While Miranda looks nice, I don't use it because it does not have "all the great features you could wish for from an IM client (except video chat)". There's no twitter or facebook integration, and both gmail and ymail notifications are extra-work addons (this does, of course, assume that these addons are well-maintained, which is not necessarily the case with addons in general). With disgby, all these features are standard (no extra work to install) and are well-maintained.
Now, some people will whine that IM programs shouldn't have these features. Well, that's fine, and you are entitled to your opinion, but please don't force your beliefs upon others. Some of us like to have a single program that does all this, as opposed to separately-installed and separately-maintained daemons that run in the background and hog even more memory and CPU (not to mention the different UIs for each).
I don't use pidgin for reasons that I won't mention here. I imagine they've been covered on/. a while back.
I used Trillian years ago, but switched to digsby because of the features. Now that Astra has caught up, I may have to switch back (although, IMO, the UI is just plain awful).
Heh, I'm more interested in the long-term plans for offline access.
All this talk about new technologies is fine, but usability is important, too. I want to see what will happen when you're someplace without internet access.
Yes, dropbox is very nice. I'll second the recommendation. Dropbox can also automatically keep previous versions of files around. Works on PC, Mac, and linux.
If you need security, truecrypt with dropbox is nice. Dropbox supports incremental (delta) change file uploads/downloads, which makes large-ish truecrypt containers useful on dropbox. The only real limitations are that (1) you have to unmount the truecrypt container before synchronization can occur, and (2) you have to insure, manually, that only one PC/Mac/linux box is accessing the truecrypt container at any one time.
An alternative to dropbox is syncplicity, but I haven't tried it. The feature set looks similar, though.
Another alternative is jungledisk, which uses Amazon S3 to store your data. The advantages here are that everything is encrypted with a key (stored only at your end, unless you enable the web interface), that you pay only for what you use, and that there's no limit on storage capacity (as long as you have money). Disadvantages include:
Incremental/delta file downloads don't exist (makes truecrypt hard to use).
Incremental file uploads exist, for an extra $1/month fee.
You pay for bandwidth, and the bandwidth costs can add up.
No, if 4- or 5- year old children can learn how to take out and play videogames (we're talking xboxes, playstations, and wiis here, not playskool stuff), they can learn how to press a button to call mommy or daddy. It may take a minor amount of training, but it shouldn't be difficult (as long as no learning disabilities exist, of course).
Of course, we're not familiar with the particular child in question, but teaching button mashing shouldn't be hard.:-)
I don't see the difference. Right now we use e-mail servers to centrally manage e-mail and they interact with other e-mail servers. Wave works the same way. Jabber works the same way. Wave just consolidates the two and adds some more features in.
No, unless you're cursed with something like exchange, you can migrate from one provider's email server to another provider's server using a trivial "select all" and one (1) "click and drag" operation. IMAP FTW. Granted, it may take a while, depending upon your pipes, but it's possible. Today. You can do it with Thunderbird, and I imagine that it's also possible with outlook and mail.app, too.
And, you can use this identical procedure to backup your email to your hard disk on your PC/Mac. Restoring from backup is just the reverse operation.
Unless Google comes out with messaging standards, I don't see this ability existing in Wave clients, except as specialized and possibly server-/vendor-specific (and maybe even proprietary) features.
While I think the OP is overreacting horribly ("helicopter parent"???), they do make cell phones designed for young children (in the US, at least). There's a button to press for mommy, and a different button to press for daddy. There are a few more buttons, IIRC, but those are the important, easy-to-use ones. I don't think there's a GPS, but the OP can contact the police, and the police can act "appropriately" upon the cell phone triangulation data.
That said, RAID alone is not a replacement for backups, as some seem to think. Your backup strategy isn't valid if "rm -rf" destroys every copy you have of something.
This -- by all that is good and holy, this.
A sane backup strategy should, at a minimum, be able to handle:
rm -rf
Fire.
Flood.
