TidBITS#868/26-Feb-07
=====================
Issue link: <http://db.tidbits.com/issue/868>
This issue brings our first reader survey in years, along with much
more. Updates from last week look at the removal and reposting of
the Norwegian Early Help Desk video on YouTube, better ways of
creating permanent URLs for New York Times articles, and a quick
Final Cut Pro 5.1.4 update to fix problems introduced in 5.1.3. In
other news, Apple and Cisco reach an agreement on the use of the
iPhone name, Apple adds cellular data support to Mac OS X, the Your
Mac Life radio show changes domains, and we pass on a tip for
focused reading of PDFs in Preview. In DealBITS, we give away copies
of Panergy's docXConverter, which converts Word 2007 files to RTF or
text, and this week also reveals our final Month of Apple Sales
offer for Take Control ebooks. Finally, Joe Kissell anchors the
issue with a review of CrashPlan, an innovative new backup program
with great promise.
Articles
Please Take the TidBITS 2007 Reader Survey!
Final Cut Pro 5.1.4 Update Fixes Plug-in Issues
Your Mac Life Changes Domains
DealBITS Winners: A Sharp's Opal
DealBITS Drawing: Panergy's docXConverter Premium
Apple and Cisco Reach iPhone Agreement
Concentrate on Reading in Preview
Early Help Desk Video Gone and Back Again
Apple Adds Significant Cell Data Support
Easier New York Times Linking
CrashPlan: Backups Revisited
Take Control News/26-Feb-07
Hot Topics in TidBITS Talk/26-Feb-07
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Please Take the TidBITS 2007 Reader Survey!
-------------------------------------------
by Adam C. Engst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/8873>
It has been many years since we've done a reader survey, but since
we're in the middle of some major infrastructure and site redesign
work, I'd like to learn more about who you are, what you do, how you
acquire technology information, what you think of our content, and
most important, what you would like to see more of in TidBITS.
So I would greatly appreciate it if you could spare 5 minutes to
fill out our TidBITS 2007 Reader Survey. For those who complete it,
we have a small token of our appreciation at the end, but I'm sorry
to say that we weren't able to get that shipment of iPhones in time.
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/webx?displaySurvey@@.3c8dc29b>
I'll share results from the survey in TidBITS as we get a chance to
evaluate them. Thanks in advance for your time!
Final Cut Pro 5.1.4 Update Fixes Plug-in Issues
-----------------------------------------------
by Jeff Carlson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/8874>
Last week's Final Cut Pro 5.1.3 Update barely had time to cool
before Final Cut users discovered that it broke a number of third
party plug-ins such as Conduit, Automatic Duck, and Magic Bullet
Colorista. Now, Apple has released Final Cut Pro 5.1.4, which
corrects issues with FxPlug plug-ins that use custom interfaces. It
also fixes a bug with importing XML files with missing <pathurl>
elements. The update is a 38 MB download and requires Final Cut Pro
5.1 or later running under Mac OS X 10.4.8.
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/8864>
<http://www.dvgarage.com/prod/prod.php?prod=conduit15>
<http://automaticduck.com/>
<http://www.redgiantsoftware.com/magicbulletcolorista.html>
<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/finalcutpro514.html>
Your Mac Life Changes Domains
-----------------------------
by Adam C. Engst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/8884>
One of the most entertaining Macintosh radio shows/podcasts is Shawn
King's Your Mac Life, which had to change its domain name last week.
So if you're looking for Your Mac Life on Wednesday evenings at its
normally scheduled time of 5:30 PM Pacific/8:30 PM Eastern, head
over to www.yourmaclifeshow.com instead of www.yourmaclife.com.
Among others, guests last week included iTunes guru Chris Breen of
Macworld, Matt Deatherage of MacJournals.com running down Apple news
so far in 2007, and YML's server admin Aaron Adams, who talked about
how to use your Mac to take photos of the coming total lunar eclipse
on 03-Mar-07. You can listen to the show at the YML archives.
