Here's an interesting snippet: If you rejected Vista, you're in good company. Intel's said the same thing. According to NY Times blogger Steve Lohr:
"Intel, the giant chip maker and longtime partner of Microsoft, has decided against upgrading the computers of its own 80,000 employees to Microsoft?s Vista operating system, a person with direct knowledge of the company?s plans said."
Lohr's Intel source said after examining the cost and potential benefits of shifting to Vista, they couldn't justify the move. Read the story.
What's your take on Intel's rejection? You can use Comments below, fill in the BuzzDash doobie below, or fire an e-mail right into my inbox.
You know that box full of old parts you have sitting in the closet? Dig around and find an old floppy drive -- and make some music.
Spell a couple of words -- if you can!
Wow, look at the size of the proximal phalanx of your toe!
You won't have to worry about sharing a lane with the HyperBike.
Watch a video of the HyperBike in action
If you have an iPod -- actually, any MP3 player -- and want to share your music with your buddies, the iMainGo 2 portable speaker case is perfect. (On the other hand, if you're in the next campsite, do me a favor and use your headset...)
The iMainGo is simple to use: Unzip the case, insert your player, plug in the connector, zip it up, and start listening. If you're using an iPod, it's especially handy because you can work the controls without unzipping. Me, I've got an old, no, ancient Samsung MP3 and fiddling with the controls means opening the iMainGo. The iMainGo is versatile, too. I used it while listening to a movie on my notebook. It was awkward, but I opened the iMainGo, propped it up with a book, plugged it into the notebook's speaker port and happily had good sound.
The sound from this $42 puppy is better than decent; it's actually quite good, And no, it doesn't sound as good as your home theater rig, but it's the best I've heard in a while.
The battery life is purported to be 30 hours (check the iMainGo specs), but that depends on the player you're using. Inserting the four AAA batteries it takes is a royal PITA -- the compartment is small and my fingers are big.
One thing I didn't like was having to open the case to turn off the speaker. When I didn't think to do that, those AAAs were quickly destined for the recycle bin.
Stick you iPhone or MP3 player into the iMainGo 2 case and listen to your tunes.
Joby's Gorillapod has a strange name, but this little tripod is super handy.
The legs are sturdy and flexible, and strong enough to hold a compact digital camera (or an MP3 player or even a small GPS, though I can't imagine wanting to...).
You attach your device to the tripod using a standard 1/4-inch tripod screw or for light items, a suction cup. The tripod screw and suction cup attach to the tripod with a quick release clip. You can pick one up for about $22 If you have a heavier SLR, you'll want the Gorillapod SLR, about $40.
If you don't have a tripod, this is a cool on to throw into your camera bag.
![Gorillapod_white2[1].jpg](http://blogs.pcworld.com/tipsandtweaks/archives/Gorillapod_white2[1].jpg)
It acts like a regular tripod
![Gorillapod_1[1].jpg](http://blogs.pcworld.com/tipsandtweaks/archives/Gorillapod_1[1].jpg)
The Gorillapod grabs on to almost anything
![Gorillapod_3[1].jpg](http://blogs.pcworld.com/tipsandtweaks/archives/Gorillapod_3[1].jpg)
Really... anything.
Gotta have one, gotta have one. Trouble is, my Pentax K10D with zoom will require the one that doesn't have a quick release. Life is suffering...
Worried about I.D. Theft -- or just curious about your credit score? TransUnion, one of the big three credit bureaus, was slammed with a class action suit and they lost. Big time. Like $75 million.
According to the terms of the settlement, the attorneys get the biggest chunk of the money. No surprise. Here's the good part: If you had a credit card, loan, credit account, from January, 1987 through May 28, 2008, you could also pick up some benefits.
You have three choices:
Hey, Hon, let's submit a TransUnion settlement claim!
Fill out the claim form or if you're the kind of person who still uses the phone, call them at 866/416-3470.
I'm opting for the 9 months of enhanced credit reporting because I'm pretty sure the attorneys are going to whittle down the pile of cash in short order.
