Now, the best thing is to set up a system of redundancy with no single points. Anytime there is a single point, you’re in danger. This can refer to a single array of drives, a single drive or any one point that will bring down the system and cause data loss. RAID, or “Redundant Array of Independent Disks,” is a system involving multiple hard disks to duplicate and protect data. There are different sorts of RAID systems (see the wikipedia article for more info) that ensure different levels of data security. One bad thing about RAID systems is that they can be a bit finicky, fragile and are generally difficult to set up, especially for someone with little IT knowledge.

Drobo is a system that is based on the concept of RAID but uses a proprietary system (BeyondRAID) to manage data in a way to maximize space while still managing single drive failure. It allows you to insert 4 internal hard disks of any size and the system will just take care of it. In addition, should one drive fail, you can simply replace it with a new one and let the system rebuild the drive from the remaining one(s). There are some down sides to this system. Should multiple systems fail at once, you’re in trouble and since BeyondRAID is proprietary, should the Drobo itself fail, you have to buy a new one or pay the company to recover the data for you. In addition, it is rather expensive, but you are paying for the simplicity. For someone concerned about data security but without the technical knowledge or money to make a much more advanced system, the Drobo is a pretty simple and easy way to protect your data. Of course, to better protect your data, you should get two and mirror one onto the other. That way, even if one totally failed and all the data on it was lost, the other one could be used to restore data.

I originally wanted to get a Drobo system since it is one of the best and simplest means of protecting data, despite its flaws. However, the cost for it was prohibitive to me. Part of the problem was that I wanted to get a setup that had a number of accessories in addition to the drobo itself. The cost ended up being a lot higher than I could manage. So I put it off.

However, I was still lacking ANY data backup. This was troubling.

The next option I had available to me was to buy a simple external hard drive. It wouldn’t be fancy, but it would be space and would provide opportunity to back up all my data. Now, when buying hard drives, it is important to pick well known brands that have a reputation for quality, because really you don’t want a drive to go down. As Canada has Boxing Day sales and January sales, I went out to various stores hoping to find some good deals. Turned out that Best Buy was selling the Western Digital (WD) Essential My Book 1TB (their base model) for $150 CAD, which is quite a good price. However, Best Buy was totally sold out… and so was Futureshop… So that was a bit disappointing. Since the brick and mortar places failed me, I went online.

Checking out Tiger Direct and Newegg, I managed to find the same WD drive for $160, but wanted to see what other options were out there. The fact that the WD one only offered USB 2, which while the most versatile, is also one of the slowest modern technologies for transferring data. Sadly, not too many drives had Firewire 800 (the next fastest) or eSATA (the fastest) and the ones that did were significantly more expensive (at least $100-$200) for equal amounts of storage. So those didn’t work out, but I did find something otherwise interesting.

It seems that last year, something called a “Hard Disk Dock” or “Cradle.” These devices are docking stations for internal hard drives.

These “enclosures” are designed to accept internal dark drives via a top slot kinda like a toaster. This poses multiple advantages. First is that with the same base dock, you can swap in multiple drives. Apparently they are even hot swappable. Second is eSATA compatibility. While there are cheaper options for USB only docks, the ones that include eSATA are not much more ($50). Furthermore, the docks actually include an eSATA cable, unlike the WD ones I saw. In addition, any hard drives I buy to use with this thing I can REUSE should I ever get a drobo or similar setup. This is also true of the eSATA expresscard I would need to make the whole thing work.

So where does that leave us? I could pay the $160 for what is essentially a one-time memory boost or I could pay around $270 for a system in which every part is exchangeable and upgradeable as my needs change. Do I need more space? Swap in a new drive. Storage unit failure? Buy a new one (they’re cheap!). Do I need a different storage unit (ala drobo)? Copy my data onto the new device and then swap in the old drive. Do I have eSATA for if I buy other devices that use it? Yes!

All in all, the speed boost (about 10x faster than USB 2) plus the options for future upgrades really make the HD dock seem like an extremely good combination. Admittedly, it is more expensive by about $100, in the process I am purchasing a 1.5TB drive and eSATA expresscard that are both reusable in later drive setups as well as a dock that can be used with (hopefully) any sized internal drive, which are cheaper than externals w/ enclosures.

So, as a short term expenditure, it is higher, but as a long term value, it is also higher in terms of speed, re-usability and upgradability. In any case, my order from Newegg of the drive and dock should be arriving next week sometime, so I’ll be sure to let you know how it turns out!