<http://www.yourmaclifeshow.com/>
<http://www.yourmaclifeshow.com/?q=node/59>
<http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/OH/OH2007.html>
<http://www.yourmaclifeshow.com/?q=taxonomy/term/43>
DealBITS Winners: A Sharp's Opal
--------------------------------
by Adam C. Engst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/8875>
Congratulations to John O'Reilly of potomacadvisors.com, Dave Harvey
of mac.com, and Cheryll Shubert of sbcglobal.net, whose entries were
chosen randomly in last week's DealBITS drawing and who received a
copy of A Sharp's Opal, worth $32. But don't feel bad if you didn't
win, since A Sharp is offering TidBITS readers a $6-off discount on
Opal, dropping the price to $26. To take advantage of this offer,
which is good through 21-Mar-07, use coupon code 2007DB6 when
purchasing from within the application (choose Opal > License).
Thanks again for entering this DealBITS drawing, and we hope you'll
continue to participate in the future. Thanks to the 384 people who
entered, and keep an eye out for future DealBITS drawings!
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/8866>
<http://a-sharp.com/opal/>
DealBITS Drawing: Panergy's docXConverter Premium
-------------------------------------------------
by Adam C. Engst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/8876>
Microsoft has promised that they'll release converters that will
enable earlier versions of Microsoft Word on the Macintosh to open
XML-based .docx files created with the new Word 2007 in Windows. But
until that happens, and even afterwards for everyone who might need
to convert a Word 2007 .docx file into RTF (Rich Text Format) or
text for use in another word processor or desktop publishing
program, look to Panergy's new docXConverter. It's simple to use,
since all you have to do is double-click a .docx file. docXConverter
automatically launches and converts the file, putting it in a folder
you specify and assigning it to open in the application of your
choice. Formatting should be identical between source documents from
Word 2003 and Word 2004 and the converted RTF document, and Panergy
is working on complete conversion of the new elements that Microsoft
introduced in Word 2007. docXConverter requires Mac OS X 10.2 or
later, and is available as a free 30-day or 20-conversion demo (3.6
MB) if you want to test it on your particular documents.
<http://www.panergy-software.com/products/docxconverter/index.html>
In this week's DealBITS drawing, you can enter to win one of two
copies of docXConverter 1.1 Premium, each worth $29.95. (The premium
version costs $10 more than the normal version, but includes a
maintenance plan comprising 2 years of updates.) Entrants who aren't
among our lucky winners will receive a discount on docXConverter
Premium, so be sure to enter at the DealBITS page linked below. All
information gathered is covered by our comprehensive privacy policy.
Be careful with your spam filters and challenge-response systems,
since you must be able to receive email from my address to learn if
you've won. Remember too, that if someone you refer to this drawing
wins, you'll receive the same prize as a reward for spreading the
word.
<http://www.tidbits.com/dealbits/docXConverter/>
<http://www.tidbits.com/about/privacy.html>
Apple and Cisco Reach iPhone Agreement
--------------------------------------
by Glenn Fleishman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/8877>
Apple and Cisco have reached an agreement on the use of the iPhone
name. Cisco surprised the Mac world when their Linksys division
released and rebranded a variety of Internet Protocol (IP) phones
under the name iPhone in December 2006. Cisco had acquired the
trademark via a company they purchased in 2000, and claimed to own
the term in the realm of phones. The iPhone name was widely rumored
for years to be attached to a project of Apple's devising.
Then, Apple likewise surprised everyone by announcing an iPhone at
Macworld Expo in January 2007 (see "iPhone Seeks to Redefine the
Mobile Phone," 2007-01-15). Almost immediately, Cisco filed a
lawsuit, saying that it had been in negotiations over Apple's use of
the name and asserting its rights. Apple called the lawsuit "silly."
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/8810>
<http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/2007/corp_011007.html>
Both parties entered into settlement talks quickly. The agreement
announced on 21-Feb-07 states that both parties recognize trademark
rights that have been granted, and both can use the iPhone trademark
on their products worldwide. Both Apple and Cisco will dismiss all
legal actions against each other, and will work on interoperability,
without any specific agreements.
<http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2007/02/21iphone.html>
No mention of actual cash money was mentioned, and it's entirely
possible none was involved. This is pure speculation, but Cisco may
have used the opportunity to force a bit more light into Apple's
crevices to achieve better compatibility for its wide array of
consumer and corporate gear, which could benefit its customers and
bottom line.