Talkback
Have something to say about TransUnion? You can use Comments below or if you'd prefer, fire an e-mail right into my inbox.
Has LaLa.com gone down the tubes. I know you are a Jazz fan just like me. People are all complaining about the newly designed website and it seems like nobody is trading anymore..
_____________________
Yep, lots of people complaining. Happens with every redesign of ever Web site. Read details here:
http://blogs.pcworld.com/tipsandtweaks/archives/007104.html
--Steve
It's pretty straightforward: You designate a charity and for every search you do, GoodSearch donates 50-percent of its revenue to your designated charity. The money comes from GoodSearch's advertisers. And if you don't have a favorite organization, you can choose from a lengthy list of worthwhile groups.
the interface is very easy to you. I will definitely give this a go in future, knowing that this is part of a good cause
My school uses this and gets a fair amount of money for using it. It's alot like Google, except not as many results, which may be some of the ones you might want, but then you can just go to Google. You can also get money for your designated charity when you buy online, from places like Ebay.
"Too bad every PC user can't have a Windows test manager on call. But as for Mr. Walling, he's just happy he can print his genealogy records again."
Man gets Windows Vista to work with printer is a good read from Todd Bishop, a reporter with the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Actual photo of Microsoft Visa tech team in action
Despite it all, I'm going to do it.
Head for the News3Online site for more details.
There's normally not a gullible bone in my body, but I'll have to admit you had me fooled there for a minute. Maybe it was just wishful thinking since there doesn't seem to be a great deal of choice this November :-)
This one's a work of fiction.
Starvos's GPS Position Art
Be creative with your biz cards.
Charmingwall's really creative site.
Shoot 'em up early and often.
There isn't a cloud in the sky, so tonight I'm going outside and look for the SeaSat 1 and Genesis 1. They're two satellites that'll be visible in the northern sky. You can get the details for satellite spotting in the U.S. And Canada by using your Zip code on SpaceWeather's Satellite Tracker. (Use this link if you're in another country.)
Satellite flybys in and around Pasadena.
If you have the bucks, you can subscribe to SpaceWeather Phone and for $5 per month, you'll get an alert when there's a auroras, solar flares, radiation storms; $7 per month gets you space station flybys, meteors showers, planet-Moon alignments, and comets.
Mars Exploration Rover Mission
While you're thinking about looking up, swing by JPL's Rover site for a status report on the Mars Exploration Rover Mission. And if you're curious, here the Martian Weather Report for today.
Here is another good site:
heavens-above.com
It has excellent graphical tools to show the path of the satellite
_____________________
Nice one, 3CNAN, thanks. -- Steve
Say you bought something at Best Buy, Costco, Staples, or Sears. A week later, the price drops, and you're PO'ed because you paid too much.
Listen to this. My buddy Richard S. [thanks, Richard!] found Price Protectr, a spot that promises to get you a refund if you've overpaid.
If the price goes down, you'll get e-mail.
Here's Richard's story:
"I recently purchased a printer from Costco.com. Two weeks later Price Protectr-mailed me a notice that Costco had dropped the price $50. That was within Costco's price guarantee policy time frame. I could either print that out and take it to a Costco warehouse or e-mail Costco -- which I chose to do. Costco e-mailed back and said they had credited me for the $50!"A few minutes ago, I got a notification that the keyboard I purchased from Fry?s dropped $10.
"Life is getting a little cheaper and easier to find price drops -- and it sure beats watching ads to see if a vender dropped a price on something you just purchased."
You can set a price on an item you're looking for and when the product reaches the price you want to pay? Price Protectr will ping you.. Check their blog for details.
I don't know what they get out of it, but the FreeHeadset site is offering to send you a headset you can use with your cell phone while driving. That could be important if you're living in California on July 1st -- the date you have to go hands-free.
FreeHeadset says they do it to promote safety and claim to have shipped over 250,000 headsets. My guess is they hope you'll opt to pay for a headset with more features than the freebies--but if you choose a free headset, you pay only $3.94 for shipping. It takes about five days to reach you. Check the FAQ for details. [Thanks to Tom L.]
