Probstisms

Tim Probst
Tim Probst
@Tim@www.timprobst.com

Early adopting super geek, musician, father, resident tech guru.

1,069 posts
6 followers

  • My Backup Dilemma

    Like most tech-savvy families out there, my family has an abundance of digital audio, video, and photo files on our computers. Early on, I decided that my Power Mac G4 should be our digital hub, and all of our files are stored on that computer. This does cause a bit of a problem for me as far as storage space goes. I’ve replaced the hard drive before, and it’s about time to add a larger drive again. I don’t mind replacing my drive from time to time because it is relatively easy to clone a drive. My biggest problem is with my backup drive.

    A couple years ago, I went with Apple’s Backup as my backup solution. It is incredibly easy to use and basically runs all by itself without any interaction from me as long as my external drive is powered on. I bought a drive that was twice as big as my Mac hard drive so I wouldn’t run out of space, but a couple weeks ago, something interesting happened. I ran out of space on my backup hard drive. It seems that over time, the incremental weekly backups had been so large that they had filled the entire drive. To resolve the issue, I deleted my backup files and ran a full backup that fit very easily on the drive. My biggest question is if a full backup fits so easily on my drive, why are the incremental backup files so large?

    When Mac OS X Leopard comes out later this year, one of its features will be a backup solution called Time Machine. It will automatically backup every file on your system, and you can basically go back in time to find the version of a file that you need. This sounds like a great new feature, but how large will the backup hard drive have to be in comparison to the Mac hard drive? If my experience with Backup is any indication, it’s going to have to be huge, but I am going to withhold judgment until Leopard hits the streets.

  • This Is Ryan Shaw

    This Is Ryan Shaw

    We were back in Chicago over the 4th of July holiday to visit our families and friends. One of the nice things about going back to Chicago is that we actually get to listen to good radio stations like WXRT. Well, on one of our drives, one song just blew me away. Why hadn’t I heard this great new song on the stations in Saint Louis? It turns out the song was called Nobody by a new artist named Ryan Shaw. When we got back home, I downloaded the album, This Is Ryan Shaw, and have been listening to it ever since. Ryan reminds me a lot of the old time soul singers like Marvin Gaye and Al Green. He’s a really good mixture of old school soul mixed in with new school rhythms. Nobody is a perfect example of that.

    I’m not sure what it is that draws me to his music. Maybe it was all of those summers spent at Probst Glass and Screen Shop listening to the oldies station with my dad and Bobby, or maybe it’s just because he’s a really great artist. Whatever it is, the album is definitely worth a listen. Check it out when you have a chance.

  • Apple Is Responsible for YouTube Now?

    I read a post in TechCrunch today that really drove me nuts. They were commenting on an absurd post in CNET’s News Blog regarding possible liability Apple might face because the iPhone has the ability to play YouTube videos. Like TechCrunch, I feel there is no way Apple will ever be found liable of anything relating to YouTube. Really, how in the world did CNET think this was worth posting? If you take the same logic and relate it to web browsers, every software vendor that has ever shipped a browser capable of playing embedded YouTube videos is liable for the content of the videos. Now that just doesn’t make any sense, does it. Surely CNET has something more interesting to write about than this. I really used to rely on CNET to help me decide what electronics to buy, but they’ve really gone down hill. There are so many better options now for technology news and reviews.

  • Himalayan Glaciers in Retreat

    Going along with my Live Earth post a couple weeks ago, an article in the New York Times caught my eye regarding the melting glaciers in the Himalayas. Although there is not a lot of historical data to indicate whether or not the glaciers are retreating more than normal, the data that we do have is very scary. For example, the Chorabari glacier has retreated 860 feet since 1962. That’s almost 3 football fields! That’s pretty crazy when you think about it. Unfortunately, the same thing is happening to the other glaciers in the Himalayas.

    My parents recently went to Alaska, and before they left, I kept saying that it’s a good thing they’re going up there because the glaciers might not be there during their next visit. I never really meant it, but now that I’ve learned more, I’m thinking I might not be too far from being right. At this rate, I may never have the chance to see a glacier, and my kids may not ever know that glaciers even existed. What I really want to know is what happens when all of this fresh water hits the ocean.

    We all just need to do something to stop global warming. Even something as small as changing the light bulbs in your house can make a difference. It’s time for use to make a change.

  • The Cubs Are On A Roll

    It’s been a lot of fun lately watching the Cubs play ball. They’ve been doing all of the right things at the right times, and they have so much more confidence than they did earlier in the season. I guess all it really took was a little tantrum from Sweet Lou to provide the spark the Cubbie’s needed.