In the grand scheme of things, it is extremely difficult to create a perfect system. One needs multiple drives in multiple places and a means of mirroring data regularly and reliably. However, that tends to be an issue for larger corporations, companies and colleges to resolve. For the rest of us, we just do our best. The question primarily comes down to how good we want our backup system to be and how much we are willing to invest to make it happen.

font-family: Frutiger, "Frutiger Linotype", Univers, Calibri, "Gill Sans", "Gill Sans MT", "Myriad Pro", Myriad, "DejaVu Sans Condensed", "Liberation Sans", "Nimbus Sans L", Tahoma, Geneva, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans serif;

In this font stack, there is a general order of Windows fonts, Mac fonts, Linux fonts and web safe universal fonts. Within each OS font set, you go from least commonly available to most commonly available. In the case of Windows for this example, Frutiger is the least common and Calibri is the most common (on every Vista machine).

So this seems like a bit of trouble, but what does it gain us? Given restrictions on the web, there are approximately 5 fonts that one can use with security. While they work, wouldn’t it be nice to have more options? Especially when the vast majority of users will be able to use one of the special fonts that you have picked out (he claims upwards on 90% of users).

It all sounds good, but there are still some problems. First off, the fonts aren’t exactly the same. By attempting to use more beautiful fonts, you lose control over the exact look and feel of the site. Furthermore, Vista fonts such as Calibri have a base size much smaller than other fonts. In the example above, you can see that Calibri is significantly smaller. As you can expect this may cause a problem in readability, so perhaps it would be better to avoid such fonts, but the choice is yours. A third issue is that one must increase testing to see what the site looks like on more machines so you can have a sense of how the font stack is affecting the feel. Finally, poor font choices in your stack will result in poor legibility if someone ends up with that particular font choice, so it is crucial that you pick and test!

Overall though, I am fascinated by the concept and plan on experimenting a bit with it myself! As much as I like web fonts for nostalgia, it would be nice to explore different options to develop even better experiences on the web.

At one point, I was looking into buying a new mp3 player. At the time, I had been extremely frustrated with the internal battery scheme of Apple that required one to send in the device to have the battery replaced. However, nothing I saw came near to the ease and simplicity of the UI for the iPod. It was a telling moment. Despite the fact the other devices had significantly more capability, because the UI wasn’t easy to use, I knew I would never buy them. As a result, I still have my second generation iPod from 7 or 8 years ago. Yeah…

In the last few years, multitouch technology has become more and more prevalent, but it was still confined to research labs and overly expensive devices. However, the iPhone, followed closely by the iPod Touch, brought that technology into a space that consumers could purchase and interact with it. While the prices are still rather high ($200-$300 USD), it isn’t the nearly the cost of something like the Microsoft Surface (~$400k USD). The touch / iphone don’t provide the massive hard drives, the smallest form factor or the biggest screen, but it provides an experience that outstrips everything else. More than that, it inspires.

Smashing Magazine posted an collection of “100 Really Beautiful iPhone Wallpapers” today. Their post began with this paragraph:

Few products have generated the kind of hype that the iPhone has. Its beautiful design and large multi-touch screen are irresistible. Although its interface is beautifully designed, some of us want to put a little something extra in it to suit our style, personality and profession and to further beautify this magical masterpiece.

Indeed, the iPhone and touch have generated significant hype. I still remember the excitement I felt when it was first released. At last multitouch technology was provided in a package palpable to the regular person. Like many others, I was very interested in the product, but instead of rushing out to buy one given the capabilities Apple built into the device, I wanted to see the community’s reaction. It has taken time, but the developer community has really taken to the device and produced excellent applications for it. In fact, there are so many applications available (over 10K), that it hard to sort through what is good and what isn’t! However, the significant is that the response from the community has been overwhelming and it has been positive. Of course, there were issues with Apple’s “approval” process resulting in useless apps (I Am Rich) being accepted while quality apps (podcaster) were rejected for purely selfish reasons (Apple wants podcasts to go through iTunes, not a third party app). Even with these issues, the products that have been released for the device have been excellent and there are a number of “Top Apps of 2008″ lists available now.

This brings me to the other aspect that Smashing’s post is looking at, the wallpaper. I always have a particular challenge in finding wallpapers for my computers given my aesthetic choices and a necessity to have things visible. I rather enjoy “design” wallpapers more than other sorts, but I find it rather difficult to get quality ones at the sizes I’m looking for. So, when I scanned the list of images that Smashing gathered, I was amazed at the sheer number of them that I really liked (see the gallery below). My favorite comment in relation to these wallpapers comes from Tylor j. Reimer:

Here’s some goodies for you all: TJR iPhone wallpapers. I’ve been making these for fun for a while and I figured I should post/share them. The funny part is I don’t even have an iPhone (yet).

Even for those who don’t have or aren’t “in” the community, there is something that inspires creation. I think that’s awesome. I really look forward to seeing where the community goes and what else is created. Perhaps I’ll try to get involved and leave my own mark!

Also be sure to check out Poolga for an extremely impressive collection of wallpapers.