If you use Kubuntu and you want a command line string to easily backup the entire Linux system on an external hard drive (for regular backups as well as offsite backups), without encountering recursive errors, permission problems and other headaches, try using this TAR command from Konsole: (more…)

I’ve been following the LiveScribe Pen product since it was announced several months ago, and it occurs to me that this would be a great way for real estate agents to record meetings (and take notes) with both buyers and sellers.

How cool would it be to tap on your notes to “replay” the list of features that a potential buyer wants (when you didn’t quite have time to jot them all down?)

Personally, I’d love a way to hook this into a phone so I could take notes while consulting with a client and have the conversation “searchable” when I’m reviewing notes and completing tasks (with the client’s permission of course).

The chat-boards are already talking about my ideal paper solution — a Moleskin pocket sized notebook with the dot-pattern. Now THAT would be an awesome portable solution for this pen-and-paper loving tech-geek!

If you have a FaceBook account and want a chance at winning a pen — before they are available for sale, join the LiveScribe group. (Find out how here.) They go on sale at the end of this month.

(I’m getting a technology itch again, dang it!)

I was sent a great article today on the problems encountered by the development of multi-core processing chips (thanks, Pops!).

If you are interested in learning more about chips that are “smarter” and do more for you, if you are intrigued by the idea of hand-held mobile units that don’t need traditional keyboard and mouse inputs (think voice commands!) and processors that are “all in one” devices for computing, graphics and higher end functions — then you should read the article too.

It also points to the unveiling of a new set of programming niches for those script artists looking for a brave new place to call home. New York Times article on multi-core chips. 

Negotiations, reported by the WSJ today, may make it possible to digitally “rent” FOX movies for play on your iPod for a limited period of time.

I, for one, could really go for something like that (if the price is right). It would save me the trouble of going out to rent a movie and would give me immediate gratification when I did find a title I wanted to see. Instant gratification is nice, isn’t it?

And, it would let me “stock up” on things to watch on my iPhone right before a trip.

I like! To learn more, read the Wall Street Journal Article on iPod movie rentals.

More cool blogs and useful websites for your viewing pleasure. Today’s selection is for those creative types who design and personalize their own websites and those who help others develop unique websites.

These sites offer tools, tips, tricks and even creative motivation for web workers. Feel free to share your own favorite sites!

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I’m a control freak. This means that I like having my stuff in my possession. It also means that this new wave… this new push to put everything on “web-based” apps on someone else’s servers… makes me a little nervous.

On the flip side, having a hard drive crash makes me a LOT nervous. Redundant drives with full backups help — but they don’t prevent that horrible sinking feeling and the quick, rabbit like thoughts of “what files have I touched since the last full backup?!?!?” when a hard drive burps.

Web based data eliminates that. It also eliminates the need for data storage expenditures (which cost me almost as much as my computers do each year). It eliminates all the cords strewn from the UPS (uninterrupted power supply) hogging the leg-room under my desk and those snaking across my desk to plug into the powered USB hub behind my monitor. Want to know a secret? Wires make me crazy. I hate them.

I’ve seen with the iPhone how the web-apps can be pretty nice indeed — so long as I have a connection to the Internet. All is lost when the edge network isn’t available.

Web-apps also eliminate the need for program installation (and reinstallation when you buy a new computer or do a complete re-gen on an old computer) and it would also prevent the cross-operating system incompatibilities I’m experiencing now as I make the transition to Linux. It lowers the operating cost for computers because it takes less powerful computers to run the higher-end apps when all the “heavy lifting” is being done server-side. There are fewer “software upgrade” costs and you are always running the latest version (even if the previous version was better, I should add).

It makes sense to have someone else take care of my stuff. It means I worry less, have more fun, do less work…

Or does it?

Maybe, like the old quote about those willing to give up freedom (read control) and privacy to gain security end up with neither.

I don’t want someone else to have access to all my “stuff” — even if that means I have to maintain it all myself. I know there must be some happy medium between what I do online and what I store offline. I’m trying to find that “sweet spot” but I’m having real battles with it.

I love Google Docs and Zoho Docs and all those look-alikes — they offer a great concept. But would I do mission critical, sensitive client work on it? Nope.

I also like Basecamp. It’s a great online tool. I use it with a partner to outline our next steps in a joint venture. Do I feel comfortable having all our stuff online? Not really. It’s convenient. It’s nice to know that both of us can gain access to this information at any time from any location. And, yes, I’ve read the privacy policy.