Choose from four or five headsets.
For a long time, LaLa was my all-time favorite music listening and trading site. For the most part, it still is--but for a while it fell off my playlist. A day short of a year ago, I complained about a redesign: Read LaLa's Redesign Has Free Streaming Music and also see what I liked about it in LaLa's Terrific (With Free Music to Boot).)
LaLa's Latest Incarnation
LaLa wasn't happy with that they had, so they changed the site. While I think this new design looks good -- it's fast and mostly easy to navigate -- there are some negatives.
One small thing: I have a stack of LaLa friends, people with similar music tastes. I used to be able to scroll to a friend and filter their list according to style, say, jazz vocals or jazz instrumentals. That's gone, and sorely missed -- and according to the PR person, it's not well hidden, just no longer available.
There are other changes, big ones, at that. LaLa's focus is sales: They've got more than one way for you to spend a few bucks. You can pay a dime a cut for unlimited, anytime-you-want online listening, 79-cents or more to buy an MP3, or if you're a big shot, buy the entire CD and have it shipped to you.
Buy the rights to listen all the time for a dime.
On a positive note, I can buzz around the site, find cuts that sound interesting, and stick them into a queue. But songs in the queue play full length just once; after I listen, I'm limited to a 30-second cut -- unless I'm willing to pop for 10-cent per song fee that gives me unlimited plays.
Like that song? Listen to it again for a dime.
The only time you're dinged by the one-listen rule is when you've chosen an interactive list, which means that you can decide what you want to listen to and say, skip to another song. It's a little confusing, I know, but it keeps us all on our musical toes.
However, you can play an artist's radio station and there's no limitation on the number of times you can listen. That's because you have no input on what's playing (hence not interactive) which also makes an artist's station DMCA compliant. Ditto for user playlists. For instance, I could listen to Miles Davis's radio station, or any of the Similar Artists on the right side of the page (click the blue button) all day. Try "let freedom ring," a playlist from Oleo or go to my page (Straight Ahead Jazz), click on the blue button, and it'll start streaming in random order -- all for free.
So while you can still listen to interactive streaming music for free, getting to the tunes isn't nearly as easy as it was in LaLa's past. Read LaLa's listening FAQ for details.
Another positive: If you want to listen to your personal collection of MP3s from anywhere in the world, you can upload everything to LaLa. But here's what's unique: If the cut is already on LaLa's site, the upload is super fast because there's no upload. LaLa simply matches your song with theirs and gives you permission to listen to that song as often as you want.
CD Trading on LaLa
I started using LaLa for trading CDs with other LaLa subscribers. The deal is cool -- it costs you a dollar plus 75-cents shipping for each CD you request and receive; the previous owner ships the CDs directly to you. But all these purchase options, the site's redesign, and LaLa has pushed what I loved about the site -- CD trading -- into the back seat. Or, as the PR person said, "it's not front and center." I'll say. (Read the trading FAQ.)
Trade music CDs for a buck.
Music Streaming Alternatives
If you haven't had enough, read a piece that my buddy Dan Tynan put together: Five Ways to Share Music Without Getting Sued, which reviews other sites where you can listen to music.
Talkback
Have something to say about streaming music? You can use Comments below or if you'd prefer, fire an e-mail right into my inbox.
I'm almost finished testing what feels like 40 Registry Cleaners and getting dizzy looking at Invalid Paths and Obsolete Start Menu Items.
So I took a break and came upon Alex Eckelberry's tirade about awful tech support. (See On Support.) Alex lead me to Roger Grimes lengthy harangue in InfoWorld. (Security firms frustrate loving customers.)
Both pieces are worth a look -- if only to know you're not alone when it comes to not-so-hot tech support.
Actual photo representation of user reaction to inadequate tech support.