What this deal means is that Apple's iPhone gets to be the Apple
iPhone, although, due to the vagaries of how trademarks work, we
might see it more commonly called - at least by Apple - "the Apple
iPhone cell phone, music player, and Internet communicator."
Concentrate on Reading in Preview
---------------------------------
by Adam C. Engst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/8878>
Thanks to Bryan Phelan for alerting us to a potentially useful
feature in Apple's Preview application. Bryan was noticing that
other applications on his Mac were constantly distracting him from
reading his Take Control ebooks until he stumbled on the Slideshow
feature in Preview.
With an ebook (or any other PDF) open, just choose View > Slideshow
(Command-Shift-F). Your screen immediately goes black and displays
just the current ebook page. Click the Fit to Screen button in the
transparent slideshow toolbar to expand the page to the full size of
your screen. Unfortunately, you cannot see or click on bookmarks,
but you can click on any link to follow it, and Web links load
invisibly behind the slideshow rather than switching to your Web
browser. You can hide the toolbar by clicking anywhere outside of
it, but it returns to obscure the bottom of pages as soon as you
move the cursor, so keyboard navigation is generally best.
To navigate between pages, press the left and right arrow keys or
left and right square bracket keys. Press Escape to exit slideshow
mode. The only other keys that do anything are F (for switching into
full screen mode) and A (for switching back to actual size). Nearly
every other key just beeps when pressed. Bonus points to anyone who
can figure out what Tab, R, and L do, since they don't beep.
Early Help Desk Video Gone and Back Again
-----------------------------------------
by Adam C. Engst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/8879>
The day after I wrote it up in TidBITS (see "Early Help Desk Video,"
2007-02-19), ZrednaZ, the user who posted the Early Help Desk Video
with English subtitles removed the video, generating a flurry of
squawks from TidBITS readers who wanted to see it. Some additional
searching on YouTube turned up a handful of identical videos, all
with Danish but not English subtitles. Then I noticed that one of
the people leaving comments had found another copy with English
subtitles, and shortly afterwards, ZrednaZ reposted the video, with
a few additional seconds at the end (unfortunately, the reposted
video is much darker than the other copies, though it has better
subtitles).
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/8861>
<http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=ZrednaZ>
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pyjRj3UMRM>
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFAWR6hzZek>
Here's what happened. The original video aired in 2001 on a show
called "Oystein og meg" ("Oystein & I") from the Norwegian
television network, NRK, but it seems to have shown up on YouTube
only recently. Another YouTube user recently posted a short clip
from NRK News (with English subtitles added) that discusses the
situation. It turns out that the version uploaded to YouTube became
one of the most viewed videos on YouTube, generating about a million
views. The news report goes on to say that it's illegal to upload
NRK content and that NRK's lawyers are now investigating the case.
Upon hearing about the NRK lawyers, ZrednaZ got cold feet and pulled
the video from YouTube, but after numerous requests and seeing the
many other copies elsewhere on YouTube, reposted it.
<http://www1.nrk.no/nett-tv/klipp/4389>
<http://www.nrk.no/programmer/tv_arkiv/oystein_og_meg/>
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=py-lNeGfYjc>
It will be instructive to see how NRK's lawyers react. Yes, the
reposts on YouTube were done without permission. But it's unclear
who, if anyone, has been harmed. The work was done 6 years ago, and
presumably entertained many Norwegians at the time, but my bet is
that it has essentially been ignored ever since, neither making
money for NRK nor advancing the careers of the creators. Now, thanks
to YouTube and the viral nature of humor on the Internet, it's at
least bringing the creators some attention. One of them is quoted as
saying, "This is probably the closest we are getting to a world wide
launch, and we are very pleased so far." The fact that NRK wasn't
prepared to turn that attention into revenue or something
constructive is a missed opportunity, but not a reason to employ
heavy-handed legal tactics. The lesson is that you never know when
or where lightning will strike, but if you can be ready for it or
move sufficiently quickly, you just may be able to animate your very
own Frankenstein with all that power.