Can I be frank? Although I recommend that all my clients have a privacy policy — and only speak the truth in it, I still don’t really trust privacy policies on websites. I’ve written dozens of them and I’m a skeptic. I know they are only as good as those people who write them and those responsible for insuring the company follows them. There are too many variables there.

Yes, I enjoy the ability to do my banking online, but I’ve not quite managed to get comfortable with doing my books online. I have the urge to simplify my books — it’s more of a compulsion, less of an urge actually. I hate QuickBooks — online or offline. Despise it. I want to investigate FreshBooks online. It looks great, but I just can’t bring myself to do that yet. It seems too much like walking down the street in a sheer nightie — yeah, I may be covered, but how much effort would it really take to see all my “stuff” if you were really looking?

As I make the changes in my business model that are currently underway, I may become a bit more comfortable with the online world. I may have to. There may be no option soon.

I love the Internet. I love working online. My computer is (usually) my best ally and coolest tool in my business and creative endeavours. But my sense of individuality is threatened when I consider the ways my data can be taken, shared, hi-jacked, damaged, destroyed or lost.

Maybe the solution is to harbor less data and I am “cleaning up” my data files and my extra redundancies and old versions as I sweep through the new business data system I’m building. Maybe the solution is to share more freely and worry less. Perhaps I should follow the herd toward a web-based world — and I may eventually do that — but right now, I’m still sitting here with crossed arms shaking my head no.

Web apps have their place. I know this. And I don’t really have a problem with the apps being web-based. I have a problem with the data being there too.

I know that the best solution for mobility and for the non-tech users in the world is a web-based application mecca. I know that the hard drive space on the mobile devices can go way down when web-side data storage is implemented. I get it.

I’m just not sure I want it yet.

In a perfect world, the web-based apps would have a local computer-based backup app that would let you read and manipulate all the data files created in the web applications. (Having all my stuff in OneNote during this switch over to Linux has turned me against “proprietary formats” forever.) The data would be stored locally — or at least backed up to a local drive (fully encrypted from the web application of course).

That way, your information would never be held hostage, or held in a format that you can’t read or append. And I wouldn’t have this “sinking” feeling whenever I consider letting my critical data get out of my sight.

I guess I’m just not a trusting person. (*shrug*) So be it.

My father got an iPhone from my mother this year for his birthday (Happy B’day, Pops!)  I can’t believe my non-geeky mother bought this piece of equipment. What’s even more unbelievable is that she likes it too and (methinks) wants one of her own! This, gentle reader, is the power of the iPhone… to convert to technology the unconvertable (namely, my mother).

So, Pops is spending the wee hours of the morning finding all the cool stuff online and on the phone itself. I’ve found a few cool new things for him that I’ll share with my readers here… (more…)

I’ve been reading quite a bit lately about how to make sure websites are mobile-friendly and, in particular, how to make them iPhone friendly.

Sure, there are lots of mobile devices out there (and I’ve owned quite a few myself) but none have the kind of market saturation that is expected for the iPhone. So, as a website owner, I’m interested in how to make my sites more iPhone friendly and will encourage my clients to do the same for their sites.

If you want to read more on this topic for your own site, consider the following resources: (more…)

Yup! It’s being done. And there are new, more creative ways to get your ebooks all the time. I’ve been following some of the methods, but most leave you with tiny, ugly notepad typestyles.

Then I found this particular ebooks for iphone video, which gives a great overview of using the PDF download functionality alongside Safari to have a fully illustrated and scaleable ebook on the iphone. Not sloppy! (more…)

If you are salivating over the thought of an iPhone and would welcome a discount, you may want to consider a “refurbished” model.

Why? Well, it costs $100 less from the start (for either the 4 gig or the 8 gig model), you can still get the extended warranty (if desired), and you don’t have to sell your soul to AT&T for two years to get a working iPhone. Actually, after trading emails with a manager at AT&T you still DO have to sell your soul and accept that two year contract.

From an email with that manager, delivered this morning:

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I’ve already posted a few things I wish I had on the iPhone. Today, I sent those, along with the new list (below) to www.apple.com/feedback, in the hopes that they would listen up.

