The Smorgasbord

Ahhh – Google Street View. Remember when it first went online and it freaked everybody out and there were all kinds of privacy concerns? That didn’t seem to last very long did it? Now it seems like when I get directions I always check out street view so I know exactly what my destination will look like when I get there, it makes travel a whole lot easier! But there have been some Google street view fiascos for sure.

Today I was thinking of this because I read the post Angry villagers run Google street view out of town, and it cracked me up. In an affluent suburb in England there had been a few burglaries, and when they say the Google street view car in their neighborhood it freaked them out and pissed them off. So they surrounded the car and made it leave!

You can’t blame them really, but it’s funny how many things the google streetview cams have caught by accident just driving through our neighborhoods taking panorama pics of a “day in the life” or ordinary people. You can check some out at Mashable’s Top 15 Google Streetview Sightings, and here’s a Google Streetview Gallery and Street View gallery – with new things being posted all the time.

I guess google street view is just something we’ve gotten used to since it didn’t go away, and it’s not likely to anytime soon!

PC Mag online has a post about the Phoenix Pre-Boot shell that’s pretty cool. Some computers and laptops have had pre-boot environments for years but they were proprietary to that make and model computer. Now Phoenix has launched downloadable versions at CES 2009 that you can install on any laptop (that has an AMD or Intel chipset with virtualization technology).

What is a “pre-boot shell” you ask? It’s an environment that loads instantly when your PC starts – before you ever get to windows. This is usually based on Linux, and the cool things is now manufacturer are starting to add features that allow you to perform basic tasks without ever booting into Windows. Just need a web browser, or quick access to Amazon or flickR? These pre-boot shells have wi-fi built in so you can do basic web tasks on the fly in seconds without booting. Phoenix claims as much as 25% increase in savings to your battery charge.

I think it’s funny in a way that “once again” Linux is being used as an innovator where Microsoft falls flat. On the one hand you could say that Windows Vista had too many versions to choose from, but on the other hand Linux is so very flexible that it can be used on a phone, for a pre-boot shell, on a thumb drive, or in a cable box.

In a way – the simplistic features of the pre-boot shell remind me of when I tried gOS, the version of Linux that is famously installed on the WalMart budget PC’s that were $199 last year. It has huge icons at the bottom toolbar with most-oft-used web functions, like MySpace, Facebook, eBay, Amazon, Firefox, etc.

If any of you are interested in what the pre-boot shell could be like, I invite you to download a copy of the latest Ubuntu Linux for free, burn it to a CD and run it “live”. You can try out Linux on your Windows laptop or desktop without installing a thing.

Isn’t Linux great?

Amazon is having a 50% off Blu-Ray Movie sale! It’s really funny too, since just yesterday I blogged about the LG Blu-Ray player. I checked my email this morning and saw this sale, and wow – it couldn’t be more timely! I don’t know how much I’ll spend, but I think I’m going to get about 6 of these while I can. They’ve got some great titles on sale too, like No Country for Old Men, The Doors, Gangs of New York, The Bank Job, Pirates of the Caribbean, and my favorite “Crash”!

They have like 83 Blu-Ray titles on sale, but it only goes until August 29th. You can get a deal on the pre-order of Iron Man too while you’re in there.

My “Free Online Storage” review of 10 different online backup services shows you how you can protect your digital photos, mp3′s, multimedia, documents, and more online (for free!)

A co-worker recently told me that he had two external hard drives that he’d been backing up photos and mp3′s to – and they were about out of storage space. He wanted to know what his options were for more storage space, and if tape backup were still a viable thing to invest in.

I think this is a good question, one that more and more people have as digital pictures start piling up – and as more of us buy music online vs. having a pile of cd’s lying around. It used to be the only thing you worried about was a fire destroying your precious family photos or music collection. Nowadays – I think that people are much more careless with “digital” versions of memories or paid music. Think about it, have you ever had a computer die, motherboard fry, or a hard drive go bad?

I few years ago my own daughter was heartbroken when over 2 years of digital photos were lost (in addition to he mp3′s) when her hard drive crashed. No matter what I did I couldn’t bring that drive back long enough to get data off of it. I should have done then what I told my co-worker to do now.