Although I was a touch worried, I don't think we were responsible
for the video coming to the attention of the NRK's lawyers. I heard
about the video clip on 13-Feb-07 from a friend whose librarian
sister-in-law sent it to her, and I posted the story to ExtraBITS on
that day. The video had been making the rounds in the librarian
community, apparently, and on 14-Feb-07 there was a post on The
Chicago Blog about it. I suspect that many of the YouTube views came
before my piece ran in TidBITS, given that the NRK News story about
the situation apparently aired on 19-Feb-07, the same day as that
TidBITS issue went out.
<http://pressblog.uchicago.edu/2007/02/14/helpdesk_for_the_book.html>
Apple Adds Significant Cell Data Support
----------------------------------------
by Glenn Fleishman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/8880>
Apple's WWAN (Wireless Wide Area Network) Support Update v1.0,
released last week via Software Update, adds support for five
cellular data modems from Novatel, which are variously offered by
three U.S. cellular operators. The update provides support for four
ExpressCard modems that work with the MacBook Pro and one USB modem
that can work with any Intel-based Mac. Mac OS X 10.4.8 or later on
an Intel-based Mac is required.
<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/wwansupportupdate10.html>
Third-generation (3G) cellular data networks provide moderate data
speeds across entire cities and regions. Those speeds are currently
ramping up as Cingular Wireless (soon to be rebranded as part of
AT&T), Sprint Nextel, and Verizon Wireless upgrade their networks to
faster standards.
**Previous Approaches** -- Before this release, Mac OS X users
typically needed to rely on third-party software, unsupported hacks
(that nonetheless work), or Verizon Wireless, the only U.S. carrier
to offer official Mac software for registering and managing a
wireless PC Card. This Intel-only update leaves users of
PowerPC-based Macs relying on the existing approaches as faster cell
data flavors hit the market.
It's unclear whether Apple's new support allows Mac users to
register their cell modems on a provider's network. This
registration typically requires special Windows software on networks
other than Verizon Wireless's.
**Data Rates** -- Cingular's HSDPA (High-Speed Download Packet
Access), a worldwide standard, is currently available in scattered
cities around the United States, but the recent AT&T-BellSouth
merger should accelerate that deployment. HSDPA has a top download
rate of 3.6 Mbps in the current version, and 7.2 Mbps in a new
version that's starting to appear. Actual rates seen by individual
users are always a bit vague: the current 3.6 Mbps generation seems
to deliver up to 150 Kbps upstream and 700 Kbps downstream in
typical circumstances, but can both burst far above that and drop
far below. Cingular advertises 400 to 700 Kbps downstream. The 7.2
Mbps version of HSDPA could double that throughput, but is more
likely to support more users in each cell tower's range instead,
leading to a more modest increase in throughput. The Novatel Merlin
XU870 ExpressCard, offered by Cingular and supported in this Apple
update, supports both HSDPA speeds, as well as older, slower
standards.
<http://www.novatelwireless.com/products/expresscard/merlin-xu870.html>
Sprint and Verizon Wireless use CDMA for their networks, a cellular
standard used mostly in the United States and South Korea; their
flavor of 3G is called EVDO (Evolution Data-Only). The first
version, numbered Rev. 0, offered rates comparable to HSDPA. The
next version, called EVDO Rev. A, is just starting to be installed,
with Sprint and Verizon Wireless committing to a massive buildout
through 2007. Rev. A adapters can operate at Rev. 0 speeds as well
as use the earlier modem-speed 1xRTT standard. Rev. A offers typical
downstream rates of up to 800 Kbps, with bursts of a few megabits
per second, and improves upstream transfers to a rate of up to 400
Kbps. The WWAN Support Update v1.0 supports a single Rev.0 EVDO
ExpressCard - the Novatel XV620 on the Verizon Wireless network -
while the other two ExpressCards and the USB adapter offer Rev. A.
**Costs** -- All three companies typically charge about $60 per month
for unmetered service with a two-year commitment and a high
cancellation penalty. Cingular and Verizon Wireless require a voice
plan to get into the $60 range, with costs around $80 per month
otherwise. The cards and USB modems are typically subsidized by the
carriers when you make a plan commitment; prices vary by location
and term of agreement, but typically cost between $50 and $150 with
the longest commitment.
