“I should get one of those signs that says “One of these days I’m gonna get organezized”.”

Robert De Niro as Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver

The more storage space I seem to have, the more junk I keep.

That statement applies equally to digital media, as well as physical media.

As I get ‘organezized‘ for my penultimate exams of my final year of Dentistry, I realise that its no good having large amounts of storage (especially digital) unless you are O.C.D. about the way you organise (Brit.Spelling) your items.

How many of us need that blurry photo taken late on a friday night of someone’s nose as they were turning, or that cd you bought/downloaded of an artist who you ‘thought’ was cool but actually you’d rather listen to an audiobook of ‘A Brief History of Time’ read in the voice of Stephen Hawkings, than listen to it again?

Our Windows/OS X recycling bin is being underused as words like ‘Terabyte’ enter our lexicon.

It must be said, there are justified reasons for having uber large hard drives, e.g. you are an avid photographer or movie maker. However, not many people have music collection’s larger than 120 GB from songs they have bought legally.

If you need it for movies, chances are, you have downloaded those films illegally (unless you have been spending your weekly allowance on itunes’ movies)

And the larger the storage we buy, the more we feel we need to fill it up.

and its often with junk  we ordinarily would never waste time on had we had half the wardrobe/hard drive space

How often do we call up the Salvation Army to pick up those clothes you haven’t worn since the pilot episode of Baywatch was shown?

Detachment springs to mind, but, that's not easy to achieve or understand always.

So why have we become a nation of hoarders?

Sometimes its the more we own, the greater the range, the more well-rounded we feel, whether its a music collection or your clothes collection.

But what defines you? when do your objects start owning you?

Its something to bear in mind. Even as an amateur photographer who often takes photos in RAW (which equates to about 13 MB per photo), I find myself storing things that I can “organise later….” but I never do.

In photography, software like Abobe Bride/Apples’ Aperture attempt to address these problems to some extent, but they often only alleviate the problem temporarily.

It doesn’t just apply to objects we buy, its applies to everything. Remember Super Size Me?

Do we need a LARGE Mc Meal when a medium would suffice (try a medium and wait 30 minutes after eating it, you wont’ be hungry when your brain has caught up with your fast eating…. though you might feel sick)

Prevention is better than cure.

Rather than having to constantly organise and be overwhelmed with things that don’t actually enhance our lives, maybe we should think twice next time we buy 9 Terabytes of Storage/Sex In The City Directors Cut/Star Wars Special Dulce De Leche Frappuchino Edition/store every photo that our trigger happy camera fingers create.

We might feel a little bit freer in the long run, and we might actually have more time for organising the things that matter in our lives.

At this time and at this period we must avail ourselves of this most great opportunity. We must not sit inactive for one moment; we must sever ourselves from composure, rest, tranquillity, goods, property, life and attachment to material things. We must sacrifice everything to His Highness, the Possessor of existence, so that the powers of the Kingdom may show greater penetration and the brilliant effulgence in this New Cycle may illumine the worlds of minds and ideals.

(Abdu’l-Baha, Tablets of the Divine Plan)

The best way I can describe Dropbox is "Global network-attached storage on steroids".  That's my quote but I give you permission to use it.

If you have a home or work computer network, then surely you're aware of the benefits of network-attached storage.  You can share files among many computers.  There's always a backup in case your computer crashes.  Several people can access and work on a file.

The only downside is that you MUST be attached to that network in order to access the files.  Dropbox changes that by making the "drive" available to any computer anywhere in the world (as long as you have internet access).

Once installed on your computer you will always see the Dropbox icon in your taskbar.

Double-click the icon to access your dropbox folder.  This looks like any other folder in Windows.  Well, yours may look different if you have Vista.  I'm still rocking XP on my EIGHT-YEAR-OLD Vaio.  You can drop any file into this main folder.  The "Photos" folder is obviously for your photos.  The "Public" folder is where you can drop any file that you want others to be able to get access to.

I dropped this test image into the "Public" folder and it uploaded to the server immediately.  Keep in mind that it's a very small file.

Now that a file is in the "Public" folder, sharing is easy.  Right click the file, select 'Dropbox' from the menu, select "Copy public link".  This will copy a url to your clipboard that you can now insert into emails, IMs or websites.  You can click on the following image to view it full size.

The other cool part is that Dropbox keeps backups of all files and revisions.  That really helps if you delete a file that you shouldn't have.  It's also nice if you're collaborating on a file and the other person messes something up and you need to revert to an earlier version.

My beta invite came with 2gb of storage space and 10 invites to hand out to the people of my choosing.  Naturally I'm unable to "sell" my invites.  You may want to donate a few dollars to me by clicking the link on the sidebar.  I may (will) thank you by sending an invite your way if they're still available.  The nice part about getting now is that when they go live (paid), the beta users will have more free space than the regular free users that get into the game late.  Read about it on their FAQs page.

At this time, I have 9 invites left.

IBM and WebEx Sponsors at Business Technology Summit. Schedule Announced.

Bangalore – August 27, 2008 - Saltmarch Media has announced the program for Business Technology Summit - http://www.btsummit.com - scheduled for September 22 through 26 at the NIMHANS Convention Center in Bangalore and Grand Hyatt in Mumbai. The event is shaping up to be the premier event focused on SOA, Web Services, ECM, Virtualization and Cloud Computing. The schedule combines keynotes, sessions, workshops and expo in an interactive meeting ground for innovative business technology experts and companies. The summit is expected to bring together over 800 professionals from some of the most exciting and fastest-growing companies in India as well as from the large and active business technology community.

Sponsored by IBM and WebEx among others, Business Technology Summit features the hottest technologies on India's business technology radar that are not only exhibiting attributes such as cost savings, flexibility, application re-use and faster response times but also charting pronounced inflection points in their evolution.

The 2008 edition of Saltmarch Media's Business Technology (BT) Summit centered around the theme of "Riding the Workhorse IT Hockey Stick", features a convergence of four co-located tracks that have been identified as the power team for Workhorse IT -- SOA & Web Services, SaaS/PaaS, Virtualisation, Enterprise Content Management (ECM). “These are the right topics at the right time,” notes Shri. M. N. Vidyashankar, Former Principal Secretary, Information Technology, Government of Karnataka, India.

This year's convention will have the best and brightest speakers in the industry covering interesting developments in the business technology space. Ismael Ghalimi is the father of Office 2.0 and he is also credited with creating the first standards-based BPMS; Nitin Borwankar is the father of Data 2.0; Alan Pelz Sharpe, a partner with cmswatch, is also an expert guest on BBC, CNN and ABC Television; Robert Marcus has been at the helm of technology at General Motors, Boeing, Rogue Wave Software, MCC and HP; Matjaz Juric is the CEO of SOA Competency Center and Peter Coffee, formerly the Technology Editor at eWEEK has appeared on CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox, and PBS newscasts.

