Thursday Tech Report :: Got Mail? Great. Got a Back Up Plan??

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Some of you may remember back about August of this year I was hacked over at my Yahoo email.  After I had the mess sorta under control I went looking for ways to address the situation, said situation, in my opinion was too much dependence on Yahoo (and Gmail for that matter).  I have for years only used internet mail, I ditched out of Outlook so long ago I cannot remember when it was.  Until this "little" incident, I have been happy with the email just floating around out there in cyber-land, now commonly known as the "cloud".

No longer am I happy trusting the cloud 100%.

I looked at many solutions, some involved $$, some did not.  After much snooping, questioning friends, reading more specs than I can to remember and learning some MORE new techy terms (which I have promptly forgotten), I chose to go with MailStore, with their free email archiving downloadable software.

My opinion, remembering that I usually have shaky internet connectivity:  it is free, it does work, it was not fast, but, it did work.

Now, I have some email accounts that I use to store things on, and there are well over 1,500 messages in at least one of them.  Archiving those accounts to my hard drive took time, and more than once MailStore stalled out.  Not all was lost, as soon as I started the archive process again, MailStore took off from where it  had stalled.

Overall I am satisfied, I have backed up the most important email accounts on both Yahoo and Gmail to my hard drive.  The backup file is 1.23 gigs.  I guess that is why it took a while!  LOL




* The disclaimers:  You know me, I use products, in this case Yahoo, Gmail and MailStore.  Sometimes I have good results, sometimes I have dismal results.  I pay if payment is required, I use free whenever I can find free that suits me.  Then there is that copyright stuff, Yahoo, Gmail and MailStore own their copyrights and all that means, everything, totally, more than 100%.  I get no $$$ from them for using their products, they have not contacted me to write reviews. I have a fancy smancy disclaimer page,  Disclaim THAT! Beholden to - -
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Thursday Tech Report :: Protopage, My New Home Page

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

My new home page, the one that opens when I click on the Chrome browser icon, when it is time to get on the net in the AM is for now:  Protopage.  I had a iGoogle home page, but, iGoogle is going to Google heaven in November 2013, so they say.  I hear there is a movement on to have Google back off of that decision, but, I am moving on now.  I wanted to have something in place before THE Trip, THE Encore begins in November 2012.   So here it is:

Yep, purple!  LOL  There are many widgets you can add, for now I have the Virtual Puppy, Lifehacker, a calendar, a weather widget, Dilbert to make me smile and shake my head, and several email widgets.  I love the email widgets, no more signing on and off the several Gmail accounts to check on them, if there is something new it shows up on my Protopage.  Very helpful.

There are lots and lots of widgets, add a photo, add a map, add video and audio podcasts, even twitter feeds.  If you had unlimited speedy connectivity you could have a blast!  With our air card and sometimes questionable connectivity I am keeping my home page free of many of the widgets which slow down load times and suck up band width.

For now, I am quite pleased with Protopage and the flexibility it gives me.  I am OVER the top happy with the email widgets, oh, by the way, Yahoo email will NOT work with a widget.  Not a win there Yahoo.  After the hacking of my Yahoo email a few weeks ago and this not sharing issue (unless I pay), I am reducing my dependence and usage of Yahoo.  Yep, I guess I could pay, but, nope, I am not going to.  There are other methods.

Protopage, just one choice of several for home pages, or as some call them, front pages.  Enjoy, I do!




* The Disclaimers:  Protopage, iGoogle, Google, Yahoo, all own the copyrights to their names and products.  I use them, or not, sometimes with delight, other times with painful results.  I have not been asked to chat about them, nor even use them.  I do so, as do you, at my own risk.  I receive nothing from any vendor for chatting about their products, except maybe, now and then, a thank you.  And, that is rare!

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Thursday Tech Report :: Wonder if Toodledo Can Help Me Produce?

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

The last couple of weeks I have been on another techy binge.  Some of that had to do with the Yahoo email account getting hacked.  Maybe I'll talk about that more some time, but, for now, let it suffice to say, that event has caused me to re-evaluate MUCH about my email presence on the net.

iGoogle is going to the net heavens in the sky in November of 2013 they tell us.  I am going to miss my iGoogle page, it was where my browser went when I started up the computer and the net for the day.  I had weather widgets, a few jokes, puppy photos, and most important my Google Reader widget.

So, since we hope to be on the road for THE Trip, THE Encore in a few months, I decided to be proactive and start searching for a new "front page" now.  The thought was, I have a little time now,  other than the fact that I am working on another book that I really want to finish in the next week or so, I have time now.  Well, maybe??  Anywhoooooo, more on front pages in the future here at Reflections - - -

During that process someone mentioned that they could not live without Toodledo helping to manage their lives and their to do lists.  Since I was on a techy toy/app mission, I decided to have a lookie see.  Why not, while I was on that roll? Below, a screen shot of a portion of the web page. Toodledo is a web site where you build your own to do list, your to do list stored in the cloud.

