Over the years, the data on my laptop has become increasingly vital. This includes financial records, source code, freelance projects, invoice histories, and all sorts of crucial data. If I were to lose that data, my life would pretty much be over. My business would fall apart, I’d have to start many projects from scratch…there would be no end to my suffering. For a while, I’ve kept local backups of my information. Unfortunately, it’s hard to remember to back up on a frequent basis and it’s kind of a pain. I tried Mozy and Crashplan (based in Minnesota), but they didn’t work very well on a Mac (both programs crashed during the first backup and significantly slowed down my computer).

Enter Backblaze. Backblaze is an online backup service that works on Mac OS X and Windows and costs $4.99/month. Backblaze operates under the philosophy that all data should be backed up without having the user select particular folders. I like that. No matter how organized I am when it comes to data (and I’m pretty dang organized), there are always those little files that get saved somewhere other than my “usual” destination. Backblaze backs everything up, worry free. Upon install, Backblaze produces a list of all of the files on my hard drive and begins sending them to the remote servers. And that’s it. As a bonus, I’ve had no problem with Backblaze slowing down my computer or crashing during the month or so that I’ve used it.

If my computer ever crashes or gets stolen, I just sign into Backblaze from my new machine and begin downloading my files. Additionally, I have the option to pay to have a hard drive mailed to me with all of my data (which might be faster than downloading hundreds of gigs of documents).

Thanks to Backblaze and periodic Time Machine backups, I no longer have nightmares about losing my laptop. Sure, it would still be a tragedy, but at least I could bounce back from it without losing anything else.

Earlier this evening, Palm developer Dion Almaer tweeted a link to CSSDesk, an incredibly useful tool for experimenting with CSS layouts and designs. I only played around with it briefly, but I bookmarked the link right away as I know it will be useful in future projects. This also could be incredibly useful for those who aren’t familiar with CSS yet.

[via @dalmaer]

So for my main gig for the past year I’ve been developing some custom software for a construction contractor in the Milwaukee area. In order to keep the project costs down, I opted to develop the software in VB.NET (arguably the quickest development platform) and use a MySQL database.

Last weekend I was working on modifying some tables and the whole dataset just got detached from the project somehow. All the tables and queries still existed, but Visual Studio was not seeing them. Since I don’t know everything there is to know about ADO.NET and how datasets work in Visual Studio, it took me hours to get everything back to normal. I have a hunch that it was a problem with the MySQL NET Connector that I’m using to get VS to talk to the database. A few other people were reporting the same vague “Corrupt Memory” errors on various support forums online.

This whole event got me thinking how this wouldn’t have happened if we used SQL Server in the first place. To make things more interesting, it turns out that this company actually has a SQL Server license (it came bundled with Small Business Server). The main reason why we avoided it is now moot. I’m coming up to a turning point where I will be releasing a major version of the software with a plethora of updates. I’m wondering if now is the time to migrate our MySQL data (which is in desperate need of optimization anyway) over to SQL Server.

This obviously requires a lot of consideration as I definitely prefer MySQL as a whole to SQL Server, but if it can prevent the hair-pulling frustration of last weekend, it might be worth a switch.

The weeks flew by, anticipation grew, and before I knew it, I was standing in line at the Germantown, WI Sprint store at 6AM on June 6, 2009. The Palm Pre was about to be released, and I was going to be one of the first to get my hands on it. I had watched YouTube demonstrations of the phone, read all the rumors at PreCentral.net, and prepared myself for what surely was going to be the greatest phone ever. Before I knew it, I was out $370 and had a shiny new Palm Pre and Touchstone charger in hand. Almost two weeks later, my hype and infatuation with the device has died down and it’s time to face the facts (and I’m going to use Engadget‘s pics from their review…because they are the best).

The Great:

• Multitasking is by far one of the strongest features. It is very intuitive and easy to use, and really saves a bunch of time when composing emails or text messages and you need to quick look something up in the meantime.
• The web browser is the absolute best mobile web browser I’ve ever used. Better than Opera Mobile, better than Skyfire, and yes, better than the iPhone’s Safari. It renders pages like Digg, Twitter, the full Facebook site (with chat included) 100% identical to your computer’s browser (save for a slight misplacement of the bottom bar on Facebook). It’s very fast and easy to use with the pinch multi-touch zooming.
• Email is fantastic. Gmail IMAP is pushed to the device instantly, and any changes made to your phone’s inbox (reading emails, deleting emails) is pushed to your online inbox immediately. Also, it appears that they have implemented full HTML rendering in the email application. HTML emails come in and look exactly as they are supposed to, rendering them better than Outlook 2007.
• The keyboard is a joy to type on. Many people complain that it’s cramped, but once you start typing with the tips of your thumbs instead of the flats (as I already had to do with the HTC Diamond and it’s terrible on-screen QWERTY keyboard), it becomes much easier. The keys are a little gummy, similar to the Palm Centro, and it gives a nice feedback when using your thumbs or thumbnails.
• WebOS is a great platform. The UI is smooth and polished, kinetic scrolling is very fluid in most cases. The notification system is very sweet, as well as the concept of Synergy (although it does not always work as planned, more on this below). Overall, WebOS 1.0 is a great start and has nearly unlimited potential for expansion. Also, hackers have decompiled the source code for WebOS and are already making modifications.
• While battery life is not the greatest (see below), it’s pretty cool that enabling Wi-Fi actually helps your battery. I leave Wi-Fi on 100% of the time now and have seen an improvement at work and home (where I have decent Wi-Fi signal, but not so decent EVDO signal).