Gain Strategic, Technical and Business Insights at BT Summit 2008, Bangalore Edition:

* Dr. Chris Harding of The Open Group will present, straight from the source, a deep dive workshop on Using TOGAF for SOA.
* Alan Pelz-Sharpe will put ECM and SOA through the SWOT Grind, speak about Email Archiving and Discovery, and lead a workshop on Selecting the Best ECM System.
* Peter Coffee will show you how to Code In the Cloud as well as lead a deep dive workshop on Enterprise Readiness for the Cloud
* Dr. Matjaz Juric, CEO of the SOA Competency Center, will conduct a hands-on workshop on BPMN to BPEL Modeling Business Processes for SOA and three focused sessions on SOA Architectural Patterns, SOA and BPM, and Designing Reusable Service Interfaces
* Dr. Robert Marcus, Author of the Global Grid, will present the State of the Union - SOA Standards and lead a deep dive workshop on Future Distributed Computing Architectures and the Role of SOA
* Nitin Borwankar will show you How to Find the Silver Lining in Cloud Services and lead a deep dive workshop on Affordable Data Analytics and Data Warehousing

Squeeze Out Every Bit of RoI for Your Marketing Spend at BT Summit 2008, Mumbai Edition:

* Reach out to a classroom of 60-80 profiled CIO's from various verticals such as Retail, Transportation, Healthcare, BFSI, Government, Energy, Media, etc.
* Conduct a 1-1 vendor-led workshop of 60 minutes with the executive classroom
* Nominate a client-CIO to deliver a keynote address at the executive edition
* Network with this profiled group at the executive networking luncheon at the Grand Hyatt, Mumbai
* Reach out to a qualified, senior and professional IT Audience at the Big Tent Edition
* Promote your company's thought leadership at the Big Tent Edition through keynotes and focused sessions
* Harness the attendee list post summit for your sales teams to make a focused pitch
* Use the real estate at the summit locations to drive visibility and sales

The expo will feature the latest offerings in the business technology market, from the well established to the newest challengers and provide attendees opportunities to network while learning about new products and approaches. BT Expo welcomes industry leaders who are participating and exhibiting in this year's show, including Platinum sponsor IBM; Gold sponsor WebEx; BT Champions Progress Sotware, AppPoint, Intalio, SDL Tridion, Salesforce.com and Advanced Millenium Technologies.

For complete summit information visit http://www.btsummit.com. Early Bird registration ends August 30; sign up now for $75 (one day of sessions and workshops) or 125$ (two days of sessions and workshops). To register now and take advantage of the early registration discount visit http://www.btsummit.com/registration.html.

About Saltmarch Media

Saltmarch Media is a revolutionary new media company that provides industry-leading Web Sites, Conferences, and new media platforms focusing on diverse sectors such as IT, Energy, Human Resources, Manufacturing, Retail, Biotechnology, and BFSI. Saltmarch’s media properties aim to inform, network, and serve professionals and executives in these diverse sectors with information, opportunities, evaluation and guidance they need to excel in their jobs from keeping pace with emerging trends and technologies, to evaluating products and solutions, to developing strategies, to making cost-effective purchase decisions and effectively managing and leading their organizations' projects. More information: http://www.saltmarch.com/

For further information, please contact:

Saltmarch Media
P: +91 80 40051000, E: info@saltmarchmedia.com

###

IBM and WebEx Sponsors at Business Technology Summit. Schedule Announced.

Bangalore – August 27, 2008 - Saltmarch Media has announced the program for Business Technology Summit - http://www.btsummit.com - scheduled for September 22 through 26 at the NIMHANS Convention Center in Bangalore and Grand Hyatt in Mumbai. The event is shaping up to be the premier event focused on SOA, Web Services, ECM, Virtualization and Cloud Computing. The schedule combines keynotes, sessions, workshops and expo in an interactive meeting ground for innovative business technology experts and companies. The summit is expected to bring together over 800 professionals from some of the most exciting and fastest-growing companies in India as well as from the large and active business technology community.

Sponsored by IBM and WebEx among others, Business Technology Summit features the hottest technologies on India's business technology radar that are not only exhibiting attributes such as cost savings, flexibility, application re-use and faster response times but also charting pronounced inflection points in their evolution.

The 2008 edition of Saltmarch Media's Business Technology (BT) Summit centered around the theme of "Riding the Workhorse IT Hockey Stick", features a convergence of four co-located tracks that have been identified as the power team for Workhorse IT -- SOA & Web Services, SaaS/PaaS, Virtualisation, Enterprise Content Management (ECM). “These are the right topics at the right time,” notes Shri. M. N. Vidyashankar, Former Principal Secretary, Information Technology, Government of Karnataka, India.

This year's convention will have the best and brightest speakers in the industry covering interesting developments in the business technology space. Ismael Ghalimi is the father of Office 2.0 and he is also credited with creating the first standards-based BPMS; Nitin Borwankar is the father of Data 2.0; Alan Pelz Sharpe, a partner with cmswatch, is also an expert guest on BBC, CNN and ABC Television; Robert Marcus has been at the helm of technology at General Motors, Boeing, Rogue Wave Software, MCC and HP; Matjaz Juric is the CEO of SOA Competency Center and Peter Coffee, formerly the Technology Editor at eWEEK has appeared on CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox, and PBS newscasts.

Gain Strategic, Technical and Business Insights at BT Summit 2008, Bangalore Edition:

* Dr. Chris Harding of The Open Group will present, straight from the source, a deep dive workshop on Using TOGAF for SOA.
* Alan Pelz-Sharpe will put ECM and SOA through the SWOT Grind, speak about Email Archiving and Discovery, and lead a workshop on Selecting the Best ECM System.
* Peter Coffee will show you how to Code In the Cloud as well as lead a deep dive workshop on Enterprise Readiness for the Cloud
* Dr. Matjaz Juric, CEO of the SOA Competency Center, will conduct a hands-on workshop on BPMN to BPEL Modeling Business Processes for SOA and three focused sessions on SOA Architectural Patterns, SOA and BPM, and Designing Reusable Service Interfaces
* Dr. Robert Marcus, Author of the Global Grid, will present the State of the Union - SOA Standards and lead a deep dive workshop on Future Distributed Computing Architectures and the Role of SOA
* Nitin Borwankar will show you How to Find the Silver Lining in Cloud Services and lead a deep dive workshop on Affordable Data Analytics and Data Warehousing

Squeeze Out Every Bit of RoI for Your Marketing Spend at BT Summit 2008, Mumbai Edition:

* Reach out to a classroom of 60-80 profiled CIO's from various verticals such as Retail, Transportation, Healthcare, BFSI, Government, Energy, Media, etc.
* Conduct a 1-1 vendor-led workshop of 60 minutes with the executive classroom
* Nominate a client-CIO to deliver a keynote address at the executive edition
* Network with this profiled group at the executive networking luncheon at the Grand Hyatt, Mumbai
* Reach out to a qualified, senior and professional IT Audience at the Big Tent Edition
* Promote your company's thought leadership at the Big Tent Edition through keynotes and focused sessions
* Harness the attendee list post summit for your sales teams to make a focused pitch
* Use the real estate at the summit locations to drive visibility and sales

The expo will feature the latest offerings in the business technology market, from the well established to the newest challengers and provide attendees opportunities to network while learning about new products and approaches. BT Expo welcomes industry leaders who are participating and exhibiting in this year's show, including Platinum sponsor IBM; Gold sponsor WebEx; BT Champions Progress Sotware, AppPoint, Intalio, SDL Tridion, Salesforce.com and Advanced Millenium Technologies.