And, of course, backups for businesses should also attempt to handle disgruntled employees and "accident-prone" employees.:-)
In order for the "non-free" news model to likely succeed, ALL major news sources would have to switch to that model. If not, everyone would just use the "free" sources, and the non-free sources would suffer significantly. However, lawyers could argue that the simultaneous switch, by all major news sources, to "non-free" news models, could be indicative of "collusion", and could, therefore, raise antitrust/monopoly issues (IANAL, and so I'm not sure which it would be).
The switch to a non-free model will only work if all of the major news sources switch to non-free models, forcing everyone to pay. As long as one or more major news sources are in "free" form, the non-free sources are going to severely suffer. Lots of people think, for better or worse, "Why pay for something that I can get for free?" If only Rupert's empire switches to a non-free model, he's going to see a lot of people switch over to the "free" news sources.
And, if all of the major news sources switch to non-free models, that could raise significant antitrust/monopoly issues.
Yeah, my employer's been using sheep/goats for a couple years now. Last week, a flock of sheep, shepherds, and some sheepdogs moved into the fields next to us. I imagine that they'll be munching on the grass for a few more days.
Note that GC contacts don't get migrated to Google Voice. You have to export them from GC, import them into Google (gmail) contacts, and pray that the importer gets them right. There's a bug in the contacts importer that merges items of the same type. For example, if you have two work phone numbers, both numbers get "merged" into a single field when imported into Google contacts. It's downright broken when it comes to IM account names: if your contact has AIM and Yahoo IM accounts, the google importer will merge all of the names into a single gtalk account name.
I hate to say this, but you're really asking for something like a netbook (yeah, I know that's not what you want, but that's probably the closest you'll ever get). The small form factor of smartphones is going to limit their usefulness for many purposes -- one of which will be medium- to heavy-amounts of email. You may not like it, but most people seem to want "small, fits in pocket/purse" over many other things. Since they are the ones that keep the cellphone companies in business, guess what happens?
The iPhone, while far from perfect, really does a lot of jobs "acceptably well" for most people. Yes, it has a number of problems, and, yes, a lot of people don't like it, but the hard truth is that it's "good enough" (not perfect) for a whole lot more people.
The current design trend is for smaller and thinner devices. You better get used to it.:-(
I agree that the iPhone can easily slip out of one's hand. However, adding non-slip strips to the sides and back of the iPhone significantly changes the feel. I'm sure there are others, but I happen to use some by eGrips:
Note that the above is a "universal set", and not the one tailored for an iPhone. I happen to like the thin strips; they really help with stability when applied to the sides of the iPhone. Besides, the universal set is cheaper.
Cats need to be TAUGHT how to catch mice by their mother, while they're still young. If they're not taught, they're probably not going to think of mice as food (or toys).
Meh. The iPhone, as well as the G1, Blackberry, and some other non-smartphones, already has a free app that does this, and more. Check out loopt.
Everything is opt-in, and only those people who have your permission can see your location using loopt. Loopt also has optional links to twitter and facebook. Google Latitude has what? The bar is already pretty high, and any Google smartphone app is going to need some really killer features/interfaces if they expect this to succeed.
Also, possible power failures may be an issue for some. If the rebuild was initiated because of a power failure, and another power failure comes along during the rebuild.... Kablooey.
A UPS is a virtual necessity. However, with larger arrays, the rebuild time is likely longer than the amount of time that a UPS can supply power (for home-based solutions -- I'd hope commercial sites wouldn't have this problem).
Also, does anyone know if ZFS can fix these sector errors without rebuilding? I know that ZFS's disk scrubbing can correct readable corrupt data, but I don't know about unreadable sectors.
Actually Google Notebook is very handy, especially when you are not using your computer and want to jot down some notes.
If you have an iPhone, Evernote has an app that accesses your online Evernote database.
I used to use Google notebook, which is still nice, but I've since switched to Evernote. I like Evernote because:
Searching is much faster.
Works offline.
Can sync offline databases between multiple PCs (and Macs!).
I can access the same database from any web browser (the data is mirrored on Evernote's servers, as well as your PCs and Macs).
Works on the iPhone (but data is stored on Evernote's servers, and not on the iPhone, unless you individually marks notes on the iPhone).
