Like most people, I’m lazy about backing up my data. If it’s remotely inconvenient, I won’t do it. Fortunately, there’s now several things you can do to back up your data, all without having to lift a finger. Smart WiFi access points, and clouded computing services, have changed the backup playing field. I’m going to share with you a full proof plan for automatically backing up your data, so you can rest easy.

Automated Backups for Mac

When Apple released Time Machine, they introduced a dead simple way to backup your Mac. Just plug in an external hard drive, and let it do the rest. While it’s a great solution, I still have to remember to get my hard drive out on a regular basis, hook it up, and let it do its thing. I’m too lazy for that, or at least too lazy to do it frequently enough.

My solution was to get a Time Capsule from Apple. It’s an Airport Extreme Base Station coupled with a server grade hard drive. I use it at home, and it backs up my MacBook Pro on a regular basis, without me doing one thing. Time Machine automatically detects when I’m on my home network, and then determines when it’s time to backup my computer. All of it is done in the background. It’s beautiful!

Automated “Cloud” Computing Backups

Unfortunately, relying on one backup is not the best backup plan. Especially if you lose your computer in a house fire, which happens to be the same location as your Time Capsule. For that reason (and others), I use a couple cloud computing services as backups.

Just like Time Capsule and Time Machine, these services can be set up to run automatically in the background. The two cloud computing services I use are Backblaze and Dropbox.

Backblaze

I’ve tried several cloud computing backup services on OS X, including Mozy, but Backblaze was the service that worked the best, and was also the most unobtrusive. Like Time Machine, Backblaze automates the backup of your hard drive, or the folders you specify, and saves them securely in the cloud.

The price is incredibly cheap. It only cost $5/mo for unlimited storage. One of the things I like the most about Backblaze, is that it allows me to specify the backup speed. I can either choose better network performance (slower backup speeds) or faster backups (full throttle backup speeds).

Dropbox

Another cloud computing service I use is Dropbox. While Dropbox’s conventional use is storing documents in the cloud, it can also be used as an excellent automated backup system. The way I use Dropbox on my MacBook Pro, is that I save all of my documents in my Dropbox folders.

I decided to mimic the default folders that appear in the Home folder on OS X, including Music, Photos, and Documents. I then made shortcuts to those folders, and I make sure I save everything in them. Dropbox then automatically syncs those documents in the cloud.

My documents are not only synced (backed up) in the cloud automatically, they’re also accessible via their iOS app. That means I can easily access all of my documents on my iPhone or iPad using Dropbox’s free iOS app. Just like Backblaze, their service is incredibly affordable. They have a free account that comes with 2GB, a $10/mo account that comes with 50GB, and a $20/mo account that comes with 100GB.

Automated Social Network Backups

Lastly, I also have a lot of activity on social networks. My activity is obviously not on my computer, but what happens if a social network loses my data, or gasp, deletes my account or goes out of business? That’s where Backupify comes in.

I use Backupify to backup my Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter accounts. I also use it to backup my WordPress blogs. You can even use it to backup your Gmail account! The data can be backed up on your own Amazon Web Services‘ S3 storage account, which is what I do. They have a Free account, a Plus account for $40/year, and Premium account for $60/year. Most people will be able to get by with their Free or Plus account.

The Best Way to Backup Your Mac and MacBook Pro is a post from: Mobile Meandering

How efficient is Bluetooth 4.0? Apparently, it’s so efficient that it could run for years on a tiny lithium battery. Now that’s efficient!

Bluetooth 4.0 Features

• Ultra-low peak, average and idle mode power consumption
• Ability to run for years on standard coin-cell batteries
• Low cost
• Multi-vendor interoperability
• Enhanced range

Engadget speculates that they expect to see hardware supporting Bluetooth 4.0 as soon as Q4 of 2010.

The Bluetooth 4.0 Killer Feature: Low Energy Consumption is a post from: Mobile Meandering

When the iPad first launched, there were a handful of magazines that released digital versions on the iPad. Time magazine took a minimalist approach, while Popular Science was somewhat avant garde. Most of the others were poorly thought out, lesser versions of their print editions.