For complete summit information visit http://www.btsummit.com. Early Bird registration ends August 30; sign up now for $75 (one day of sessions and workshops) or 125$ (two days of sessions and workshops). To register now and take advantage of the early registration discount visit http://www.btsummit.com/registration.html.

About Saltmarch Media

Saltmarch Media is a revolutionary new media company that provides industry-leading Web Sites, Conferences, and new media platforms focusing on diverse sectors such as IT, Energy, Human Resources, Manufacturing, Retail, Biotechnology, and BFSI. Saltmarch’s media properties aim to inform, network, and serve professionals and executives in these diverse sectors with information, opportunities, evaluation and guidance they need to excel in their jobs from keeping pace with emerging trends and technologies, to evaluating products and solutions, to developing strategies, to making cost-effective purchase decisions and effectively managing and leading their organizations' projects. More information: http://www.saltmarch.com/

For further information, please contact:

Saltmarch Media
P: +91 80 40051000, E: info@saltmarchmedia.com

###

IBM and WebEx Sponsors at Business Technology Summit. Schedule Announced.

Bangalore – August 27, 2008 - Saltmarch Media has announced the program for Business Technology Summit - http://www.btsummit.com - scheduled for September 22 through 26 at the NIMHANS Convention Center in Bangalore and Grand Hyatt in Mumbai. The event is shaping up to be the premier event focused on SOA, Web Services, ECM, Virtualization and Cloud Computing. The schedule combines keynotes, sessions, workshops and expo in an interactive meeting ground for innovative business technology experts and companies. The summit is expected to bring together over 800 professionals from some of the most exciting and fastest-growing companies in India as well as from the large and active business technology community.

Sponsored by IBM and WebEx among others, Business Technology Summit features the hottest technologies on India's business technology radar that are not only exhibiting attributes such as cost savings, flexibility, application re-use and faster response times but also charting pronounced inflection points in their evolution.

The 2008 edition of Saltmarch Media's Business Technology (BT) Summit centered around the theme of "Riding the Workhorse IT Hockey Stick", features a convergence of four co-located tracks that have been identified as the power team for Workhorse IT -- SOA & Web Services, SaaS/PaaS, Virtualisation, Enterprise Content Management (ECM). “These are the right topics at the right time,” notes Shri. M. N. Vidyashankar, Former Principal Secretary, Information Technology, Government of Karnataka, India.

This year's convention will have the best and brightest speakers in the industry covering interesting developments in the business technology space. Ismael Ghalimi is the father of Office 2.0 and he is also credited with creating the first standards-based BPMS; Nitin Borwankar is the father of Data 2.0; Alan Pelz Sharpe, a partner with cmswatch, is also an expert guest on BBC, CNN and ABC Television; Robert Marcus has been at the helm of technology at General Motors, Boeing, Rogue Wave Software, MCC and HP; Matjaz Juric is the CEO of SOA Competency Center and Peter Coffee, formerly the Technology Editor at eWEEK has appeared on CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox, and PBS newscasts.

Gain Strategic, Technical and Business Insights at BT Summit 2008, Bangalore Edition:

* Dr. Chris Harding of The Open Group will present, straight from the source, a deep dive workshop on Using TOGAF for SOA.
* Alan Pelz-Sharpe will put ECM and SOA through the SWOT Grind, speak about Email Archiving and Discovery, and lead a workshop on Selecting the Best ECM System.
* Peter Coffee will show you how to Code In the Cloud as well as lead a deep dive workshop on Enterprise Readiness for the Cloud
* Dr. Matjaz Juric, CEO of the SOA Competency Center, will conduct a hands-on workshop on BPMN to BPEL Modeling Business Processes for SOA and three focused sessions on SOA Architectural Patterns, SOA and BPM, and Designing Reusable Service Interfaces
* Dr. Robert Marcus, Author of the Global Grid, will present the State of the Union - SOA Standards and lead a deep dive workshop on Future Distributed Computing Architectures and the Role of SOA
* Nitin Borwankar will show you How to Find the Silver Lining in Cloud Services and lead a deep dive workshop on Affordable Data Analytics and Data Warehousing

Squeeze Out Every Bit of RoI for Your Marketing Spend at BT Summit 2008, Mumbai Edition:

* Reach out to a classroom of 60-80 profiled CIO's from various verticals such as Retail, Transportation, Healthcare, BFSI, Government, Energy, Media, etc.
* Conduct a 1-1 vendor-led workshop of 60 minutes with the executive classroom
* Nominate a client-CIO to deliver a keynote address at the executive edition
* Network with this profiled group at the executive networking luncheon at the Grand Hyatt, Mumbai
* Reach out to a qualified, senior and professional IT Audience at the Big Tent Edition
* Promote your company's thought leadership at the Big Tent Edition through keynotes and focused sessions
* Harness the attendee list post summit for your sales teams to make a focused pitch
* Use the real estate at the summit locations to drive visibility and sales

The expo will feature the latest offerings in the business technology market, from the well established to the newest challengers and provide attendees opportunities to network while learning about new products and approaches. BT Expo welcomes industry leaders who are participating and exhibiting in this year's show, including Platinum sponsor IBM; Gold sponsor WebEx; BT Champions Progress Sotware, AppPoint, Intalio, SDL Tridion, Salesforce.com and Advanced Millenium Technologies.

For complete summit information visit http://www.btsummit.com. Early Bird registration ends August 30; sign up now for $75 (one day of sessions and workshops) or 125$ (two days of sessions and workshops). To register now and take advantage of the early registration discount visit http://www.btsummit.com/registration.html.

About Saltmarch Media

Saltmarch Media is a revolutionary new media company that provides industry-leading Web Sites, Conferences, and new media platforms focusing on diverse sectors such as IT, Energy, Human Resources, Manufacturing, Retail, Biotechnology, and BFSI. Saltmarch’s media properties aim to inform, network, and serve professionals and executives in these diverse sectors with information, opportunities, evaluation and guidance they need to excel in their jobs from keeping pace with emerging trends and technologies, to evaluating products and solutions, to developing strategies, to making cost-effective purchase decisions and effectively managing and leading their organizations' projects. More information: http://www.saltmarch.com/

For further information, please contact:

Saltmarch Media
P: +91 80 40051000, E: info@saltmarchmedia.com

###

IBM and WebEx Sponsors at Business Technology Summit. Schedule Announced.

Bangalore – August 27, 2008 - Saltmarch Media has announced the program for Business Technology Summit - http://www.btsummit.com - scheduled for September 22 through 26 at the NIMHANS Convention Center in Bangalore and Grand Hyatt in Mumbai. The event is shaping up to be the premier event focused on SOA, Web Services, ECM, Virtualization and Cloud Computing. The schedule combines keynotes, sessions, workshops and expo in an interactive meeting ground for innovative business technology experts and companies. The summit is expected to bring together over 800 professionals from some of the most exciting and fastest-growing companies in India as well as from the large and active business technology community.

