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- Mac Backup Strategies for Worldwide Backup Day
Today is Worldwide Backup Day, when we celebrate taking precautions so as not to lose data (well worth celebrating). The best backup strategies take a layered approach to provide different levels of protection. I’m going to focus on three layers for protecting your Mac: online, nearline, and offsite backups.
Online Backup
Online backup refers to copies of files that are directly accessible. Some examples of online backup would be copying files to USB thumbsticks or an external hard drive, and cloning a drive with Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper. Online backup is convenient because you don’t need any additional software to get access to the backup files and you save the time that would be spent on restoring files from some other type of backup archive. Cloning is particularly good for system drives because you can boot up your computer and get to work right away instead of waiting to reinstall everything or restore files from a backup archive like you would with Time Machine.
Examples:
- USB thumbdrive
- External hard drive
- SuperDuper! clone
Nearline Backup
Nearline backups are usually saved in an archive format that is saved to storage that is directly attached to the computer, or available on the same local area network. Nearline backups use additional software to manage the copies and provide some additional benefits like compression, incremental updates, versioning of files, and maybe even centralized administration and security. The disadvantage of nearline backups is that you can’t boot from them if your startup disk is down and you can’t directly access the files if you take the backup drive to another machine. Time Machine is the most familiar example for Mac users, but other software like Retrospect can be used this way too.
Examples:
- Time Machine
- Retrospect
- Tape drives
Offsite Backup
Offsite backups are simply copies that are stored in another physical location from the computer. The purpose of offsite backup is to protect you in the case of fire, theft, or some other disastrous event like a lightning strike or flood that would destroy both the computer and the backup storage next to it. Offsite backups, by nature of being physically removed, take time to recover and restore and are really only there for catastrophes. You can rotate physical drives offsite, use cloud backup service like CrashPlan or a filesync service like Dropbox.
Examples:
These different layers can be combined to provide you with the right amount of protection for your needs. Here are three ways that a casual, moderate and hardcore user might implement online, nearline and offsite backup for their important files.
Casual
Online
- Copy your most critical files to a USB thumb drive. Repeat this process every quarter.
Nearline
- Buy an external hard drive and turn on Time Machine.
Offsite
- Take a second USB thumb drive with critical files to work.
- Get a free gmail account and email an encrypted disk image (use Disk Utility) of your files to yourself (don’t forget the password!).
- Get a free Dropbox account and copy up to 2 GB of files.
Moderate
Online
- Clone your system drive to an external hard drive with SuperDuper! Update your clone at the beginning of every month.
Nearline
- Use Time Capsule for automatic network backup. If you have a laptop, don’t underestimate the convenience of having Time Machine just run while your computer is on without having to remember to plug anything in.
Offsite
- Buy more storage from Dropbox or…
- Sign up for CrashPlan, possibly the best cloud backup service for Mac users
Hardcore
Online
- Clone your system drive to two different eternal hard drives with SuperDuper! Take one clone off site and rotate them every week.
Nearline
- Time Machine with Time Capsule.
Offsite
- CrashPlan
- Dropbox in addition to Crashplan
- Second cloned drive
- If you’re really, really hardcore, set up a second Time Machine drive and rotate that offsite as well. You will have to manually switch drives in Time Machine preferences each time you rotate the drives.
Whatever your level of preparedness (or paranoia), there’s a backup strategy for you. Take a little time this Worldwide Backup Day to choose one and implement it before you have a reason to regret putting it off any longer.
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Переслать - iOS 101: Take Control of Notifications
The notification system in iOS is useful, but it can get a little overwhelming sometimes. Since notifications on iOS demand your attention by blocking what you’re doing until you click either ‘Cancel’ or ‘View’, it can get annoying if you receive a notification every two minutes. Luckily, there is a way to disable notifications on a per-app basis.
In order to change which apps can send you notifications, open your device’s Settings app, then tap Notifications. In here, you’ll find a list of all the apps you have installed which are able to send notifications, as well as a switch to turn off all notifications at once. However, I don’t recommend killing all notifications, since you’ll probably want important ones, such as those from to-do list apps to remind you of deadlines, to stil show up.