"Unmetered service" doesn't mean "unlimited," although all three
firms typically advertise it as unlimited. You can read a lengthy
essay by Tim Wu, a professor at the Columbia University law school,
about how "unlimited" means "whatever we define it as" in the hands
of cellular operators. For Verizon Wireless, it means less than 200
MB transferred per day for email, Web surfing, and corporate
applications - hardly broadband!
<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=962027>
Easier New York Times Linking
-----------------------------
by Adam C. Engst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/8881>
Ever spend a non-trivial amount of time working on something, only
to find that you've almost completely wasted your time? That's what
happened last week, when I spent about an hour testing a variety of
old and new URLs to articles at the New York Times, attempting to
find a reproducible method of linking to them in a way that provided
free, permanent access. With help, I came up with a solution, but it
hasn't turned out to be nearly as easy or clever as it could have
been. (See "Create Permanent Links to the New York Times,"
2007-02-19.)
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/8867>
Thanks to Seth Theriault for sending me a set of test URLs that make
linking to New York Times articles even easier. Let's say you want
to link to this article about Steve Jobs's letter about digital
rights management:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/07/technology/07music.html
That's an old article now, so following that link would take you to
TimesSelect. But according to Seth, and he's right, merely appending
"/partner/rssnyt" to the above URL (not to the TimesSelect URL that
appears when you load it in your browser) will make it permanently
available for free, as in:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/07/technology/07music.html/partner/rssnyt
That's great, since you can now access old articles for which you
have only the base URL by merely appending the magic string to the
end. Or at least that's the theory - Seth tells me that although it
usually works, it's not guaranteed to do so, especially on older
articles.
But that's not all. The New York Times requires registration, and
while registration is free, some people prefer not to sign up.
(Using the "/partner/rssnyt" links requires registration.) Seth
notes that using the Permalink feature available while reading any
article provides a URL that not only gives permanent free access to
the article, it sometimes sidesteps the need to register. I say
"sometimes" because the permalink to the article about Jobs's letter
doesn't circumvent the registration requirement, whereas this
permalink (to an article about Kodak printers) currently does:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/15/technology/15printer.html?ex=1329195600&en=a836993738d1d5d1&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
Even more confusingly, I created a permalink to an article (Michael
Pollan's must-read "Unhappy Meals," about what we should be eating)
a few weeks ago that does require registration, and it's different
from the permalink that I can create from the same article now. Both
provide free access to the article, but for some unknown reason the
article is also once again available for free at its plain URL.
Plus, although I didn't keep detailed notes of my testing, I could
swear that my permalink took me to TimesSelect for that article when
I was writing this up last week.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutritionism.t.html>
All I can conclude is that the New York Times Web weavers have a
variety of options available with regard to article access, and they
can and do change those options at will. For now, though, the
"/partner/rssnyt" string is all that's necessary to make a normal
New York Times URL into one that will remain accessible for free.
CrashPlan: Backups Revisited
----------------------------
by Joe Kissell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/8882>
In the course of writing two editions of "Take Control of Mac OS X
Backups" and several magazine articles on the same subject, I've
tried a lot of Mac backup applications. Although the details of
their features and implementations vary greatly, I haven't seen
anything truly revolutionary for a long time. Mac OS X 10.5
Leopard's much-discussed Time Machine feature will certainly apply a
snazzy interface to file restoration, but its underlying mechanism
of archiving files to a hard disk or server volume once a day is
pretty standard.
<http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/backup-macosx.html?14@@!pt=TB868>
<http://www.apple.com/macosx/leopard/timemachine.html>
So when I heard about CrashPlan from Code 42 Software, released last
month at Macworld Expo, I was expecting more of the same: just
another tool to add to the dozens already in my lists and feature
comparison charts. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that
CrashPlan is much more than that. It does some cool things I've
never seen in a Mac backup program before, and it does them in a
wonderfully easy-to-use fashion.
<http://www.crashplan.com/>
Most backup software follows a similar pattern: you tell the
application which files, folders, or volumes you want to back up,
where you want the backups to go, and what options you want to use
(such as compression or filtering by file name). Then you either
click a button to perform an immediate backup or schedule recurring
backups. In CrashPlan, the file choices and options are almost an
afterthought; it's the destination you're asked for first, and
that's where the program begins to distinguish itself.