Sponsored by IBM and WebEx among others, Business Technology Summit features the hottest technologies on India's business technology radar that are not only exhibiting attributes such as cost savings, flexibility, application re-use and faster response times but also charting pronounced inflection points in their evolution.

The 2008 edition of Saltmarch Media's Business Technology (BT) Summit centered around the theme of "Riding the Workhorse IT Hockey Stick", features a convergence of four co-located tracks that have been identified as the power team for Workhorse IT -- SOA & Web Services, SaaS/PaaS, Virtualisation, Enterprise Content Management (ECM). “These are the right topics at the right time,” notes Shri. M. N. Vidyashankar, Former Principal Secretary, Information Technology, Government of Karnataka, India.

This year's convention will have the best and brightest speakers in the industry covering interesting developments in the business technology space. Ismael Ghalimi is the father of Office 2.0 and he is also credited with creating the first standards-based BPMS; Nitin Borwankar is the father of Data 2.0; Alan Pelz Sharpe, a partner with cmswatch, is also an expert guest on BBC, CNN and ABC Television; Robert Marcus has been at the helm of technology at General Motors, Boeing, Rogue Wave Software, MCC and HP; Matjaz Juric is the CEO of SOA Competency Center and Peter Coffee, formerly the Technology Editor at eWEEK has appeared on CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox, and PBS newscasts.

Gain Strategic, Technical and Business Insights at BT Summit 2008, Bangalore Edition:

* Dr. Chris Harding of The Open Group will present, straight from the source, a deep dive workshop on Using TOGAF for SOA.
* Alan Pelz-Sharpe will put ECM and SOA through the SWOT Grind, speak about Email Archiving and Discovery, and lead a workshop on Selecting the Best ECM System.
* Peter Coffee will show you how to Code In the Cloud as well as lead a deep dive workshop on Enterprise Readiness for the Cloud
* Dr. Matjaz Juric, CEO of the SOA Competency Center, will conduct a hands-on workshop on BPMN to BPEL Modeling Business Processes for SOA and three focused sessions on SOA Architectural Patterns, SOA and BPM, and Designing Reusable Service Interfaces
* Dr. Robert Marcus, Author of the Global Grid, will present the State of the Union - SOA Standards and lead a deep dive workshop on Future Distributed Computing Architectures and the Role of SOA
* Nitin Borwankar will show you How to Find the Silver Lining in Cloud Services and lead a deep dive workshop on Affordable Data Analytics and Data Warehousing

Squeeze Out Every Bit of RoI for Your Marketing Spend at BT Summit 2008, Mumbai Edition:

* Reach out to a classroom of 60-80 profiled CIO's from various verticals such as Retail, Transportation, Healthcare, BFSI, Government, Energy, Media, etc.
* Conduct a 1-1 vendor-led workshop of 60 minutes with the executive classroom
* Nominate a client-CIO to deliver a keynote address at the executive edition
* Network with this profiled group at the executive networking luncheon at the Grand Hyatt, Mumbai
* Reach out to a qualified, senior and professional IT Audience at the Big Tent Edition
* Promote your company's thought leadership at the Big Tent Edition through keynotes and focused sessions
* Harness the attendee list post summit for your sales teams to make a focused pitch
* Use the real estate at the summit locations to drive visibility and sales

The expo will feature the latest offerings in the business technology market, from the well established to the newest challengers and provide attendees opportunities to network while learning about new products and approaches. BT Expo welcomes industry leaders who are participating and exhibiting in this year's show, including Platinum sponsor IBM; Gold sponsor WebEx; BT Champions Progress Sotware, AppPoint, Intalio, SDL Tridion, Salesforce.com and Advanced Millenium Technologies.

For complete summit information visit http://www.btsummit.com. Early Bird registration ends August 30; sign up now for $75 (one day of sessions and workshops) or 125$ (two days of sessions and workshops). To register now and take advantage of the early registration discount visit http://www.btsummit.com/registration.html.

About Saltmarch Media

Saltmarch Media is a revolutionary new media company that provides industry-leading Web Sites, Conferences, and new media platforms focusing on diverse sectors such as IT, Energy, Human Resources, Manufacturing, Retail, Biotechnology, and BFSI. Saltmarch’s media properties aim to inform, network, and serve professionals and executives in these diverse sectors with information, opportunities, evaluation and guidance they need to excel in their jobs from keeping pace with emerging trends and technologies, to evaluating products and solutions, to developing strategies, to making cost-effective purchase decisions and effectively managing and leading their organizations' projects. More information: http://www.saltmarch.com/

For further information, please contact:

Saltmarch Media
P: +91 80 40051000, E: info@saltmarchmedia.com

###

IBM and WebEx Sponsors at Business Technology Summit. Schedule Announced.

Bangalore – August 27, 2008 - Saltmarch Media has announced the program for Business Technology Summit - http://www.btsummit.com - scheduled for September 22 through 26 at the NIMHANS Convention Center in Bangalore and Grand Hyatt in Mumbai. The event is shaping up to be the premier event focused on SOA, Web Services, ECM, Virtualization and Cloud Computing. The schedule combines keynotes, sessions, workshops and expo in an interactive meeting ground for innovative business technology experts and companies. The summit is expected to bring together over 800 professionals from some of the most exciting and fastest-growing companies in India as well as from the large and active business technology community.

Sponsored by IBM and WebEx among others, Business Technology Summit features the hottest technologies on India's business technology radar that are not only exhibiting attributes such as cost savings, flexibility, application re-use and faster response times but also charting pronounced inflection points in their evolution.

The 2008 edition of Saltmarch Media's Business Technology (BT) Summit centered around the theme of "Riding the Workhorse IT Hockey Stick", features a convergence of four co-located tracks that have been identified as the power team for Workhorse IT -- SOA & Web Services, SaaS/PaaS, Virtualisation, Enterprise Content Management (ECM). “These are the right topics at the right time,” notes Shri. M. N. Vidyashankar, Former Principal Secretary, Information Technology, Government of Karnataka, India.

This year's convention will have the best and brightest speakers in the industry covering interesting developments in the business technology space. Ismael Ghalimi is the father of Office 2.0 and he is also credited with creating the first standards-based BPMS; Nitin Borwankar is the father of Data 2.0; Alan Pelz Sharpe, a partner with cmswatch, is also an expert guest on BBC, CNN and ABC Television; Robert Marcus has been at the helm of technology at General Motors, Boeing, Rogue Wave Software, MCC and HP; Matjaz Juric is the CEO of SOA Competency Center and Peter Coffee, formerly the Technology Editor at eWEEK has appeared on CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox, and PBS newscasts.

