An easy way to backup your Mac

Sure no one wants to lose all the data stored on their computer, but sometimes it happens. There are some backup features in Windows Vista, so I wanted to tell you about a small program called Carbon Copy Cloner for the Mac. Simply, it lets you copy your entire hard drive to an external drive connected via USB or Firewire. In fact, if anything does go wrong, you can even boot from that backup drive by having it connected and holding down alt when booting up. A wonderful way to back up your entire drive. And it’s free!!

But of course, let us see what the almighty Leopard brings

Product link: http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html

Why big companies shouldn’t rule the Internet

Happened to see the following from the people who do the Ask a Ninja videos: http://www.askaninja.com/node/2836 and really they are right. I’m not on MySpace…but still it’s crazy that News Corporation believes that they can just delete links whenever they want…all for a profit. Macromedia Adobe doesn’t charge for you to download the Flash plugin…and they also don’t make you pay for Adobe Reader. Why should we be migrated to a specific service? Well perhaps when people realize what it means to have a service like MySpace owned by a large Neo-Con group, they will seek better alternatives, such as the privately-owned Facebook or whatever else comes up next. It’s the same thing with the RIAA….their old business model is dead! Until they face it, piracy will still be an issue. Innovation is key!!!

Two Cool Websites!

You know, it’s amazing what types of services are on the Internet these days. I’ve come across two really cool ones for music: Pandora Radio and Lala. More below:

Pandora Radio (http://www.pandora.com/) is a website that is based off of the Music Genome Project. What it allows you to do is create playlists full of music that it selects. All you have to do is enter in some if your favorite songs or bands, and it will stream over music that is similar in character to your specifications. It’s scary how detailed some of the song descriptions are. There are a few problems though, and they have to do with licensing…for when you are listening to music, you can only forward ahead five songs every hour, cannot rewind, and cannot play a specific song. I didn’t find it to be a problem though…the website makes a perfect way to get nice background music.

Lala.com is a cool service that will actually upload your entire iTunes library to its servers so that you can log in at any time and play your music library anywhere. It’s an amazing website and a nice way to play your music from multiple computers. You can also go and view your friends’ playlists and if you like it, you can buy songs from their playlists (not from your friends, but from LaLa).

Hopefully you find these websites useful. Enjoy!

Why is digital cable such a mess?

You know, we have been having problems recently with getting our HDTV working recently. It was fine until the TV completely went crazy and a circuit board fried. For the past few months we have been living with the fact that due to the hardware replacement, our CableCard no longer binds properly with the new hardware. So today, I decided to call Cablevision, figuring it would be simple to resolve the weird video issues that were caused by the problem. Well that was a terrible choice!

The TV, a Samsung, displayed a simple error message that would have, had I been talking to someone who’s call wasn’t being recorded, been easy to resolve. It had two ID numbers and all I should have had to do is just read off the numbers and reactivate the CableCard. It wasn’t that simple…

Anyway, after a half hour on the phone with the nice guy (named Michael), he finally had to inform me that he had to send someone out to reactivate the card. Why? Company policy!

The CableCard had such a promise of making it easy to get cable TV. It was created as a way to bypass a box, and still decrypt premium content. It was a way to simply use your TV’s tuner and not have to worry about a whole other remote. Unfortunately….the cable companies don’t like this….

They would rather dish out boxes and remotes that cost over five times the amount of the CableCard per month…for the SAME SERVICE! Well why? Rightfully, using the TV’s built-in tuner is a great option for anyone who wants the best picture quality…everything is in the TV already!

The big cable companies, however, don’t like this one bit. They would rather give you these large, not-at-all heat efficient boxes that have a clumsy and slow interface…so that they can tempt you with ordering On-Demand content from your remote along with all the games (yes, things like poker) and interactive stuff.

To me, it would be the same as having spyware open in the background of your computer…allowing you to buy a bunch of crappy services…just sitting there waiting to be used.

As a result of all this, companies just don’t put any money into the technology. They are mandated by the FCC to support it…but there’s nothing that says it has to be supported well.

Take for example, the new Series 3 HD TiVo. It records in HD and also has two CableCard slots. Why? Well what if you want to record two shows in high definition at the same time? Problem solved. It’s a wonderful idea (and I wish I had one!), but right after release, there were companies that actually refused to put their cards in nothing but TVs. They just didn’t want to bother with the extra support. Fortunately, because of FCC regulations, there are many who enjoy this luxury, but seriously people. Just please the customer!