Time and PopSci should be commended for their effort and innovation, Especially since they had the guts to be one of the first publishers to release an iPad version of their magazine. However, as good as both were, they still fell short of the ideal iPad magazine experience that most people would want.

Shortly after the initial magazines came out, Wired released their version of an iPad magazine. Unlike all of the other iPad magazines, Wired got it (mostly) right the first time. The usability, while not perfect, was far and above their competition. They made it easy to navigate, read, and fun to use.

They recently came out with their second issue of their magazine for iPad, and did something very clever. Instead of releasing it as a new app, they updating the first magazine app, and made it so you could preview the new magazine, and then do an in-app purchase and download.

The magazine provides multiple ways to view the table of contents, and adjusts perfectly when you change from portrait to landscape, or vice-versa.

The article content is also easy to read, and is laid out well for both landscape and portrait mode.

The price for the iPad version, $3.99 per issue, is still a bit high. If they can continue to enhance their issues – which I believe is based on new, unreleased software from Adobe – and provide a more affordable subscription model, then I think they may have something very viable for digital magazine publishing.

Wired Magazine Continues to Get it Right with Digital Magazine Publishing On the iPad is a post from: Mobile Meandering

The iPad goes well beyond an entertainment device. It supports the most common functions that one would expect from a desktop or notebook computer, including:

• Email
• Web
• Music
• Books, Magazines, and Newspapers
• Photos
• Videos
• Gaming
• Word Processing
• Spreadsheets
• Presentations

It also simplifies the user experience by hiding unnecessary operating system layers, like the file system. Instead, the user is presented with icons that represent the application and task they want to perform. And with the introduction of iPhone OS 4.0, common computing elements, like multitasking, will complete the necessary features required to make it compete with traditional computers.

Apple Pages for iPad

One of the most common computing tasks is word processing. Apple made an iPad version of Pages, which is supposed to bring word processing to the iPad. I put it to the test to see if the iPad could truly work as a word processer – negating the need for a traditional computer.

The iPad version of Pages has most of the commonly used features of its Mac OS cousin. Documents were easy to style, and many of the page layout features that people are accustomed to on the Mac OS version are there. In fact, they’re fun to use. For example, you get to move and rotate images with your fingers.

There are some features missing though. For example, there’s no view for Page Info. So if you wanted to know your word count, you’re out of luck. However, Pages for iPad makes up for missing features with its minimalist functionality. Most of what you need is there, and unlike a traditional computer, working in one application helps keep you from getting distracted.

Once you’ve finished writing your document, and you want to share it, you can easily email it, export it (for syncing with a computer), or make it available on Apple’s iWork.com. One notable feature that is missing from the iPad is printing. I’m not sure how they plan to handle this in the future, but it’s certainly going to become an issue if the iPad has a chance at replacing the need for a traditional computer. This problem may also be solved by Google’s Cloud Print initiative.

Writing Pages documents on the iPad is a breeze, especially if you’re using Apple’s keyboard dock for the iPad. It makes writing a pleasure, but it’s also great for using on other applications. I plan on leaving my seventeen inch MacBook Pro at home, and taking the keyboard dock and iPad instead. It’s a lot lighter, the battery lasts longer, and it’s the perfect size for airplanes and coffee shops.

Review of Pages for iPad is a post from: Mobile Meandering

Fortunately, the iPad runs on the same OS as the iPhone (the iPhone OS). That means you get the same security features you would have on the iPhone or iPod Touch.

To enable security, click on the Settings icon. Then click on the General option in the left column. Under the General options, click on Passcode Lock. An “Enter Passcode” window will appear. Enter a four digit passcode. After you save your passcode, you will also have the option to wipe the iPad of all data if the code is entered incorrectly too many times.

The next time you turn on your iPad, you’ll be presented with a passcode window. That means you’re iPad is now protected!

iPad Security is a post from: Mobile Meandering

Add Keynote or PowerPoint Presentations via iTunes

The easiest way to get Keynote or PowerPoint presentations on your iPad is to use iTunes. Open iTunes and plug in your iPad. Click on the iPad icon in the left column, and then click on the Apps tab. Scroll down the page and you’ll see the File Sharing options for Keynote. Click on Keynote, and then click on Add to add the presentation files you want to copy to the iPad.