Gain Strategic, Technical and Business Insights at BT Summit 2008, Bangalore Edition:

* Dr. Chris Harding of The Open Group will present, straight from the source, a deep dive workshop on Using TOGAF for SOA.
* Alan Pelz-Sharpe will put ECM and SOA through the SWOT Grind, speak about Email Archiving and Discovery, and lead a workshop on Selecting the Best ECM System.
* Peter Coffee will show you how to Code In the Cloud as well as lead a deep dive workshop on Enterprise Readiness for the Cloud
* Dr. Matjaz Juric, CEO of the SOA Competency Center, will conduct a hands-on workshop on BPMN to BPEL Modeling Business Processes for SOA and three focused sessions on SOA Architectural Patterns, SOA and BPM, and Designing Reusable Service Interfaces
* Dr. Robert Marcus, Author of the Global Grid, will present the State of the Union - SOA Standards and lead a deep dive workshop on Future Distributed Computing Architectures and the Role of SOA
* Nitin Borwankar will show you How to Find the Silver Lining in Cloud Services and lead a deep dive workshop on Affordable Data Analytics and Data Warehousing

Squeeze Out Every Bit of RoI for Your Marketing Spend at BT Summit 2008, Mumbai Edition:

* Reach out to a classroom of 60-80 profiled CIO's from various verticals such as Retail, Transportation, Healthcare, BFSI, Government, Energy, Media, etc.
* Conduct a 1-1 vendor-led workshop of 60 minutes with the executive classroom
* Nominate a client-CIO to deliver a keynote address at the executive edition
* Network with this profiled group at the executive networking luncheon at the Grand Hyatt, Mumbai
* Reach out to a qualified, senior and professional IT Audience at the Big Tent Edition
* Promote your company's thought leadership at the Big Tent Edition through keynotes and focused sessions
* Harness the attendee list post summit for your sales teams to make a focused pitch
* Use the real estate at the summit locations to drive visibility and sales

The expo will feature the latest offerings in the business technology market, from the well established to the newest challengers and provide attendees opportunities to network while learning about new products and approaches. BT Expo welcomes industry leaders who are participating and exhibiting in this year's show, including Platinum sponsor IBM; Gold sponsor WebEx; BT Champions Progress Sotware, AppPoint, Intalio, SDL Tridion, Salesforce.com and Advanced Millenium Technologies.

For complete summit information visit http://www.btsummit.com. Early Bird registration ends August 30; sign up now for $75 (one day of sessions and workshops) or 125$ (two days of sessions and workshops). To register now and take advantage of the early registration discount visit http://www.btsummit.com/registration.html.

About Saltmarch Media

Saltmarch Media is a revolutionary new media company that provides industry-leading Web Sites, Conferences, and new media platforms focusing on diverse sectors such as IT, Energy, Human Resources, Manufacturing, Retail, Biotechnology, and BFSI. Saltmarch’s media properties aim to inform, network, and serve professionals and executives in these diverse sectors with information, opportunities, evaluation and guidance they need to excel in their jobs from keeping pace with emerging trends and technologies, to evaluating products and solutions, to developing strategies, to making cost-effective purchase decisions and effectively managing and leading their organizations' projects. More information: http://www.saltmarch.com/

For further information, please contact:

Saltmarch Media
P: +91 80 40051000, E: info@saltmarchmedia.com

###

See the original post here to find out more about a spiffy little contest being run by the chic-geeks over at GigaOM - their goal is to uncover tomorrow's cool mobile applications today. Yeah ... that'll happen. Thus far these companies have made the cut. But the competition continues. At least according to the GigaOM site.

Fonemesh: a software maker for the “wi-fi mesh” (i.e. when cell-phones learn to talk to one another and to the surrounding computers, printers, and smart appliances, this company’s software will be there … they say) 

Tunewiki: Groups of people collaborate to transcribe lyrics for songs and correct mistakes. This sounds like a mobile transcription application waiting to be introduced to the legal market.

Heysan: An instant-message (IM) system tricked-out especially for mobile devices like phones, iPod touch, BlackBerry, etc. We don’t have enough of these already? 

Pinch Media: Analytics for iPhone applications. There’s always money to be made analyzing what people want, what they watch, what they do, etc. And going to the mobile handset market is the logical choice.

Fonolo: A tool that makes calling customer support or your bank a little more bearable (I haven’t seen it yet but I bet it allows you to hang up then rings you when a real person comes back on the line). I could see this working in a lot of ways.

Skyfire: A mobile browser that does everything a desktop browser will do, including Ajax and Flash. This goes in the “I’ll believe it when I see it” category.

Zecter: For sharing your media from the desktop and the cloud to your phone or mobile device. Again I ask … don’t we already have this in at least 2 flavors? MobileMe for Apple iPhone and LiveMesh for Windows mobile devices. So this company adds value how?

LuckyCal: It turns your calendar into a hub for your mobile life. Whatever. No comment

MotionDSP: Technology that helps clean up videos and make them more watchable on mobiles. Okay.

Cumulux: Super-stealth mode. You have to come to the conference to get the low down.

Placethings: A mobile media platform that allows people to create and interact with place-based media from their mobile device.

Fusion Garage Project: A browser-based mobile OS that ties it to web services.

Tapulous: iPhone games that strategically utilize the social network embodied in the phone.

DotPhoto.com

What?    Photo-sharing site

Why?     Complicated, cumbersome, slow

Better Alternative?     Flickr

×××××

IBM and WebEx Sponsors at Business Technology Summit. Schedule Announced.

Bangalore – August 27, 2008 - Saltmarch Media has announced the program for Business Technology Summit - http://www.btsummit.com - scheduled for September 22 through 26 at the NIMHANS Convention Center in Bangalore and Grand Hyatt in Mumbai. The event is shaping up to be the premier event focused on SOA, Web Services, ECM, Virtualization and Cloud Computing. The schedule combines keynotes, sessions, workshops and expo in an interactive meeting ground for innovative business technology experts and companies. The summit is expected to bring together over 800 professionals from some of the most exciting and fastest-growing companies in India as well as from the large and active business technology community.

Sponsored by IBM and WebEx among others, Business Technology Summit features the hottest technologies on India's business technology radar that are not only exhibiting attributes such as cost savings, flexibility, application re-use and faster response times but also charting pronounced inflection points in their evolution.

The 2008 edition of Saltmarch Media's Business Technology (BT) Summit centered around the theme of "Riding the Workhorse IT Hockey Stick", features a convergence of four co-located tracks that have been identified as the power team for Workhorse IT -- SOA & Web Services, SaaS/PaaS, Virtualisation, Enterprise Content Management (ECM). “These are the right topics at the right time,” notes Shri. M. N. Vidyashankar, Former Principal Secretary, Information Technology, Government of Karnataka, India.

This year's convention will have the best and brightest speakers in the industry covering interesting developments in the business technology space. Ismael Ghalimi is the father of Office 2.0 and he is also credited with creating the first standards-based BPMS; Nitin Borwankar is the father of Data 2.0; Alan Pelz Sharpe, a partner with cmswatch, is also an expert guest on BBC, CNN and ABC Television; Robert Marcus has been at the helm of technology at General Motors, Boeing, Rogue Wave Software, MCC and HP; Matjaz Juric is the CEO of SOA Competency Center and Peter Coffee, formerly the Technology Editor at eWEEK has appeared on CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox, and PBS newscasts.

