KD7LRJ Blog

MyPcBackup and "unlimited" storage

2012-01-06T18:02:00.012-07:00

[click on the screenshots in this post to make them readable]

I began using MyPcBackup several months ago because it looked like a good alternative to Mozy.com (which I have used for a few years now). They advertised unlimited backup space and went to great lengths on their web site to claim that they had no limitations based on file numbers or sizes or total storage space.

"Unlimited" storage page from MyPcBackup web site
http://www.mypcbackup.com/featured-unlimited-storage

My current account status on the MyPcBackup web site

After several weeks of sending data their product stopped working on my system. After several email messages involving log files, and ultimately a bug fix to the program, it started working again, for a while, but then stopped again for no apparent reason.

After another round of emails (see below), it was determined that I am being cut-off because I have used more than my limit of data storage. It appears to me that MyPcBackup intends to use their Fair Use policy to weasel their way out of providing what they promise. Apparently, my “usage greatly exceeds the average level of monthly usage of MPCB's customers, generally.”

If you have more than what I'm using (250 GB), you might end up in the same category I'm in and be out of commission. You can purchase a laptop at Costco for $500 that has double that amount of space. A backup copy of a movie can easily run 2 GB and in full HD, even more. With all of my data (50K+ images, lots of music, some videos), I have about 700 GB of stuff on my 2 TB drive that needs to be backed up.

So, anyway, I just wanted to share what I've learned about this company/service and help others make good decisions about where to spend their time and money.

The following is the email conversation I had with MyPcBackup in chronological order with the final message pointing me to section 14 of their terms:

Subject: [#8270] Missing files - from help center
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On Mon, Nov 28, 2011 at 10:51, [support@mypcbackup.com] wrote:

Hi,

Thank you for contacting MyPC Backup Support

We have received your email and will reply to it within 24 hours.

**Please do not submit multiple tickets! Submitting multiple will delay the response of your ticket, as it will put your previous email back to the bottom of the queue**

If you think of anything which you would like to add to your email to support please reply to this email, and it will update your current message.

Kind regards,

MyPC Backup Support Team
www.mypcbackup.com

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On Mon, Nov 28, 2011 at 12:06, [founders@mypcbackup.com] wrote:

Hi Doug,

Thank you for your email. Due to the total size of the files that you are trying to back up you may wish to consider a business solution to your backup needs. Unfortunately at this time we do not offer such a package and so our product may not be suitable for you. This may be why you are experiencing difficulties with the software.

I’m sorry for the inconvenience this may cause, please let us know how you wish to proceed

Kind regards,
Gabe
--
Gabriel Bernardez
Sales Supervisor
MyPCBackup
www.mypcbackup.com

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On Mon, Nov 28, 2011 at 15:21, Douglas B. McKay wrote:

Your advertising says "Unlimited Storage" as one of the features of your software. Does that mean something different than what it sounds like? I chose your service specifically because of this. I currently have an "unlimited" account with Mozy. Unfortunately, it is going to expire (they don't offer "unlimited" anymore) and I was hoping to use your service as their replacement.

...Doug

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On Tue, Nov 29, 2011 at 01:02, [cancel@mypcbackup.com] wrote:

Hi Douglas,

Thank you for writing back to us.

I have escalated your concern to the relevant department for further solution. You will receive an email from them at the earliest.

Please let me know if there is anything else I can help with.

Kind Regards,
Lucas Donald

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On Tue, Nov 29, 2011 at 02:14, [support@mypcbackup.com] wrote:

Hi Douglas,

Thank you for your email.

Currently MyPC Backup does not allow the backup of any Servers. LAN or NAS drives, due to their capability.

If you are looking for a service to backup Servers. LAN or NAS drives, we would advise contacting a company who offers a more business driven option.

You can backup stand alone hard drives or standard external/USB Drives here.

Due to the total size of the files that you are trying to back up you may wish to consider a business solution to your backup needs. Unfortunately at this time we do not offer such a package and so our product may not be suitable for you. This may be why you are experiencing difficulties with the software.

Please let me know if there is anything else I can help with.

Kind Regards,
Will Baker

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On Tue, Nov 29, 2011 at 22:47, Douglas B. McKay wrote:

Hello Will,

I am not attempting to backup any Servers, LAN, or NAS drives. I just have one drive in my system (well, two - a 64 GB boot drive, and a 2 TB data drive). I set it to only backup the files in the important directories instead of the whole drive. It did all of the document files, but stopped part way through the music files, and didn't do any of my picture files. This is just my personal system - not for business purposes or anything. I realize that I do have a lot of files, but that is exactly what led me to your solution...unlimited storage. I'd like to get it working as it seems to be a very good way to keep my files safe. I have used Mozy for a few years, but as you know, they don't offer unlimited storage any longer and I need to find a replacement provider before my subscription with them expires next year.

