How every Mac should be retired, preferably immediately after purchase.

There are extreme advantages to having an online backup over a local one. What if your home or office gets broken into? What if there’s a fire or alien attack? If you have your backup onsite, you endanger it failing you in your hour of need. Mozy is offsite. You transfer your files over the internet after they have been backed up by a 448-bit encryption. I’m sure you can back up financial data and not worry one bit about it.

Mozy gives you a free 2 gig backup. Free. Seriously. They do have paid backup plans as well that are a lot more flexible, but for most people’s needs, the free version is just fine.

The sign up is easy:

1. Fill this form out
2. They send you a confirmation email
3. You click a link in the email
4. You download the software client
5. You install the software client
6. Walk through the wizard and tell it what you want backed up (usually documents and Quicken data, photos and music will be likely too much for the 2gig limit)
7. Start the backup and walk away (or do something that doesn’t require a lot of internet access)

The initial backup will take a long time, but after that, the daily/weekly backups will usually take less than 10 minutes because it’s only backing up new and changed files.

Paid versions get you versioning which basically gets you multiple versions of the documents you’re working on, in case you accidentally delete a few paragraphs or something, you can recover the better version of the document. Mozy is a good program and I encourage you to sign up for the FREE account today. It’s really easy and you’ll wish you had if your hard drive crashes!

Mozy.com

[Originally published on Off the Walt, Walt Snider's personal blog]

Stock photos and press release below:

JVC Announces Super Slim & Light Flat Panel Monitor 32-inch LED backlit monitor measures just ¼-inch deep ATLANTA, September 10, 2009 – JVC today announced a super slim LCD monitor for home theater use that measures a mere ¼-inch (6.4mm) deep across most of the panel and weighs just 12.5 pounds (5.7kg). The new 32-inch class LT-32WX50 will be available in the U.S. in November. The new monitor’s super slim profile is made possible by the use of JVC’s edge LED backlighting system. It offers a 4000:1 contrast ratio and wide color gamut for exceptionally high resolution of both video and still images. The monitor’s shallow depth makes it ideal for consumers who want the design flexibility such a slim design allows. It also lends itself to a variety of commercial applications. Another attribute is that fewer material resources are used in making the monitor, reducing the product’s environmental impact. Key features of the LT-32WX50 are:

Taking advantage of JVC’s unique LCD panel edged-light LED backlight system, the LT-32WX50 is stunningly thin – just 1/4-inch* (6.4mm) deep at its thinnest point, with a slim module inset along the bottom third that houses the monitor’s inputs and other connections;

Six picture settings: home, retail, movie, monitor, SLR photo mode, game;

It covers a wide color gamut – 100 percent of sRGB and 90 percent of Adobe RGB;

It uses approximately 50 percent fewer material resources and eliminates the use of mercury;

JVC’s high definition picture engine is designed for reproducing both video and still images;

It includes two HDMI connections along with analog RGB (D-Dub, 15-pin); the display can be controlled externally via RS-232C; * When measured from the front surface of LCD panel to the rear surface of the cabinet. The JVC LT-32WX50 will be available in November for less than $3,000.00.

About JVC U.S.A.
JVC U.S.A., headquartered in Wayne, New Jersey, is a division of JVC Americas Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Victor Company of Japan Ltd. JVC distributes a complete line of video and audio equipment for the consumer and professional markets. For further product information, visit JVC’s Web site at http://www.jvc.com or call 1-800-526-5308.

[JVC and Gizmodo]

[Firefox 3.5.3 and 3.0.14 security updates now available for download]

Sadly, no tablet PC. Even sadder, no Beatles. Happily, though, the iPod line got a nice refresh!

Here’s the new pricing and specs for the iPod line, all available right now from the Apple Store:

iPod Shuffle:

• Capacities:
  • 2gb – $59 USD
  • 4gb – $79 USD
  • 4gb (stainless steel, polished, aka fingerprint bait) – $99 USD
• Colors added:
  • Pink (cute)
  • Green (barf)
  • Original black and silver still available

The Shuffle is still itty-bitty that you may mistake for a Chicklet, but if you can keep it out of your mouth for a little while and don’t lose the original earbuds (Apple is working with 3rd parties to put new ones on shelves soon), this makes for a great workout companion!

iPod Nano:

• Capacities:
  • 8gb – $149 USD
  • 16gb – $179 USD
• Features:
  • Available in 9 colors
  • FM Radio with live pausing (I’m thinking the way TiVo does things?) and tagging
  • Voice over (think Shuffle)
  • Genius Mix (think iTunes
  • VIDEO CAMERA (no still camera though… weird) that records 640×480 but no word on FPS right now
  • Mic
  • Speaker (perfect for annoying folks on the train and bus!)
  • Larger screen is now 2.2″
  • Pedometer

What an amazing upgrade to this fantastic device! The pedometer makes me wonder if the Nano will be the newest choice among gym rats, but we’ll see in the coming weeks. The video camera minus a still camera is a little weird, but it’s a good start. I wonder what the FPS is on that and if it’ll take video while playing music, but I doubt it. I love the addition of the speaker, I just hope it’s loud enough to hear nicely in the room… I don’t care so much about bass and such from music, but the volume of podcasts I’m listening to is key… I enjoy working around the house without earbuds in my cranium and listening to my fav shows, but hate having to move my lappy around to follow me. The larger screen helps with the video recording and lets you add some post effects to your creation on the spot! Spiffy!

Overall, I’m quite impressed with this, but I think I’ll wait for the next generation or see what the Zune counters with.

iPod Classic:

• Capacity:
  • 160gb – $249 USD

This gets a 40 gig bump in capacity for the same price, which is good, but I think Apple is going to phase this line out soon… it basically serves as a portable hard drive that plays music which is great for creative types, but I think few others get a lot of usage out of it, unless you’re on a long trip!

iPod Touch

• Capacities:
  • 8gb – $199 USD ($50 off)
  • 32gb – $299 USD (Apple claims a 50% faster speed increase)
  • 64gb – $399 USD (Apple claims a 50% faster speed increase)

iTunes 9.0

What’s an iPod revamp without the corresponding software? Gizmodo has a great synopsis of what’s new and the article is worth the read. [Gizmodo]

Final Verdict:
Overall, I think the Nano has the best feature pack right now, but if the Classic is going to remain relevant, they’ll add some features or significantly bump the hard drive up. The Touch doesn’t seem to have gotten much except for a capacity doubling and they’ve lowered the price on the 8gb model no one seemed to buy, just to clear the shelves for the spiffy new 32 and 64gb models.

So was this to distract from the Zune HD? I think so. Will it work? Likely, but there’ll always be a group that wants the Zune. When the next generation comes out and if the Nano’s feature set makes its way on to the Touch, maybe I’ll go that route next gen.

[Sources: MacRumors | Gizmodo]

Right now you can buy a 1TB drive for $80 if you look hard enough. Congrats, Hitachi! Now let’s see a 1TB SSD that I can afford!