Gain Strategic, Technical and Business Insights at BT Summit 2008, Bangalore Edition:

* Dr. Chris Harding of The Open Group will present, straight from the source, a deep dive workshop on Using TOGAF for SOA.
* Alan Pelz-Sharpe will put ECM and SOA through the SWOT Grind, speak about Email Archiving and Discovery, and lead a workshop on Selecting the Best ECM System.
* Peter Coffee will show you how to Code In the Cloud as well as lead a deep dive workshop on Enterprise Readiness for the Cloud
* Dr. Matjaz Juric, CEO of the SOA Competency Center, will conduct a hands-on workshop on BPMN to BPEL Modeling Business Processes for SOA and three focused sessions on SOA Architectural Patterns, SOA and BPM, and Designing Reusable Service Interfaces
* Dr. Robert Marcus, Author of the Global Grid, will present the State of the Union - SOA Standards and lead a deep dive workshop on Future Distributed Computing Architectures and the Role of SOA
* Nitin Borwankar will show you How to Find the Silver Lining in Cloud Services and lead a deep dive workshop on Affordable Data Analytics and Data Warehousing

Squeeze Out Every Bit of RoI for Your Marketing Spend at BT Summit 2008, Mumbai Edition:

* Reach out to a classroom of 60-80 profiled CIO's from various verticals such as Retail, Transportation, Healthcare, BFSI, Government, Energy, Media, etc.
* Conduct a 1-1 vendor-led workshop of 60 minutes with the executive classroom
* Nominate a client-CIO to deliver a keynote address at the executive edition
* Network with this profiled group at the executive networking luncheon at the Grand Hyatt, Mumbai
* Reach out to a qualified, senior and professional IT Audience at the Big Tent Edition
* Promote your company's thought leadership at the Big Tent Edition through keynotes and focused sessions
* Harness the attendee list post summit for your sales teams to make a focused pitch
* Use the real estate at the summit locations to drive visibility and sales

The expo will feature the latest offerings in the business technology market, from the well established to the newest challengers and provide attendees opportunities to network while learning about new products and approaches. BT Expo welcomes industry leaders who are participating and exhibiting in this year's show, including Platinum sponsor IBM; Gold sponsor WebEx; BT Champions Progress Sotware, AppPoint, Intalio, SDL Tridion, Salesforce.com and Advanced Millenium Technologies.

For complete summit information visit http://www.btsummit.com. Early Bird registration ends August 30; sign up now for $75 (one day of sessions and workshops) or 125$ (two days of sessions and workshops). To register now and take advantage of the early registration discount visit http://www.btsummit.com/registration.html.

About Saltmarch Media

Saltmarch Media is a revolutionary new media company that provides industry-leading Web Sites, Conferences, and new media platforms focusing on diverse sectors such as IT, Energy, Human Resources, Manufacturing, Retail, Biotechnology, and BFSI. Saltmarch’s media properties aim to inform, network, and serve professionals and executives in these diverse sectors with information, opportunities, evaluation and guidance they need to excel in their jobs from keeping pace with emerging trends and technologies, to evaluating products and solutions, to developing strategies, to making cost-effective purchase decisions and effectively managing and leading their organizations' projects. More information: http://www.saltmarch.com/

For further information, please contact:

Saltmarch Media
P: +91 80 40051000, E: info@saltmarchmedia.com

###

IBM and WebEx Sponsors at Business Technology Summit. Schedule Announced.

Bangalore – August 27, 2008 - Saltmarch Media has announced the program for Business Technology Summit - http://www.btsummit.com - scheduled for September 22 through 26 at the NIMHANS Convention Center in Bangalore and Grand Hyatt in Mumbai. The event is shaping up to be the premier event focused on SOA, Web Services, ECM, Virtualization and Cloud Computing. The schedule combines keynotes, sessions, workshops and expo in an interactive meeting ground for innovative business technology experts and companies. The summit is expected to bring together over 800 professionals from some of the most exciting and fastest-growing companies in India as well as from the large and active business technology community.

Sponsored by IBM and WebEx among others, Business Technology Summit features the hottest technologies on India's business technology radar that are not only exhibiting attributes such as cost savings, flexibility, application re-use and faster response times but also charting pronounced inflection points in their evolution.

The 2008 edition of Saltmarch Media's Business Technology (BT) Summit centered around the theme of "Riding the Workhorse IT Hockey Stick", features a convergence of four co-located tracks that have been identified as the power team for Workhorse IT -- SOA & Web Services, SaaS/PaaS, Virtualisation, Enterprise Content Management (ECM). “These are the right topics at the right time,” notes Shri. M. N. Vidyashankar, Former Principal Secretary, Information Technology, Government of Karnataka, India.

This year's convention will have the best and brightest speakers in the industry covering interesting developments in the business technology space. Ismael Ghalimi is the father of Office 2.0 and he is also credited with creating the first standards-based BPMS; Nitin Borwankar is the father of Data 2.0; Alan Pelz Sharpe, a partner with cmswatch, is also an expert guest on BBC, CNN and ABC Television; Robert Marcus has been at the helm of technology at General Motors, Boeing, Rogue Wave Software, MCC and HP; Matjaz Juric is the CEO of SOA Competency Center and Peter Coffee, formerly the Technology Editor at eWEEK has appeared on CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox, and PBS newscasts.

Gain Strategic, Technical and Business Insights at BT Summit 2008, Bangalore Edition:

* Dr. Chris Harding of The Open Group will present, straight from the source, a deep dive workshop on Using TOGAF for SOA.
* Alan Pelz-Sharpe will put ECM and SOA through the SWOT Grind, speak about Email Archiving and Discovery, and lead a workshop on Selecting the Best ECM System.
* Peter Coffee will show you how to Code In the Cloud as well as lead a deep dive workshop on Enterprise Readiness for the Cloud
* Dr. Matjaz Juric, CEO of the SOA Competency Center, will conduct a hands-on workshop on BPMN to BPEL Modeling Business Processes for SOA and three focused sessions on SOA Architectural Patterns, SOA and BPM, and Designing Reusable Service Interfaces
* Dr. Robert Marcus, Author of the Global Grid, will present the State of the Union - SOA Standards and lead a deep dive workshop on Future Distributed Computing Architectures and the Role of SOA
* Nitin Borwankar will show you How to Find the Silver Lining in Cloud Services and lead a deep dive workshop on Affordable Data Analytics and Data Warehousing

Squeeze Out Every Bit of RoI for Your Marketing Spend at BT Summit 2008, Mumbai Edition:

* Reach out to a classroom of 60-80 profiled CIO's from various verticals such as Retail, Transportation, Healthcare, BFSI, Government, Energy, Media, etc.
* Conduct a 1-1 vendor-led workshop of 60 minutes with the executive classroom
* Nominate a client-CIO to deliver a keynote address at the executive edition
* Network with this profiled group at the executive networking luncheon at the Grand Hyatt, Mumbai
* Reach out to a qualified, senior and professional IT Audience at the Big Tent Edition
* Promote your company's thought leadership at the Big Tent Edition through keynotes and focused sessions
* Harness the attendee list post summit for your sales teams to make a focused pitch
* Use the real estate at the summit locations to drive visibility and sales

The expo will feature the latest offerings in the business technology market, from the well established to the newest challengers and provide attendees opportunities to network while learning about new products and approaches. BT Expo welcomes industry leaders who are participating and exhibiting in this year's show, including Platinum sponsor IBM; Gold sponsor WebEx; BT Champions Progress Sotware, AppPoint, Intalio, SDL Tridion, Salesforce.com and Advanced Millenium Technologies.

