despite its ancient design) is way out there: CONTENT!

in the early days of the web before Twitter and Facebook, this simple factoid about content is king still holds true!  However with that being said, Apple has proven allot of traditional music selling outlets (amazon, sony, and Napster) that they can make mega sales of legal downloaded mussy and make a hey profit too.

Apple may and can still out number amazon Kindle! But on time and the “Sales of content” will tell, in the meantime, enjoy the glory of another industry chugging juggernaut!

Can you imagine VS   vs the empty book publisher deals on a shiny new gadget like

Some of the Geek Shows and the Real Human Jet Pack! / رجل يطير من تلقاء نفسه/ ملاحة جوية

This is one of the many show i am watching and following!  This one especially features an amazing jet pack feature! its no longer a stuff of scicne fciton or cartoons! if you have 100,000 USD you can get one of these

The actual martin Jet  لم يعد مجرد حلم أو الخيال العلمي

نظرة على ٔاسواق العمل بعد اآلا زمة / Overview of the job market following the crisis

Well its that time of year again — when GulfTalent puts out its overview

of the JOBS trends in the region.  Every year the good folks at the Talent put out these reports to make us all reflect and prepare us for whats coming! (its a good free starting point) — now lets hope they can get us new Jobs!

Arabic PDF

English PDF

Go GT!

Great discussion on Linkedin for user driven feedback

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Related to the backup software discussion: what’s the best external drive for iMac backups?

I have an iMac with a 320GB hard drive that’s hardly maxed out (maybe a 100GB on it, total). What brand and size external hard drive do members of this group recommend? I don’t need a “portable” unit. Thanks!

Comments (55)

1. 

   Nat Zettel

   Indirect Cost Leader at GE Healthcare

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   As often stated recently, disc space is inexpensive, so feel free to buy big. I use a 1Tb Seagate Freeagent Extreme, partitioned into four sections for various uses. Connected by USB2 to G4 iMac that runs 24×7. Setup was a little picky since I bought a config made for Windows out of the box. Reformatted to start fresh and once the volumes mounted the speed is good and it operates quietly in the corner. Lately I prefer Seagate drives over Hitachi or WD mainly for reliability; nothing scientific, YMMV.

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   Kort Kramer

   HDTV / Art Director / Graphic & Web Designer / Photographer

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   I personally like the Western Digital Black series as far as drives go. Tough cookies. I’ve had a couple a Seagate drives die on me.Go for the largest size you can afford.If you have a few extra coins to spend, go for a Drobo.

   Also, the external drives at MacSales.com (OWC) are great, I have the Mercury Elite AL-Pro next to my G5 tower and it looks like it’s baby brother! ;]

   Posted 1 month ago

Security Breach: China’s Attacks on Google explained (very detailed view)

Before you click on this video and see how vulnerable the “digital” information is, i would like to take the time to remind everyone:

“Please Backup your Data”

This hacking phenomena is striking all big tech companies globally and we will hear more on cyber terrirosim as we “digitize” our existence.I have written almost 3 short articles on backups and i hope you would take the time to read them carefully and follow them.   Once more i would like to quote the famous rule for backups:

As Alex Lindsay says “if you don’t have two copies, one off site” it doesn’t exist. ” Leo Laporte Quoting Alex –

Arabic version: ‎المتاعرف عليه في حقول النسخ الاحتياطية الزائدة عن الحاجة :

‎إذا لم يكن لديك نسختين من شيء ما

‎(الملفات الرقمية /الPDF   / ملفات صوتية او الفيديو / ملفات لبرنامج لمعالجة النصوص الخ)

‎في مكانين مختلفين وعلى وسيلتين مختلفتين  للحفظ الرقمي

‎(مثل الدي في دي ، سي دي ،

Bluray ، تخزين البيانات في الية النسخ الاحتياطي المتكررة  او على أنظمة التخزين الاحتياطي على شبكة الانترنت)

‎!لم يتحقق الحفاظ التام لهذه المستندات الرقمية

The Previous short articles include:

1. The Definitive step-by-step guide to backups

2. All your hard drives are destined to die!

3. The Family PC (The myth that lives)

Conclusions:

i hope after just seeing what can happen to Google, you would seriously consider backing up your own precious data RIGHT NOW!

from the Consumer Electronics Show 2010

Guys hold on to your wallet—before you buy that next gadget, watch this first!