**Smarter Online Backups** -- One option is to back up your computer
over the Internet to CrashPlan's servers, called CrashPlan Central.
The main benefit in doing so is that your data is stored safely
off-site. It'll still be there if your house burns down, and you can
even access it remotely from another computer if necessary.
In general, despite this advantage, I've found Internet backup
services underwhelming, because they're slow (even with a fast
broadband connection) and expensive, and because restoring files is
problematic if your Internet connection disappears. However,
CrashPlan's pricing is vastly lower than its competitors: you can
store up to 50 GB for $5 per month, and additional space is only
$0.10 per GB. In addition, you're charged only for the amount stored
at the end of the billing month, not the total amount of data
transferred.
Like other online backup programs, CrashPlan compresses and encrypts
your data before sending it over the Internet. And, like the others,
it's constrained by the laws of physics; compression
notwithstanding, online backups can in some cases take days or even
weeks to complete. But CrashPlan does three unique and interesting
things.
First, it gives precedence to files that have changed recently. So,
if you're running your first full backup and it takes three days to
finish, but in the meantime you make major changes to a document
you're writing, CrashPlan almost immediately backs up the new
document rather than waiting until the rest of the queue has been
processed.
Second, it can store multiple versions of files that have changed,
and can optionally do so right after a change takes place, rather
than having to scan every file on your disk before each run; you can
set the number of minutes that elapse between when the file is saved
and when CrashPlan backs it up. This means that, from the moment you
begin using CrashPlan, it can archive multiple versions of your most
important and actively used files - somewhat like a version-control
system - without waiting to run on a fixed schedule.
And third, if a file changes, CrashPlan doesn't make a new copy of
the entire file, but _copies only the bytes that have actually
changed._ This means that incremental backups run very quickly and
that storage space is minimized - two attributes that are always
welcome, but especially so with online backups. As a consequence, if
you were to back up, say, the 10 GB disk image you use for Windows
XP in Parallels Desktop, you could update it every day without
worrying that you'll overwhelm your backup media. In fact, CrashPlan
goes a big step further: if more than one computer in your home or
office contains a file identical to one you've backed up already,
CrashPlan stores just a pointer to the original backup file, not
another copy. So you can effectively store much more data in a much
smaller space than with other backup solutions.
The potential downside to this partial-file approach, however, is
that in order to reconstruct a given version of a file, CrashPlan
needs access to all its constituent pieces. Although the program
performs extensive data verification to make sure nothing is lost,
conceivably a disk error or other snafu could damage some portion of
one of your backed-up files, making it impossible to reconstruct the
whole thing later; this is much less of a worry when your backup
program stores complete copies of each file.
**Peer-to-Peer Backups** -- CrashPlan's servers aren't the only
destination you can choose for your backups. In fact, the company's
FAQ talks candidly about the fact that CrashPlan Central is neither
the fastest nor the cheapest choice. A second option is a friend's
computer, which could be almost any other computer in the world with
an Internet connection. CrashPlan has clients for Mac OS X, Windows,
and Linux, and files from one operating system can be stored on
another. All your friend has to do is install the software (it's
free to use if you're only storing someone else's backups) and you
can then add that friend's hard drive as a backup destination for
your files. Your friend can specify how much disk space is available
for you to use, and all your data is encrypted in such a way that
your friend can't read your data. Neither you nor your friend
requires a static IP address to pull this off, though in some cases
you may have to fiddle with a firewall or router to let the data
flow correctly.
<http://www.crashplan.com/support/faq.vtl>
What you can do over the Internet with a friend's computer, you can
also do on your local network with another computer of your own - or
more than one. And once you've set up computer A to be a destination
for computer B, you can also back up from B to A with a single
click, making the backups mutual. This means that whether you have
two computers or dozens, each can back up to the others, quickly and
automatically (assuming you have enough disk space).
Most backup software can be persuaded to back up to another machine
on the local network by using file sharing to mount one computer's
disk on the other. More-advanced software, such as Retrospect,
bypasses all that hassle and also provides greater control by using
a client-server system. But CrashPlan is the only cross-platform
backup software I know of that provides true peer-to-peer backups,
locally or remotely, out of the box - and that it does so without
requiring explicit scheduling is a huge bonus.