For complete summit information visit http://www.btsummit.com. Early Bird registration ends August 30; sign up now for $75 (one day of sessions and workshops) or 125$ (two days of sessions and workshops). To register now and take advantage of the early registration discount visit http://www.btsummit.com/registration.html.

About Saltmarch Media

Saltmarch Media is a revolutionary new media company that provides industry-leading Web Sites, Conferences, and new media platforms focusing on diverse sectors such as IT, Energy, Human Resources, Manufacturing, Retail, Biotechnology, and BFSI. Saltmarch’s media properties aim to inform, network, and serve professionals and executives in these diverse sectors with information, opportunities, evaluation and guidance they need to excel in their jobs from keeping pace with emerging trends and technologies, to evaluating products and solutions, to developing strategies, to making cost-effective purchase decisions and effectively managing and leading their organizations' projects. More information: http://www.saltmarch.com/

For further information, please contact:

Saltmarch Media
P: +91 80 40051000, E: info@saltmarchmedia.com

###

IBM and WebEx Sponsors at Business Technology Summit. Schedule Announced.

Bangalore – August 27, 2008 - Saltmarch Media has announced the program for Business Technology Summit - http://www.btsummit.com - scheduled for September 22 through 26 at the NIMHANS Convention Center in Bangalore and Grand Hyatt in Mumbai. The event is shaping up to be the premier event focused on SOA, Web Services, ECM, Virtualization and Cloud Computing. The schedule combines keynotes, sessions, workshops and expo in an interactive meeting ground for innovative business technology experts and companies. The summit is expected to bring together over 800 professionals from some of the most exciting and fastest-growing companies in India as well as from the large and active business technology community.

Sponsored by IBM and WebEx among others, Business Technology Summit features the hottest technologies on India's business technology radar that are not only exhibiting attributes such as cost savings, flexibility, application re-use and faster response times but also charting pronounced inflection points in their evolution.

The 2008 edition of Saltmarch Media's Business Technology (BT) Summit centered around the theme of "Riding the Workhorse IT Hockey Stick", features a convergence of four co-located tracks that have been identified as the power team for Workhorse IT -- SOA & Web Services, SaaS/PaaS, Virtualisation, Enterprise Content Management (ECM). “These are the right topics at the right time,” notes Shri. M. N. Vidyashankar, Former Principal Secretary, Information Technology, Government of Karnataka, India.

This year's convention will have the best and brightest speakers in the industry covering interesting developments in the business technology space. Ismael Ghalimi is the father of Office 2.0 and he is also credited with creating the first standards-based BPMS; Nitin Borwankar is the father of Data 2.0; Alan Pelz Sharpe, a partner with cmswatch, is also an expert guest on BBC, CNN and ABC Television; Robert Marcus has been at the helm of technology at General Motors, Boeing, Rogue Wave Software, MCC and HP; Matjaz Juric is the CEO of SOA Competency Center and Peter Coffee, formerly the Technology Editor at eWEEK has appeared on CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox, and PBS newscasts.

Gain Strategic, Technical and Business Insights at BT Summit 2008, Bangalore Edition:

* Dr. Chris Harding of The Open Group will present, straight from the source, a deep dive workshop on Using TOGAF for SOA.
* Alan Pelz-Sharpe will put ECM and SOA through the SWOT Grind, speak about Email Archiving and Discovery, and lead a workshop on Selecting the Best ECM System.
* Peter Coffee will show you how to Code In the Cloud as well as lead a deep dive workshop on Enterprise Readiness for the Cloud
* Dr. Matjaz Juric, CEO of the SOA Competency Center, will conduct a hands-on workshop on BPMN to BPEL Modeling Business Processes for SOA and three focused sessions on SOA Architectural Patterns, SOA and BPM, and Designing Reusable Service Interfaces
* Dr. Robert Marcus, Author of the Global Grid, will present the State of the Union - SOA Standards and lead a deep dive workshop on Future Distributed Computing Architectures and the Role of SOA
* Nitin Borwankar will show you How to Find the Silver Lining in Cloud Services and lead a deep dive workshop on Affordable Data Analytics and Data Warehousing

Squeeze Out Every Bit of RoI for Your Marketing Spend at BT Summit 2008, Mumbai Edition:

* Reach out to a classroom of 60-80 profiled CIO's from various verticals such as Retail, Transportation, Healthcare, BFSI, Government, Energy, Media, etc.
* Conduct a 1-1 vendor-led workshop of 60 minutes with the executive classroom
* Nominate a client-CIO to deliver a keynote address at the executive edition
* Network with this profiled group at the executive networking luncheon at the Grand Hyatt, Mumbai
* Reach out to a qualified, senior and professional IT Audience at the Big Tent Edition
* Promote your company's thought leadership at the Big Tent Edition through keynotes and focused sessions
* Harness the attendee list post summit for your sales teams to make a focused pitch
* Use the real estate at the summit locations to drive visibility and sales

The expo will feature the latest offerings in the business technology market, from the well established to the newest challengers and provide attendees opportunities to network while learning about new products and approaches. BT Expo welcomes industry leaders who are participating and exhibiting in this year's show, including Platinum sponsor IBM; Gold sponsor WebEx; BT Champions Progress Sotware, AppPoint, Intalio, SDL Tridion, Salesforce.com and Advanced Millenium Technologies.

For complete summit information visit http://www.btsummit.com. Early Bird registration ends August 30; sign up now for $75 (one day of sessions and workshops) or 125$ (two days of sessions and workshops). To register now and take advantage of the early registration discount visit http://www.btsummit.com/registration.html.

About Saltmarch Media

Saltmarch Media is a revolutionary new media company that provides industry-leading Web Sites, Conferences, and new media platforms focusing on diverse sectors such as IT, Energy, Human Resources, Manufacturing, Retail, Biotechnology, and BFSI. Saltmarch’s media properties aim to inform, network, and serve professionals and executives in these diverse sectors with information, opportunities, evaluation and guidance they need to excel in their jobs from keeping pace with emerging trends and technologies, to evaluating products and solutions, to developing strategies, to making cost-effective purchase decisions and effectively managing and leading their organizations' projects. More information: http://www.saltmarch.com/

For further information, please contact:

Saltmarch Media
P: +91 80 40051000, E: info@saltmarchmedia.com

###

For those interested, the lab environment is easy to set up and a great way to learn about SRM.  I have used both VMWare Workstation 6.5 Beta 2 and Fusion 2.0 Beta.  You can also use an ESX host if you want.  The most complex piece of configuring the lab is the SAN environment.  You can either use EMC's Celerra Simulator or LeftHand Network's VSA.  The lab environment consists of two Windows Servers running Virtual Center and housing the VC database, two SANs, and at least two ESX servers.