To edit what notifications a certain app will send, tap its name in the list. You’ll see up to three switches — Sounds, Alerts and Badges — depending on what options the app supports. From here you can choose how you’d like the app’s notifications to behave. Alerts is the option you’ll want to switch off if you’d like to stop the blue message boxes appearing. Badges determines whether an app should show a number badge (in a red circle) on its home screen icon. And sounds, as the name implies, controls whether or not you’ll get an auditory notice when a new notification arrives.
In my opinion, for an application which isn’t important, the best thing to do is turn off alerts and sounds, and just leave badges on. That way, you’ll still be able to tell which apps need your attention by glancing at their icons, but they won’t pester you with alert messages.
I much prefer the iOS experience without having to tap on a blue message box every three minutes. Adding the option to turn them off was a good decision on Apple’s part, and one that it pays to know how to use.
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Переслать - User Experience FTW! Twitter Loses the Quick Bar
Twitter CEO Dick Costolo tweeted Thursday that the company is losing the QuickBar it introduced in a recent update to the iPhone application. The Quick Bar originally sat on top of your tweet stream within the app, and scrolled as you did, unshakeably resting at the top of the screen. A later update eventually changed the Quick Bar’s behavior, making it just stick at the top of your stream without scrolling, but even that apparently wasn’t enough to appease disgruntled users.
The update that removes the Quick Bar from the iPhone app is live right now in the App Store. In an official blog post on the matter, Twitter Creative Director Doug Bowman noted that the plan for future use of the Quick Bar included in-app notifications of new mentions, direct messages and other activity, but that after determining that the feature “doesn't improve the user experience,” the decision was made to remove it rather than to continue tweaking it as it currently exists.
CEO Costolo originally seemed to be very much behind the idea of the Quick Bar, according to his tweets around the time of the feature’s launch, but recently, Business Insider reported that, in fact, he wasn’t a fan of the idea at all, and that it was actually a product of internal organizational structure confusion. Following the announcement of the Quick Bar’s removal, he seemed still to support the basic idea behind the feature, noting, ”[T]he engagement data is through the roof but we ultimately agree trends are ‘too far away’ and out of context in that position.”
Ultimately, this seems to come down to a question of user experience vs. a tentative early step towards profitability. It goes to show that even when you’re already a firmly established player, messing around with risky UX decisions can potentially carry brand-damaging ramifications.
Jeremy Bell of Toronto design firm Teehan+Lax shared some additional thoughts about why the Quick Bar failed from a UX standpoint. Specifically, according to Bell, the Quick Bar encountered resistance because it foregrounded one of Twitter’s weakest aspects — trending topics. While he felt that Twitter improved the situation a great deal by removing the scrolling aspect of the Quick Bar, the feature still ultimately suffered from the same flaws that affect trending topics in a much broader sense, and brought them front and center in the Twitter app user experience. Bell maintains that “trending and how it’s displayed in general is flawed, since it provides no understanding of the context of topics or why they might be important to [a user].”
It’s also worth noting that Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey confirmed Monday he has returned to a more prominent role at the company as head of product development. Dorsey spoke Tuesday at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, where he said he sees “Twitter as a pure utility, like electricity or water.” Dorsey’s return, his statements regarding Twitter, and the removal of a feature that many saw as detracting from usability while serving profit all seem too well-timed to be simply chalked up to coincidence.
Post photo courtesy of Flickr users Rosauro Ochoa
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Переслать - MLB App Hits One Out of the Park With One-Month Free Trial
Thursday is opening day for the Major League Baseball season, and a new update for the MLB.com At Bat app has arrived just in time. The update brings a number of new features, including the ability to watch all out-of-market games live on your device free during the month of April.
Live game video streaming is usually only available if, in addition to purchasing the app, you also have MLB.TV subscription access (which you can also now access on your Apple TV, by the way). For April, Volvo is sponsoring a free trial of live streaming for all MLB.com app owners (iPad and iPhone versions). It’s sure to be a hit with those who’ve yet to decide whether or not they want to sign up for a full MLB.TV subscription, but it might also alienate some who decided to take the plunge early and pay full price ahead of this feature introduction.
The app also introduces a completely redesigned Gameday feature, which displays pitch-by-pitch live info on a virtual version of the actual at-bat live for users without live video access. The updated Gameday now features ballpark renderings from MLB 11: The Show, a PlayStation baseball simulation video game.