A quick List of backup tools for creative types

The Background

My good friend recently got married!  Yes well its personal and professional  in this instant.His significant other is a marvelous designer and of course a fellow geek!

I was asked today as a matter of fact about my favorite backups tools that professional would use. As everyone knows i am almost obsessed by this subject and especially when professional data backups are concerned.

Assumptions

My guess is that i don’t really need to reiterate any approach like ideas before laying down what it is i quickly would recommend.

• This is assuming we are talking about Apple machines (windows users can follow the same approach -the TimeMachine)
• You already have a clear and concise filing system and workflow in your day-to-day
• Your will to invest some serious time and effort in planning your backups accordingly

The Tools

Straight out of the Geek-dom dome of insanity, the following is the gear that every freelancer / designer  and everyone in between should have in their data protection arsenal :

1. Data Robotics Drobo 4-Bay USB 2.0/FireWire 800 SATA Storage Array DR04DD10 (only the drive enclosure)
2. Data Robotics Drobo 4 Bay Storage Array with Four 1 TB Western Digital Green Power Drives, FireWire 800 & USB 2.0 Interface for Mac & Windows. (with 4 WD 1TB Drives and the enclosure)
3. Western Digital 750 GB My Book Studio Edition USB 2.0 Esata FW400 FW800
4. LG 8X Blu-ray Reader/Writer + Super-MultiDrive DVD-DL/CDRW Burner – Mac Pro Kit with of course TDK Blu-ray Disc – 25 x BD-R – 25 GB 4x – white – ink jet printable surface, printable inner hub – storage media
5. LaCie 301226U FireWire d2 DVD±RW with Lightscribe USB2.0 and Double Layer with of course TDK – 50 x DVD+R DL – 8.5 GB 8x – spindle – storage media
6. Lastly a software tool add on to the already popular TimeMachine — “pay for version” of   SuperDuper or the FREE Carbon Copy
7. I have not messed with Roxio Toast 10 Titanium for Mac but here is a helpful video which may elaborate more on TOAST

• Note:   If you have a super Internet connection with a superb UPLOAD Speed i suggest also consider Carbonite and Mozy online backups (minimum upload speed should be no less than 5Mbps)

The semi-automated Process

1. Hook up the Data Robotics Drobo to your Mac and enable TimeMachine to start backing up everything (preferably via the Firewire Port 800 which can almost move 25GB of data from your internal drive to the Data Robotics Drobo in about 4 minutes)
2. Have the Western Digital 750 GB My Book ready and partitioned to about 350 GB as your main boot-up drive (we will use SuperDuper or Carbon Copy for this backup)
3. Within SuperDuper or Carbon Copy after installation of either, set the targeted Western Digital to backup every so often. (this time duration is linked to how often you change your data and expect to take it on the go–easy fix just plan it)
4. For Optical backup sets (your either Blu-ray Reader/Writer or the traditional Double Layer DVD burner) you will need to sort through your data and have a plan of what it is that absolutely needs backing up –why– lets see if i can do some quick math:

• on Blu-ray Reader/Writer for backing up a hard drive of a 232GB Capacity you would need about  10 TDK Blu-ray Discs. (thats about 176 USD)
• On a DVD±RW for backing up a hard drive of a 232GB Capacity you would need about 29 DVD-DL 8.5 GB 8x (thats about 30 US)

• Note: that either way there is a strenuous manual labor  associated with backing up to optical media (some people and companies got creative with this

The Off Site Off Loading!