Next week I will try to do a more in-depth writeup on configuring the lab environment.  In the mean time there is some good information available online to help anyone that wants to set this up.  Mike Laverick has posted a sample chapter from his upcoming book on SRM that covers the configuration of LeftHand's VSA for snapshot replication.  His final book is due very soon and is excellent.  Mike also has some SRM videos as well.  I have mentioned Xtravirt before.  They offer some whitepapers on configuring VMWare Workstation to run ESX as a virtual machine.

Links to the videos:

• Screencast (Highest Quality)
• YouTube (Part 1)
• YouTube (Part 2)

We Charlestonians, however, proudly ignore possible impending doom and merely rue the smaller paychecks we have to look forward to in this already dwindling tourism season.  Maybe if we focus on that, and the freedom of few days off, we can quiet the nagging voices in the backs of our heads that want to worry over storm surges and sustained winds vs. gusts.

We'll be ok.  At least until Ike, which we all hope will spin off harmlessly into the Atlantic. I do feel a bit guilty over mentally trying to steer the storms to other towns and areas.  Even though it doesn't really do a darn thing, I shouldn't feel better about having someone else's life impacted vs. mine.  Right?

Fortunately, we have our backup plans in place to literally run for the hills to my parents house just outside of Asheville, NC.  It's important, especially when you own your own business, to have these backup plans in place.  For those of you in business or contemplating opening, please ensure that your important records are not just simply backed up to multiple copies of CDs or even portable hard drives.  Our backup place is in my parent's house.

Believe me, should we indeed get slammed by a Hugo-like storm and all of our records are lost here, chances are that some of our clients will be affected the same way.  Though we do not specialize and guarantee archiving of data, we take the necessary precautions to be able to save the day even after the last contract is long signed and paid for.

Remember Katrina and the pictures on the news of destroyed family treasures?  All the ruined wedding photographs?  Well, we'd like to be the company that after a disaster like that, even 20 years down the road, can hand their long ago clients a piece of their lives that was seemingly gone forever.  Fate cannot take everything.  Murphy (of Murphy's Law) can't have it all.

For those of you preparing for possible evacuations, or who just wish to be prepared, here are some good hints:

• CDs and especially DVDs actually get less and less stable over the years.  If you have a CD of important information or photos, please archive it at least every 3-5 years.  Consider using a gold DVD for the best protection; even though it is not guaranteed, it is still much more stable.  I picked a manufactuer at random.
• Make 3 copies of any vital information or images.  Put one into a fire and flood proof safe or box.  Put another into your usual storage area or even a safe deposit box.  Store the other one in another area of the country or world.  (Might be time to make nice with that relative on the far side of the country.)
• Check the backup files to make sure that they completely transferred.  Sometimes technology does stupid things.
• Those of you who shoot RAW, keep in mind that right now, RAW file technologies are property of the company who makes the camera.  You might find that 10 years down the road, they don't support those files.  Best to make a JPEG or TIF copy of everything vital to store with the RAW data just in case.

As long as Matt and I, the cats, our business equipment, our retro Bimmer, our Art Nouveau style album, and heirloom jewelrybox and handful of plates make it, we'll be fine.

Το νέο Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo HX προσφέρει ταχύτητας ανάγνωσης 20MB/s και 15MB/s ταχύτητα εγγραφής (διαθέτει ένα 8-bit parallel interface για να επιτύχει τέτοιας υψηλές ταχύτητες) και διαθέτει χωρητικότητα 4GB και 8GB.

Προσφέρεται μαζί με τον USB adaptor MSAC-UAH1 ο οποίος είναι ιδιαίτερα χρήσιμος για να μεταφέρονται αρχεία με υψηλή ταχύτητα (από και προς) στον desktop υπολογιστή ή στο notebook. Η εγγύηση επίσης των 10 χρόνων αποτελεί μεγάλο πλεονέκτημα.

Not many people are aware that they should nor are they aware on how to.

I recently was at the store and I came across what I had needed for a long time with all of the data multiplying daily on my computer.

An External Hard Drive.

An External hard drive is a piece of hard ware, like a computer's hard drive except it is portable and can hold much more data than your own computer's Hard Drive Can.

The particular hard drive I bought was an IO Magic 320GB Portable Hard Drive.

Also, you can use a Jump Drive. A jump drive is like a memory stick, but it connects to your computer via USB.

Jump Drives will never hold as much as an external portable hard drive.

I highly recommend buying an external hard drive to back up pictures, music, and files on your computer.

Here's the link to a IO Magic Hard Drive:

Click Here To View The IO Magic Portable Hard Drive!

IO Magic is a registered trademark of I/O Magic Corporation

Here's an image of the hard drive I bought:

Seagate doing TV ads?  What's the deal?

Until recently, storage was an inside game.  Disk drive vendors focused almost exclusively on satisfying the PC, server and storage system makers of the world with the right storage component for their box. 

The Rise of the Digital Consumer is changing things.  Storage has become a personal thing because what it stores is the increasingly precious digital stuff that is piling up in our lives.  And as this New York Times article explains, that storage is increasingly a standalone, purposeful device that takes its job seriously.

Seagate is now one of those "makers" that consumers turn to in outfitting their digital lifestyle.  Thus the TV ads, and in general a sharper focus on storage solutions for the consumer.  

It's an exciting time to be at Seagate.

Living anywhere on the East Coast, you do run the risk of hurricanes coming to your door.  We've been watching the track that Hanna has been taking for several days now.  For a while, it looked as if we might get a direct hit.  At this point in time, they are estimating that it will make landfall closer to the North and South Carolina border.  This would put Charleston on the east side of the storm...really the best place to be if you have to go through a hurricane.  We are expecting several inches of rain and strong winds.  Hopefully this will mean minimal damage.  We're praying for our neighbors to the north, hope that all goes well for them also. 

Naomi Doddington Couture Photography also has a contingency plan.  All of our weddings are backed up not only on a DVD kept in the office, but a second copy is kept in a fire-proof and water resistant safe.  Barring a major catastrophe, we will never lose client images.

Let's do keep an eye out on Ike, which is a much stronger storm than Hanna and may be heading in the same direction as her!

Sugarsync è un servizio di sincronizzazione e backup dati che non ho remore a definire eccellente.

Il sistema è in grado di ospitare i dati di case e notebook multipiattaforma (sia Mac OS X, sia Windows) e sincronizzarli in tempo reale estendendosi anche ai dispositivi mobili.

Dopo aver creato un account occorre scaricare il software Sugarsync manager e decidere quali cartelle dei propri HD uploadare sui server del servizio.

Sugarsync permette di aggiungere e rimuovere dispositivi creando un HD "ibrido" online e all'interno del manager, che si aggiorna in tempo reale quando si modificano i file in locale sulle differenti macchine.

I realizzatori del servizio forniscono poi un'ottima applicazione gratuita per iPhone, scaricabile dall'App Store, la quale permette di inserire all'interno di questo "circolo virtuoso" anche il dispositivo mobile.

Naturalmente accedendo al proprio account online è possibile gestire i dati da qualsiasi postazione dotata di una connessione alla Rete.

SugarSync propone una prova gratuita per 45 giorni con uno spazio a disposizione di 10 Gb

Link | SugarSync