Finally, users of the apps will also be able to view key plays and occasional live clips, black-out games included, and watch past 2011 season games on-demand in the archive after they air. iPhone users will also be able to access new At the Ballpark features, including check-ins, maps of stadiums, special deals and social media features.
Android users won’t get the month-long free preview or access to archived games, but instead will get one free live out-of-market game every day for the duration of the season, and all the other new features mentioned above that are coming to the iPhone version.
I plan to spend April hooking up my iPad 2 to the TV using HD mirroring to watch baseball, something I haven’t done regularly since I was very young. This is definitely a smart move from an organization looking to attract new viewers, though I find it surprising that the iOS apps are still distinct, and not a single, universal version. We’ll see if it translates into higher subscription numbers once the trial is over.
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Переслать - eBay Sees 12K iPad 2 Sales in Two Weeks
If you were looking for an iPad 2 during the past few weeks and wanted instant gratification, eBay was a good place to look, so long as you didn’t mind inflated asking prices. It turns out at least 12,000 people were the impatient type (with big wallets, no less) as that’s how many iPad 2s were sold through the site during the tablet’s first two weeks of availability.
eBay detailed its iPad 2 sales info in the infographic below, complete with a breakdown of where sales were distributed geographically. The vast majority (65 percent) of iPad 2 purchases made through the site were U.S.-based, which is a little surprising since last year U.S. buyers accounted for only 35 percent of sales during the first two weeks following the original iPad’s launch. Heightened anticipation and demand, the lack of pre-orders and longer lines at U.S. retail locations may account for the increased number of domestic eBay buyers.
eBay buyers paid a significant premium over retail. On average, buyers paid nearly $200 more for the base 16 GB model, which was the most popular model with 30 percent of overall eBay sales. The second most popular seller, the 64 GB iPad 3G, carried an average additional cost of over $400 above Apple’s official asking price.
Some of the highest demand for the iPad 2 outside of the U.S. comes from Canada, Hong Kong, Russia, the UK and Hong Kong, many of which are countries where the iPad either just launched, or will be launching in April. Fears of delays and global stock shortages probably encouraged sales in those countries, despite imminent announced launch dates.
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Переслать - Viber Bears Down on Skype With New Texting Feature
iPhone VoIP app Viber introduced a new update Thursday that introduces text messaging. The update also introduces some bug fixes and other feature changes, including a redesigned contacts tab and a better calling mechanism. Viber is growing fast (with 10 million downloads since its introduction), and smart updates like this will help ensure it keeps nipping at Skype’s heels.
When we covered Viber at launch, I suggested that it might be able to steal some of Skype’s thunder, and this update doesn’t change that impression. In fact, with free texting to your Viber contacts that displays a pop-up notification on their device even when the app is closed (so long as it isn’t removed from the multitasking bar), and delivery status notification (BBM-style ), it’s better positioned to disrupt the iPhone VoIP scene than ever.
Viber also introduced some key usability improvements in this update, including the ability to automatically filter all your Viber-using contacts with one tap, and a redesigned calling mechanism that displays a “Calling” state when you’re first connecting, and a “Ringing” state when your contact’s device is actually in the process of receiving a call. This makes it much easier to tell at a glance the actual status of your call.
I asked Ayelet Noff, Viber’s PR representative about Viber’s plans for the future. The company is looking into supporting video calls, which would really help it compete with Skype, but there’s no specific timeline attached to the introduction of that feature. Viber’s first priority right now is to add additional platforms, including Android. The ability to connect users across platforms would definitely go a long way toward broadening Viber’s appeal, since it’s impossible to find a group of friends, relatives or business associates who exclusively use iPhones (unless maybe you work at Apple).
Viber is completely free and doesn’t feature any ads, which is good news for users now, but also leaves me feeling the other shoe has to drop sometime. Noff acknowledged that Viber does plan to offer value-add services down the line in exchange for payment, but that first and foremost, the company is most concerned with expanding its network to as many platforms as possible, and to ensuring the basic Viber experience is solid. iPod touch and iPad support, also in the pipeline, are nearing completion.
