It’s Coming…

Windows 7 is Here

Windows 7 was released today, and of course, we got the upgrade.  Vista has been fun, but a couple days ago, it didn’t load my user profile correctly and had to create a temp profile.  Not cool.

So, seeing that my computer was getting slower and slower over time as Windows machines tend to do (reducing the profile size can help with this though), I decided to get the family pack upgrade solution which has license for 3 different computer upgrades.

I just upgrade one of our computers, and it worked great.  You have to de-authorize your iTunes account or iTunes will think you’ve added a brand new computer.  Once you upgrade, you can reauthorize the computer.   The installation process also has a link to check for  compatibility.  I recommend running this step.

Update:

I had to let my laptop run the update into the night, after it finished updating, I checked on it and went to turn the computer off, but it had trouble turning off.  Perhaps this Apple/PC ad is appropriate:

Joking aside, it is working much better than Vista so far and has been faster with better features. I was pleasantly surprised that after the update, I had 4 gigabytes of new free space on my hard drive. Now that’s a great surprise.

Google Wave Rolls Out

I received an invite from Google to participate in the preview of Google Wave.  Google Wave will revolutionize the way we communicate on the Web.

Google Wave lets you:

• drag-and-drop to share photos (no more emailing pictures!)
• take polls from your friends
• use Google maps to collaborate an  itinerary  for example
• play games
• chat
• replace email
  • When you email someone, the replies become indented with “>>>” etc. down in the email.  Wave let’s you reply in-line to the messages.  This feature makes it much easier to catch up on a conversation
• use plugins (it’s open to developers to make it better)

That’s just the tip of the iceberg.  Google Wave will soon be open to everyone, and when it is, Wave may be as big as Gmail is today.

Backing up your computer automatically with Mozy.com

Well, we finally did it and purchased a subscription to Mozy backup.

What is Mozy? Funny you should ask. Mozy is a backup solution for your computer. You install the Mozy software on your computer and when you’re not using your computer (you can change the settings to run anytime); the software then encrypts for protection and sends your protected files to a Mozy backup server in a Mozy data center.

Why is this better than backing up your computer’s files with an external hard drive?

If your house burns down or is broken into, you can kiss your computer, your external hard drive, and your precious data goodbye.  Because Mozy lets you back up your data over the Internet, you can also easily access your archived files through a web browser.  So if you still have all your data in tact on your computer, but left it at home and need a file, you can log in to the Mozy website and get the file you need.

Files stored on the server are encrypted as well as the connection to their website so your data is protected and secure.  Mozy is compliant with HIPAA and other data security requirements.

Why is Mozy better than other backup software?

We did a bunch of research to see which solution would be the best, and it came down to Mozy provides unlimited amount of data backup, and the price was great.  We purchased 2 full years worth of the service.

Other backup services charge extra for extra data you need to back up.

Mozy also allows online access to your files that have been backed-up.

You can specify which folders you want backed up.

Mozy offers for free 2 Gigabytes of backup.  With Mozy, you can download the software and backup up to your 2 Gig limit for free.  This free feature lets you try out the software first to see if you like it.  We did that for quite some time but finally decided to go for the full version of the software and back up all our pictures, home video files, music files, etc.

It took a couple days for the initial backup to capture everything, but now that the computer is backed up, backups only need to upload new files or files that have been changed.

Happy Day – Google Voice is Here

I’ve been on the waiting list for months for the new Google Voice service, and finally received my invitation.

Google Voice revolutionizes the way we think about receiving phone calls. The video below helps explain more:

I love that Google Voice will transcribe messages for me so I don’t have to listen through to the end of a voice mail to find out what it’s all about. I also like that on my Google Android phone (BlackBerry phones can do it too), you can have your outgoing calls register as from your new Google Voice telephone number.

The service is free, and international calls range from 2-19 cents a minute depending on if you’re calling someones land-line or mobile phone.

You can also record telephone calls as they happen or listen in as someone is leaving a voice mail and decide if you want to “pick up” the phone and answer.

With Google Voice you can screen calls, mark calls as spam, and have different incoming phone numbers ring your various phones.