Dan and Cheryl's Place

MozyHome for Mac is Out of Beta

2008-05-05T20:18:23Z

It’s been a long road, but the Mac version of Mozy is finally out of beta. We released our official 1.0 version late last week, and I am a happy developer. It was almost exactly a year ago that Mozy released it’s first Mac software, which is way too long to be in a beta program. We won’t let that happen again.

We are going to release a business version, MozyPro for Mac, later this summer. And we have a lot of performance improvements and interface changes we want to make. There is a lot of work ahead of us, which is great.

So while I was taking some deep breaths, I got a chance to read up on some of what people are saying about Mozy. iDrive, one of our competitors, just released a beta version of their Mac software, so I thought I’d take a look.

They seem to have done some pretty cool things with their software, but it’s clear that they don’t understand the word unlimited. iDrive includes this disclaimer in small text on the bottom of their homepage:

The concept of ‘Unlimited Storage’ is subject to fair usage of the service. This is to facilitate a low one-price plan to backup a PC’s critical data that meets requirement for high majority of consumers; there may be some limits based on what constitutes fair usage. The current limits include 150GB of total storage and 100GB of bandwidth utilization per day. Do refer to Conditions of Use. Pricing structure for business use varies from personal use.

So you get “unlimited” storage for whatever they decide is “fair.” Not really unlimited. I really like that Mozy’s unlimited service has no restrictions on space.

MozyHome does have a bandwidth cap to limit how fast files are uploaded, but in practice very few people have upload speeds that reach this limit. We are always open to customer feedback, however, and reevaluate this decision from time to time. MozyPro does not have this limitation.

In addition to the whole unlimited thing, iDrive’s comparison with Mozy is incorrect in several places.

Still, they have some good ideas in the design of their software. And it’s good for Mozy to have competition. Keeps us all working hard at listening to our customers.

Spring Is Here

2008-04-05T17:36:00Z

We’ve had some really nice weather recently. However, it always seems to snow one last time just as I start feeling like I can leave my coat at home. So the kids were able to play in the snow for one last day. I upload some pictures to our picture gallery along with some schoolwork the kids recently brought home

Tyler really got into the spirit of April Fools’ Day and played several jokes on his parents and siblings. We found books in our pillow cases, stuffed animals in our toothbrush drawers, and various missing articles of clothing. He liked it so much he kept playing jokes on his parents over the next few days. I also uploaded a picture of one of his jokes on me that made me laugh.

More Pictures

2008-03-30T19:10:07Z

I uploaded some older pictures to our .Mac page. These are from Katie’s wedding, fishing with the kids last summer, our trip to a dude ranch with the Davis clan, and our trip to Phoenix for Thanksgiving.

Just a few clicks to get it all up there. I like it.

.Mac

2008-03-23T19:12:43Z

I finally signed up for a .Mac account. It had never seemed worth the money until recently. The feature that finally drew me in was web galleries — automatic picture uploading from iPhoto.

So, here you go Mom. Enjoy.

The U.S. Financial System Is Broken

2008-03-06T21:30:11Z

I’ve been reading Mike “Mish” Shedlock’s economic commentary for a while now. This comment struck me as something that would be very funny if things weren’t so serious:

If you were by any chance wondering why mortgage rates were not following the Fed’s slash and burn policy of lower rates, the…short answer is rising default risk.

But let’s not be too gloomy here.

Other than overleverage, bad debts, sinking home prices, no jobs, shrinking wages, cash strapped US consumers, rising oil prices, a sinking US dollar, $500 trillion in derivatives not marked to market, rampant overcapacity, underfunded pension plans, looming boomer retirements, no funding for Medicaid, no funding for Medicare, and no Social Security trust fund, everything is just fine.

The fact that (I believe) we’re heading into a recession has made me reconsider many of my investment strategies. I know that in the very long-run, the market will do well. But why take the hit of staying in the market during a stock market crash if you know one is coming?

There aren’t many types of investments that do well in a recession. I believe silver will be one of them (up over 33% year-to-date). Others include CDs and Treasuries.

I’m also going to be saving up as much cash as I can, for two reasons:

In case I lose my job, and
To be able to buy investments for cheap when things are really bad.

MacNN Review of Mozy

2008-03-05T21:21:55Z

My job involves working on the Mac version of Mozy. It’s good to see very positive reviews of our work. I know there’s room for improvement too, but it’s great to see happy users.