**Bells, Whistles, and Red Flags** -- Beyond the basics, CrashPlan
offers most of the features I consider important in any archiving
backup program. You can choose whether to have the software run all
the time or only during certain times; select how many versions of
each file you want to keep and when, if ever, to remove files
deleted on the source disk; select only certain files or folders or
exclude files with particular extensions; choose files to restore by
date, by filesystem location, or using a search; restore backed-up
files to their original location or another spot; and either rename
or overwrite existing files during restoration. You can also
throttle the bandwidth used for online backups, and can choose
different thresholds for when you're using the computer and when
it's idle.
Nevertheless, for all this backup goodness, CrashPlan has several
flaws and some curious omissions. For one thing, bafflingly, it
lacks the capability to back up directly to an external hard drive
or even a network-attached storage device; at the moment, the only
valid destinations are other computers (and only the users of those
computers can specify on which local storage device backups are
stored). So if you have just one computer and can't - or don't want
to - back up over the Internet, you're out of luck; if you do back
up over the Internet, you'll be stuck with slow restore speeds. Code
42 says that remedying this is at the top of their priority list.
Another issue is that CrashPlan, like Time Machine and Apple's
Backup 3.1, was designed to do archives well but not to create
bootable duplicates. In my opinion, archives and duplicates are the
two pillars of a complete backup system, and having just one puts
you at risk. For example, even if you have excellent archives, a
hard disk crash could leave you unable to work for hours or days
while you repair or replace your drive and restore all the necessary
files; duplicates let you get back to work immediately. In addition,
bootable duplicates can save your bacon in the result of a system
upgrade gone wrong. So you'll want another tool, such as SuperDuper,
to cover that aspect of your backup system.
<http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/>
CrashPlan is written in Java, and as is often true with Java
applications, it leaves something to be desired in the look-and-feel
department. That is to say, it's reasonably pretty, but looks more
like a Web page than a proper Mac application. There are no menus or
keyboard shortcuts, and some of the controls are ambiguous. Although
backups run in the background even when the CrashPlan application
isn't open, you get no feedback that anything is happening, except
possibly your Internet connection slowing down (depending on your
settings). Code 42 says they're working on a solution to that.
On a few occasions, I noticed that my Mac's CPU got stuck at 100
percent for long stretches of time even when I didn't have any other
applications running and CrashPlan wasn't actively backing up;
Activity Monitor informed me that Java was monopolizing the
processor. According to Code 42, a few other users have had similar
problems, and they're looking into it.
These, and some other minor bugs, are about what one would expect
from the first commercial release of a new application, and I fully
expect to see improvements in the near future. Among the other
things I've requested are greater flexibility in excluding files
from a backup (say, by size or date modified) and a grammatical
overhaul: the program uses "backup" as a verb when it should be
"back up" (as in "Files to Backup" [sic]).
**Conclusions** -- Despite these problems, CrashPlan is the first
program I've seen that has made me want to reconsider my own backup
strategy, because it offers possibilities that previously did not
exist or were awkward to pull off. I'm not quite ready to give up
Retrospect for backing up the Macs in our home, but I can easily
imagine that happening if and when a few of CrashPlan's outstanding
issues are ironed out.
CrashPlan comes in two editions. CrashPlan Pro (described here)
costs $60. The non-Pro version of CrashPlan, which costs $20, stores
just one version of each file and doesn't look for file changes in
real time. The Pro version also includes free updates for a year and
priority tech support. A free 14-day trial is available.
**Staff Roundtable** -- [Adam Engst] I haven't had a chance to look at
CrashPlan myself yet, but I'm extremely intrigued by Joe's
description of its peer-to-peer backup approach. I suggested that
Apple should do something along those lines in talks I've given and
in "Apple Computer, Going Forward into 2004" (2004-01-05), where I
wrote:
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/7489>
"I'd like to see Apple build peer-to-peer file sharing technologies
into Mac OS X so a network of Macs and Macintosh users could become
more powerful and flexible than the mere sum of its parts. Multiple
copies of shared files could be stored across multiple machines,
eliminating the problem of a turned-off Mac or traveling PowerBook.
