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The Best Articles for Backing Up and Syncing Your Data

2012-03-20T04:45:00.004-07:00

World Backup Day is March 31st and we decided to provide you with some useful information to make backing up your data easier. We’ve published articles about backing up various types of data and settings both offline and online.
There’s all kinds of settings on your computer to backup in addition to your personal data, such as Wi-Fi passwords, drivers, and settings for programs like web browsers, Office, and Windows Live Writer. There are also many tools available to help you keep your data and settings backed up.

Windows

Backup utilities in previous versions of Windows have been less than wonderful, most likely prompting you to use third party tools to backup your data (we discuss third party tools later in this article). However, the Backup and Restore feature in Windows 7 is much improved over previous Windows backup tools. The following articles show you how to use the Backup and Restore feature in Windows 7 as well as how to create a system image using Windows 7 native tools. You can also learn how to mirror a drive to create an instant backup, backup files that are in use or locked, create a system repair disc, use Windows 7 Previous Versions feature, and backup the registry.

Virtual Hard Drives

We have written about the free, open source tool, TrueCrypt, that you can use to encrypt hard drives. You can also use it to create an encrypted vault for your private files. However, you can also create an encrypted vault using the Virtual Hard Drive (VHD) feature built in to Windows 7. The following articles show you how you can use a VHD to backup your data and how to mount and unmount a VHD file in Windows 7.

Hack a Linksys Router into a Ambient Data Monitor

2012-03-20T04:42:00.001-07:00

If you have a data source (like a weather report, bus schedule, or other changing data set) you can pull it and display it with an ambient data monitor; this fun build combines a hacked Linksys router and a modified toy bus to display transit arrival times.
John Graham-Cumming wanted to keep an eye on the current bus arrival time tables without constantly visiting the web site to check them. His workaround turns a hacked Linksys router, a display, a modified London city bus (you could hack apart a more project-specific enclosure, of course), and a simple bit code that polls the bus schedule’s API, into a cool ambient data monitor that displays the arrival time, in minutes, of the next two buses that will pass by his stop.
The whole thing could easily be adapted to another API to display anything from stock prices to weather temps. Hit up the link below for more information on the project.

http://blog.jgc.org/2012/03/ambient-bus-arrival-monitor-from-hacked.html

How to Use Firefox’s Web Developer Tools to View Website Structures in 3D

2012-03-20T04:39:00.000-07:00

Firefox 11 added two new web developer tools to Firefox’s already impressive arsenal. The Tilt feature visualizes website structures in 3D, while the Style Editor can edit CSS stylesheets on the fly.
The 3D feature, known as Tilt, is a way of visualizing a website’s DOM. It integrates with the existing Document Inspector and uses WebGL to display rich 3D graphics in your browser.

Tilt – 3D Website Visualization

You can access Tilt from within Firefox’s Page Inspector. To get started, open the Page Inspector by selecting “Inspect” from the Web Developer menu. You can also right-click in the current page and select “Inspect Element” to start the inspector at a specific element.

Click the “3D” button on the inspector toolbar.

You’ll see the page’s structure after activating 3D mode, but it will look flat until you rotate it.

Rotate the model by left-clicking, move the image around by right-clicking, and zoom in and out using the mouse wheel.

This view is integrated with the other tools in the inspector. If you have the HTML or Style panels open, you can click an element on hte page to view that element’S HTML code or CSS properties.

