DropSnap Instantaneously Syncs All Your Android Device’s Photos to Dropbox. I am the type of person who is constantly snapping pictures with his phone but then I have to choose which pictures go to Dropbox and manually select them all and upload them. It was a very tedious process, but luckily someone thought the same thing and did something about it. The only way I could think of uploading my pics to my PC without connecting my phone to it was through DropBox and someone had the same idea but created a software to do what I was doing manually.

The moment you snap a picture it is saved to a photodirectory directory in your Android phone which DropSnap syncs automatically to a folder inside of DropBox. You have several options about how many times a day you can sync, if you want it only over Wifi or also over 3G, but I stuck to wifi because I’m usually connected to wifi where ever I am. DropSnap is a free download, but requires a $3.99 in-app purchase for automatic uploading to work. If you stay with the free version, you’ll get a notification every time you take a picture, which will let you enter the app and manually sync your photos.

Link: DropSnap

Sometimes I’m paranoid as hell about my website and that something is slowing it down, but in reality I’m not really sure and its always a matter of trial and error. Recently I stumbled upon this testing tool from Pingdom, you enter your website and they give you the time to load, whats slowing it down, whats taking more resources to load, and lots of other details. You can see what is loading first and a variety of items which is very cool and keep on testing it every once in a while, I didn’t even realize my website is 1.8 MB worth of data to load back in the day that which is even more then a floppy disk. I liked how they organized the data and they let you organize the data, very useful free tool, and I keep getting 88/100 for my average score, not bad. Check out the tool linked below.

Link: Pingdom

I am very careful with my machines, I update them constantly and I do regular scans. Sometimes some software crashes or a machine crashes, that happens every once in a while. But I am very careful of what I install or download, so when something weird starts happening I go into lock down mode. The day before my machine was acting fine when the next day any website I enter gets redirect to “Yandex.ru/blahblahblah” I didn’t know why. Some websites would stay but regular websites get redirected.

Googling it on the infected machine was useless because it kept getting redirected so I used a different machine to Google if this happened to anyone. Turns out there is a hostile bot that hijacks websites and automatically redirects them to Yandex.ru which is a Russian search engine/mail provider.

First Step:

• Turn Off All Add-Ons on Firefox and Chrome
• Run AVG Virus Scanner & Windows Maleware Defender

Result:

• The scanners didn’t find anything and the websites didn’t find anything

Next Step:

• Update Windows, Firefox, Chrome, AVG Definitions, Windows Defender, Chrome & Firefox Add-Ons, Flash, & Java

Result:

• Still getting redirected

Next Step:

• Deleted All Cookies, Cleared All Forms, All History from Chrome, Firefox, & Internet Explorer

Result:

• Thing went back to normal

I won’t lie I was a bit freaked out after each step and I was getting pissed, I thought some random Russian was messing with me and I wanted to punch him. So these are the automatic steps that I took and luckily things cleared up. And usually if worse comes to worse, I would format the machine after trying everything, I would have gotten paranoid that somebody really got into it, but it didn’t reach that point.

Its one of those things that you never really think would happen to you and then it does, and you have to deal with it. A lot of people have had their usernames and password comprimised by Playstation Network and were recommended to change their usernames and passwords if they use it in other locations. Now it has happened to me and luckily I managed to recover the accounts, surprisingly it happened to three of my accounts: A Bank, Amazon, and Hotmail.

In my case I did use my username and password but I honestly didn’t think of changing anything though I’m usually very paranoid about these things. I try to keep as many different usernames and password for different sites as possible not including what I use for my machines which is very different.

The only one they managed to get through to was the Amazon Account and I checked right away that nothing was ordered or changed in any of the details so I changed my password to something very difficult and hoping that it will do. The password is a combination of Letters, Numbers & Symbols making it very difficult to figure out unless they cracked my machine and are copying my usage of the passwords.

They tried reseting my password to hotmail several times but luckily it was sent to one my other emails so I managed to cancel it and notify hotmail and made changes right away.