Steven Manes Full Disclosure (July 2008 Issue)is sooo hilarious!!! I laughed my hard disk off! The sad truth is, it is so true. I have been studying computers and software (as an enthusiast) for years and have lost countless nights sleep, as I KNOW you folks at PC World have also. As most wealthy types I've encountered in my travels..Bill Gates deceived the world and was richly rewarded. Computers do not make your life easier and I've yet to see a paperless office.!
Click on a category -- or head right to the Jazz Channel.
Artwork with Rubik Cubes
The headset's out of the bag and one company scored big with their viral videos.
Cardo Systems, a manufacturer of Bluetooth headsets, claimed responsibility for the four videos showing cell phones popping popcorn. (See Pop Corn With Your Cell Phone -- Hoax or Real? for background and links to the videos.)
The videos -- and I'm still convinced they were brilliantly edited -- were produced by LastFools, a marketing firm in Paris.
They seem to say that if you were dumb enough to grab some friends and try to pop corn with your cell phone, and it didn't work, don't blame -- or sue -- us.
"The contents of these videos are fictitious and humorous optical illusions, designed for entertainment. Nothing in these videos is meant to imply that mobile phones can make popcorn and Cado Systems specifically disclaims that these videos contain any portrayal of facts or comments about safety. Cardo disclaims any liability for the information in these videos."
Will Cardo sell more headsets? Hard to say, of course, but if you're in the market for one, read our Bluetooth Headsets for Cell Phones review.
I'm still listening to jazz, so today I'll tell you about another music site I'm using most days. (Yesterday's blog about two other music sites is here.) On Monday, I'll clue you in about my other favorite music site.
The first is Pandora, a site that somehow figures out my musical tastes. Don't believe me? Try it: Head for the site and stick in an artist or group, and see if Pandora doesn't come up with a playlist you like. If it doesn't, and you register, you can reject albums or artists, and you won't hear them again. Alternatively, you can ban a cut for 30 days.
The folks at Pandora have worked hard to make their site easy and fun to use. The interface almost anticipates what you want to do next -- rate a song, add music to another station, or bookmark an artist or song.
BTW, if you're not in the United States, you'll have trouble logging on to Pandora and listening to their music. Here's a work-around that may work for you.
Pandora has an amazing ability to find tunes you like.
The headline says "Free and Legally" ... and then goes on to point out how to defeat the steps that Pandora has taken to only distribute the music within the domain in which they have rights.
People's sense of ethics with regards to the distribution is woefully deficient as it is, it's absurd to see a purportedly informed source such as this magazine, and this article in particular, show such blatant disregard for both ethics, and laws.
I'm a jazz hound and I'm listening Hank Jones play "Round Midnight." It's helping inspire me to keep writing an article I'll actually submit on time, sometime late this Friday. [Private note to Robert: Yes, that's what I said. On time. Well okay, maybe Monday.]
I have four sites for you to play around with -- two are new to me -- and I'll talk about them today. Tomorrow; the two sites that are long-time favorites. BTW, no surprise -- all the sites are trying to sell you songs or CDs. But hey, they're letting you listen for free, so seeing an occasionally pitch is okay with me.
Songza pops up a list from your search on an artist or a specific song. Click to listen and right click to rate the tune, add to a playlist, or send to someone near and dear. One downside: Unless I missed it, there's no way to immediately skip to the next cut.
Twitter your music with Songza
If you're a jazz kinda person, you'll dig Jazz Corner. After a day of listening to their Jukebox, I can honestly say they're in tune with my jazz tastes. I also get a kick out of watching an artist performing and the Jazz Corner has lots to choose from.
Below is a clickable video of Hank Jones (he's the guy playing the piano) with Joe Lovano on sax; there are lots more videos here.
Summer's almost here and it wouldn't hurt to spend some time brushing up on your photo-taking techniques.
1. Good Tutorials: This site brings together some of the smartest, single-issue tutorials I've found. Some are nice and short, but with plenty of meat to chew on. For instance, Depth of field in Photography explains how different lenses impact the depth of field. If you're willing to take your camera off automatic and play with its manual settings, The Correct Exposure - a tutorial - Part 1: Shutter, Aperture and ISO will get you started.