Ok i can’t stress this one enough: (all this investment and effort is worthless if you don’t follow these critical steps)

1. You need to move those 29 or 10 optical discs and store them in a safe place at a friends place or at the office where you work
2. The Western Digital bootable disk also needs to be rotated and kept in places besides your home or primary workstation at the office or friends place in a safe fireproof place.
3. Make a plan on your way to the data locations either weekly or by-weekly so you may update and archive your backups accordingly to your needs

Concluding thoughts

As you could all appreciate that this sort of backup strategy is absolutely imprative for the working freelancer who relies ultimiately on their digital life and would not shy away from investing:

1. time
2. money
3. administrative effort
4. physical effort
5. hefty backup strategy

To protect his/her likelihood for digital media on all facets of a business. Finally i would say and I quote Alex Lindsey from Pixel Corp:

“As Alex Lindsay says “if you don’t have two copies, one off site” it doesn’t exist. ” Leo Laporte Quoting Alex –

Arabic version

المتاعرف عليه في حقول النسخ الاحتياطية الزائدة عن الحاجة :
إذا لم يكن لديك نسختين من شيء ما

(الملفات الرقمية /الPDF   / ملفات صوتية او الفيديو / ملفات لبرنامج لمعالجة النصوص الخ)
في مكانين مختلفين وعلى وسيلتين مختلفتين  للحفظ الرقمي

(مثل الدي في دي ، سي دي ،
Bluray ، تخزين البيانات في الية النسخ الاحتياطي المتكررة  او على أنظمة التخزين الاحتياطي على شبكة الانترنت)

!لم يتحقق الحفاظ التام لهذه المستندات الرقمية

Free Hardware and Software Ideas: the magic box of wonder! (Part 1)

Folks i just had one those brainstorming like crazy ideas and i wanted to address all the developers and product software developers on this. Its very possible what i am about to display and “share” here is already on some R&D board somewhere! Or maybe this would become a roller for some group that might have just stumbled onto this little ditty of an article.

At any rate, i have a 2 part notion on these ideas.

Idea 1:  someone please build a hardware that will make everyone’s life easier!
Walk with me for a sec here. Currently as a user or a new technology which includes the following :

• Cell phones
• Personal Digital Assistants (PDA)
• PDA Phone (these are your blackberry, iphones, palm etc.)
• Main computer (this one usually has all your information and family stuff on it)
• Kids computers (notebooks or desktops)
• The Queen’s photo library and novels collections (that would be your significant other or spouse’s computer)
• Family eBook reader! (like the kindle and the sony eReader etc.)
• Digital camera (which still has some large collection of non backed up photos ad videos from last year)
• A desktop which has all the videos that junior love downloading movies on and backups up his music on
• Of course all the PC/Mac’s that have their system files which also have valuable digital data on it.

Now folks you if you have been reading my work here on techiestage lately, you will notice i am really honestly trying to make things easier for all of us pro-sumers or consumers of digital content.  This stuff has to reach a point where “i” the user should not ever feel intimidated by backups and removable media. i can’t be bothered with all the hassles of making sure that my one copy of a Word Document or Excel or that important Work Powerpoint presentation to be in 6 different places so i don’t have to loose it!

What i am getting at is for this first idea (hardware) has to have the following high level features:

• A google or apple like usability across all its functions
• 3 step process for everything max
• sensible to the masses
• Combines the years of UI innovation experience between : tivo, drobo, apple iphone, nokia netbook, iPod, and many more)
• Should be considered an appliance rather than a “tech gadget” (when was a last time you a grey screen of death on a DVD Player)
• Simple menues and intuitive process handling of each function

Folks i give you the “Pandora Box of Mystery”  well someone is gonna come up with a name for it better than mine!

Idea 2:

when iPhones get pissed on! Google Phone Does any iPhone

this is so funny for 2010!