Read it and weep. Now this is where gas prices should be!

$1.549 when DOE national average for that week was $2.28

Mozy is an online backup company owned by EMC. I’ve been giving their software a spin for around a month now and have found it to work quite well. They have clients for Windows, Mac, and I think there was one for Linux too. They offer free accounts that allow for 2GB of storage but using my referral link you can get 2.5GB of storage. Yes, I too get an additional 512MB of storage space if someone signs up and uses it but that’s just win-win.

Click here to signup.

The software can be setup to backup all your documents, pictures, and videos or you can selectively choose the folders you want backed up. If you find you run out of room with the 2.5GB the service is only $5 per month if you want an unlimited storage account. That’s right, unlimited backup space for only $60 per year.

It’s September 2. Google Chrome launch day. There’s electricity in the air. Everyone’s hitting that refresh button on www.google.com/chrome as fast as possible. The install goes smooth. No annoying reboot needed. Fire her up. Hit up digg.com. Waiting… Waiting… Resolving Host… Why am I still waiting? This is supposed to be the fastest browser out there. What’s going on?

Well, it took me a week before I finally sat down to troubleshoot why Chrome ran horribly on my work machine while it ran fine on the laptop and home machine. Seeing Chrome run on co-workers machines told me this was a problem related to networking on the machine and not just the Group Policy environment at work. After triple checking proxy settings, disabling my second network card, disabling Internet Connection Sharing, changing the adapter connection order and protocol binding order. Still nothing. Still awful performance.  I even installed Chromium to see if their nightly builds had a fix. As a last ditch idea I decided to take my second network card out of my system. Even though it was not plugged in and disabled. Fired the computer back up and Google Chrome is browsing at full speed.

If you’re running into the same issue of horrible performance and have a multi-homed (multiple network cards) computer then remove your second network adapter. If your motherboard has dual NICs online then disable the second one in BIOS.

I’ve reported my findings to Google so hopefully they can find the bug and squash it in an upcoming update

File Under: Edutainment

So here is another update on good podcasts I have found. Jumping Monkeys, a podcast about parenting with a web 2/breaking research prospective. I just listened to one about new research into “why kids lie”. It was a really amazing piece.

This Week in Photography is a podcast about… just what you think it’d be about. Tips on general photography, recent news, software and hardware discussions. They almost always have some industry heavy-hitters on there too, like creative pros and a staff member who works on Photoshop Lightroom from Adobe software. Really informative and they have good contest prizes too!

Both of these can be most easily found by searching the Itunes podcast directory, or by going to www.twipphoto.com and www.jumpingmonkeys.com
-Ken

Today I received a promotional marketing mailer from HP that had a combination lock/safe inside. The box instructs you to contact your HP partner for a face to face meeting where you will get your combination to the safe to find out what the prize is. I really don’t have a current need for HP products and didn’t want to bother any of my vendors with something so trivial but was currious to see what was inside.

Inside is a very simple 3 place, 10 digit per place lock. The thing is mostly plastic so if you really wanted to crack it you could use a stick of dynamite or a butter knife to get into it. I simply pressed the open button while rolling each dial until I could feel the tumbler click and was able to open it in 2 minutes tops. There were no unique codes on the lock or the box that would indicate the padlock to be a unique combination so they are all probably the same. The magic numbers they used to secure the device? 1-2-3. Yup, sounds like they took a page right out of Spaceballs. Inside mine was a link and a code to a website which promises me a $25 Amazon gift card. I haven’t gotten a confirmation email back yet so we’ll see if they hold true on this promise.

Update 4/8/08: Unfortunately the actual promo site and code has been leaked to Dealspl.us. HP has taken down the site and it now redirects to a “Page Not Found”. Thanks for killing this for us user coupcoup on Dealspl.us. Jerk

Point-and-shoot camera people, your days of suffering through boot-up delays and shutter lag can end! There are now a few really good, cheap choices in the digi-SLR market.
The bottom of the range models from Nikon and the like have recently come down to a level where, unless you drop cameras alot there is no reason not to spring for one of these babies over a p+s(pointandshoot). You will be sooo glad you have something that can instantly get the shot of babie projectile-hurling onto Mommy!

I’d take a look at these ones in particular;
1. The Nikon D4o kit. (Kit means it comes with a basic zoom lens) I’ve actually had the chance to shoot this one and I was blown away by what you are not giving up even compared to their $1000+ models. I’ve seen it going for around 375 to 450 bucks.
2. Canon Rebel XT (not the newer XTi) 8MP and you can find it online for around $550. I’ve had this one for almost 2 yrs and love it, although the LCD could be bigger.
3. Pentax K100D This used to be called the *istD, hmm wonder why they changed the name? Kit is selling for about $550
4. Olympus 410 It’s a bit pricier than the others but pretty good I hear.

Really, if you’ve even got a slight itch about making things look cool or having a tool that never gets in your way you’ll thank yourself for splurging on one of these. I have to say though, that I would look first at the Nikon. It’s about the best bang for the buck.

1. Diggnation This would be on G4 as their late-show, if G4 didn’t blow.

2. T.W.I.T. This Week in Tech. When Dvorak is on, you’re going to be entertained .

3. PC Gamer Put out by PC Gamer Mag. A group of older gaming journos. Hilarious when tech editior Logan Decker is on, he’s a real standout.

4. CNET Cartech Podcast Short, and includes an on-road review along with developments in mobile electronics.

5. Futures in Biotech Great if you actually wanna learn something. Developments in medical science with some of the very top minds in their fields. World changing stuff here folks. DNA replicators anyone?

All of these can easily be found by searching the Podcast Directory at Itunes.
(List updated as these shows Shineth or Sucketh)