If you’re in a similar situation – you can of course buy more network storage as I’ve written about in the past. You could also get a wireless hard drive, or a Buffalo Drivestation – but by purchasing more hardware you still aren’t safe from a fire – unless you are backing up and then taking those external drives to a secondary location on a regular basis (like a safe deposit box).

My recommendation to my co-worker was to signup for “free online storage”. This way you’re protected from a natural disaster in addition to computer issues. In addition – you can also access your files from multiple computers if necessary, and getting at your files when you get a new PC or laptop is no problem. All this sounds expensive – doesn’t it?

There are 6 different online storage services featured in this c|Net review, but I decided to also add some services to this list that they left out. All in all, every online storage site listed below has a “free” option that you can use – and if you signed up for them all you could get more than 100GB of free online storage space combined!

We start with Windows SkyDrive, and they offer 5GB of online storage for free. It’s password protected storage, and I would be a bit surprised if this is something they don’t try and push as a “feature” of the next version of Windows. This services looks pretty simple, but I wouldn’t be surprised if was only completely usable from Internet Explorer (and most geeks I know use Firefox). You can make files public, personal, or shared.

MediaFire is a completely free online storage service that claims “completely unlimited storage”. Looks like their banking on that model of getting tons of online users and worrying about how to pay for it later (and maybe being bought for big bucks like YouTube!). They have options for making files public or personal. There is a limit of 100MB per file, but that shouldn’t affect the majority of people.

The XDrive has been around awhile – it was one of the first online storage services that I can remember. You get 5GB for free, then it’s $9.95 per month after that. XDrive was purchased by AOL some time ago – so you need an AOL username to login or create an account, but an AIM ID will do if you have one of those. You can upload files one at a time, or there’s a “java accelerator” for multiple files. You can share files and folders with this service as well.

You can get 2GB free online storage with MozyHome, or pay $4.95 per month for unlimited. Purchased by EMC, this service has been around about 2 years. Unlike the services listed so far, to use MozyHome you have to install an application that will backup your email, documents, and photos. You can choose (in “expert” mode) what files are or aren’t backed up, and how often backups occur. Mozy runs in the background looking for changed files to backup on a regular schedule.

Carbonite is probably the most heavily advertised online storage servies, with (currently) ads on the radio every hour. You get unlimited online storage space, but the cost is $4.95 per month, or $50 if you pay by the year. Carbonite is like Mozy, it’s an “online backup” service that runs in the background backing up your PC or laptop as you work. The difference between Carbonite and all the other online backup and storage services is that your files are encrypted before being securely sent from your PC to the Carbonite servers. That might not be important to some people, but as far as privacy and personal and confidential documents are concerned – it should be. Especially since most PC’s are riddled with personally identifiable information like resume’s, financial information, claimforms, and maybe even copies of paystubs or timesheets. If you own a home based or small business you would be smart to choose Carbonite for this one reason alone.

Box.net offers 1GB for free or 5GB for $7.95 per month. The free account limits individual file size to only 10MB per file. There’s also a 10GB per month bandwidth limit (if you’re repeatedly updating the same files), and they have a java drag and drop application that you can use. Even though this service seems a bit limited and restricted (for the free account), it does have uses that the others listed so far don’t. You can use this service to host blog or eBay photos and then placing the link on the appropriate page. It might be a handy account to have for just those types of uses, or for smaller short term online file storage.

ADrive offers 50GB of free online storage and they offer a “desktop backup client” as well. Something ADrive offers that the others don’t (or at least didn’t mention) was the ability to edit documents online. You can share files, and ADrive boasts a “search tool” as well, something I hadn’t seen any of the other services list in their offerings. ADrive sounds like a great service since it has lots of free space AND an online backup tools, but I hope that the intermittent problems I was having with their web site aren’t indications that their servers are maxed out (from too many users).

iDrive offers 2GB of online storage space for free with additional accounts starting at $4.95 per month. iDrive is advertised as working for both the Mac or PC – and you need to install their application to work with the service. You can select what to backup, or have true archiving and “sync” of updated files – and even access up to the last 30 versions. You can search and restore, or even explore your backed up files from a “windows explorer” like view.