It's free for light to moderate usage (you get roughly 40MB of notes per month, free).
Because searching is fast, I'm now using it for bookmarks. I've migrated all of my del.icio.us bookmarks into it (along with descriptive web page fragments).
Slashdot Mirror
While Miranda looks nice, I don't use it because it does not have "all the great features you could wish for from an IM client (except video chat)". There's no twitter or facebook integration, and both gmail and ymail notifications are extra-work addons (this does, of course, assume that these addons are well-maintained, which is not necessarily the case with addons in general). With disgby, all these features are standard (no extra work to install) and are well-maintained.
Now, some people will whine that IM programs shouldn't have these features. Well, that's fine, and you are entitled to your opinion, but please don't force your beliefs upon others. Some of us like to have a single program that does all this, as opposed to separately-installed and separately-maintained daemons that run in the background and hog even more memory and CPU (not to mention the different UIs for each).
I don't use pidgin for reasons that I won't mention here. I imagine they've been covered on /. a while back.
I used Trillian years ago, but switched to digsby because of the features. Now that Astra has caught up, I may have to switch back (although, IMO, the UI is just plain awful).
Perhaps it's time for an intervention? :-)
I know about Gears. I'm more interested in Google's thinking ("future visions", if you will) on how this is all supposed to work together.
Heh, I'm more interested in the long-term plans for offline access.
All this talk about new technologies is fine, but usability is important, too. I want to see what will happen when you're someplace without internet access.
Yes, dropbox is very nice. I'll second the recommendation. Dropbox can also automatically keep previous versions of files around. Works on PC, Mac, and linux.
If you need security, truecrypt with dropbox is nice. Dropbox supports incremental (delta) change file uploads/downloads, which makes large-ish truecrypt containers useful on dropbox. The only real limitations are that (1) you have to unmount the truecrypt container before synchronization can occur, and (2) you have to insure, manually, that only one PC/Mac/linux box is accessing the truecrypt container at any one time.
An alternative to dropbox is syncplicity, but I haven't tried it. The feature set looks similar, though.
Another alternative is jungledisk, which uses Amazon S3 to store your data. The advantages here are that everything is encrypted with a key (stored only at your end, unless you enable the web interface), that you pay only for what you use, and that there's no limit on storage capacity (as long as you have money). Disadvantages include:
Apparently, buckyballs can be toxic: http://nanotechweb.org/cws/article/tech/20355
No, if 4- or 5- year old children can learn how to take out and play videogames (we're talking xboxes, playstations, and wiis here, not playskool stuff), they can learn how to press a button to call mommy or daddy. It may take a minor amount of training, but it shouldn't be difficult (as long as no learning disabilities exist, of course).
Of course, we're not familiar with the particular child in question, but teaching button mashing shouldn't be hard. :-)
Oh, foo.
I need to mention that it's one click-and-drag operation per IMAP folder, and not per account.
No, unless you're cursed with something like exchange, you can migrate from one provider's email server to another provider's server using a trivial "select all" and one (1) "click and drag" operation. IMAP FTW. Granted, it may take a while, depending upon your pipes, but it's possible. Today. You can do it with Thunderbird, and I imagine that it's also possible with outlook and mail.app, too.
And, you can use this identical procedure to backup your email to your hard disk on your PC/Mac. Restoring from backup is just the reverse operation.
Unless Google comes out with messaging standards, I don't see this ability existing in Wave clients, except as specialized and possibly server-/vendor-specific (and maybe even proprietary) features.
While I think the OP is overreacting horribly ("helicopter parent"???), they do make cell phones designed for young children (in the US, at least). There's a button to press for mommy, and a different button to press for daddy. There are a few more buttons, IIRC, but those are the important, easy-to-use ones. I don't think there's a GPS, but the OP can contact the police, and the police can act "appropriately" upon the cell phone triangulation data.
This -- by all that is good and holy, this.