...Doug

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On Tue, Nov 29, 2011 at 23:50, [support@mypcbackup.com] wrote:

Hi Baker,

Thank you for your email.

Due to the total size of the files that you are trying to back up you may wish to consider a business solution to your backup needs. Unfortunately at this time we do not offer such a package and so our product may not be suitable for you.

I’m sorry for the inconvenience this may cause, please let us know how you wish to proceed.”

Kind regards,
Will Baker

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On Tue, Nov 29, 2011 at 23:52, [support@mypcbackup.com] wrote:

Hi Douglas,

Thank you for your email.

I apologize that I addressed you wrongly in the previous email.

Kind Regards,
Will Baker

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On Wed, Nov 30, 2011 at 00:34, Douglas B. McKay wrote:

Will,

So, this is the second time I have received a response like this. Are you saying that MyPCBackup IS NOT suitable for me because of the total size of my files? Or is there a chance that it MAY work if I can change a setting or whatever? I would like to get your software to work to backup all of my files.

...Doug

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On Wed, Nov 30, 2011 at 07:07, [founders@mypcbackup.com] wrote:

Hi Doug,

Thank you for your reply. Unfortunately it will not be possible to back up the increased number of files on our server. The reason for this is that such a large amount will affect the processing time for the additional files to the point that it will take an increasingly long amount of time to complete your backup.

I'm sorry about this, we are happy to fully refund any payments you have made to us.

Please let us know how you wish to proceed.

Kind regards,
Gabe
--
Gabriel Bernardez
Sales Supervisor
MyPCBackup
www.mypcbackup.com

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On Fri, Dec 2, 2011 at 10:12, Douglas B. McKay wrote:

Gabe,

I am not very concerned about the speed of the backup, just that it happens. I don't mind that it takes a long time for the initial backup - it is to be expected that it takes a long time. My files are mostly static and relatively small. There are a few exceptions of course (e.g. my image catalog database), but mostly, I create new files by scanning my family's old slides, or by adding digital images from my camera.

If we can get it to work, I'm happy to continue my account with you. Is there a fixed number of files that I should not exceed? I may be able to exclude some files, or perhaps Zip some of them up.

Thanx!
...Doug

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On Fri, Dec 9, 2011 at 20:36, Douglas B. McKay wrote:

I did a small test and removed some of my files from the backup list, but it didn't seem to help. Surely other users have more/larger files than I'm working with that they want to backup.

Your web site says:

Unlimited Storage
Unlike other online backup providers we don't limit the amount of files you can backup, enjoy the freedom of unlimited online backup.

The answer you provided below seems to indicate that there is a limit. Please let me know which is actually true. I'd still like to resolve this problem and get the software working for me.

...Doug

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On Thu, Jan 5, 2012 at 06:36, [founders@mypcbackup.com] wrote:
Hi Douglas,

Thank you for your email.

Here at MyPCBackup we do operate with a fair usage policy, our products or services are designed to serve the needs of particular types of users, such as individual consumers or small businesses.

If the service is inappropriate for your actual usage, we may require you to switch to an appropriate product or service which may result in your having to pay additional fees for use of the appropriate product or to terminate your services with us and issue a full refund.

From time to time, we may establish or amend general operating practices to maximize the operation and availability of our products or services and to prevent abuses. We reserve the right to monitor our system to identify excessive consumption of network resources and to take such technical and other remedies as we deem appropriate. Your consumption of our products or services may be deemed excessive if, within any month, your usage greatly exceeds the average level of monthly usage of our customers, generally.

In the event you are deemed to have violated these policies, we reserve the right to limit your backups or terminate your services or account.

For full clarification on this issue please refer to www.mypcbackup.com/terms , Section 14. Termination and Fair Use Policy.

However we appreciate this can be frustrating and would fully understand if you wish to terminate your services and receive a full refund.

Thank you for your understanding.

Kind regards,
--
Matt Curd
Troubleshooting & Support team
MyPCBackup
www.mypcbackup.com

It’s likely that because they are based in the UK, they aren’t subject to US laws or the possibility of a class-action lawsuit for false or misleading advertising. I don’t know the rules on that stuff anyway, but at the very least, I hope to make more people aware of how they are operating. Here are some places where you can read/submit reviews of MyPcBackup:

Feel free to chime in and add your comments here.

Notes on UPS units from UCARES picnic give-away

2010-09-09T22:42:00.000-06:00

Since so many UPS units (~30) found new homes at the recent UCARES picnic, and because I didn't get a chance to modify this batch to add Anderson Connectors or put labels on them, I thought it would be good to compile a short list of notes that may help anyone who ended up with one make good use of it.