Browsing for servers would become a thing of the past; shared files
would simply be accessible at all times in what seemed like a local
set of folders. Such a system could even automatically maintain
backups of data that wasn't shared by distributing it in encrypted
chunks around other Macs on the network. All this would work best
over a high-speed local network, but designed and implemented
properly, nothing would stop it from extending to the Internet."
When I get to testing CrashPlan, I'll be interested in seeing how
well it actually reassembles all the backed-up chunks into the final
file, and also if it's possible to restore an entire hard disk from
backup (presumably after booting from another hard disk or a utility
device like Micromat's TechTool Protege). After all, it's not really
the backup that's important, but the restore.
[Jeff Carlson] Although I can't yet see myself using CrashPlan
because my Retrospect system works just fine for now, the product
does seem like a good tool to install on Macs belonging to extended
family members. I've helped my parents set up regular backups, but
their systems so far haven't included off-site backups; just getting
files backed-up to an external hard drive has been a huge
improvement. But CrashPlan could be a no-hassle solution for me to
make sure, remotely, that their important data gets saved outside
their homes, maybe even to a hard drive I set up in my office. Love
means helping your less-technologically-inclined family maintain
good backups.
Take Control News/26-Feb-07
---------------------------
by Adam C. Engst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/8883>
**Month of Apple Sales #4: The Switcher's Kit** -- We all know at
least one malware-harried Windows user who's on the fence about
switching to the Mac. But as much as Mac OS X is simple, secure, and
pleasant to use, changing operating systems is still a big step.
Help ease their transition with our Take Control Switcher's Kit: 7
ebooks guaranteed to help explain which Mac to buy, approaches for
moving data from Windows to Mac OS X, how to run any necessary
Windows applications on the Mac, and the best techniques for
learning and maintaining Mac OS X. This essential bundle costs only
$25.18 - a 60 percent discount from the list price of $62.95. (And
yes, since we don't use obnoxious copy prevention technologies, you
can just download the ebooks and give them to your friend via email
or on CD.)
* Take Control of Switching to the Mac
* Take Control of Buying a Mac
* Take Control of Running Windows on the Mac
* Macworld Mac Basics Superguide
* Take Control of Customizing Tiger
* Take Control of Users & Accounts in Tiger
* Take Control of Maintaining Your Mac
To take advantage of this discount, just purchase from the Month of
Apple Sales #4: The Switcher's Kit page.
<http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/offers/moas4.html>
This, and the rest of the offers in our Month of Apple Sales, are
available only through 06-Mar-07, so now is the time to get started
with Tiger, learn more about iLife, increase your knowledge of Mac
OS X, or help a friend switch to the Mac.
Hot Topics in TidBITS Talk/26-Feb-07
------------------------------------
by TidBITS Staff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/8885>
**Volume control for family Mac** -- The iPod contains a volume
limiting option, but what about the Mac? Is there a way to prevent a
7-year-old from cranking up the sound? (1 message)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/1147/>
**Apple TV play DVD from laptop?** As we wait for the Apple TV to
ship, a reader wonders if it will be possible to watch a movie on
television from a DVD in a Mac elsewhere in the house. (1 message)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/1148/>
**NY Times links** -- Readers respond to Adam's article last week
about creating permanent links to New York Times articles online. (3
messages)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/1149/>
**Running with a Garmin Forerunner GPS** -- Readers discuss
TrailRunner and other GPS applications that could be used with a
Garmin Forerunner and other GPS devices. (4 messages)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/1151/>
**Weird preferences folders** -- A large number of oddly named folders
are being created on a reader's Mac, but where are they coming from?
(7 messages)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/1152/>
**Reading WriteNow files in Mac OS X** -- So you wrote that great
novel using WriteNow years ago, but now you can't read it? Here are
some suggestions for reading WriteNow files and converting them to
something Mac OS X can fathom. (5 messages)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/1153/>
**How much to quote?** What's the correct protocol for quoting TidBITS
Talk (or any discussion forum, for that matter) messages in your
posts? (3 messages)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/1154/>
**Editing compressed video** -- A reader seeks opinions on a product
that's designed to capture video from devices with HDMI connections.
(1 message)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/1155/>
$$
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