[Hidden-tech] Electronic calendar - frail world

[michaelbix]

A word about synching Susanna - no matter which smartphone you (or  
anyone else) has.

"Synch" of course is another word for "synchronised back up."

So every time you back up and make that 2-way connection (whether  
wirelessly by Bluetooth, or through the USB cable) you are making an  
exact duplicate in 2 places - your phone and some other storage  
device, at home or hundreds of miles away at a massive server, air- 
conditioned "data farm" euphonistically called "the cloud."

Some phones offer company software to do an "active backup" on your  
computer like I have for my Sony-Ericsson... which allows me to move  
my video and music files around.

In any case, each sync starts with what you already left last time...  
and updates it to this moment.

So please don't get caught up in any big worries about backing up  
"every time you leave the house" or every night, etc.  If that feels  
like a ton of bricks on your head and stops you from syncing at all,  
the point (and essential safety) is lost.

Actually, your last sync (even if it was last week) will still have  
last week's phone numbers and calendar in it, and everything prior.

If you fail to sync ever again after that... and someone steals your  
phone or you drop it down a street grate... your replacement phone  
will re-sync to what you had stored in either your computer and on  
the remote server over the Internet (both - I recommend - but  
definitely local)... and give you back what was retained there from  
before.

So if you lose a week's worth of newly-made calendar appointments, or  
a week's worth of added phone numbers and addresses, you probably can  
re-construct a few of those from your own memory.  But you won't lose  
the bulk of them.

But to never synch (like never backing up your computer) shouldn't  
even be considered.  That's like never putting gas in your car... not  
really an option.  To say "you'll regret it one day" isn't even a guess.

"Backing up" is based on the obvious frailty of everything we use in  
the electronic and data world.

It is ALL much much more frail than it is advertised to be.  And  
getting worse.  The "cloud" is variably cloudy and only looks good  
the day it is not giving anyone any trouble.   The next time there's  
a massive power outage which lasts more than three days we'll all say  
(in retrospect) "I should have thought they might only have back-up  
power generation for a few days... not more."   Where did my data GO!

So back up to a local drive as well.

Michael

p.s. Written as a person with ADD who used to rely exclusively on a  
paper calendar, but who kept misplacing it... and now loves the  
little alarms and reminders of my Palm PDA plus my Sony-Ericsson with  
its humungous address books and 16GB memory... both synced by habit.

I'm waiting to see if HP will rise to the occasion and come up with a  
modern Palm PDA with all the phone capacity I need here and in Europe.

= Straight Arrow Recordings =
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On  29 July 10, at 9:32 AM, Susanna Opper wrote:

>    ** Be sure to fill out the survey/skills inventory in the  
> member's area.
>    ** If you did, we all thank you.
>
>
> After all these years of holding on to a paper calendar, my new  
> smart phone is making me think it’s time to get into the 21st century.
>
>
>
> The phone is a droid. The question is, if I take the plunge do I  
> use the phone’s calendar? Google calendar? Outlook calendar and  
> synch? A calendar app? Something else?
>
>
>
> Some background:
>
>
>
> One calendar and one only is a rule I live by.
>
>
>
> I like to see a week or two at a time w. all my appointments shown.  
> I’m used to a month at a time, but in reality I don’t care what  
> happened three weeks ago, except as a record.
>
>
>
> I think I’ll want to print out past months for a record.
>
>
>
> I don’t think I want to synch because I’m sure I’ll be dashing out  
> of the house and realize I haven’t synched and won’t have time.
>
>
>
> Typing on the phone isn’t all that easy, but you knew that.
>
>
>
> As ever, thanks for your wisdom and generosity.
>
>
>
> --Susanna
>
>
>
> -------------------------------------
>
> Susanna Opper
>
> Shawenon Communications
>
> Our distinction is communicating your distinction
>
> 413-528-6494
>
> susanna at shawenon.com
>
> www.shawenon.com
>
> Twitter: @SusannaOpper
>
>
>
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