Jewel of the South’s Neighborhood

Why AT&T now SUCKS!

Will
Apr 3, 2009
1 comment

I have been an AT&T wireless customer for more than 10 years. Unlike many cellphone users, I have actually had a satisfactory time and have not even considered leaving.

NOW EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED.

AT&T changes wireless data plan terms.

How I work in a Multi-OS World

Will
Mar 26, 2009
1 comment

In my computing life, I am OS agnostic with a lean towards OS X. But I work on XP computers (desktop & laptop) at work, I have a Macbook running OS X 10.5, Windows Vista via Bootcamp, Windows XP, Windows 7 & Ubuntu via VMFusion. At home I have a Vista box, a iMac running Os X 10.4, MacMini runing OS X 10.5, and EEEBox running Ubuntu. And finally, I have an iPhone.

So how does one keep organized in such an environment? I want to simplify my computing as much as possible, so I have been working on this for years. Luckily, I am not the only one with this problem, as solutions have become available to fill this need. Here is a list of what I use and how I use it.

Passwords: Password syncing can be difficult. I have three different solutions I run at the same time for different purposes. The first solution is my main Password managment system and I use the Open Source software KeePass. KeePass is available for Windows, OS X, and Linux. And to keep all of the systems in sync, the encrypted database is stored via encrypted Dropbox folder so any change at one computer, will be changed for all since they all look at the Dropbox folder for the data. The second solution is syncing passwords in Firefox via Foxmarks (now Xmarks). The third solution is with 1Password for my Macs as I store the keychain in Dropbox similar to Keepass. Yes, I know I am being reduntant here as Keepass is really all that is needed for the computers, but I use 1Password to sync to my iPhone. Still waiting for iKeePass App to show in the iTunes store.

Favorites/Bookmarks: I use Foxmarks (Xmarks). It is available for all Firefox (as Xmarks), IE and Safari, thus works in all 3 Operating Systems. This also stores them via a website, so if I am at my parents computer or anyone elses, I still have access.

Working Documents & Shared folders: I have mentioned Dropbox already regarding password database centralization. This is an ideal solution for the day to day files and anything else that may need to be moved or shared between all platforms including access via iPhone.

Music and other Media: I use SugarSync for the backing up my digital media from all the platforms (including iPhone) except for Ubuntu. The ability to stream my music from SugarSync on the iPhone or purchase music from any computer and immediately have it available on all my computers is excellent.

I did try JungleDisk and S3, but the syncing was slow and not reliable in OS X. It was my first solution for many of these issues, but could not keep up. Granted it was cheaper than SugarSync (only solution listed above that cost$ based upon how I am using it), but SugarSync and Dropbox are both blazing fast and reliable. I also tried MobileMe, but cancelled that mess. One word for MobileMe - CRAP.

Related Posts by Me: Cross Platform Syncing and To Do Lists

This blog has moved

Well, it's been a great couple of years on Vox, but it's time to move on. InsideTWiT is now new and improved and can be found at http://inside.twit.tv. And it won't be just me on it, but Tony, Colleen, and other TWiT staff will also chime in from time to time. Thanks for everything!

Dane
http://inside.twit.tv

This blog has moved

Well, it's been a great couple of years on Vox, but it's time to move on. InsideTWiT is now new and improved and can be found at http://inside.twit.tv. And it won't be just me on it, but Tony, Colleen, and other TWiT staff will also chime in from time to time. Thanks for everything!

Dane
http://inside.twit.tv

Scoble takes on Leo

InsideTWiT
Jan 13, 2009
Post a comment

Sorry about the Neglect

Will
Jan 8, 2009
Post a comment

I have been neglecting Vox recently, but want to try to correct the situation. I have written a few blog posts recently at TheStanding.com that you may be interested in.

Cross Platform Syncing
Book Review - Pushing Ice
To-do Lists
Excel tip

I will try my best to do better with keeping up with the Vox family as I do love this place. - Will

TWiT 176 full studio

InsideTWiT
Jan 4, 2009
4 comments

Today we had eight people in studio, a new record. Including Robert Scoble, second from left.

Snow Monkeys of Yudanaka

Alex Lindsay
Dec 18, 2008
3 comments

Snow_pic

Three and Half hours on train and we were visiting these Snow Monkeys outside of Yudanaka. They've been bathing in these hotbaths since a researcher threw some food into the water in 1963.