Email Keynote or PowerPoint Presentation

Simply email the presentation to yourself, and then run the iPad’s Mail app. You can then download the presentation inside the message.

Once the iPad finishes downloading the presentation, click on it to open it. By default, it will open it in preview mode. However, if you have Keynote for iPad installed, it will provide you with the option to open it in Keynote. Click the Open In Keynote button and the iPad will import it into Keynote.

It will then open Keynote and import the presentation.

This is what a presentation looks like in Keynote for iPad.

To save space, you will want to go back to the Mail app, and then delete the message so you don’t have two copies of your Keynote files on your iPad. Also, Keynote for iPad doesn’t support everything that Keynote for Mac supports. For example, you can’t import presenter notes. If you try to import a presentation with notes, you’ll get this warning message.

How to Import Keynote or PowerPoint Presentations into the iPad is a post from: Mobile Meandering

I think part of the problem is me. I’m not that social. That’s not to say I don’t have any friends or never go out. It just means I’m in my mid-thirties, I have kids, and I don’t get out that much. If I were a teenager, or single and in my twenties, then mobile social apps might be more appealing to me.

The Perfect Mobile Social App

There’s one huge problem with social apps that affect everyone. You have to manually update them.

Even old anti-social guys like me would use social apps on their mobile devices if we didn’t have to manually update our presence. So with that being said, I probably won’t use a social app again until it can solve the problem of manual updates.

For me, the perfect social app would automatically update my presence to a central server every five minutes or so. The same would be true of my friends. That’s it. That’s what I want, and what’s missing from all of the social apps out there.

There’s a beauty to auto-updates. The main thing is that I don’t have do anything to let others know where I am. But there’s also other advantages. They include:

1. Automatically pushing a notification to me and my friend if we’re in close proximity to each other
2. Automatically pushing a notification to me if there’s a person in close proximity to me that I want to avoid
3. Automatically publishing my location publicly for places I’ve designated

Badges are cute, but I want my lazy problems taken care of first. Once that’s solved, I’ll be back.

My Ideal Mobile Social App for iPhone is a post from: Mobile Meandering

I’ve been using the TomTom iPhone App since it was first released and have been very pleased. Life got even better when they finally released the TomTom Car Kit for iPhone (there’s also a TomTom Car Kit for iPod Touch).

There’s a few things that have happened since then. First, the software got cheaper. TomTom for iPhone used to be $99, but it’s now only $69. Not great for me, but great for people who haven’t bought it yet. Second, it’s become much more stable and reliable. They’ve done an excellent job at listening to user feedback and greatly improving the software. The third and most exciting thing is the additional support for real-time traffic.

Real Time Traffic Support on TomTom iPhone App

I commute to work every day, and my drive home is almost always hit or miss. There’s a point in the beginning of my commute back home where I have to decide if I’m going to take the highway or a main off-the-highway route. I’ve tried using Maps on my iPhone to gauge the traffic, but it’s almost always way off!

With the addition of real-time traffic, my TomTom app now provides the best route to my home based on the current traffic conditions. Now I can get home in a reasonable amount of time–or at least take the quickest route each time–which gives me more time to be with my kids, and less time being frustrated in traffic.

Learn more about the TomTom iPhone App.

TomTom Navigation for iPhone Made Even Better with Support for “Real Time Traffic” is a post from: Mobile Meandering

Agile Web Solutions just announced that they’re going to release an iPad version of 1Password. Here’s the beautiful mockups of their new iPad app.

Screenshots of 1Password for Apple’s iPad is a post from: Mobile Meandering

New Features of USB 3.0

GigaOM posted several new features of USB 3.0. These are my favorites:

• Did I mention it was 4.8gbps?
• Fully backwards compatible (as expected)
• It’s more energy efficient
• Backed by every major company

I’m looking forward to seeing Apple start to implement in their computers.

How Fast is USB 3.0? is a post from: Mobile Meandering