2. Dave Johnson's Digital Focus: Every week, PC World's photography expert cranks out a newsletter full of handy and clever tips. For instance, if you liked the tutorials in the blub above, try Dave's Treasure Trove of Photo Tutorials. And if you haven't had enough about depth of field, Dave has tons to say: Fake Your Depth of Field, Master Your Camera's Depth of Field and Take Pictures With Unlimited Depth of Field.
BTW, you can also find useful ideas for other digital photography issues at the Digital Cameras Info Center.
3. The Digital Tool Shed has a stack of resources for digital photography, including image editors, photo viewers, slide shows, audio and video tools, and other links. There's more about free photo editors and organizers here.
4. The One Dollar Steadycam: It's one of those why didn't I think of that tools. Watch the video below and get the details from PC World's Dave Johnson.
Reader Update: Tabby S. wrote and said:
"This is a variation on an old method I learned about at one of the traveling Nikon School presentations -- about 25 years ago."Instead of string, their method was using a 1/4 x 20 bolt with a flat head and a hole in it or an eyebolt, a keyring that goes through the hole and about 6 feet of window chain. (I put a nut in my set up to act as a spacer to keep the setup from going too far into the tripod connection slot.)
"It's a little more complicated, but the chain will last for years, while the string is likely to break.
"The other advantage over a tripod is that the 'poor man's tripod' is legal in most museums and other places that won't allow the use of a tripod.
"The trick is probably good for 1-2 stops of decreased shake. I don't have any image stablized lenses, so I don't know how much added benefit you'd get from the combination."
5. PhotoSig is a great spot to post your images for critique -- and a super site to learn from other photographers.
6. The message board forums on DPReview are organized by topic and camera brands. If you're buying a digital camera, you'll find the reviews, critiques, and no-nonsense advice refreshing.
Talkback
Have something to say about digital photography? You can use Comments below or if you'd prefer, fire an e-mail right into my inbox.
I don't want you to miss out on the new version of AVG's wildly popular anti-virus program (Our Downloads section recorded over a million downloads of the tool.)
So here's the news: Version 8.0 is available for download.
You can read my take on AVG here: AVG is My Anti-Virus Program (So There!)
AVG protects me from Trojans and Worms
The buzz in the forums is that it is not good with Vista. With Vista, go with Avast.
Now I'll admit, I have not seen the buzz in the forums, so I cannot comment on that. However, on my Vista SP1 machine AVG 8 works fine. The only thing that does not work completely is the link scanner, if you install a browser after installing AVG, it will not recognize the new browser.
Can you use cell phones to make popcorn? Sure -- if you believe the three vids below.
But in my mind, there's no doubt it's all a hoax, a remarkably good one, too. For one thing, cell phones don't have the power to do it (read some decent arguments). It's also not a magic trick (I've been in that business long enough to spot an illusion.)
More likely, it's someone with tremendous video editing skills out to have some fun. (Remember the UFO hoax? Watch the video here.)
The most striking thing that makes me think it's a put on is that each of the three videos have a similar stagey look and feel with three or four people sitting around a table. The table's adorned with an assortment of props and the walls have the same off-white, creamy color. The camera's jerky style is the same. To add authenticity, each is in a different language and supposedly in a different country.
BTW, Snopes calls it a hoax, but they don't offer an explanation.
So what do you think? Real or hoax -- and why?
"Even a GREAT editor would have a VERY difficult time, short of using some digital effects editing to match the frames so that the motion wouldn't look jerky."
Actually, quite the reverse. A jerky video lends exactly the kind of authenticity that makes it look so real, and "doing it jerky" is a million times harder than "doing it steady". And yes, a great video editor, using even greater tools (say, After Effects), needs every bit of their skill to properly motion-track the jerky source video so that the kernels won't "float" all over the place. The first time such motion tracking was made famous was in Jurassic Park, were we see dinosaurs in a field from the POV of a bouncy jeep.