Humyo offers 30GB of online storage space for free, which also includes the ability to edit files online. You don’t get a desktop client with the free version or encrypted file transfers (you can get 100GB and encrypted file transfers for $59 per year). You can send files via email with this service with no restrictions on size. The unique feature of Humyo is the ability to “publish and embed” media. You can put your media (movie file, mp3) on a blog or social networking site, and Humyo automatically embeds a “player” on the page – making it a snap to publish your media wherever you want. This would be a great feature for artists or bands.

Orbit files offers 6GB of free online storage space. You can edit your files online, and OrbitFiles offers a “tag and search” feature I’ve not seen in other services. You can add friends and share files, zip folders, and create public or private photo albums. Two features unique to OrbitFiles are the ability to enable RSS, and the ability to “sell files”. That’s right – you can sell your files online, whether it be PDF, eBooks, MP3′s, photos – you name it! They only charge a small 2% commission on the sale price – which really is quite cheaper than most options for selling digital content online!

There are all kinds of other online storage services that seem to do something different to set themselves apart. Like Omemo for example, which bills itself as the “world’s largest drive”. You sign up, and “share” part of your free hard drive space with others, for a huge “peer to peer virtual drive”. DropBoks offers 1GB of space in what appears to be about the simplest online storage interface I’ve seen. In.solit.us offers free online storage that you can even access from your iPhone. divShare offers 5GB storage and 10GB bandwidth per month and boasts integration with WordPress, Facebook, and iPhone. They have an API that can used to integrate their storage space with any online application. SendUit offers the ability to send files via an expiring download link that you can set from 30 minutes to one week.

Whichever service you choose – you should be able to find at least one online storage service that meets your needs!

This is crazy – I don’t even know how to describe it. In this latest bout of stupid human tricks, a couple guys decide to jump a homemade cart with one of those ATV carts. Do they make it? Oh they make it all right – you just won’t believe what happens next. It was so freaky that had to watch this like 6 times…

Insane Buggy Landing – Watch more free videos

Watch this stunning programmed waterfall – it’s insane! This is one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen. The guy that programmed this thing must be genius! I realize that the setup is probably no different than programming a scrolling LED sign, but there’s something about it being a waterfall that just make it cool as hel!

Ever lost a password? I did today, and I found a “free password reveal tool”. Actually, what happenned was that I had a password saved in my browser, but I didn’t know what it was anymore and I wanted to change it. When I tried to change the password, it wanted the old one before I could enter a new one…and well, that was the start of a way to figure my password out.

Back in the day (like 10 years ago) I remember when we used to download all kinds of Windows utilities to do handy things, and there was this thing called a “password revealer” that I used to have. When you ran a small executable file it would open a “loupe” (fancy word for jewelers maginifying glass). When you moved the “loupe” over a password field it would turn the dots or asteriks into their real letters, numbers, and characters revealing the real password. w00t!

Now today I wanted to find this utility or a very good reason – I wanted to figure my own password out. Unfortuantely there are people out there who would want to use this tool for ill gotten gains, like hacking your myspace password, breaking into your hotmail account, or for an easy way to steal your yahoo password. What I’m saying is, I’m going to give you a tool you can use to reveal most saved password, but it would be in your best interest to uninstall when you were done to keep prying eyes from getting into your business! Like I said – there’s a reason that less than 100 people per month search for “password revealer”, but more than 2,000 each search for “hacking myspace password”, and “hotmail password stealer”?!?

When your dealing something like looking for a “password revealer” tool – a lot of the search results are spammy or trying to get you to buy some piece of software to solve your problem. I was lucky enough that Lifehacker saved the day (again) with their post Recover Lost Passwords. They linked to a site and post I forgot about – Snadboy’s Revelation 2.0, which is course is a freeware password revealer. It worked for me! If it doesn’t work for you, try some of the other tools on the Lifehacker page, and report back here what works and what doesn’t!