The not-so-great:

• The build quality on the phone is solid, yes, but the slider is a bit too loose on some models (some users report that their slider is just fine). Also, the backplate clicks and shifts after a while and this is one of my biggest pet peeves with phones. My last 5 phones all had paper taped to the inside of the battery door to act as a buffer and prevent it from shifting around and clicking while composing messages. Many users have reported dead pixels, warped LCD screens, light leakage, overheating, memory leaks, spotty reception, extremely fragile displays (cracking without any definite pressure), and other dreadful symptoms. It is estimated that roughly 30% of the Palm Pres out there are defective in one of these ways. Mine is fine, after I McGuyver’ed a fix to the clicking back plate (taped a bunch of folded paper in there).
• Synergy doesn’t quite work the way it should. Facebook sync doesn’t add new friends on Facebook to your phone, only during the first initial sync of the account. In order to get new Facebook friends on the phone, you need to delete your existing Facebook partnership and add it again. This can cause problems by unlinking contacts that you had merged manually. Also, I noticed that my Google calendar did not sync items that I added on my device to the web calendar until I deleted the account and reconnected it. It has been working since then.
• Universal search only searchs contacts, apps, and the pre-defined web sources. It would be nice to see this search emails or other documents, even if it was an extra button push. Right now there is no way to search email and files.
• Can’t access the filesystem and organize files. Bummer.
• Battery life is…okay, better than my HTC Diamond. At first it was awful, but after about a week of charging it, I only lose about 1% per hour when idle. On normal usage days it’s at about 50-60% when I go to bed. That’s not bad, but if I’m browsing the web, listening to music, or using Twitter for an extended time, she goes down fast. I lost almost 30% in a 20 minute car ride just by surfing the web the entire time.
• The alarm clock is too quiet and also does not ring if you get a calendar reminder before the alarm is due to go off. This made me late for work 2 days this week!
• Many bugs in the software are present. There’s an entire catalog on PreCentral.net’s forums.

Overall, the Palm Pre is a really GREAT device. I am certainly pleased with my purchase, and many of the negative things I have to say about it can be fixed in a software update. The next firmware upgrade is rumored to be in a few weeks, and will most likely solve some performance issues, increase battery life, and add video recording capabilities.

I’ll see you in two months when I write my next post!

Alright, it’s time for me once again to share my obsession with cellular telephones with the world. My latest (and certainly greatest obession) is the Palm Pre, the world’s first true iPhone killer, and the first phone to actually operate using the Internet. Here’s a quick rundown of the coolest features:

• Palm Synergy – by far one of the most useful innovations I’ve seen on a cell phone. It grabs your contacts, calendars, and events from several online sources (Gmail, Facebook, Microsoft Exchange, etc). If your contacts are on Facebook, then their profile pic will automatically be set as their contact photo.
• Another cool feature of Synergy is that Instant Messaging is enabled in the OS and blended with SMS and email. You can get an email from someone, and then notice that they are signed into Google Talk or MSN, for example. Instead of replying, you can just open an IM conversation. If the person signs off, you can continue the conversation via text message withouth leaving the same window.
• Beautiful interface that allows for true multi-tasking (open new applications as “Cards” (similar to windows on the computer)
• Full QWERTYvertical slide-out keyboard (okay I actually wish this was a side-sliding keyboard, but it should work well enough)
• “Universal search” – just start typing on the home screen and you can instantly search your contacts, Google, Google Maps, Wikipedia, and more. Perfect for those times when you want to learn about the history of Dr. Pepper and other delicious items.
• 3rd party applications and app store (direct competition to the iPhone App Store)
• Countless other features, just check out the Palm site.

It’s clear that the Pre is the perfect device for Internet addicts (me). There is no release date yet and no pricing information. Palm insists the phone will be released exclusively to Sprint before June 30 and several rumors place it being released around May 10 or May 17 (would be the best birthday ever). The rumored price is $199. I’ll be able to sell my HTC Diamond for about $200 with it being in good shape, and since Sprint says my contract is already eligible for renewal, I’ll get it at subsidized pricing (going to order it through Sprint.com though just to avoid any in-store shenanigans). There will be other devices with the same operating system (WebOS) released to every network in every shape and size in the future.

Unfortunately, that means that 8-12 months from now I’ll probably see a new WebOS device that has a better form factor (side-sliding keyboard, bigger screen) and I will most definitely want it. But for now, my heart is set on the Pre, which will become my 12th cell phone since my first one in fall of 2005 (15th if you count replacements).

HARTFORD, WI – An area man last night posted his 1,000th update to the social networking website, Twitter. David Strack, a 20-year-old student who works in IT, annoyed friends and family members last night as he counted down until his 1,000th post, or “Tweet.” Instead of making his 1,000th post something significant (or about pirates), he chose to post a lame image of a modified Church of Scientology sign.

“It was the happiest moment of my life, yet also the most depressing,” said Strack, who spoke from his parent’s house in Hartford. “I have 73 followers, and I like to think that each and every one of them was cheering me on.”

Strack later died in his home from a case of severe carpal tunnel syndrome.