Today's the day!

Today's the much anticipated Apple media event titled "Come see our latest creation."  What do you think it could be?


A few places you can check out live coverage follows...


http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/27/live-from-the-apple-tablet-latest-creation-event/
http://live.gizmodo.com/
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/01/apple-tablet-event/
http://live.slashgear.com/
http://theappleblog.com/live/

With my head up in the clouds...

My hard drive head, that is.


With having to do work at home sometimes and studying at work sometimes and both while traveling, it was becoming harder and harder to keep data synced up between computers, even with a USB stick.  So I thought I would look into some online file storage options.  After doing a little investigating, I settled on checking out three of the many options in the Wikipedia article: DropBox,Live Mesh (beta), and ZumoDrive.


I didn't have too many requirements for my online storage, but the first was that it had to work with both Mac and Windows.  That's usually easy enough, especially if it had a web interface, but I would prefer that it had drag-and-drop capabilities, and preferably as a folder in Finder or Explorer.  I obviously didn't do an exhaustive search, but the three I settled on do the job for me.  Here is what I found...


Installation and access
On the Mac (which I'll be concentrating on), installing DropBox sets up my storage as a folder (or directory) anywhere you'd like.  However, at least on my Mac, I couldn't find a way to create it as a Volume, but then, I didn't spend too much time looking for it, so there may be a way.  I prefer it as a folder (as mentioned above), so it's fine the way it is.  ZumoDrive sets up a volume on my Mac.  Live Mesh allows you to create or link folders.
On Windows, DropBox sets up as a folder, while ZumoDrive is a "Device with Removable Storage."  Finally, Live Mesh sets up folders as well, but under a somewhat mysterious "Live Mesh Folders" under the User, although you can specify a location under other folders, such as "Documents".


Storage
ZumoDrive comes with 1GB free, with the ability to get up to a total of 2GB free if you refer friends.  It also has options for paid accounts for more memory.  DropBox comes with 2GB free with options for paid accounts.  Live Mesh comes with 5GB free, and as far as I can tell, there are no other options for extra storage, paid or not.  It may be because it's in beta, but who knows?  Something to dig around a little more for.


While DropBox really is just online storage to share files, ZumoDrive and Live Mesh allow you to sync up existing folders.  Live Mesh doesn't push it like ZumoDrive does (perhaps because of the 5GB limit?).  ZumoDrive allows you to specifically sync up things such as your photo folder, your music folder (iTunes), etc.  I don't know about you, but for me that's multi-gigabytes, and that would mean paying for sure!


Resources
On my Mac, DropBox takes up about 10MB less of "real memory" than either ZumoDrive or Live Mesh.  The big difference is with CPU resources.  DropBox and ZumoDrive are both using about .1% CPU at idle, while Live Mesh is using about 2%.  That may not seem like much of a difference, and it really isn't, but then why can't Live Mesh use the same 20X less CPU while not really doing anything?


Extras
Perhaps it's because Live Mesh is meant to do so much more!  I haven't tried it yet (yes, I'm scared), but Live Mesh has an option to connect remotely to another computer.  It doesn't appear that you can connect to a Mac from Windows, or vice versa, but you can connect Windows to Windows.
And as mentioned above, it appears that ZumoDrive makes it really easy to backup and/or sync your photo and music folders, among others.  You can do it with the others, but you have to manually specify the directories.


Conclusion
For the needs I currently have, just a simple way to synchronize work and school files wherever I happen to be and whatever computer I happen to be using, DropBox is the way to go.  Its combination of storage, ease of use, and resource usage made it the winner for me.  For others of you, one of the myriad of choices may work better.  Let me know what you decide.

Check Box selection for Explorer in Windows 7

I've been playing around with Windows 7 some more, and I find I like it quite a bit!  So to help myself out (of course), I'll be posting some tips and tricks I come across during my web travels looking for answers to my questions for both Windows 7 and Mac OS X.

Here's a nifty little feature in Windows 7 for all those who've always hated the [Ctrl][Click] combo in Explorer--Enable Check Boxes!  (I understand it was available in Vista, but since I never used Vista...  Oh, you didn't either?)

via LifeHacker

A new toy! Oh, boy!

I hate to admit it, but I'm getting old and lazy.

Lazy because I have school some nights and I'm getting tired of packing the MacBook Pro to and from campus.  Yes, it's only about 6 1/2 pounds with power adapter, but with books and such, it gets tedious for me to carry around.  Also, since it's getting a little older (along with me), the battery only goes for about two hours.  Since my classes are usually 2 1/2 hours long, I'd need to make sure I'm near a power outlet and that's just not possible a lot of times. (Pshah, did someone say paper notes?  Luddite)  The other reason is that it'd just be nice to grab-'n-go when I'm at home.  Right now with the MBP, I have to disconnect the power, two usb connectors, the speakers, the external monitor, etc.

So the solution?  Buy myself something that lasts longer and is lighter to carry, but that is also light on the wallet.  I took a look at various Mac based solutions, but even an older MacBook started at $750 and I really wanted to keep it under $600  (I actually wanted it to be under $500, but I gave myself a cushion).  I then turned to netbooks.  Many of them met much of my criteria, such as light weight--around 3 pounds--and inexpensive--around $400--but this is where the old comes into play.  My eyes can't handle those little 10" screens!  The resolution at 1024x600 wasn't too great either.  So maybe I would have to save up a little and spring for the MacBook after all.

But while I was doing some research on netbooks through Liliputing and NetbookTech among other websites, I came across the Asus UL30A.  It seemed to be getting good reviews from any number of places but its specs were what really did it for me...

• 13.3" 1366x768 screen (just totally trumped the 10.1" 1024x600, although I may have been able to get by with an 11.6" or 12.1" 1366x768 that a few of the netbooks I looked at had, but that extra inch really does help the old eyes.)
• Core 2 duo CULV processor (as opposed to single-core or Atom).  This one (the 7300) even supports Intel's Virtualization Technology.
• Windows 7 Home Premium (as opposed to Home Starter--definitely a no-no).
• 4GB RAM
• 320GB HD
• 12 hour(!) battery life.  This one blew me away, and I found it hard to believe. 
• 3.7 pounds.  Not the lightest, but certainly not heavy, especially when I don't need the power plug!
• and other features, which I'll probably write about in later posts.

I managed to find it at newegg.com on sale for $630 (so just a little over my budget).  Unfortunately, the price is back up to $750, but even then, that's not a bad price for the features.

I hate to say it, but I kind of like Windows 7, so I am sure I will be writing more about it as well as the little notebook in the future as I play with them some more.

New to the Mac?

If so, here's a great post to get you started--"Setting Up Your New Mac: The First 25 Things You Need To Do".  Of course, one of the 25 advises you to visit their website, but that's okay.  It's a great list and I like the website.

I even finally fixed something based on this that had bothered me, but not enough to figure out how to fix it: Control those auto-launching programs!

via MacLife