All of them are used. They all used to work. I don't know if they work now or not. If you ended up with one that doesn't work, let me know - I think I can get a few more and can trade you.
I have used them to charge and maintain 12 volt SLA batteries that were rated from 7 to 100 amps.
Multiple batteries can be floated from a single UPS.
They will NOT power a radio bigger than an HT for an extended period.
You can use batteries (while connected) with higher drain radios without problems as long as the batteries themselves can handle the load.
They provide about 0.75 A of charging current. A large battery will take a LONG time to charge at this rate.
They float at about 14.0 Volts. A little on the high side (at the expense of battery longevity), but keeps the batteries fully charged and ready for use should there be a call-out, etc.
SLA batteries can be left connected to the UPS indefinitely. I would expect about 3-5 years of life (a guess, not a formula) from a brand new battery if left connected and never used.
They will work as normal UPS units and can provide backup power to a computer, etc. Just be sure to use large enough leads to the battery(ies) (at least 12 ga for full rated capacity).
To turn the units on when 120 Volt power is not available, press and hold the power button until the unit beeps, then release the button while it's beeping.

Some of my other posts that may be helpful:

Last, here's a close up picture of the way I have modified these UPS units to put connectors on them for convenient use with my batteries:

I drilled a 1/2" exit hole for the wires (which are just barely long enough if you cut the original connectors off right at the end). I used hot glue on this one, but that wasn't the best idea I've ever had. You can see that it is loose now (3 years later) and doesn't keep the wires from moving in the hole. A grommet would have been better, but they are a bit of a pain to install and thread the wires through. I have had better success with using kneadable epoxy putty and just pressing it into place into the hole and around the wires. You may also choose to leave the original internal wiring intact and simply tap into the lines to bring a longer connection out the back. This would allow you to use an internal battery if you want as well as an external one if needed. Keep the wires as short as possible. At its full rated load, this UPS can draw over 30 Amps.

Is Sprint misinformed about Lithium batteries?

2009-04-02T14:04:00.008-06:00

An article I just received from Sprint in an e-mail claims that the Lithium batteries in their phones degrade after only 80 charge cycles and that I should "only charge it when the battery is almost empty."

That goes against everything I've ever heard/read about Lithium based rechargeable batteries. Here are two sources I grabbed quickly:

From BatteryUniversity.com:

The battery prefers a partial rather than a full discharge. Frequent full discharges should be avoided when possible.

From the Laptop Battery blog:

it is better to recharge more often; avoid frequent full discharges.

Perhaps their marketing folks were reading from old spec sheets on Nickel-Cadmium based batteries which would actually benefit from this advice.

If anyone sees other resources to substantiate or refute this claim from Sprint, please post a comment.

4-3-2009: I found another couple of references to good discussions:

http://spicygadget.com/2006/12/24/guide-getting-the-most-out-of-your-lithium-battery/

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/lithium-ion-battery2.htm

Fun with dogs

2009-03-10T09:57:00.008-06:00

There's almost always a good story to be had if you keep animals (or children :) and today's version goes like this...

About 11pm after watching an episode of Stargate SG-1, our 120 pound Alaskan Malamute, Itok (short for Maniitok) starts barking strangly. We always know when something is going on because we are used to his normal "talk" (he chats with his friends and howls a little each night) and this was not normal. We looked out and discovered a new white dog in our yard. It was not a small one either; he looked like a large Husky or maybe even a small Malamute and probably weighed 70-90 pounds. One we've never seen before. Not knowing what to think, I watched for a minute and it looked like the two of them were getting along ok (at least they were not fighting), so I went out and try to see if it had a collar, etc. It didn't want me anywhere near it, so I decided not to persist.

It looked like it was trying to climb over the fence in the upper corner of our yard. Since we live in a hilly area, our neighbor's yards in that back corner are at widely different levels. On our side, we have a 6 foot fence. In the neighbor's yard to the North, our fence looks only about 1 foot high because the ground slopes off really fast. In the house diagonally across from us, the bottom of their fence is visible to us above the top of our fence. I figure the dog got in our North neighbor's yard (I don't think it's completely fenced - or if it is, I know they have a 4 ft section in the front) and jumped into our yard at that corner.

(Here's a shot of Itok standing by the tree where he treed a Racoon last summer. It shows the fences near the corner where most animals seem to come into our yard.)

Anyway, since this dog had a collar and looked well cared for, rather than letting it out to roam the neighborhood, we called to see if an Animal Control Officer was available. One wasn't, but they sent a couple of Lindon's finest out anyway. They brought the department's animal trailer, but neither of them had any experience as dog catchers. They tried valiantly for about 15 minutes to catch the very smart, but uncooperative beast before giving up and just letting him go out the gate into the street. I asked them to let me know how things turned out as they drive off after it. I never heard...

Battery testing and a good inexpensive charger

2008-11-21T20:50:00.005-07:00

I have been testing a good number of batteries lately that have been coming out of UPS units where I work. I had 2 dozen sitting in my area last week. I am down now to half of that, but I have quite a few at home still that I need to check out (and a large pile that needs to be taken to the recyclers too).

