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Carbonite

I love Carbonite! It's a worry-free online backup service. For $49 a year, they'll back up your data and keep it updated.

Totally hassle free and idiot proof! I should know, because a couple of years ago, I thought I was backing up data to an external hard drive, and when I needed to retrieve some photos, the dialog box popped up something akin to "Disk is blank. Would you like to reformat?" It was probably my fault, but arggh!

Their website is carbonite.com.

One-year anniversary

Charles stood in line at the Apple store one year ago today to buy my iPhone! Can't believe it's been one year... it's no doubt the best gadget I've ever had. My favorite things about it are: the cool text messaging interface, the email interface, the beautiful browser experience, the map feature, the camera, the way you can scroll through the Photo Album, the iPod, the Notes feature. Simply put, everything is cool about the iPhone!

I can't believe that a gadget has changed my life so wonderfully!

I would still pay $599 for it! (Don't tell Apple!)

We laugh at Verizon

A phone that will "kill" the iPhone? Ha!
Verizon Unveils iPhone Rival

Moblogging made too easy!

Typepad, the company that hosts my blog, just came out with an interface that makes it super easy to post a blog from the iPhone. In fact, I'm using it now to post this blog! It's obviously web-based (like most new "features" will be): you simply go to i.typeped.com and the user interface fits beautifully on the screen. There's also a secret email address that I'm assigned that lets me email posts to the blog, but I haven't tried it out yet. Oh boy, just after I promised myself in my previous blog to spend less time on the Internet!

Free money!

We learned last week that Apple is going to give a $100 rebate to all customers who bought an iPhone at the original price of $599. Yippee! Actually, it's going to be in the form of a gift certificate to the Apple Store, but hey, it's still a freebie! We don't know what we're going to buy with it, but I hope Charles uses the gift certificate toward the new iTouch.

Apple is such a brilliant company! Their move to "do what's right" for us early adopters is win-win-win! We get a $100 gift, they'll get a boatload of business; and with the recent price drop, Apple will probably reach their 2 millionth iPhone sale by Christmas!

5 days w/out the Information Highway!

Our Internet went out Friday night and didn't start working until last night. That's five days without access. It was a little disconcerting the first day or two, wondering what eBay alerts I was missing and wondering what our checking account balance was. Later on, it turned into a blessed relief not to be a slave to the Informatin Highway. I didn't realize how much time I spend waste there. During the past 5 days, I read a heck of a lot more, and I did my Bible devotionals faithfully. I talked to Charles more, and I definitely saved money by not buying anything off eBay! Hmm... can I make these good habits stick now that the Internet has come back into my life?

A to-do list for the iPhone!

Thanks to my husband Charles, I now have a to-do list application for my iPhone! It's iNozbe.com, and being browser-based, there's no need to upgrade the iPhone software; you simply create an account and add projects and tasks to it. You can even access your account from a traditional computer by going to Nozbe.com; in fact, I set the account up on nozbe.com, because it seemed easier to read the fine print there and determine which plan to subscribe to. I ended up opting for the free plan until I'm sure it's the real deal, and, yep, it's the real deal! I can access the very same account on my iPhone by going to iNozbe.com. It's amazing, and the interface, at least on the iPhone, could not be easier to use.

Charles heard about it from one of his favorite podcasters: Cali. You can download her podcasts on iTunes or go straight to her website, iCali.tv. Thanks Charles! I think I'll go add a "Hug Charles" task to my to-do list!

iPhone phun!

I've spent a large portion of today getting used to my iPhone, and I cannot think of a thing I'd have done differently! Here's an example of a "I'm-impressed" feature: if you're on a phone call, and you get an incoming phone call, you can put the first one on hold, pick up the second call and then "add" the first call back into the conversation. 3-way calling on a cell phone! That's a bonus!

iPhone imPressive!

Charles stood in line last night at the Apple Store with 500 of his closest friends to buy me an iPhone! He arrived home an hour or so later with a neat little black bag containing the cute little iPhone. Charles said the process could not have been smoother or more exciting with Apple employees explaining what to do and clapping and cheering when the doors opened. When was the last time people were so willing and delighted to part with 600 bucks?

Set up was a synch too! The iTunes application guided us through the process. The hardest thing at first was the QWERTY keyboard, but now, less than 24 hours later, I've already mastered it. Pictures are beautiful and crystal clear and for the most part all the applications are intuitive and easy to navigate. The web is fast and the phone is clear. If there is any criticism: 1) iPhone will only sync bookmarks from IE; it doesn't recognize the Firefox browser; 2) There is not a "to-do" list anywhere on the phone (at least that I've discovered). Oh well... you can't have it all!

Listmania

Meosphere.com was featured in the tech section of the Wall Street Journal today. It's a site that's all about lists, but the focus is on past accomplishments, not to-do lists! There are pre-made lists (for example, a "Countries I've been to" list), and you can actually create custom lists. I created an account this evening and played with the pre-made lists. For example, after completing the "States I've been to" list, I was surprised to realize that I've been to 27 states! On the other hand, I only own 3 of the top 100 albums. The site is free, and when you create an account, you can either make your profile "share-able" or else make it private. Either way, it's a fun way to think about all you've done in your life!

Maybe tomorrow, I'll create a custom list, if I can come up with one that has not already been created.