Oh, and have you heard about XM and Sirius Radio? Well they want to merge, but there are fears of a monopoly. So, they went to appease customers…they released a new pricing plan that let people choose about fifty of their favorite stations (out of over 200) and only have them broadcasted to their radios…for a fee that is less than half of the original! It’s amazing what corporate America can do when it wants have something passed, like a merger. I can only hope, though, that they keep this plan after they merge…otherwise they are just as bad as the cable companies, in my opinion.

So there you go. If you buy an HDTV, make sure you get a CableCard…cheaper, easier, and something that just makes more sense.

About me…technologically and why I am a switcher.

Hello.  My name is Stephen Stakey.  Student at Stony Brook University, Valedictorian at Mattituck High School (Class of 2007), former Microsoft MVP (2004 and 2005 for MSN Encarta), and a beta testing fanatic who finds quite a lot of enjoyment out of fixing and building computers.  I’ve been using PCs for over eleven years and have become obsessed.  A hobby that has lasted very, very long and has fully engulfed my life.

So all of that brings me here.  To a blog.  Hopefully I can help readers learn some new stuff or at least see a new perspective on the ever-changing world of technology. Until recently, I have been solely using Windows.  I started with an HP Pavilion 5030.  I had free range on this system…all 75 MHz of its processor.  Good ol’ Windows 95.  And America On-Line.  AOL was one of those “cool” services that unfortunately did not keep up with the times, but that’s besides the point.From the time I got that first computer, I have since branched out and used every Windows OS since Windows 95 (and older ones) and got into the whole beta testing thing…which led to the Microsoft MVP Award; an award which I am truly thankful for.  The two years that I worked so closely with Microsoft were fascinating.  It’s a pretty cool company, I must say.  So that brings me to the present, more or less.

Now I mentioned being a switcher.  That can only mean one thing.  Yes, I am now a Mac user.  Of course, I heard the snickers when I decided to buy a Mac, but I think that it was a wise choice.  I have a  15 inch MacBook Pro and am fascinated.  And yes, I do have Windows Vista installed, the OS which I beta tested since July 2005.  I will always have to use Windows.  I’m sure of that.  But the fit and finish on my laptop is absolutely amazing.  Let me explain.It starts with the unboxing…a completely customized box…that even had customized Styrofoam!  But more about the laptop.  I was actually bored with it.  Five minutes after I turned it on, it was connected to the Internet and registered.  So it was time to look at the cool hardware features.  For example, the slot loading DVD burner, the multi-touch trackpad, the light and motion sensors, the backlit keyboard, the aluminum body, the iSight camera, and of course the Front Row remote.  Truly amazing!

The software was awesome, too.  Things like Photo Booth, GarageBand, iDVD, and iMovie HD are truly nice features. I’m glad that at least one computer company in this world cares about making quality products just make sense and are simple.  My last laptop?  Well I love HP, but I remember starting the laptop and having to deal with all of the trial software and the other useless drivers.  Do I really needseveral crippled DVD burning programs?  Or what about WildTangent games?  Or all of the web shortcuts on my Desktop?Yes, the Mac was just so much simpler.  In fact it reminds me of my first computer.  All of the apps are on the hard drive and it just lets me do what I want to do.  It was ready for contemporary technology.  That’s the problem with technology now…my original Pavilion had useful programs on the hard drive.  Now it just seems that you have to get on the Internet for everything.  Should I really need to connect to the Internet to something like Google Apps so that I can type a document?  I DON’T THINK SO!

Another thing that OS X seems to offer is connectability.  For example, just earlier, I wanted to test a printer on my laptop for a local charitable organization so that they could give it away for anyone who needed it.  Sure enough I plugged in the Epson Stylus Photo 200R and less than a minute later I was printing on it.  Without configuring a thing.  My Bluetooth cell phone?  Just happened to have it in the range of my laptop and it synced my calendar and contacts.  Thank you Steve Jobs!

The iPhone? Well that’s pretty cool…but I’m not sure I’d want to switch to AT&T…I’m quite happy with my Verizon-branded Motorola e815 and all the perks that I have, well, added The iPod–another wonderful device. I have a 60GB 5G model which has run everything from a themed Apple UI to Rockbox and even iPodLinux. It’s pretty cool when you can bust out your iPod and play Doom on it. And my 3-year Best Buy warranty acts as a way of future-proofing, if you know what I mean.

So that’s who I am.  Now don’t get me wrong, I love OS X, but I have no problem using Ubuntu or Windows Vista.  It just seems that OS X offers a very simple way to do whatever I want to. Still though, I long to see the day that Microsoft comes back and revolutionizes computing once again…but until that happens, there still will be competition.

Hello world!

So this is my first post.  One of many more to come, I can only hope.  I will try to keep content lively and will attempt to provide visitors with cool new programs, etc.  Anything else that may come up.  Enjoy!