Luckily the bank is a European Bank and head several layers of protection so they didn’t get too far with it and I was notified right away.

This was strange that it all happened in 24 hours so I changed most of my passwords and some of the usernames where I could, it did freak me out but I’m hoping these will hold. You don’t realize how much you are connected online and how vulnerable you are until something such as this happens.

Major Tip:

Make sure to have a complex password and use different passwords for different websites, that is the only thing that really saved me. I know it sounds difficult but the extra effort will save you, and make sure to familiarize yourself with the password recovery process of the websites that you constantly use and what you can do to protect yourself.

I have gone through several storage devices over the years and now I have been using the Synology 1511+ and loving it. I still have my Netgear which has been operating fantastically, but I needed some more storage in another location and less expensive, Synology fit the bill perfectly. One thing to note I really am not a fan of Drobo after trying it out, its speed is always questionable and it has problems sometimes dealing with different drives, and its can’t be attached to the network easily.

Pros

• Very well built
• A long list of features
• Amazing Web Based & PC/Mac Manageorgeous, PC and web-based management software
• Works with 3TB Drives
• Expandle with DX510 Expansion Unit
• Hot-Swappable Drives

Cons

• Its a bit on the expensive side

Synology builds a solid piece of hardware with useful things like 4 USB, 2 eSATA, and 2 Gigabit Ethernet ports. What makes their products truly great is their fantastic software. The feature set is too long to list here, but it’s basically a file/backup/web/email server, media streamer, and download manager jammed into a cubic foot box. You can have it up in running in 10 minutes thanks to its amazing software.

The same software can be used with different machines, so you can have several Synology Storage Units on your network controlled from the same panel. Its a very highly featured software and your able to configure your storage device in any way possible, and its still simple enough to set it up in about 10 mins. I am running it at 5 x 3TB Hitachi Drives for the past few months without any headaches at all, this is a very high performing machine and the best part is that it can be expanded up to 45 TB with two more additional units which just hook right up to the back of the 1511+.

I highly recommend any Synology model, and espeically this one is fantastic this one is awesome!

Price: $866
Link: Amazon

Rating:

Since getting rid of the Drive Extender everyone lost hope in the new Windows Home Server iteration, the Vail Edition. I was waiting for so long for that edition that I am somewhat saddened by their decision. Luckily for me I got a ReadyNAS 3200 alternative which I shifted everything over to and rebuilt quite a bit of my collection since a lot went missing due to hardware crashing. I even went to the extent of shutting down my Windows Home Server as it wasn’t performing the way I wanted it to, and I started cannibalizing the hardware for other uses.

One of my first alternatives is the ReadyNAS line from Netgear because they have proven themselves to be extremely durable and probably the best warranty service I have seen.

• Network Oriented
• Works with all different platforms (Windows, OSX, and Linux)
• Choices of Hardware from 4 TB up to 24 TB, Consumer Level to Professional Level
• Reasonable prices and more expensive for the higher level hardware
• More complex options available depending on your requirements
• Lots of redundancy
• Excellent Forum Support
• But has to be specific drives to work with the ReadyNAS

My second choice being the Drobo S or Drobo Pro S. My preference for all kinds of storage is for rackmounted because its easier and cleaner to setup so I would go for the Drobo S. Now the Drobo is an even easier solution and they have had years to improve on it and perfect it, and they have really done a good job with it. Initially it was just a storage device without any network options, but they have added a network connection but it had a few flaws and gradually improved. There are still some skeptical reviews about this product but its a simple product

• Simple
• Easy setup
• Any type of drive can work with it
• 8 Bays is more then enough
• Works with All types of Operating Systems
• Varying pricing depending on the which Model you choose

Since I’m going to be in London for a little while I thought it would be best to remain connected through one of the mobile Broadband providers. I wanted to have fast internet coverage where ever I am and most of the companies offer Pay As You Go USB Sticks but not all offer Pay As You Go MicroSims for the iPad. I had five options to work with for Pay As You Go:

