Online storage the free way...if you put in the work

One of my pages lists the 3-2-1 strategy for backing up your computer(s).  One of the methods is online storage, as you need a backup to the backup sitting next to your computer.  One of the pains of online storage is that for a lot of it, you have to pay for it.  But if you are willing to deal with multiple accounts, you can pretty much get all the storage you need for free.  For me, here is how my storage breaks down

Google Drive - 5 GB Free

Skydrive - 25 GB Free

Box - 50 GB Free

Pogoplug - 10 GB Free

Dropbox - 3GB Free

Google Music - Up to 25,000 MP3's for free

At this point I have 93 GB of totally free storage, and all my MP3's are backed up for free outside that amount.  I'm about to get another 5GB from Sugarsync and JustCloud offers unlimited free storage.  So if you want to steer away from Mozy (which also gives you a 2GB free plan) or Carbonite, try using all of those services.  They all have mobile apps and you can access your data from anywhere.  Now I just have to figure out how to divide up all this data amongst all the services.

Microsoft, just let us skip Metro!

Seems that the biggest complaint I have come cross with customers with windows 8 is the metro interface. More to the point, Microsoft puts you there without telling you how to use it. It would not be so bad if Microsoft had Apple's ability to make a GUI that a 5 year could learn (my son can confirm). Everyone Should know that you do not have to use it. Install classic shell and it will not only boot windows 8 to the desktop, it will put back the start menu and shutdown options in the desktop, like the good old days! Also, you do not have to have a Microsoft outlook account to log in. Create a local coconut and bypass Microsoft's lame attempt to get more outlook users.

Do not lose your HP Touchpad charger!

Found out today that the hp touchpad has to be charged with the OEM charger or it stops charging and goes into a deep sleep. Took me three days to wake the damn thing up and work again. I see why the product isn't last! I thought the forum notes on it were kidding, but no, it only likes the OEM charger.

23 days a year....I thought it would have been longer

How long do you spend looking at your phone? More than three weeks a year, according to new figures that indicate how amazing it is you haven't permanently cricked your neck.

Mobile-phone insurance Web site MobileInsurance.co.uk asked 2,314 phone owners how much time they spent each day sending texts, making calls, using apps and games, or doing anything else on their phones. The average answer is 90 minutes per day spent poking and prodding their blower.

That's 32,850 minutes a year, or 22.8 days. Over the course of the average person's life, that's 1,414 days -- 3.9 years -- spent squinting at a little piece of glass and plastic.

Amazing what a lack of sales will do to a company

As much as I would want to take credit for it, I cannot.  Microsoft has made two decisions that only make sense since the original decisions were bone-headed.  

Microsoft today backpedaled from a sweeping change in its licensing for retail copies of Office 2013, saying that customers now have the right to move the software from one machine to another.

"We received customer feedback that they wanted this flexibility, and we thought this was reasonable, just and fair," said Jevon Fark, senior marketing manager with the Office team, in an interview Tuesday. "We will honor these new terms starting this morning."

The revised policy lets customers who purchased a retail copy of Office 2013 -- the $140 Home & Student, $220 Home & Business or $400 Professional editions -- reassign the license to another PC they own or control.

The second decision was just as obvious.  

Microsoft has done something it's historically been loath to do: discount prices for the copies of Windows it sells to computer makers, online reports said today.

Both the Wall Street Journal and the Asian electronics supply chain publication DigiTimes published reports claiming that Microsoft has cut prices of Windows 8 and Office 2013 in an attempt to spark sales.

Nobody likes Windows 8 and Office 2013 was so restrictive, why would you buy it?  We will see if these two decisions help change the tide against Redmond.

Gadgets4guys.com...no more boring Father's Day!

Every year Father's Day is painful.  Such an opportunity to get something cool and what do I get?  You can imagine.  Father's Day gifts are probably the hardest gift to get.  Well, no more.  Head on over to Gadgets4guys.  A site that has gifts only a guy would love.  Pick something...anything and I will have a happy Father's Day.  It has made my Computer Geeks only link list as well.  Happy Father's Day to all the fellas, your ladies no longer have an excuse for a boring gift!