Pretty Cool Illusion

2008-02-25T04:18:29Z

This is a cool illusion that tricks your eyes into seeing a color picture.

It's a Girl

2008-02-14T06:26:53Z

Well, after receiving many (justified) complaints about not putting up pictures of our new daughter, I’ve finally gotten around to uploading some. Her name is Amberly. Mom, you can stop looking at Tallie’s baby pictures now. :-)

Honda Accord "Cog" Ad

2008-01-30T20:54:00Z

I saw this chain reaction Honda commercial years ago, but still love it. Apparently, it took 606 times to get right. None of it is computer animated.

Quote: Marianne Williamson

2008-01-24T22:00:00Z

Used by Nelson Mandela in his 1994 inaugural speech.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we’re liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

Ron Paul Update

2008-01-24T06:30:00Z

Ron Paul is doing well. He placed second in the Nevada caucuses last week and did well in the Louisiana caucuses today. And as we head into a recession, I hear more and more people saying that Ron Paul is the only candidate who understands the problems and what needs to be done to solve them. One recent comment came from Glenn Beck as he interviewed David Walker, the Controller General of the U.S.

Now, I really like Ron Paul. He voted for military action in Afghanistan directly against the Taliban. But he voted against going to war in Iraq. So, if elected, I expect him to be strong against terrorism and to be extremely cautious about using our military to interfere in foreign countries. In hindsight, it seems obvious that working with the legitimate government of Afghanistan has gone better for us than invading countries that weren’t involved in 9/11.

The only complaint I have so far is with some old newsletters published under Ron Paul’s name several years ago that are very racist. Paul says he did not write them and disagrees with their content, but has not indicated who did write them. There’s an in-depth article in Reason Magazine investigating the identity of the author that concludes Paul didn’t write the material.

Supporting him, several black people who have known Paul for decades, including the head of the NAACP, have stated that Paul is not a racist and has never been one. That doesn’t stop the media from repeating the lies though.

I believe Paul when he says he did not write the material and has never agreed with it. The thing that bothers me is his hesitation in explaining why those newsletters went out with his name on them and who wrote them. Honestly though, this isn’t a big complaint.

Of course, it’s easy to find problems with politicians. For example, Mitt Romney promised Michigan voters that he’d spend billions of taxpayer dollars on reviving the Michigan economy, which essentially means subsidies for the big American auto manufacturers. Thanks for promising to spend my tax money to buy Michigan votes. Romney is still my second choice though. The other candidates are even worse.

So basically, I think Ron Paul still has a fair chance to win the nomination. Less than 10% of the Republican primary delegates have been allocated at this point. With Fred Thompson dropping out and Mike Huckabee running out of money, the Republican race may soon be down to three choices.

Quote: Henry Haskins

2008-01-24T06:00:00Z

Ever since reading this comment, I’ve found myself almost constantly violating it. I’m getting better though.

The time to stop talking is when the other person nods his head affirmatively but says nothing.

The Secret History of Silicon Valley

2008-01-24T05:52:12Z

I watched a video recording of Steve Blank discussing the history of Silicon Valley at Google today. Surprisingly, the tech capital of the world has its roots in the electronic warfare of WWII. I’ve loved reading WWII history since I was a kid and the speaker even includes clips from several WWII movies during his presentation.

It’s an hour, but was very informative and enjoyable to watch. Highly recommended for anyone who loves WWII history, technology, or both.

Quote: Brian Kernighan

2008-01-24T05:30:00Z

Words I try to live by.

Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place. Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are, by definition, not smart enough to debug it.

Newsletter and Fourplex

2008-01-08T04:41:16Z

I wanted to write a quick update to let everyone know we are still getting the finishing touches on our newsletter. Well, actually, we’re still writing parts of it. Last years Christmas letter became a New Year’s letter, and this year it’s looking like we’ll have to rush to avoid it becoming a Valentine’s letter.

We also closed on our first “for keeps” investment property. It’s a fourplex in Payson about 20 minutes from our house. It’s a bit of a fixer-upper, but the price was low and the numbers worked out, even counting some needed repairs. And the best thing is that I find I enjoy being a landlord. I like talking to the tenants and hope to make the building a great place to live. Of course, I haven’t had any calls in the middle of the night yet. So we’ll see how things go.