In order to do this, I needed to be able to charge the batteries up in order to run them down with my tester (a CBA II). I found a really nice charger for a really good price - a Tempest BC-1250. I ordered 2 of them and so far, I really like them. They are well built (metal cases, sturdy cords) and the voltages they use are just right for the SLA batteries I use. If you have batteries sitting around going dead, don't wait - this charger is worth the $32.50 - you need to charge them up periodically so they don't sulfate and kill themselves. If you charge them up separately first, one of these chargers should be able to maintain several small/medium batteries connected in parallel.

Since I go through at least 2 charge/discharge cycles on most batteries, it has been nice to have a couple of extra chargers (I can drain them a lot faster than I can charge them). They have been perfect for the relatively small batteries I've been working with (mostly 7 & 12 Ah, but a few 18's also). For larger ones, I still have my other bigger charger.

For something that can maintain (or very slowly charge) a battery at the proper voltage, get one (or several) of these Float Chargers from Harbor Freight.

Getting APRS running again

2008-11-18T22:41:00.003-07:00

I'm going to try to get my digipeater running again. I swapped the dual port TNC I was using for a single port that has APRS capable firmware. I won't be running an I-gate anymore, but there seem to be enough around here already. I just want it to provide extra coverage for the area.

This site in Finland is doing some really cool things with APRS. It's best to use your callsign as your username, but make something up if you don't have one, or don't want to give it.

So, the first thing I've got to do is get a USB to serial adapter to connect to the computer so I can program the settings in the TNC. Once I set it up, it can be disconnected from the computer (a major source of problems in the past) and run on its own.

The radio is a Phoenix SX 16 channel and puts out somewhere around 30 watts. The antenna is an 8 foot Diamond X200 clone installed on my roof about 30 feet up. Power is supplied by a home built power supply that float charges a 75 AH battery.

MPG in my RAV4

2008-07-09T08:02:00.002-06:00

This past weekend, we took a trip to Idaho. It was about 250 miles in each direction and for the whole trip, I was able to average right about 23 miles per gallon while doing 80 MPH on the freeway. We were late leaving, so I may have even been pressing the speed limit a little further at times on the way up there. We had 5 people (4 adults and a 14 year-old in the 3rd row seat) and a bit of gear. I had fully inflated the tires to their maximum pressure (not the pressure listed on the car's sticker) of 44 PSI. I left my roof rack on top because it supports my ham radio antenna. I did not use any fuel saving methods (like pulse & glide or drafting a truck) or anything other than the tire pressure. Since this is our first really long trip in the RAV4, I wanted to get a baseline for the future. The 23 MPG number isn't that great (the EPA estimates on this vehicle are 19 city & 26 highway), but it's not bad considering the speed and load.

I do have some history with a trip we used to make quite often. It is a 30 mile drive with about 5 on city streets and the rest a single stretch of 65 MPH 4 lane freeway where people usually drive about 75 MPH. We mostly made the drive with just my wife and I in the car. I would usually get about 25 MPG on the way up, and 22 MPG on the way back (uphill vs. downhill + prevailing winds make the difference).

The other day, after filling the tires full and using some pulse & glide, some 3-car-length drafting for 10 miles of the trip, and keeping the speed down to around 70 MPH, I was able to get 34.4 MPG on the way up. Keeping the speed to 70, but without any other methods gave me 25 MPG on the trip home that day. I'd like to play more with Pulse and Glide, but it requires that I pay a lot more attention to driving (I guess that's good) and not to my wife (that's definately bad :(

Anyway, I thought it was interesting that there is such a difference in fuel economy just by changing a couple small things (additional tire pressure, and a 5 MPH speed reduction) gave me 13% improvement.

I'm glad I have my ScanGauge to use because I'm hardly ever able to tell by looking at the whole tank of gas what I kind of economy I got for a particular style of driving. There are many times when someone will sit in a parking lot with the engine running to keep the air conditioner running. While I still check the overall mileage, it's always disappointing that it is so much lower than what we get on these 30+ mile trips that I like to test with.

Getting the most out of the gas you have to buy

2008-06-17T06:50:00.005-06:00

I've read lot's of stuff about saving gas (Hypermiling, etc.), but this article is one of the best I read yet. It has common sense and gives sound reasons and advice for most of the suggested items. One part that lacked some details (like why it works) was the pulse and glide section, but since they referred to it as an advanced technique, I'll forgive them. You can find more info about pulse and glide all over the net. Here's an article from Consumer Reports with a new way of looking at fuel economy.

It has been a goal of mine for the past 15 years or so to own an electric vehicle. I haven't managed it yet (practicality and economy have had to come first), but the day is getting closer...