If you haven’t tried it, Viber’s call quality is excellent. I tested the update with a friend in Montreal just this morning and found voice quality much better even than on my iPhone’s cellular service, and that’s consistently been the case with my Viber use. Plus, it automatically sets itself up using your phone number and your phone’s contact info, so there’s no additional sign-up, buddy list creation or anything else. If Viber keeps delivering at this high level of quality as it grows to other platforms, it’s definitely the VoIP service to watch.
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Переслать - iPad 2 Stock Shortages Lead to Shift in Supply Strategy
Updated: The iPad 2 is still hard to get, both in the U.S. and in other countries where it has launched internationally. Luckily for would-be buyers, Apple is taking steps to reinforce and supplement its existing supply chain in order to be able to move more iPads more quickly.
New Supplier
In order to boost iPad supply, Apple is reportedly taking on a new supplier of displays for the tablet. According to the Taiwan Economic News, AU Optronics Corp, which is the world’s fourth-largest LCD maker by volume, has been contracted by Apple to provide flat panel screens for the iPad 2. This would mark the first time Apple has used AUO for iPad supplies. The report also says the rate Apple will pay for the displays is roughly three or four times the average rate paid by others for displays of the same size. It’s possible AUO was able to negotiate a very favorable rate in order to guarantee a significant percentage of AUO’s total output capability.
The original iPad was also supply-constrained largely due to an inability to source enough displays. LG Display, one of the iPad’s primary screen suppliers, even went on record as saying it couldn’t keep up with demand from Apple as a result of the tablet’s strong sales. Adding another supplier for the iPad 2 should greatly increase Apple’s ability to get products into people’s hands.
Absorbing Higher Costs
We reported earlier that Apple was mulling a decision to increase what it pays for components in order to secure the supply stock it needed following the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. DigiTimes reported Thursday that indeed, Apple has agreed to such a deal. According to the article, Apple will absorb additional costs on its Japanese-made upstream components in exchange for smooth shipments. Many of Apple’s upstream component suppliers source their parts from Japan, where a power-brownout policy is seriously affecting the operations of electronics manufacturers.
If Apple has signed such an agreement with AUO, other companies producing tablets may feel the heat as Japanese suppliers prioritize Apple to receive a dwindling pool of supplies. The big question will be which companies decide, like Apple, that they can absorb additional costs in exchange for an undisrupted short-term supply.
With ship times through the Apple online store still listed at three to four weeks in the U.S. and internationally, and with lines still forming at Apple Stores worldwide, it’s clear demand still far outpaces supply. Hopefully these additional measures taken by Apple help make sure more customers get what they’re after in a timely fashion.
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Переслать - Apple Releases New Version of OS X Lion Developer Preview
Apple made available a new update of Mac OS X Lion to developers late Wednesday. The preview is the second version of OS X Lion to be released to registered Mac developers for testing. The new version is build 11A419, while the previous build used the identifier code 11A390.
It’s not yet clear what the new build brings to the table. We detailed some changes coming in OS X Lion in a previous posts, and reports suggest that a number of stability improvements must be made to the OS before it sees general release, so presumably some those are included in this update.
Apple is said by some to be approaching the GM candidate release, which immediately precedes the arrival of a public shipping version. OS X Lion is slated for release this summer, possibly as early as the WWDC conference scheduled for June 6 – 10. At the very least, we’ll likely see a version of the OS much closer to wide release previewed at that event.
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Переслать - iOS 101: Using Folders and Spotlight to Organize Your Home Screen
By my non-scientfic evaluation, folders are the most underused part of iOS 4.2 (or earlier for the iPhone). I’m simply amazed whenever I see someone’s home screen littered with single icons. Now, I’m not advocating relying solely on folders; one-click access to frequently-used apps (Mail, OmniFocus, and my current favorite writing app) is great, but grouping second tier apps into folders is an equally good idea.
As evidence, I present my current iPad home screen:
Thanks to the introduction of Folders, I can easily group similar apps. Anything related to Reading (e-books, Goodreader, Zinio, Instapaper, etc.) are in Reading. My text apps are all in their own folder, as are the iWork apps. I’ve taken six or seven app screens and reduced it to one.
Creating and Organizing Folders
Creating a folder is easy: simply drag one app icon onto another icon and iOS will automatically create a folder and give it a name based on the category of app. Marry two game apps, and you’ll get a folder named Games. You can rename this folder to whatever you like, so you’re not stuck with the name Apple gives you.