    The second half of the season started out in the right direction today with another win by Carlos Zambrano. Big Z is really starting to look like the ace everyone expected him to be. He has to be the hottest pitcher in baseball right now. Whenever he’s on the mound, the Cubs have a chance to win, and it looks like the team really believe in him.

    It should be an exciting second half of the season.

  • Live Earth Is On!

    I’ve been checking out the Live Earth website and all of the different video feeds from all over the world. Like they said on the Live Earth Blog, it’s almost impossible to choose which concert to watch. Everything is so good! I’ve been flipping back and forth between all of the different concerts and have been enjoying every minute. A couple bands that I’d never heard of really impressed me: Paolo Nutini at the UK show and Blues Nation at the DC show.

    If you haven’t checked out the website or tuned in on television, you really need to see what you’re missing. This event is for all of us, and if we can all do something small to help the environment, it will add up to a lot.

  • I Have to Change My Password Again?

    My good friend, Scott Driza, from DocBuilder.com Incorporated recently wrote about password policy considerations. I don’t know about you, but I can’t stand changing my passwords at work. I’ve already run through all of my usual strong passwords, and I can’t go back to them until I’ve created 10 more passwords that I’ll never remember. What’s worse is that every single system at my current employer has its own password and password policy.

    I am a big proponent of single sign on technologies because of all of the pain and suffering I have endured while trying to come up with a new password for a bazillion applications every 60 to 90 days. To avoid causing pain and suffering for your users, the first thing you should think about doing is tying all of your network and web applications together under one user name and password. I know this takes a bit of work when building or configuring the applications, but it is worth it in the long run. Secondly, make it easy for the users to come up with new passwords. Having a password at least 7 characters long with at least 1 capitalized letter and 1 number is strong enough for most businesses. Most of the applications are buried behind corporate firewalls anyway.

    One user name, one password, one simple policy – Three things that will make your users happier and your network safer.

  • iLinc Is Coming to the Mac!

    I use a web conferencing product at work called iLinc to do demonstrations and training from remote locations. iLinc makes it possible to provide visual presentations instead of boring old audio conference calls. Like most applications made specifically for business communications, iLinc has not been available for the Mac. Until now, that is. With iLinc 9, meeting presenters and attendees will be able to use Windows or Macintosh computers to connect to meetings.

    I don’t really expect to be able to use my Mac for work meetings very often, but I would love to be able to use Apple’s Keynote to show slide presentations. It knocks the socks off of PowerPoint any day of the week. I also have coworkers that need help with their Macs on occasion so it will be nice to be able to see the problems they’re having instead of just guessing what might be wrong.

    I have been very impressed with the Windows versions of iLinc. Let’s see how good they are at making software for the Mac.

  • Keith Olbermann Calls for Bush and Cheney to Resign

    Last night, on the eve of our Independence Day, Keith Olbermann wrote a wonderful article for MSNBC stating all of the ways President Bush has failed us all in the last six and a half years. The final straw for Olbermann was Bush’s recent commuting of Scooter Libby’s prison sentence. In his article, he calls on Bush and Cheney to help Americans to regain the trust of the government by resigning a la Richard Nixon.

    When I first heard the news of what Bush had done, I was speechless. I just didn’t know what to say. It has been so hard to be hopeful since the day of the Coup of 2000, and Bush continued to disappoint me and most of the nation by making sure his buddy didn’t spend any time in prison. I know it is every President’s right to issue pardons, and I fully expect Bush to issue his fair share prior to leaving office, but the Libby case was still going through the appeals process. The case hadn’t even made it through the court system yet, and here was Bush completely overruling the judicial system by saying that he thought the sentence was too harsh. What a slap in the face of everyone involved, and when I say everyone, I mean every citizen of this country. Every citizen that performs jury duty because it’s an important part of being an American. Every citizen that follows the laws because it is the right thing to do, and every citizen that pays their fines or spends time in prison because they didn’t follow the laws. Bush just told all of us that following the rules is not all that important as long as you have friends in the right places.

    I am seconding Olbermann’s call for Bush and Cheney to resign. We’ve all had enough, and I think the rest of the world will appreciate it as well.

    From Digg

  • The One-Post-A-Day Challenge

    Well, it’s finally come down to this. I have been trying to motivate myself to write more in my blog about everything that is going on around me, but my posts continue to be few and far between. Now I am putting my intentions out here for all to see. I plan to write at least 31 posts in July. That’s one post a day, and I’m already a few days behind. Now, I may not post every single day, but I expect myself to have added 31 new posts by the end of the month. The reason I’m writing this is so people out there can keep me honest. If you see me slipping, send me a comment and let me know about it. I’m going to need your help to make this happen. Maybe by the end of the month, I will have hit my groove with this writing thing. Wish me luck!