This could be done eaily. As you can see, all the popcorn pops up out of screen, this is the digitally composited one.They make it happen so fast no one can tell. They then can get the camera person to just throw real popcorn down into shot. As for removing the old kernels, I'd say this could be done with an old digital compositing trick called rotoscoping. Where you paint things in or out frame by frame. Not as hard as it sounds because it's only a little piece of corn really. And because your have a pretty flat coloured table cloth or table top there. You could probably even do this in your mobile phone video editing software!
To echo miblaker18 - They are definitely all hoaxes - all three made by Cardosystems to sell their hands free devices.
http://www.cardosystems.com/pop/
They even have a disclaimer that says it is an optical illusion and that nothing in the video is to imply that cell phones actually make popcorn.
Another Friday -- another stack of things for you to do to ensure you won't have time for any real work.
The arrow points to my disastrous attempt.
I know you do and you're probably just itching to tell me which one it is. I hope so, because I'm searching for one that'll clean up my missing shortcuts, trim all my ancient program entries, and is guaranteed not to hose my system.
So get on the virtual horn and tell me which Registry cleaner (or Registry compactor or defragger) you're using -- and if you're using Vista or XP.
Click here to send an e-mail -- or use Comments below.
Actual Windows 2010 prototype Registry cleaner
I've tried them all and RegSeeker is the absolute best. Never screws you like many cleaners do causing you hours of grief. With the Seeker portion you can search and remove references that other cleaners miss. After I uninstalled Norton using Norton's uninstall I found over 600 references remined to Norton and Symantec. That kind of stuff really enlarges the Registry and slows loading and searching. The list goes on but I can save with confidence that RegSeeker will please you. I have recommended it for years to family and friends and never once did anyone come back with a complaint.
Running VISTA 32-bit, and I find Ccleaner marvelous. I use it on more than a dozen machines I help maintain, and no one has ever had any problems. I suspect that the blogger who complained about it ,did not properly identify the source of his snafu.I like and appreciate Ccleaner so much I sent in a donation.
best free c-cleaner, best for $ jv16 power tools. back up first
Listen up, Google, Microsoft just blasted past your Google Sky. (Read Google Space Is Cooler Than Cool for details and kill some time with In Pictures: The Strangest Sights in Google Earth.)
Whiz around Mt. St Helens.
It took Microsoft six years to refine the flawless scanning and panning capability of their Visual Experience Engine. You can see it in action using the WorldWide Telescope, a freebie that lets you poke around the universe. (Download it here.) WorldWide Telescope is a marvelous tool, and for a complex program, the interface is surprisingly intuitive. (If only they'd spent as long developing Office's interface...)
Take a night-time tour of the Earth.
There's no doubt, though, you'll need decent bandwidth -- WWT pulls just about everything from the 'net. And a big monitor will certainly enhance the experience. On my wife's 19-inch LCD everything looked good; on my 24-inch ViewSonic widescreen, it was breathtaking.
Once you have the WorldWide Telescope downloaded and installed, click the Guided Tours tab. It's a good spot to get a sense of the program's capabilities. You'll find 11 categories -- Black Holes, Star Clusters, Planets, Supernova, Learning WWT, and others -- and each has a handful of slide show tours created by experts.
WorldWide Telescope uses images from the Hubble.
Talkback
Have something to say? You can use Comments below or if you'd prefer, fire an e-mail right into my inbox.
We're back from vacation and I discovered (okay, rediscovered) that I'm am idiot. I've used computers since 1986 and I've made big, dumb, and idiotic mistakes. This last one seems dopier than the rest.
I turned on the PC last night and fired up Eudora, my e-mail program. As each e-mail appeared, so did an error pop-up complaining that "the request contains an invalid argument." Then Internet Explorer wouldn't let me download files; Flash wouldn't work and Word kept crashing. I poured myself a drink and shrugged it off; things would be better in the morning.
The next day, nothing was better; the fact is, even more programs seemed squirrelly. This afternoon the dumbness struck me.