• Vodafone (No iPad)
• 3
• O2 (No iPad)
• Orange
• Tmobile (No iPad)

I went to several of these companies and went to carephone warehouse to get the best deal. I also wanted to try a few of them because I might not have the best coverage at home. All of them have limited plans of 1 to 3 GB max per plan and you can top it off to increase the limit. ranging from £15 to £35 depending on the plan and type of USB stick. Out of all of them O2, Orange and Tmobile weren’t that good. Vodafone had a good plan but the coverage by my place isn’t too good but when I’m out its really good, but surprisingly the best out of the bunch for the Laptop and the iPad is 3 Network. And one other note, Mobile Broadband Internet in Kuwait is ALOT faster then the UK, but they can have the option of fiber to home but I was surprised how crappy their Mobile Broadband service in the United Kingdom.

Internet throughout the house, thats one of the biggest annoyances people have when at home. You are usually stuck where the router is, and that is probably where you have the most powerful signal. In my case I went to an insane extent to wire up different rooms throughout the house so I can spread the wireless signal coverage. Most cases your stuck with the wireless signal you have, but in this case you have powerline networking. I have always been a bit skeptical about this technology, it usually doesn’t produce that speeds that I am looking for and I’m always thinking that it just won’t do. But there have been a lot of successful kits and this is just the latest development. If you are having internet coverage problems and putting ethernet cables through what little space you have in your walls is not possible then the WD Livewire Powerline Networking Kit is your best option.

There are drawbacks with powerline networking but it’s a simple solid solution when don’t have a wired option. You have four ports with the WD Livewire, the throughput is around 200MB/s which your machines will interpret as 100 MB/s since it’s not a Gigabit connection which is 1000MB/s. Sometimes with sound there is interference but if you need to this get your network where you need it to go. You would have to buy it from Amazon UK to get the right plug with it, but you can change it you buy it from the US as well.

Check out the Review at WeGotServed.com
Link: Amazon

There are a lot of storage solutions out there, some are simple, some are complex, and some are more reliable then the other. Usually for big Storage needs I have stuck to the Netgear ReadyNAS line as their support has been excellent and they have a nice range of items from the expensive to the reasonably price depending on your needs. Lacie have been also developing high quality external storages for sometime now, and now they have just launched the new LaCie 5 Big Network which is available in 5 TB, 7.5 TB, and 10 TB versions.

The 5big Network is fully featured with a Gigabit Ethernet connection, USB, 3 eSata, and five hot-swappable drives that support seven RAID modes, which makes it very versatile. The 5big Network’s multimedia server capabilities have been improved, now allowing users to play media from the NAS device through a UPnP-AV compatible device such as a PS3 or Xbox, directly to a television or directly to any DLNA multimedia device. Not including that is compatible with iTunes Server, moving library over and streaming all media to different computers across the network. It has been optimized for Mac & Windows backup solution with 3 Intego Backup Licenses for Mac & 3 Genie Backup Manager Pro Licenses for Windows The price ranges from $799 all the way to $1400, it is a well backed-up product with LaCie procedure to replace it within a few days of you sending it. And I think it looks very good, same sort of Industrial Design as Apple.

Link: Amazon

From RCA to HDMI, if your in the UK it you would have also have been through SCART, and now hopefully coming soon the HDBaseT. In simple terms HDBaseT is our regular Cat5e or home Ethernet cable, which is a great new development even though a bit late. I always wondered why they didn’t use ethernet cables before for regular tv broadcasting, it seems that they have just got around to agreeing to it. Since ethernet can easily handle 1080p its a given that it can handle all forms of HD broadcasting, and LG, Sony, and Samsung are already onboard, so hopefully it will take the fast track to consumers. A perfect idea to utilize current technology for advancement of broadcasting and high definition tv, now I will look forward to this technology being utilized soon and it looks like 2011 will be the year its coming in.

Link: UnPlugged