I love my iPhone, I really do — and just a few software tweaks would make it so much better. So I took the time…

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Ok, I love my little iPhone. That’s an established fact. But, there’s this one tiny thing that’s making me a bit battier than usual.

On my video iPod, I could set it up to play ALL my music videos (shuffled, even), and I can’t figure out how to do that on the iPhone. I can play the MUSIC from the music videos, but there’s no motion on the screen. I can do a playlist for regular songs too — but no videos. *sigh*

If there is any iPhone guru out there willing to share the (probably simple) method to accomplish this, please let me know. I can’t stand it when my music dies!

Ok, I’ve HAD It… Time to Simplify! I seem to spend much of my time looking for the stuff that I recorded so I’d have it when I needed it.

I may simplify my physical life — constantly — but my virtual life is cluttered all to hell. There. I said it. I admit it. I’m a virtual packrat.

Since 1 gig of stuff is stored in the same physical space as 750 gigs, I’ve “reasoned” that I’m still simplifed. I’m just lying to myself. And I’ve been looking at buying more HD space because 1.5 terabytes isn’t enough.

How sad.

The fact is, I’ve had an epiphany. (Unlike some creative types, I still believe in that concept). Granted, the epiphany came as the result of personal frustration and total exhaustion, but it came all at once so, I’m sticking with the “epiphany” term.

It’s a horrible realization. It’s also joined by dozens of other, more specific realizations that I now have to confront and solve. For instance… (more…)

I finally signed up for Twitter. I’ll be investigating several options for ways to incorporate that type of “quick update” here on WickedBlog for those times when I’ve got a quick little something to say and I’m out and about with the iPhone.

I’m testing two iPhone Twitter options now: (more…)

Curious about the speed of your iPhone? Want to find out how it stacks up to other iPhone owners — to other areas in the EDGE network? Check your speed on an iPhone specific tiny speed test online.

Just for comparison… The average speeds for all ATT EDGE tests run between 121 and 138 kbits per second with 783 msec latency.

Mine tested out at a snails pace — sitting here in the middle of Lexington, KY: 85 kbps. Humph!

(Note: Image taken from Morguefile.com courtesy of photographer semacc.)

We have been teasing Alexzandria for some time about being the only one in the family that doesn’t have an iPod. She noted that fact first, mind you, we just hammered on it a bit.

For quite some time I have known she would be getting an iPod the first time one of our existing ones was replaced with the next generation.

She had no clue, however.

I held onto my 60 gig for a bit after getting my iPhone… and then I finally released my death-grip.

That happened on Sunday evening when I handed over my own iPod to my hubby (who had been coveting it for some time). He, in turn, gave me his 30 gig so I could wipe it and rename it and get it ready for Alex. (more…)

I recently found a great, inclusive frequently asked questions list for the new iPhone. If you are considering buying an iPhone, and want to be an informed consumer, you may want to consider reading this FAQ first!

There are a few things missing on this little baby…

Portrait option on playing movies and video content - when it’s in the little stand on my desk, I’d like to see Pink singing upright - even if that means I don’t get the benefit of the larger, amazing screen.

The ability to launch the little keyboard - so I can type where I like (even if the iPhone doesn’t recognize my ability to do so). Kind of like an Apple override button, assuming I know more about what I want than the phone does (can you tell this frustrates me?).

The ability to scroll in a form box on a website - so I can blog and fill out and edit forms on my iPhone. (more…)

*sniff* iPhone doesn’t play nicely with WordPress!

So much for my moblog aspirations… I can type in some text, but I can’t edit (the box doesn’t scroll down. Only the code version shows up — the what you see is what you get version called “visual” doesn’t toggle on the iPhone.)

I can’t edit much (since I can’t scroll down to get to the bottom — or even the middle — of my posts). How disappointing! I hope someone comes up with a work-around soon.

I notice this problem with all the online form-style entry pages I’ve tried so far.

Ok, the new hasn’t worn off. In fact, the more I work with it, the more I love it. I’m working to find the online, web-based apps that will make it my tiny palm-sized dream machine. I’ve always hesitated to rely on web-based versions of my core work programs, but I’m now seeing how nicely these web-based programs mesh with use of the iPhone.

I’m sure I’ll be mentioning what I find and offering reviews on what works well over the next days, weeks, and possibly even months. But, for now, here are a few impressions and some finds from my play-time this weekend with my new iPhone:

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