Audacity 2.0 Adds Automatic Crash Recovery, Improved Keyboard Shortcuts, Stability, and Better Effects

2012-03-20T04:31:00.002-07:00

Windows/Mac/Linux: The free, open source sound editing program Audacity has been updated with a few new features. The most notable include improved effects, a ton of new keyboard shortcuts, and a handy automatic crash recovery mode.
The big change is the subtle improvements to the sound effects, but you should also notice an increased stability on new operating systems, a new import feature for WAV and AIFF files, and a significantly better device toolbar to manage your inputs and outputs. The new list of keyboard shortcuts is also a handy way to move audio around. You can check out the huge list of changes and big fixes in the release notes if you want to get into the details. Audacity is a free download for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Audacity 2.0

Rumor: Samsung to introduce Galaxy S III at Unpacked event in May

2012-03-19T18:46:00.003-07:00

A new image making the rounds today claiming to be the new Samsung Galaxy S III is getting a lot of attention, not so much because of the image itself but rather a reminder displayed on the phone’s screen. May 22, 2012 is now being pegged by many as the day that Samsung will introduce the third generation Galaxy S smartphone at an Unpacked event that could be held in London.
The image was uploaded by a Reddit user and is supposedly a photo of a presentation slide by Weber Shandwick, a global PR firm that has represented Samsung on previous occasions. The image shows some pretty radical design elements including a dedicated camera shutter button on the right side and an Apple-esque physical home button.

The general consensus from Reddit users is that the image is fake, but the Samsung Unpacked event on May 22 could very well be a reality. The timing would make sense as it’s unlike that Apple will have announced the next generation iPhone before this point and we suspect Samsung wouldn’t want to launch in the same timeframe as Apple’s new phone.
Yet another (and perhaps more believable) photo from Reddit shows a device that doesn’t look anything like the one in the presentation. This member claims a friend that works at Samsung sent him the photo (admitting it was taken from a computer screen). Specifications bundled with this “leaked” photo include a quad-core Exynos 4412 processor, 2GB of RAM, a 12MP rear camera, a 4.7-inch Super Amoled Plus HD screen and a 2250 mAh battery.

EA shutting down online services for least popular games

2012-03-19T18:41:00.001-07:00

Electronic Arts has announced that it will shut down online servers for another round of games seeing little user activity over the next few weeks, including one that features the company's Online Pass initiative aimed at curbing second-hand game sales. The move means you'll no longer be able to use the online portion of affected titles on both Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, as well as their PC counterparts.
"As games get replaced with newer titles, the number of players still enjoying the older games dwindles to a level - fewer than 1% of all peak online players across all EA titles - where it's no longer feasible to continue the behind-the-scenes work involved with keeping these games up and running," reads the official statement.
The shutdown makes sense for the publisher from a financial and logistics point of view, as its resources are better spent on the other 99% of customers playing more popular games, but it is likely to irritate those who've paid money for an Online Pass to access the very same services that are being axed. In total, eleven games are going down on April 13. The full list, from EA's own website, includes:

Boom Blox Bash Party for Wii
Burnout Revenge for Xbox 360
EA Create for PC, PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360
EA Sports Active 2.0 for PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360
EA Sports Active NFL Training Camp for Wii
FIFA 10 for PlayStation Portable and Wii
The Godfather II for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
EA Sports MMA for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
Need for Speed: ProStreet for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
The Saboteur (loss of The Midnight Club access) for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
Spare Parts for PlayStation 3 Xbox 360

The newest game on the list is Xbox Live Arcade title Spare Parts, which came out as recently as January 2011. EA Create, EA Sports Active 2.0, EA Sports Active NFL Training Camp, and EA Sports MMA were all released between October and November of 2010 while the rest are 2009 or older titles.
EA Sports MMA is the first game featuring EA's Online Pass to be shut down. The service lets new game owners enter a code for "premium" features and content, while those buying send-hand need to pay $10 to access the same content. Although EA Sports MMA was a high profile attempt to outdo THQ's UFC Undisputed, it wasn't exactly a sales success, and its promised sequel never materialized.
In other words, it hasn't been replaced with something new and the fact that some users may have bought an online pass less than a year and a half ago isn't stopping EA from axing online support for the game.
The company is also closing down the servers for its mobile games Battlefield 3: Aftershock, which only launched this February and promptly pulled from the Apple App Store, Fantasi Safari, and Ghost Harvest.

German court orders RapidShare to proactively monitor user uploads

2012-03-19T18:38:00.000-07:00

In the wake of recent crackdowns regarding file hosting websites, the Higher Regional Court of Hamburg has ordered RapidShare to proactively monitor user uploads in an attempt to weed out copyrighted content. It’s highly unlikely that the company would be able to do so without the assistance of a software-based solution, as noted by The Verge.
The cases were brought about by music rights group GEMA and book publishers De Gruyter and Campus, says TorrentFreak. The ruling backed up judgments sustained in three lower courts with claims that RapidShare hasn’t done enough to prevent pirated material from being uploaded to their site. RapidShare executives would disagree with that statement, as the company recently implemented a 30Kbps download speed limit for free users
The verdict is said to contradict an earlier ruling by the highest European court which said cyberlockers can’t proactively filter content as it would be an invasion of privacy for the users involved and effectively hinder the freedom of information.
This brings up a valid point and is one of the reasons I elect not to store any sensitive data off-site. I fully understand their reasoning behind the screening but in the same respect I’m not thrilled with the idea of having strangers viewing everything I upload. After all, who’s to say a disgruntled employee couldn’t cherry pick content from the hundreds of thousands of accounts at his / her disposal?

Seagate: 60TB HDDs possible with next-generation storage tech

2012-03-19T18:34:00.000-07:00

It's increasingly rare for mechanical drives to make headlines, but Seagate is beating the PR drum over an advancement that promises to drastically increase the capacity of hard drives. The company has achieved a storage density of 1 terabit per square inch, about 55% more than today's 620 gigabits per square inch. More abstractly, Seagate says that's more bits per square inch than our Milky Way galaxy has stars, which astronomers estimate between 200 and 400 billion.
At 620Gb per square inch, current 3.5-inch HDDs peak at 3TB in capacity, while 2.5-inch drives max out at 750GB. The new tech will roughly double that to 6TB and 2TB when it arrives "later this decade" and it will lead to astronomical capacities of up to 60TB over the following 10 years. Seagate hit the milestone by using heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR), which the company hails as a next-generation successor to 2006's perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR).
PMR is expected to peak at approximately 1Tb per square inch in the next few years, which is essentially the starting density of HAMR drives. "The technology offers a scale of capacity growth never before possible, with a theoretical areal density limit ranging from 5 to 10 terabits per square inch -- 30TB to 60TB for 3.5-inch drives and 10TB to 20TB for 2.5-inch drives," Seagate explained in its press release.
Along with avoiding concrete launch windows, the company omitted details about how HAMR works. We assume that's mostly because your eyes would glaze over, and not for competitive reasons as Fujitsu (acquired by Toshiba in 2009), Hitachi and presumably others have been tinkering with HAMR and other technologies for many years. A 2006 article by CNET does a good job of breaking things down.
The gist of it: Data is stored in bits that contain hundreds of cobalt-platinum grains representing either a 1 or 0. To increase capacities, engineers shrink the size of bits and grains. However, with current tech, we're approaching a point where further shrinkage could cause grains to flip between 1 and 0 at room temperature, resulting in data corruption. Reducing the number of grains per bit presents other issues.

CNET reported at the time that Seagate and others planned to solve the problem by replacing cobalt-platinum grains with iron-platinum ones that wouldn't flip at room temperature. Thus enters the "heat-assisted" part of HAMR: drives have an integrated laser to heat the bits and record data. It's safe to assume other hard drive makers won't take Seagate's announcement laying down, so it'll be interesting to see whether their next-gen drives use similar HAMR-based solutions or something entirely different.