Get a Clue (Or Whatta Dope)
I have a fast external Seagate SATA drive connected to my PC. When I leave on vacation, I back up to it, and for safe keeping, I take the drive along on the trip.
When we got home, neither of us felt in a rush to unpack the van, so the SATA hard drive was still in the van -- and not connected to the PC.
Now those of you with a smattering of computing skills have figured out my problem, sure, but not me. I didn't have a clue until a few minutes ago. When it Then it hit me -- of course, how could I be so stupid. My PC's just hunky-dory now and I learned another lesson: Check the obvious. (And if you don't know what's obvious, read How to Be a Tech Hero...And Incredibly Popular or Ten Terrific Troubleshooting Tricks and Tools.)
A Temporary Solution
The solution is straightforward: I set the system's Environmental Variables to keep the Temp and Internet Cache folders on the external SATA drive.
So when the drive went missing, Windows went bananas. And because I set the environmental variables to point to the SATA drive, Windows didn't create new folders on the C: drive.
BTW, the strategy is a throwback to computing in the nineties when hard drives were slower and because they were smaller, filled up rapidly; for a performance boost, it made sense to keep temp folders on a different drive. It doesn't seem nearly as important now.
Talkback
Have something to say about dopey things you've done? You can use Comments below or if you'd prefer, fire an e-mail right into my inbox.
Glad to see I'm not the only dufus, glad you made out ok. I was even dumber...I went and bought a new hard drive....LOL.
Hey ramfisher, it's spelled doofus, not dufus.
I hear ya bro! I began becoming comruter literate in 1986 on a DOS confuser and apparently have fallen short. However now I have an excuse. At age 68 I am an old-fart!
I have a pair of big video files from our vacation; they're both a tad under a gigabyte. I've used YouSendIt, but you know how it is with the Web -- wait 20 minutes and a new service pops up.
That's the case with Drop.io and MyBloop, the two latest sites ready for you to backup and share files.
Drop.io (it reminds me of the "Old McDonald Had a Framee i ee i o" song) is a handy spot to stick a file for friends to download. It's a snap to use because there's no registration required and no need to create an account. Give the Drop.io file a name, upload it, and send an e-mail link to your buddy (or use it as a private RSS feed).
Drop.io has extra doodads, enough so that I'm using it like crazy. For instance, they give me a number to call so I can leave a voice blurb with the file. You can fax docs into a Drop, keep the file private or make the file available to a select group of friends, allow comments, and set an expiration date (or not). Play around with Drop.io and lemme know what you've done with it.
On the other hand, MyBloop leans towards a way to give you a spot to upload and store files an unlimited number of files (up to one gigabyte each); it's also easy enough to share the files with others. About the only restriction is that you're unable to let others download music files. Instead MyBloop gives your buddies a way to stream your tunes.
Where Else to Share It
I mentioned earlier that there are other sites for you to share files and you can read about them in Transfer Big Files and Sending Large Files Via the Internet.
I honestly can't understand Microsofts rush to do away with an OS that has such a big following. The market certainly isn't saying get rid of XP. Sure there are allot of Vista devotee's but there are just as many XP fans. Is there some unwritten Law in Redmond that states after X amount of years we push an OS out of the nest? Why force an OS on people. Like it was said before, Apple sales are up and all of a sudden Linux doesn't seem that odd !
1. Microsoft is committed to Vista, and has spent billions of dollars on it. Although they have sold 140,000,000 copies, these have mostly been OEM editions. They need wide-scale adoption from corporate and government users to recoup the investment. They do not make $$ pushing XP to a world that already has it.
2. Windows 7 is two to three years down the road, and it seems it will mostly be an extension of the "old" Windows system, rather than anything radically new. If Microsoft doesn't keep its customer base as intact as possible, they risk losing more customers to Apple on the top end and Linux on the bottom (free) end.
What M$ needs is a new small-kernel OS, but they're afraid to bite the bullet on the legacy programs, which would have to run in virtual environments or be replaced. A mistake: modern systems could do that with no problem, and M$ could have a state of the art kernel that would last for decades, but they haven't found the will to innovate.