Tag Archives: Electronic Toys… er… Tools

Digital Life… After Death

Ponderings, ,

I have a Last Will & Testament. A Living Will. Several different forms of Power of Attorney. All of which are designed to take care of my physical life and belongings when I’m either incapacitated or die.

But what happens to my digital life and data?

I’m not really sure why I was thinking about this. What happens if I get killed by a flaming toilet seat from space? If there’s one thing that was drilled into my head in Boy Scouts, it was:

Be Prepared!

Oddly enough, as I typed that, I wonder if that’s what made me so pessimistic and negative about so many things? I’ll have to ponder that for a bit….

Anyway, back to what I was originally pondering.

I feel that I’m not prepared. At least for the digital afterlife.

I do all the paperwork in our household: our personal finances, both of our personal business finances, and the finances for our two businesses. All of which means I have a plethora of online accounts: banking, bills, vendors, etc., all of which have usernames and passwords to access.

I also manage several domains, and have several different email accounts. Then there’s all the social media sites I am a part of: this blog, Twitter, Facebook, tumblr, Google+, flickr, YouTube, Gowalla, foursquare, and only the FSM knows what other sites. What will happen with those accounts? And who will let my online friends know of my demise in a proper and respectful manner, even if I do break my neck slipping on a puddle of lube the Husbear failed to clean up?

And it’s not like the Husbear (or probably anyone else) could guess my passwords. I’m not one of those people who use the same simple password for every site I visit. I like my passwords complex, just like my men. 😉 I essentially had god privileges with my former corporate IT job, so having complex passwords was always drilled into our heads.

Mostly because I tend to not remember *all* of them myself, I do keep an encrypted database with my current account information in it: usernames, passwords and all those damned annoying challenge questions and answers. But how would anyone know how and where to get into that? Should I keep the access information in a sealed envelope in a safe deposit box just in case?

What about all the computer gear I have around. The Husbear has finally just learned where the power switch is for the DSL modem. How is he going to know how things are connected and interconnected? After all, he’s the first to call me when “the Internet is down!” Should I draw a diagram out? I know the way I do things and the way other tech heads do things are never ever the same. Would someone have to dismantle my network just to make sense of it? Or could they?

And what about all the digital media I have: all the digital photos I have taken over the years; all the photos, videos, movies and television episodes I’ve “collected” (some of which may or may not be porn). Who will know where that is all stored, and who it should go to, and what should be scrubbed?

These are the kinds of thoughts I have at night when I should be sleeping.

Not to sound like the invitational at the end of a church sermon, but I’m curious: Have you given any thought to this for yourself? Is there someone who will take care of your digital life and data for you when you finally shuffle off this mortal coil? Will they even know where to start?

Until next time...
Erik

3D Printing

Ponderings

Seriously, how cool is this?

Imagine when there is a reverse process of this that the substrate the tool was created from could be recycled? You could create tools from pre-saved computer scans, use them, then recycle them.

Just like the replicators on Star Trek!

And you know the first thing the guys did when they created this printer was scan their junk and print it out. And leave it on their coworkers desk.

That’s what *I* would have done.

Thanks to MAG for sharing this video with me.

Until next time...
Erik

iOther

Ponderings

Another geeky post.

Last post where I talked about Fahrenheit, Karen asked:

Just wondering what other iPhone] apps you find useful…

Here’s some apps I find useful, and why:

WordPress
Because that’s my blogging platform, and I tend to get random ideas only when I have my phone around. Or when I’m traveling, and my phone is my only computing device.

Byline
My RSS reader. So I can keep up with all my blogging buddies and other tech blogs that I read. I love the interface and how intuitive it is to navigate. And I’m glad it’s finally a universal app so I can use it on my iPad too. (Although I don’t care for the interface as much on the iPad. It’s like the native mail app on the iPad and I don’t like it.)

Wunderlist (replaced Simplenote)
Sometimes you just need to make a list. And sometimes you need to get to that list from anywhere. And sometimes you need to share that list with others.

SugarSync (replaced DropBox)
Syncing and sharing files/folders between computing devices. DropBox offers 2 GB storage. SugarSync offers 5 GB. There’s a few features that SugarSync does that DropBox doesn’t. I actually still use both.

DataVault
Encrypted password manager and information storage of all sorts of accounts and account information that I have.

FTP On The Go
Because I’m a geek. And I’m constantly doing back-end stuffs on my web servers.

PlainText
Sometimes you just want a notepad to edit files. It also syncs with DropBox.

Files2
I can move files to and from my phone and computers wirelessly. Integrates with DropBox, Google Docs, and MobileMe iDisk

Key Ring (replaced CardStar)
You know all those annoying little fob things businesses give you? This app lets me scan them and put them on my phone so I don’t have all that crap in my wallet. If you don’t have a glossy screen, you can usually scan them with a scanner.

Brushes
Because you’re never too old to doodle. Especially with my career.

FX Photo Studio
I actually have a plethora of photo filter apps, but this one has a ginormous amount of filters. And it does most of the basic photo editing needs that I have as well.

And last but not least…

Ask Dave
Because sometimes I just need someone to answer the questions for me. It’s pretty much my magic eight ball. And hey, he’s a fellow blogger. Maybe one day he’ll publish a Dave and Monkey bobblehead app. Just because that would be awesome.

Those are some of the apps I use most often. I have a plethora of other apps, but I think most people use those.

For those of you with iPhones, what apps do you find useful?

Until next time...
Erik

iCheese

Ponderings

It’s always bothered me that the iPhone has a weather app but it doesn’t show the current temperature one the Home screen. The calendar app shows the correct day and date. Why not do the same with the temperature, Apple? Why show me that it’s *always* sunny and 73 degrees out, when it’s not?

20110414-053735.jpg

Since Apple doesn’t allow apps to alter their Home screen icons, short of just a notification, no third-party app developer could really do one similar to the native calendar app.

Until now!

I stumbled upon an app today (thanks to a post on LifeHacker) that does just what I want: Fahrenheit. It shows me the temperature AS A NOTIFICATION! How frickin’ awesome is that!?!

20110414-053756.jpg

It updates every hour, which is perfectly fine by me.

Fahrenheit is $0.99. But I just had to buy it because it was such an innovative way to get around the no-modifying-the-Home-screen-icon rule that I felt a donation for thinking “outside the box” was totally necessary.

It’s the simple things.

Until next time...
Erik

Update on the iPrecious

Ponderings,

It works!

After it’s attempt to swim with the fishes, spending 48 hours sealed in rice and in the warm sun (when it was shining) appears to have dried out the iPrecious.

At least all the things I normally use it for appear to be working.

Urspo asked me:

I think the lack of an iprecious is a blessing in disguise. Doesn’t this provide you some bliss of peace and quiet?

Oddly enough, not having it caused me more distress than anything.

When I have my iPrecious, things are all peaceful and quiet to me: I don’t get many phone calls. Actually, I think I had 3 phone calls in the last month. I only text message a couple people in any consistent manner, and I only do that when I have free moments between tattoo clients.

I really don’t use my phone for either of those. But the inability to access the Internet caused me the biggest grief. I couldn’t read the blogs I usually read. That was like being cut off from friends. I couldn’t check my email. Or read and watch the news sources I pay attention to (so I was unable to stay abreast of the events in Japan).

I was unable to take pictures. Or listen to music.

I know it shows how as a society how dependent we are of our gadgets and the Internet, but as I’m wired that way, it was like being launched into outer space with no radio.

Until next time...
Erik