Nobody said that wrestling fans don’t get involved – but these fans get a little “too into it” when one of the wrestlers needs a folding chair. I think he gets a little more than he bargained for. I’m getting the picture they sell beer at this arena and it’s late in the show…!

You know, over the years I’ve seen lots of crazy stuff for sale on eBay. Maybe I’d seen one haunted baby doll or Jesus in a grilled cheese too many, because I thought I’d seen it all. Then I came across this Slashdot post about a man selling his entire life on eBay. The title intrigued me the most – what does “entire life” mean?

I followed the links, and this BBC article was my first stop explaining that after a recent divorce, his is selling his entire house a contents, which include a house, car, and jet ski. Also included is a shot at his job, introductions to his friends – and just about everything except for the wife he divorced! When it’s all said and done he expects to “walk out the front door with wallet in one hand and passport in the other and to get on the train not knowing where I’m going or what the future holds for me…”

This guy is serious, he has a whole web site that’s he’s been posting to for the last 100 days leading up to his eBay auction, which is now up to $311,000 (Australian). The guy definitely has a bit of an adventurous personality anyway, since he has a jet-ski, motorcycle, car, and he parasails. But I sure don’t know many people who would give up ever single thing they owned, including cameras, computers, all household belongings and just walk out with a check. Can you really put a price on everything single thing you own? I think of people I know who’ve lost everything in a house due to fire, and they will be the first to say that you can’t. I wonder if there’s anything he took out of the house in advance, like really personal items or photos, family memorabilia, etc.

What about you – could you sell your entire life and walk away? Could you put a price on it?

My thoughts on Firefox 3 and Firefox 3 Portable after upgrading and living with them for a few days on several computers.

Were you one of the 11 million people who downloaded Firefox 3 during the first 24 hours it was available? They (tenatively) set the record for the most people downlading a single application within 24 hours. I have to admit – I was one of those people. But I didn’t download it for the guiness book of world records. I did it because (as much as I love Firefox) I wanted the performance improvement.

I’m known for having a dozen or more tabs open, and on a Toshiba notebook running Vista on 2GB of Ram that’s not much of a problem most of the time. However, Firefox 2 has been known to “eat all it can” memory wise. Over time, it gets worse and worse, and sometimes you just have to shut it down and restart the computer. I had read in severa pre-release blog posts Firefox 3 had a smaller footprint, and promised to be quicker when rendering pages. Hmmm…

I first put Firefox 3 on the notebook, and most of my extensions didn’t work – so they were disabled. I just uninstalled them and kept only the compatible ones. Pages do load pretty quick, and opening tabs is faster. The new address (smart location) bar is kinda cool, but takes longer to lookup autocompletes for URL’s and titles – so it’s cool but slower. The one thing I find very annoying is the fact that sometimes when a load heavy page opens, while it’s “loading” the other tabs won’t do anything and FF kinda locks up until that page finishes what it’s doing. Other than that my experience was pretty good.

I work on another PC with is a 2Ghz Celeron with 1.2GB of Ram. On that PC I use a flash drive and run Firefox on Portable Apps. I upgraded that to Portable Apps as well. On this PC I have all kinds of issues with Firefox 3. They are mainly the same issues as my laptop, only it happens more often and Firefox is slower. I can’t open more than 5 tabs without waiting 3-5 seconds for everything, and if two or more tabs are loading anything – FF locks up until it’s done. Also, when using the right scroll or backspace in the URL or any form field, it will freeze for 5-10 seconds, and then be fine. I only have google notebook, del,icio.us, and download statusbar as extensions – everything should function fine. Expecially with 1Gig+ of Ram. I almost wished I hadn’t upgraded that Firefox.

Here’s some firefox 3 reviews of the new features from around the web:

If you’re looking for a visual review of all the new features Mozilla Links has just what you’re looking for. Check it out, it’s a very through Firefox 3 Review. For those of you that like to read, the WinSuperSite has a Firefox 3 Review that’s very (wordy) in depth as well.

How do you like the new Firefox 3?