Update to Move/Copy Tool

2008-06-15T22:44:00.003-06:00

I've posted an update to the multithreaded Move/Copy Tool (McTool). Not a huge deal, but some needed updates and minor enhancements were made.

Check my original post or my web page for the download link.

McTool is a multithreaded Move and Copy Tool

2007-12-15T10:08:00.001-07:00

The very first program I wrote in C (about 20 years ago now) was a program that appended one file to another. It evolved into a file copying program (DCOPY) that I shared with a few people. Since then, I have used a number of good utilities to move files around on various systems (XCopy, xXCopy, RoboCopy, TotalCopy, etc.). No one tool does everything everyone needs, but all together, perhaps they can come close. Anyway, when I couldn't find any file copy tools that supported multithreading and worked well with large numbers of small files, I wrote one.

Basically, I had tons of relatively small files (images, mp3 files, etc.) that I wanted to move around and I needed a program that could run multiple copies at once. Many systems nowadays are capable of handling multiple requests at a time (even single drives have NCQ). You no longer have to have an expensive fiber-attached SAN in order to benefit from running more than one thing at a time (a dual core processor is not even needed). Starting multiple instances of any of the tools I listed above works well to speed things up, but it was a hassle to keep things straight and I didn't want to have to bother with that all the time. Plus, at times when I have had really large sets (I've worked with millions of files, and multiple terabytes at once), the other tools just weren't able to handle it and I ran into problems.

More details and a free download link.

I rewrote McTool in C# to learn about handling threading and it uses the Microsoft .NET framework under current versions of Windows (including 2003 server, XP, Vista, 32 & 64 bit). I have not made any effort yet in putting together an installation package of any sort since it only requires two files and I think it is pretty easy to use. If I'm proven wrong by getting some feedback, that could change.

I'm pretty excited about it because it seems to work well enough in the limited testing that I've done (5-10 times faster in my tests), but I wanted to share it with others in order to see if there are any problems left that need to be fixed or other features that should be added. It seems to work for what I've been doing, but if you find this page and want to snag a copy to try out and let me know whether it works for you, that would be great! I would appreciate the feedback, and you might be able to use the tool...

UPS mods, Tree removal, etc.

2007-09-04T18:01:00.003-06:00

Some pretty random stuff here (this isn't a single subject blog by any means)...

UPS modifications continue

I collected another dozen UPS units from the recycling center at work over the past year and converted them to use an external power source.

We gave away 6 of them at the Utah County ARES (UCARES) picnic last night.

They can be used as chargers (about 1 amp max) or maintainers (floats at about 14.0 volts) for almost any sealed lead acid (SLA) battery and also as Uninteruptible Power Supplies (funny huh, since they were originally intended for UPS use!) and as (semi) portable inverters*. Hopefully there will be a few more happy batteries in happy valley. I hope to get more, but never know what the winds of change will bring...

*You do have to know how to turn them on when the AC mains are off. Hold (don't push and release) the power button until it starts beeping. While it is still beeping, release it. It should turn on and, if the battery can provide enough power for the load, it should stay on.

Neighborhood cat killed

Itok killed another cat the other night. We found it lying in the grass the next morning. (I didn't include any pictures for this event.) It was completely intact with no blood showing on the outside. I think this is the third or fourth one now that hasn't survived (at least one did when it made it up a tree and I went out and saved it - at 1:30 in the morning!). He doesn't tear them up or anything, he seems to just play with them. Anything that runs is apparently fair game. I don't know why these cats come into our completely fenced (6 foot high all the way around) back yard, but I guess they just can't help it.

People, don't let your cats run around - they get into my bushes and flower beds and use them as a litter box! If they come in my backyard (as they seem prone to do), they'll probably die.

Tree removal

When we moved into our West facing house 11 years ago, the front lawn was barren, so we planted a tree - a Navajo Globe Willow.

We loved it. It grew fast covered the entire front of our house with shade, gave the kids a place to swing, we hung a hammock from it for a number of years, etc. Unfortunately, Willows are generally considered "trash trees" because they drop a lot of junk in your yard. This one was no exception. Two or three years ago, wind took off a chunk of it and it took quite a while for us to cut it up and haul it away. It didn't seem to hurt the tree much (you couldn't even tell from the road in front because the tree was so big) other than the place on the trunk. Well, Sunday, the wind took off another piece of it and since it has been smelling funny (people tell me they tend to do that when they get old or infected), it was time to take the whole thing out.

It was quite a job and I'm quite sunburned. Luckily, a neighbor around the corner was having a tree removed the same day (for some reason I didn't think they'd be working on Labor Day) and I was able to convince them to let me pay them to haul my mess away and grind the stump down. Since I had felled it and cut it up already, it was a relatively small job for them even though the tree completely filled their 8 ton truck.

I'm glad that's over!

