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I hear today is “World Backup Day.” I’m not sure if that’s an officially sanctioned holiday, or just one of those holidays that was made up by backup companies to sell software. But whatever, I’m on board. There are two types of drives in this world those that have died and those that will. It’s only a matter of time and I am still shocked by the number of people I meet who are not running backups regularly. If you’re reading this blog post, you’re probably not that person. But you know that person. So take this occasion to share the backup love. I’ve spoken about my backup strategy at length on a couple of Mac Power Users shows including Episode 008 Backup! and [Episode 043 Back to Backup (Live from Macworld 2011)](MPU 043: Back to Backup (Live from Macworld 2011)). My strategies have changed and evolved a bit over the years but in general I believe a good backup strategy must have a few components:
What’s my current backup strategy? Going into detail would take more room than I have in this blog post, but in a nutshell:
There’s been a lot of talk about iPad batteries with the introduction of the third generation iPad. Some people are reporting decreased battery life, others are reporting longer charging times or possibly that their iPad is no longer charging fully overnight when previous models would. The fact is, the battery in the new iPad is significantly larger than the battery in the first and second generation iPads although it continues to use the same 10w charger. A larger battery with the same power charger is going to require longer charging time. When I first received my new iPad I noticed problems with battery life including my battery draining faster than normal. However this problem was solved by a simple battery calibration and since then I have noticed my third generation iPad battery life has been about on par with my first generation and I can still charge my iPad from 0 to 100% overnight if I use the proper charger. Seems all the hype about problems with iPad batteries is overblown. Calibrating the iPad’s battery is simple. When your first receive your new iPad, and every month or so thereafter, run your iPad’s battery all the way down to the point when the device turns itself off due to lack of power and simply will no longer function. Then, plug the iPad in to the Apple 10w charger and allow it to fully charge uninterrupted. Don’t unplug it and plug it back in, don’t play with it, just let it charge. For convenience, it’s best to allow this process to happen overnight or when you’ll be away for the day. For good measure, you may want to let the iPad stay on the charger for a bit after the indicator reads 100%. This process allows the iPad to give you more accurate battery readings. Note that this same process works with iPhones, iPods and Macs too and is good practice for exercising your batteries. I have an OmniFocus task set to remind me to calibrate my batteries once a month. Also, make sure you’re using the included 10w charger. With my first generation iPad I would regularly use my old iPhone charger to charge it overnight without problems since I had a few spare iPhone chargers laying around. Although you can charge the iPad battery off of a computer’s USB port or off the lower power 5w charger that is included with the iPhone and other USB chargers it is not as efficient. This wasn’t a problem for me when charging the first generation iPad overnight, but with the larger battery on the new iPad it no longer gets the job done. Note that the iPad charger and older iPhone chargers look very similar. Pull out a magnifying glass and look at the fine print on the bottom of the adapter to confirm you’re using the proper 10w adapter. You can find more information from Apple directly at http://www.apple.com/batteries
As a personal note: I was unable to join this episode as I was called away just minutes before recording for a family emergency. I want to thank David for being so supportive and doing a wonderful job with this episode.
I’ve been wanting to write a post for a while now about my frustration with TiVo and John Siracusa summed up most my thoughts and pet peeves perfectly in his recent episode of Hypercritical 58: No More Numbers/The Four Tuners. I really hope someone at TiVo was listening and takes his criticism to heart. Don’t get met wrong, I absolutely love my TiVos. I have two of them, one TiVo HD in my bedroom and another TiVo HDXL in my living room and I’ve been using the TiVo service since the early 2000s. After looking at other alternatives such as cable company DVRs, Satellite Dish DVRs U-Verse and even a few stand alone products I haven’t seen a thing that even comes close to challenging TiVo. In addition to the hardware related rants that John mentioned on his show, I have a few more philosophical issues with the direction TiVo has taken of late: 1) They’ve failed to innovate. TiVo had the early lead in the DVR space and they have the patents to prove it. In fact a great amount of their income comes form their patent portfolio rather than sales and subscribers. The core functionality of my TiVo and the way it functions is nearly identical to when I started using the service more than 10 years ago. They’ve added some features through partners like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon but their interface certainly isn’t innovate. Their hardware has continued to be overly expensive and underpowered. Poor management, failure of leadership, complacency? I don’t know. But they’ve lost their mojo and I’m not sure they can get it back. 2) Their pricing scheme sucks. When I bought most of my TiVos you bought the box outright and then paid a reasonable monthly fee for the service. $12.95 for the first box, $6.95 for each additional box and they had options for lifetime service (lifetime of the box, not your lifetime) for a couple hundred bucks. Thankfully, I’m grandfathered into those pricing schemes as long as I keep my current TiVos operational. What you get for that monthly fee is programing. The TiVo connects to the TiVo servers and updates the programing guide regularly so the TiVo knows what’s on and when and can schedule recordings accordingly. I get the fee – it makes sense, though even $12.95 seems a little high for what you get. $5 a month seems more realistic. Now, TiVo has gone with the contract model that everyone *LOVES* with their cell phone carriers. The idea is that you buy the TiVo box for $99 but then pay $20 a month with a minimum one year contract for the service. I thought $12.95 was high for the programing data but $20 is really out there. Now of course it’s so high because they subsidizing the initial purchase price of the box. After the first year, the subscription price only goes down to $14.99 per month, still higher than my original rate and the discount for each addition box only drops to $9.95 or $12.95 depending on your plan. (And why the heck are there extra plans.) Remember – after you’ve supposedly paid off the box. The last thing I and most other people want in their life is another monthly bill they have to budget. $20 a month is a noticeable amount of money for most people. 3) Lastly, Despite the monthly fee- TiVo refuses to bring some of their newer features to their older (though not that old) boxes like my TiVoHD which is perfectly capable from a technical standpoint of running the software. They instead are trying to force you into upgrading to a higher priced box on a higher priced plan. No thank you. My TiVo HDs suit me just fine and I will do everything I can including cracking open the boxes and replacing components to keep them going and my lower monthly service fees in place. I write this rant not out of hate, but out of love. I love TiVo. And if my TiVo died tomorrow I would do everything I could to fix it or I would go right back out and buy another one. But I’m in the minority. TiVo subscriptions are now and unless and most people are just opting for poorer quality cable company DVRs out of convenience. Unless TiVo is content to just live off its patent royalties and be an IP company they need to make some changes. Please TiVo – get a clue. I want you to survive and I want to be proud of you again!
David and I are planning an April Mac Power Users show on Hazel 3.0. If you’ve got a favorite Hazel rule, send it in (with a screenshot please) to feedback@macpowerusers.com.
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