So, I signed up, and started playing.  I decided I would include even some mundane items, like taking my meds in the morning and evening, working on my web sites, my back up projects and even checking some of my many email accounts (yes, I frequently forget to even check them in the rush of life, my bad, my truth).  My thought was put even the small every day activities and see if by listing them it made any difference in how I approached them.  Since I have episodes of procrastination, would looking at this every day shame me into action??

So far, I am doing pretty good with the truly mundane chores, checking those email accounts I tend to forget about, but, are important to check.  Some of the weekly to do items, I am not doing so well with.  Over all I feel I have been more productive.

And, the experiment continues.




* The disclaimer, iGoogle, GoogleReader, Toodledo are copyrighted names and products.  You know the routine, I use them, some successfully, others, well, not so much.  I have not been asked to review them.  If there is a fee or price to pay, I pay it.  They not only do not ask me to review their products, they do not give me any $$ or gift to do so.

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Thursday Tech Report :: Chimani, My Fav App

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

I cannot wait to use this later this fall when Man and I start THE Trip, THE Encore, to explore new areas out west.  Actually, we have had fun playing with it this week, marking off the parks we have been to over the last, hmmmmm, XX years or so.

Chimani Apps for the Outdoors

And specifically, the National Parks app.  Here for iPad, iPhones, iPods.  Here for Android.

Many many thanks to Jenna Mills for suggesting the app to me over on Google Plus.  Jenna blogs at Desperately Seeking Surnames.

This is the best app I have downloaded on the iPad, for my travel addiction.  (Families is my favorite so far for my family history addiction.)

The app is intuitive, all encompassing, has photos, overviews of the parks, statistics, links to many park web sites, a super slick map, and more.  And, yes, it is fun "stamping" the parks you have been to and you can even indicate the year you were there!  It is also fun looking at "My Chimani", the list of parks we have visited.  We have LOTS more to visit!  WOOT!




*  You know the disclaimer, I use the products named in this blog post, I pay for them, full price.  Sometimes I use them with success, other times, well, not so successful.  I have not been asked to review these products.  They own them and the copyrights.

**Graphic used with permission of Kerry Gallivan of Chimani.
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Thursday Tech Report :: Experimenting With Two Monitors; iPad Research Trip, Take Two, A New Trick

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

When Son # 1 was here last, I had him show me how to set up Windows 7 for a double monitor set up.  Here is a photo of my messy desk, please ignore mess, thank you!  LOL  Jury is still out, I have not decided if I like or no like this set up.  And, yes, I think I can make it work in Tana if I decide I like it after all!  LOL

Yesterday Man and I went with the Lenawee County Family Researchers on a little field trip get away day.  After Tuesday's fiasco with Yahoo email, the break was welcomed.

We drove over to Monroe County to visit their library, their historical society (and archives) and the River Raisin National Battlefield Park.  We also managed to pack in a very nice lunch, it was an enjoyable relaxing day.

During the day there were a number of queries about the iPad.  One was from one of the librarians. She looked incredulous, when she asked me, "Is that all you have with you to research with, no papers, no computer?"

What followed was a little show 'n tell of Families and Legacy Family Tree. An exchange of web sites followed.

Yesterday I did not intend on doing any research, even though I did do some.  The camera capture of images still is quite remarkable, I have download a scanning app, although I did not use it.  Maybe I should have, jury still out on that too.

Something I did play with was Evernote and GoogleMaps on the iPad.  Our fearless leader had emailed us an schedule for the day, including addresses.  Since this was the day after the little Yahoo disaster, I was a bit worried that I would not be able to access the email while away from home, so, I emailed it to Evernote.  And, away we went.  At some point, looking at the schedule, now residing happily in Evernote, I had a question.  What would happen if I clicked on those addresses?  Those addresses were, after all, highlighted, sure looked like a link to me.

TA DA, click on the highlighted address and GoogleMaps opened and took me right to the address.

Allrighty now!  This has all kinds of possibilities.

I was able to reproduce the same results several times.  See me smile!

Let me tell you all this techy stuff, does some surprising stuff.  Back to the learning curve I go, two monitors, and more iPad tricks.




* Yep, standard disclaimers.  Evernote, iPad, Windows7, GoogleMaps, Families, Legacy Family Tree, products I use, some with great success, others with mixed results, some still learning.  None of these companies have asked me to mention them here at Reflections, so, nope, they did not pay me a penny to do so.  I pay for those products that charge for use, full price, every time.  Yep, I do like the free stuff too!
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