My blog is not People Ready

2007-06-28T13:12:00.000-06:00

A page sponsored by Microsoft on Federated Media's web site talks about businesses being what they call "People Ready."

This article on ValleyWag derides the companies for using bloggers (reporters?) in what is basically a Microsoft advertising campaign. They seem to say that it's wrong for the bloggers to appear to be objective when really they're getting paid for writing as they do. Funny, I thought that's how it always worked. They can pay me for writing about it if they want - I have no objections!

PC World got into the act also (see Harry McCracken's post). Like most businesses, they're in it for the money. So now here they are profiting (I found the article by searching for it and it displayed plenty of ads to me) from writing about a controversial subject and saying that their type (journalists) shouldn't "get involved in a project that involved contributing to a marketing campaign." I don't have a problem with it (hey, I have ads on this site), I just think it's funny that it's creating a stir.

Partial Disclosure Notice follows:
["Partial" because I don't feel like writing (and I'm sure you don't feel like reading) everything about me in this silly little blog posting.]

I just wanted to make note that my business is not People Ready mostly because I don't have a business. I was also curious to see what kind of traffic would come to my page because of a simple unsponsored, obscure little blog posting. Gee, I suppose if I get a lot of traffic and someday start a business, I'll have to think about making it a People Ready Business (PRB :) ...

The spelling of Timpooneke

2007-06-18T14:46:00.000-06:00

This is just one of my many pet peeves. I shouldn't let it bug me, but it does.

Timpooneke is the name of a campground and a trail in the Mt. Timpanogos area in Utah County, Utah.

I don't know why, but many people say (and write) "Timpanooke" instead. I guess it's close, but as far as I know, it's not right. I find it funny that local folks (including the press) have a hard time with this name. I'm not going to look up all the history and stuff behind the name (perhaps there is an explanation for this confusion), but here are a few examples:

1) From the Daily Herald on June 06, 2007, 03:43:04 pm:

A man is stranded on the Timpanooke trail on Mount Timpanogos, and weather is keeping searchers from finding him. Utah County Sheriff's Lt. Yvette Rice said police do not know the man's name. The man's wife went looking for him when he didn't return from a day hike.

To their credit, the Daily Herald constantly updates their articles as more information becomes available and during one of their edits, the spelling was corrected. Here is the current version.

2) From a description page on the TERT web site:

From Aspen Grove Trail Head to Timpooneke Trail Head - go 5.7 miles on 92 and turn off at Timpanooke and go about 0.5 miles.

TERT is a great organization and one in which I have membership. This just shows the extent of the confusion.

3) In the original incarnation of an article about a boy who was killed by a black bear, KSL used the Timpanooke spelling repeatedly. It appears that they corrected it in the current article, now that they also have a picture of the campground sign on their site:

Whatever...

2007 Squaw Peak 50 Mile Trail Run

2007-06-05T08:36:00.000-06:00

For several years now, I've been helping out at various aid stations for a couple of Ultra Marathons put on by John Bozung. Last Saturday, for the third year, I went to Windy Pass with a group of Aid Station people as their communications person. This year, I wasn't alone. There was another radio person to help this time which was a huge help! I actually had some time while there at the station to do something other than track in and out times of all the runners (201 passed through our station this year).

Since it was a low water year and the spring where we normally collect water for the runners was running very slowly, we filtered about 15-20 gallons of water with a hand pump so we would have enough for everyone. The other 30 gallons or so were collected directly from the pipe (installed by the Forest Service?) leading from the spring. The water from the spring runs into a trough which did a good job of collecting the water, it just had some pretty nasty looking stuff in it. Without pumping, we would have run out early, so I'm glad I brought my water filter with me (an MSR WaterWorks). The Katadyne Backcountry filter the other people had there was pretty well clogged (and useless) after they had pumped 3-5 gallons. They told me that it was new when they brought it up for this trip (glad I didn't buy that one!). The water itself looked clear (it was just sitting there in the trough - not zipping down a muddy stream or anything), but I had to clean my filter after every 2-3 liters to keep it running fast, so there must have been a lot of stuff suspended in it.

The runners had completed 40 miles when they got to our station and had just climbed 2000 feet up to us (at about 9000 feet) from the last aid station on a hot south facing slope. They were pretty tired. One guy at the end had the worst time of it. The course sweeper stayed with him until he made it to us, and for about 30 minutes alternated between laying down and leaning over a tree puking. He finally was able to drink a little of my still-frozen Powerade that I had stashed and some of an electrolyte drink called Emergency (reference needed) from some of the other aid station people. Although the Utah County Search and Rescue team was already busy on another couple of calls, they did send a team to assist us in case there was a problem. We knew we needed to either get him moving and have the SAR team help us with him if he couldn't make it or just call a helicopter to evacuate him before it got dark. He started feeling a little better and decided to try to get down on his own.

Here he is leaving the aid station. My red shirt looks absolutely huge on him but he sure looks a lot better than he did when he arrived.

After descending some and drinking more of the electrolyte drink, his condition improve quickly and soon he was running down the mountain ahead of the sweep. I believe he even finished the race.

Way to go Phil!

It was a lot of fun and between myself and another aid station person, we got a lot of pictures of the runners. I don't know if we got everyone, but we came close. I hope to be back up there for the Kat'cina Mosa 100K this August.

Yikes! 6 Months!

2007-03-14T16:32:00.000-06:00

It looks like I ought to use this a little more. Here's a quick update just to make sure that my blog doesn't get flagged as "inactive" (as if it ever was anything else).

Another Li-Ion recall and a new battery technology announcement

2006-09-28T13:24:00.000-06:00

Bad news first: Lenovo and IBM announced a recall of another half million (500,000) Lithium based batteries manufactured by Sony. It seems that after one flamed out at LAX last month, they got the CSPC involved.

Good news last: We may be using the acronym ZMP a lot more in the near future. Zinc Matrix Power has announced their Silver-Zinc rechargeable battery that supposedly has twice the energy-to-weight ratio as current Lithium based offerings without the explosive side effects or transport limitations. They have a low enough internal resistance that a relatively low number (16, producing 20 volts) were used to produce 80 amps to MIG weld two pieces of 1/8" steel (article reference).

In other not so interesting news...

I finally got those surplus UPS units converted and we gave most of them away (along with the power conditioners) at the annual Utah County ARES picnic earlier this month. Hopefully they're all set up with some Sealed Lead Acid batteries that have been neglected for too long. If anyone wants help converting a UPS into an SLA battery maintainer, let me know.
We were at a wedding reception for my niece a few weeks ago and came out to find a note on our car apologizing for the alterations done to the front bumper. The estimate was $402 so we might not even want to bother the insurance companies.
Last week, I took the boys to the Orem Rec Center to play racquetball. The next morning, one of us noticed another alteration that had been done to the right rear pillar above the window. We have no idea how it could have happened unless someone dropped something off a truck parked next to us or something. That one will cost more than the deductible; unfortunately, we'll have to get the insurance involved. They won't be thrilled after the bike rack incident earlier this summer...
We ditched the VoIP phone service we had from ACN Digital. Their equipment didn't work right (QOS was horrible, telephone adapter lockups, etc.) and their customer service was pretty much non-existent. My sister and her family were on it as well and like us, they decided to pay the cancellation fee rather than keep it. If you're going to go with VoIP, choose Vonage, they were good for us - we only switched to ACN to try to help a relative who was making a commission on the sale. We decided to go to cell phones instead (I couldn't bear to go back to a land-line provider).
On that note, I also switched to a new LG LX-550 Fusic phone (Sprint Review - C|Net Review)from Sprint. I like it, but there are some things from my Motorola V-360 that I'll miss. Best about it is the signal is much stronger at my house because the transmitter is just down the street (there are 3 big "flagpoles" at the Junior High about 2 blocks away) and we can get a signal downstairs. Worst is that the MP3 player is still poorly integrated with the phone operations (I can't make an outgoing call while it's playing, nor does it resume after I finish with an incoming call). All in all, I think it's a slight improvement, but nothing to get too excited about.

Talk Like a Pirate Day

2006-09-19T16:39:00.000-06:00

International Talk Like a Pirate day is coming on September 19th (just like it does every year). I'm a little early this year, but I didn't want to forget again... I wrote this post last year, but forgot to post it. :)

Arrrr! Welcome to my blauggh. All ye landlubbers have got t' git yer own pirate name:

Fortunately I got a good one:

Red Harry Rackham

Passion is a big part of your life, which makes sense for a pirate. You have the good fortune of having a good name, since Rackham (pronounced RACKem, not rack-ham) is one of the coolest sounding surnames for a pirate. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com

Other pirate resources: talklikeapirate.com

Plastic batteries!

2006-09-17T08:18:00.001-06:00

The folks at Brown University have been working on some cool stuff with conductive plastic. I don't know if their numbers are completely accurate (100 times the power of an alkaline battery?), but it's good news anyway. We really need better power storage for just about everything these days.

Engadget picked up on it and there are more comments there on their blog.

Dell & Sony recalling 4 million batteries

2006-08-15T08:20:00.000-06:00

Dell (recall notice) and Sony are working together on recalling 4 million laptop batteries (CPSC notice, Breitbart article) that have been prone to burning, venting with flame, exploding, catching on fire, or whatever other terms you want to apply. My other entries here and here told some more of the story.

Hmm, I use quite a few of these Sony 18650 cells which have been removed from surplus (read: non-functioning, dead, bad, defective, etc.) Dell batteries I get from work. I've been careful with them, but I'll be even more so now!