You can also perform this task directly in iTunes by going choosing your iPad in the sidebar, clicking on the Apps tab at the top, and then dragging icons on top of one another in the same way you would on your iPad’s screen. For when you’re setting up folder for the first time, iTunes is the best way to move a ton of apps around.
There are a few problems I’ve run into with folders. The first is, even though there are open spaces on my home screen, when I install a new app, iOS wants to install it onto screen two. It’s also entirely possible to get into the “Where did I stick that app?” trap. Thankfully, for an easy solution to that problem there’s Spotlight search.
Using Spotlight to Launch Apps
If you swipe to the right at the home screen it will bring up Spotlight search. Type in the name of the app you want to launch and it will show up in the search results. Click on that icon to launch it. Also, while not in the scope of this post, Spotlight is a good way to search within some apps, too. Whenever I need to search for a note I’ve made in the Notes app or a specific e-mail, I also use Spotlight search.
Also, remember that double-clicking the Home button shows the apps you’ve recently used. You can run them from there, too. If the app is multitasking-enabled, it will load fast and show the last state the app was in.
Finding a Happy Medium: How I Use Folders and Spotlight
As you’d imagine, I’m a huge fan of folders. My Internet folder has Safari, Twitter, Flipboard, Reeder and other apps that rely on an Internet connection to operate. Since the folder stays open after I close the app, it’s very easy to quickly run through my Twitter and RSS feed routine. Even though my e-book readers are in my Reading folder, I’ll usually run Spotlight to open them. Same with Pages and the other iWork apps. Try out a few different folder setups and workflows, and I guarantee you’ll find that folders make your life with the iPad or iPhone is easier.
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Переслать - 5 Killer Apps for iPad 2 HD Mirroring
The ability to show everything that’s on my iPad 2′s screen on a TV using the new HD mirroring function has changed the device from just a remarkably portable computer to a full-fledged entertainment and business center. These are the apps that helped make that happen.
Air Video
There are other options for streaming your computer’s video library to the iPad, but Air Video consistently receives updates to improve its quality and squash bugs, and it works both in your home network and away with relatively little setup. It also supports AirPlay video streaming, but if you don’t have an Apple TV to stream to, it does a great job with the Digital AV Adapter and iPad 2 HD mirroring.
Gordon Ramsay Cook With Me HD
If you have a TV in the kitchen, or even just one that you can view from the kitchen, then being able to view ingredient lists and cooking instructions on a large screen can really help make the whole process easier. That’s especially true if the app features instructional video, as Gordon Ramsay’s Cook With Me HD does. Even if it doesn’t, viewing ingredients lists and cooking instruction on a large screen may be better for those that have a hard time reading small text.
Sketchbook Pro
I like to use the iPad as a canvas from time to time, in combination with a Pogo Sketch or other drawing stylus. Sketchbook Pro is a great app for that purpose on the iPad, and with HD mirroring, it becomes a much bigger drawing tablet — and one that I can use to show off my sketches in real-time as they happen. This comes in handy if you’re working on character design collaboratively with another artist, or if you just want to play Win, Lose or Draw at a party or with a group of friends. If you’re more interested in using the iPad connected to a display as a collaborative whiteboard tool, try Whiteboard Internet Collaboration, which also lets other users with any other iOS device and the app installed join in, too.
Screens or LogMeIn Ignition
Whatever your preference for remote desktop apps (Screens and LogMeIn Ignition are two good choices), when paired with an iPad 2 and HD mirroring, they become a way to quickly and easily recreate and access your home computer when you’re on the road, so long as you have access to an HDMI-equipped TV. It might not have the best performance, depending on your connection quality, but it should do the trick if you need to show a quick presentation using PowerPoint on your home computer or do some light work in, say, Photoshop. It’ll also make the experience much less frustrating since you won’t have to fudge around with a screen much smaller than your actual computer’s.
Maps
This may seem like an odd choice, but the built-in Maps app offers the ability to search for and then share directions to a specific location with a large group of people all at once, which comes in handy much more often than you might suspect. This is great if you’re planning a company outing to a trade show or conference, or just for giving your family directions to the park where you’re holding the annual picnic. Beats telling everyone to “just follow me.”
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