Sex Tech: PayPal Reversal, Digital Playground Hacked, Facebook Rape Ads

2012-03-18T18:59:00.000-07:00

Facebook rape ads, Digital Playground taken out by hackers, PayPal withdraws censorship, digital dating privacy examined at SXSW.
PayPal stops erotic censorship, Digital Playground got massively hacked, Facebook’s rape ads anger female students and perilous dating site security.
PayPal backs off from censoring book content
In late February we reported that PayPal had forced its merchants that publish and distribute e-books to censor erotic literature.
On March 2nd, The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) joined the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) in a protest against PayPal’s censorship.
The pressure and widening outcry in the media was successful in pushing back the online payment processor’s gambit to dictate its clients’ content.
EBay Inc.’s PayPal unit moved Tuesday to soften a controversial policy that would have restricted the use of its payment-processing services by digital-book merchants that sell material that could be considered obscene.
Now, PayPal will not punish merchants that sell erotica (text), but it will still cancel accounts that sell books with erotic imagery that PayPal deems obscene.

Design chief says Nokia is planning to re-enter the tablet market

2012-03-18T18:56:00.000-07:00

In a comment that should neither surprise nor excite anyone, Nokia’s design chief Marko Ahtisaar (pictured) told a Finnish magazine that the mobile giant is readying a tablet to take on the iPad — and every other tablet that is taking on the iPad.
Ahtisaar says he’s spending about a third of his time working on the Nokia slate, which presumably would run Windows 8, given the cell phone company’s partnership with Microsoft. Though he provided no specifics about the device, he says that Nokia will need to take a different approach than competitors to fight the iPad tidal wave. Nokia had previously released the N800 Internet Tablet series, to limited success.
What do you think that “different approach” would be? Do you have any interest in a Nokia tablet? Share your thoughts in the Comments section below.

Facebook, Google hiring researchers Yahoo is firing (rumor)

2012-03-18T18:54:00.000-07:00

We’ve already heard that Yahoo is looking to make massive layoffs. Another rumor now suggests that the Yahoo Research division is going to take a big hit. Both Google and Facebook are very interested.
Thanks to its Facebook lawsuit this week, Yahoo is very much hated by the technology industry right now. The Yahoo story might soon become even sadder. A rumor earlier this month suggested the company is planning massive layoffs, and now a new rumor suggests Yahoo Research is going to take a big hit. Both Facebook and Google are reportedly very interested in the academics, researchers, and engineers that work for this special Yahoo division.
With the stated goal of “Inventing the Future of the Internet,” here’s how the department describes itself:

Yahoo! Research is the central advanced research organization of Yahoo! Inc., a leading global Internet brand and one of the most trafficked Internet destinations worldwide. We’re responsible for big inventions– our goals are nothing short of inventing the future of the Internet and creating the next generation of Business for Yahoo!

Yahoo is firing at least the New York team of researchers by the end of the month and possibly the entire division, according to a source cited by PandoDaily. Facebook and Google are making a big effort to hire them. In fact, Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly personally wooing them, likely with long walks in the woods.
If Zuckerberg himself is making the extra effort to hire these individuals, or so the rumor goes, maybe Yahoo should think twice about its desire to fire them. After all, Zuckerberg already has enough on his mind, like taking his company public in some two months. One has to wonder; why does is Yahoo trying to commit suicide?

Microsoft says no new Xbox 'anytime soon'

2012-03-18T18:49:00.000-07:00

Microsoft confirmed there will be no new Xbox hardware announced either at the E3 video game conference in June or anytime soon.Hoping that Microsoft will update the aging Xbox 350 games console any time soon? Well, you’re out of luck, as Microsoft confirmed there will be no new Xbox hardware announced either at the E3 video game conference in June or anytime soon.Speaking to AllThingsD, Microsoft’s head of corporate communications Frank Shaw dispelled rumors that the six-year-old console would continue to be sold through 2012.“While we appreciate all the interest in our long-range plans for the future, we can confirm that there will be no talk of new Xbox hardware at E3 or anytime soon. For us, 2012 is all about Xbox 360.”This comes days following a rumor which claimed that the next-generation Xbox console would abandon the optical drive in favor of flash storage. This rumor didn’t really make sense to me because it seems counterintuitive for Microsoft to abandon cheap discs in favor of more expensive flash storage ‘cartridge’ options.

The only even plausible reason why Microsoft might have abandoned an optical drive was because it wanted to have greater storage capacity for games that DVD currently offers, but didn’t want to take the Blu-ray approach because that would be putting royalty money into Sony’s pocket.
The news is bittersweet. It’s bad news because old and outdated hardware is going to continue to stifle console gamers for at least another year. However, it’s good news for gamers as their investment in the platform both in terms of hardware and games will stay relevant for 2012.
Hoe soon until we see a new Xbox? Right now, rumors I’m hearing say that we’re unlikely to see a new console until at least spring 2013, and maybe even not until 2014.

Apple CEO and CFO to discuss Apple’s cash balance tomorrow

2012-03-18T18:44:00.003-07:00

Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Peter Oppenheimer will hold a conference call tomorrow to discuss “the Company’s discussions concerning its cash balance.” The press release announcing the conference clearly states that Apple will not be providing an update on the current quarter nor discussing any topics be discussed other than cash.

WHERE: Via conference call. The dial-in number for press is (877) 616-0063 (toll-free) or (719) 219-0041. Please enter confirmation code 592016.
WHEN: Monday, March 19, 2012 at 6:00 a.m. PDT/9:00 a.m. EDT

Some Wall Street analysts have referred to Apple’s $100B+ in liquid assets as a liability and have said that it’s time for Apple to return some of the money to shareholders.
My take is that Apple will announce a dividend for shareholders on tomorrow’s call.

The Reviews are in for Apple’s “New iPad”

2012-03-18T17:17:00.001-07:00

Apple has another solid hit with the “New iPad”
Apple’s “New iPad” was announced last week to much fanfare in San Francisco. As is usually the case with new iPad or iPhone releases, launch day pre-orders sold out quickly and those who were late to get their orders in could end up waiting for a few weeks to get their hands on one.
As a refresher, an Apple A5X processor that has seen its onboard RAM double from 512MB to 1GB powers the new iPad. The A5X is also blessed with a quad-core GPU which boosts gaming performance and helps feed the new iPad’s biggest new feature: a 2048 x 1536 resolution Retina display. Other niceties include a 5MP rear-facing camera, and optional LTE connectivity.

On the negative side, the weight and thickness of the iPad has grown to accommodate a new 42.5 watt-hour battery (the iPad 2 had a 25 watt-hour battery). In addition, Apple is once again being stingy with storage capacities on the iPad. Even though app sizes are doubling or even tripling in some cases due to Retina support, Apple is holding firm with 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB capacities — the same lineup as when the first generation iPad launched in 2010.
Tonight, however, we’re getting our first look at what the new iPad can do courtesy of a flood of reviews. Here are some select excerpts from the reviews that are currently available:
Joshua Topolsky of The Verge gives his thoughts on the iPad 3′s gorgeous new Retina display:

Yes, this display is outrageous. It’s stunning. It’s incredible. I’m not being hyperbolic or exaggerative when I say it is easily the most beautiful computer display I have ever looked at… You literally can’t see pixels on the iPad’s display when you hold it at a regular distance, and even up close you have to really inspect the thing to see dots. For rendered text or high resolution images, it just looks otherworldly; like a glowing piece of paper.

^{The difference between the iPad 2′s display and the new iPad’s Retina display [Source: The Verge]}
Walt Mossberg of AllThingsD fame touched on the battery life of the new iPad. While it’s not quite the power-sipper as its predecessor, it still posts some impressive numbers.

Apple claims up to 10 hours of battery life between charges, and up to nine hours if you are relying strictly on cellular connectivity. In my standard battery test, where I play videos back to back with both cellular and Wi-Fi on, and the screen at 75% brightness, the new iPad logged 9 hours and 58 minutes, compared with 10 hours and 9 minutes for the iPad 2. Other tablets died hours sooner in the same test. In more normal use, the new iPad lasted more than a full day, though not as long as the iPad 2 did.

The original iPad didn’t have any cameras at all, while the iPad 2 came with a standard front-facing camera for FaceTime and an incredibly subpar rear-facing camera for pictures and 720p video. The new iPad can now features a 5MP camera and bumps video recording up to 1080p. Vincent Nguyen of SlashGear gives his thoughts on the new optics:

Apple says it has borrowed the camera technology and optics from the iPhone 4S for the new iPad, though still the 5-megapixel images the tablet is capable of do lag behind the 8-megapixel examples from the smartphone. There’s more visible noise and chromatic aberrations at full zoom, though the quality is far, far better than any stills the iPad 2 can achieve. You also get face recognition for up to ten people per frame, automatically adjusting focus and exposure, but the camera app UI itself is no more complex than before.

While the actual CPU hasn’t improved much over the iPad 2, the integrated GPU has definitely been turbocharged, as witnessed by Jason Snell of MacWorld:

That power comes from the X factor in the A5X processor—a new quad-core graphics engine. And sure enough, the third-generation iPad blows away every other iOS device in terms of graphics performance. In our tests using the GLBench 3D graphics testing app, the third-generation iPad could draw a complex 3D scene at the full frame rate of its display, 60 frames per second, without breaking a sweat. And in GLBench offscreen tests, which aren’t constrained by the display’s frame rate, the third-generation iPad had a frame rate 1.6 times that of the iPad 2 (and 13 times that of the original iPad).

Overall, the new iPad seems to be another solid entry into the tablet field for Apple. It holds the line on CPU performance and battery life (at the expense of device thickness and weight) while offering an impressive Retina display, optional LTE, and a tremendous boost in graphics performance. Pricing remains the same as previous iPad model ($499/$599/$699 for Wi-Fi; add $130 for LTE models), but Apple still doesn’t have the guts to give users an increase in storage capacities.
To sum things up, Joshua Topolsky offers these words of advice:

Let’s be clear: the new iPad is in a class by itself, just as its predecessor was. As the latest product in a lineage of devices that defined this category, the iPad continues to stand head and shoulders above the competition. With the addition of the Retina display, LTE, more memory, and a more powerful CPU, Apple has absolutely held onto the iPad’s market position as the dominant player and product to beat.

Lenovo aiming for first Windows 8 tablet launch in October 2012

2012-03-18T17:09:00.000-07:00

Lenovo is hoping to beat a host of big-name manufacturers to and get the first Windows 8 tablet to market.
A source for The Verge reports that the Chinese manufacturer wants to get the better of the likes of Nokia and Dell and Asus and get a tablet on sale when Windows 8 ships to customers. The source says, the company believes that to be October 2012.
Although The Verge's insider wouldn't be drawn on specific tech details, it seems fair to suggest that it may take the form of the intriguing Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga, which made its debut at CES 2012 in Las Vegas.
The 13.3-inch device featured a full QWERTY keyboard and a hinge which allowed the device to morph into a fully-fledged laptop. The machine was shown running a developer's preview of Windows 8 at CES, so may be an early contender for Lenovo.
That device might also appease Windows loyalists who're perhaps a little nervous about going all in on a tablet, regardless of how mobile-friendly the new Windows 8 operating system and its metro UI and apps may be.
Are you excited about the potential for Windows 8 tablets and do you think Microsoft has a shot at challenging the new iPad or the ever-increasing, ever-improving array of Android tablets? Let us know in the comments section below.

Free O2 WiFi coming to Toby Carvery, Harvester & more

2012-03-12T16:55:00.000-07:00

O2 has teamed up with restaurant firm Mitchells & Butlers to provide free WiFi to all of the 1600 restaurants that the company owns including the Harvester brand and Toby Carverys.
With 200 restaurants alone belonging to the Harvester brand this is a huge undertaking and with the likes of All Bar One and O'Neills also included it is a big step in providing free public WiFi.
Rolling out near the end of 2012 O2 plans to have the entire network done soon after that with customers only having to fill in a simple form to get online.
According to 3G this is just one part of a bigger plan by O2 to roll out premium multimedia features over their free networks as well.