More about Li-Ion batteries from Battery University.

100 MPG in a converted Toyota Prius?

2006-07-20T10:14:00.000-06:00

This article talks about supplementing the battery pack of current Hybrid Electric Vehicles by adding your own batteries. The scary part with all the recent talk about exploding Lithium based cells is that at least one company's solution is a 150-pound, 16-inch-by-33-inch box of lithium-ion batteries that fits in place of the spare tire.

That said; I want one! It wouldn't be very practical right now and certainly wouldn't save me any money, but I'd sure have a lot more stuff to play with as I drove and maintained it. Maybe I should just see if any of the DARPA Challenge vehicles are up for sale instead...

How about this electric vehicle from Tesla? They claim 250 miles per charge and 0-60 in 4 seconds for somewhere around $100,000. People are talking after Engadget posted an article this morning .

More info on burning Dell at Novell

2006-07-19T13:58:00.000-06:00

According to this article on CRN, the battery in the burning Dell notebook was not manufactured by Dell. I suppose that lets Dell off the hook for this particular incident, but I wonder if that will make anyone that owns one feel better...

In the article Edward F. Moltzen writes:

I asked Novell spokesman Kevan Barney if this was, in fact, the case. Sort of, he said, but there was more to the story.

Yes, the Dell notebook caught fire and, yes, Novell's Building D was evacuated. But a security investigator who looked into it said the person who was using the notebook inserted a non-Dell battery into the unit just before it went up. "It was not a Dell battery," Barney said.

The investigation is continuing, Barney said.

Dell Laptop battery trouble at Novell; aka "Venting With Flame"

2006-07-11T11:18:00.000-06:00

After reading all the recent news about exploding and burning Li-Ion laptop batteries and this story today about Dell's new effort to try to buoy it's reputation, I decided to give this story a home online. Just to inform, not to bash anyone (my first Dell was a 286-12 back in 1988). It was sent to me on July 6th, 2006 by a fellow Amateur Radio operator in the local area.

"Building D of Novell in Provo was evacuated at about 1:30 PM today because of fire alarms set off by a Dell D600 battery "venting with flame" under normal use/charging conditions. It took the laptop out with it, of course.

Yesterday, he sent some pictures and I thought I'd share. Here's a sample:

The rest of the images can be found on my public FotoTime site.

Timely news story

2006-07-10T13:45:00.000-06:00

I know this is old news now, but it was *relatively* new until 36 hours after I posted it! :)

In other news...

- I took our new car into the shop today to get the roof fixed after I tried to drive into our garage with my bike still on top. The bike (Cannondale F500) and the Yakima rack both survived (I rode 70 miles the next day). I hope to get some pictures back from the body shop when I pick up the car.

- Our dog caught (and killed) the neighbor's cat this morning. Unfortunately, it was the one that the kids in our cul-de-sac were most attached to.

- Just as I was going to leave for work, the sprinklers came on and I saw that we had a broken head right next to the house. Glad that cat slowed me down this morning or we would have had a nicely flooded basement!

- I found out that I'm not going to get the $50 rebate I was promised for buying a new cell phone a while back. It has taken a while because I kept forgetting to call the store and ask why I hadn't received it yet. When I purchased it, I was away from home and on my way to the airport to go on a trip. The store owner who sold it to me said that he'd send me the rebate along with the contract paperwork in the mail when he got the computer problems figured out. Unfortunately, it turns out that the deal he made me was only supposed to be valid at a "corporate" store. On the positive side, I have a new phone and didn't have to do the 2 year contract extension. Good thing, 'cause I don't really like the phone (Motorola V360) that much!

FON

2006-06-26T12:18:00.000-06:00

I'm going be jumping on the Fon bandwagon. My equipment should arrive soon and I plan on putting up an antenna (got one like this) on the roof so I can access it while I'm out and about.

UPS waveform article

2006-06-23T11:01:00.000-06:00

Saw this article about waveforms from UPS units today and since all 16 of the APC-650 units I have are exactly what is shown in this article, I thought I'd link over to it. I have experienced problems with running UPS units from my small portable generator before, so now I want to go check it out a little and see if I can determine why. Just need to find someone with a scope and some time...

Jesse (the author of the article I mentioned) has also written about a UPS modification he did.

I have a couple of power conditioners from someone who didn't want to bother trying to surplus them. Never had a use for them before, but perhaps now I do! These are the type that claim to create clean power from dirty. They are quite heavy. I want to see if putting them between the generator and the UPS units clears up the problems I have seen in the past. I'll update this article with a model number and a link when I can.

FWIW, I have one of these 110 <-> 220 Step Up / Step Down Transformer / Voltage Conversion units too but I have absolutly no use for it that I can fathom right now. I'm pretty sure it's a model UDC-1500. If anybody locally needs one, you know who to ask!