A sane backup strategy should, at a minimum, be able to handle:
And, of course, backups for businesses should also attempt to handle disgruntled employees and "accident-prone" employees. :-)
You're not understanding what I wrote. :)
In order for the "non-free" news model to likely succeed, ALL major news sources would have to switch to that model. If not, everyone would just use the "free" sources, and the non-free sources would suffer significantly. However, lawyers could argue that the simultaneous switch, by all major news sources, to "non-free" news models, could be indicative of "collusion", and could, therefore, raise antitrust/monopoly issues (IANAL, and so I'm not sure which it would be).
The switch to a non-free model will only work if all of the major news sources switch to non-free models, forcing everyone to pay. As long as one or more major news sources are in "free" form, the non-free sources are going to severely suffer. Lots of people think, for better or worse, "Why pay for something that I can get for free?" If only Rupert's empire switches to a non-free model, he's going to see a lot of people switch over to the "free" news sources.
And, if all of the major news sources switch to non-free models, that could raise significant antitrust/monopoly issues.
Yeah, my employer's been using sheep/goats for a couple years now. Last week, a flock of sheep, shepherds, and some sheepdogs moved into the fields next to us. I imagine that they'll be munching on the grass for a few more days.
How about "Nuclear-grade duct tape"?: http://lifehacker.com/5159500/nuclear-grade-duct-tape
Note that GC contacts don't get migrated to Google Voice. You have to export them from GC, import them into Google (gmail) contacts, and pray that the importer gets them right. There's a bug in the contacts importer that merges items of the same type. For example, if you have two work phone numbers, both numbers get "merged" into a single field when imported into Google contacts. It's downright broken when it comes to IM account names: if your contact has AIM and Yahoo IM accounts, the google importer will merge all of the names into a single gtalk account name.
Sweet jumping _____-on-a-stick. Even at 5 seconds per txt, that's over an hour a day, not to mention the disruptiveness. Does she have any grades? :-(
Follow @googlevoice on twitter.
The existing GC users are getting invites in batches, and everyone should be getting invites within the next 48 hours or so. See: http://twitter.com/googlevoice/status/1317904421
This has already happened, but with a finger: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4396831.stm
I hate to say this, but you're really asking for something like a netbook (yeah, I know that's not what you want, but that's probably the closest you'll ever get). The small form factor of smartphones is going to limit their usefulness for many purposes -- one of which will be medium- to heavy-amounts of email. You may not like it, but most people seem to want "small, fits in pocket/purse" over many other things. Since they are the ones that keep the cellphone companies in business, guess what happens?
The iPhone, while far from perfect, really does a lot of jobs "acceptably well" for most people. Yes, it has a number of problems, and, yes, a lot of people don't like it, but the hard truth is that it's "good enough" (not perfect) for a whole lot more people.
Two things:
Note that the above is a "universal set", and not the one tailored for an iPhone. I happen to like the thin strips; they really help with stability when applied to the sides of the iPhone. Besides, the universal set is cheaper.
Cats need to be TAUGHT how to catch mice by their mother, while they're still young. If they're not taught, they're probably not going to think of mice as food (or toys).
Meh. The iPhone, as well as the G1, Blackberry, and some other non-smartphones, already has a free app that does this, and more. Check out loopt.
Everything is opt-in, and only those people who have your permission can see your location using loopt. Loopt also has optional links to twitter and facebook. Google Latitude has what? The bar is already pretty high, and any Google smartphone app is going to need some really killer features/interfaces if they expect this to succeed.
Also, possible power failures may be an issue for some. If the rebuild was initiated because of a power failure, and another power failure comes along during the rebuild .... Kablooey.
A UPS is a virtual necessity. However, with larger arrays, the rebuild time is likely longer than the amount of time that a UPS can supply power (for home-based solutions -- I'd hope commercial sites wouldn't have this problem).
Also, does anyone know if ZFS can fix these sector errors without rebuilding? I know that ZFS's disk scrubbing can correct readable corrupt data, but I don't know about unreadable sectors.
If you have an iPhone, Evernote has an app that accesses your online Evernote database.
I used to use Google notebook, which is still nice, but I've since switched to Evernote. I like Evernote because: