Backupify…

Recently, I’ve been thinking about my Gmail account: I have nearly 15,ooo emails spanning nearly 6 years. If anything were to happen to my account – it gets hacked, Google deletes it on accident, or you get locked out by forgetting your password – I would not have any back up of all those messages. Additionally, if I ever wanted to use a different mail service, I would definitely want to take all those messages to my new account.

Backupify is a service that not only backs up Gmail, but will also back up your Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, and a number of other services, protecting your online data.

If you think you might like to have your online data set up for a recurring back ups using Backupify for $50, please contact me by going to the About The Digitante page and fill out the contact form or give me a call anytime. If you prefer to do it yourself, read on.

Signing up for Backupify is simple. Just enter your name, email address, choose a password, and select the Free account for now. You can back up 1Gb of stuff with the Free account. We’ll discuss the paid version of Backupify in a bit.

You are immediately deposited on the Settings page. Before you continue, go to your email account and be sure to click the link in the confirmation email. Actually backing up your accounts fairly simple. I’ll go through an example with Twitter.

1. Be sure you are logged into the Twitter account that you want to back up.
2. Click on the Manage link to the right of the Twitter icon.
   
3. There are two check boxes and a text box. You have the option to tweet that you are protecting your account with Backupify (I did that just for fun). You can customize the message to say whatever you like. I added a note that this post would be up in the morning.
4. You can choose to follow Backupify on Twitter to get updates when new services are added and other good information.
5. Once you are squared away on those two items, click the Twitter Authentication link.
   
6. In order to finish the process, you must allow Backupify to have access to your Twitter data. I do want to clarify that Backupify will NOT have access to your Twitter password and can be denied access to your account at any time by going to the Connections page in the Settings for your Twitter account. (On an aside: Gmail does require you to enter your password, but it is encrypted, so just be aware of that).

After being redirected to the Twitter setup page, you will see your Twitter account listed at the top. Need to add another Twitter account? Repeat the above steps, but sign into Twitter with another account.

You can repeat a similar process or each service you want to back up. There are some nuances depending on what you are backing up: Facebook allows you to choose what information you back up – pictures, wall posts, profile, etc.

Size limits

As I mentioned earlier, the Free account allows you to back up a total of 1Gb of data. My Gmail account alone has well over 2Gb of emails in it, so I can’t back it up via Backupify directly. Instead, I am required to open an Amazon S3 account. Amazon S3 is online storage space that you pay a monthly fee for. For most people the cost is going to be $0.15 per Gb per month.

You may wonder why someone would pay a fee to back up things like Twitter and Facebook, and for most individuals you would be correct in wondering. However, the reason I decided to write this post was because a local restaurant owner named Scott (of Scotty’s Brewhouse) uses Twitter and Facebook extensively to market his business to his customers (about 4,000 of them actually).

As such, it would very bad if something happened at Facebook and he ended up losing all those connections, so for him, it may make sense to spend the extra couple of dollars.

In the end, I ended up going with another method to back up my Gmail but in the future it will be something I write about here.

Before I wrap things up, I need to make a little complaint: I cannot for the life of me figure out how much space my back ups I’ve created thus far are taking up. It seems like there would be a dashboard front and center telling you how much space you are using. Secondly, I wish it would at least give me an approximation of how much space my next back up is going to be consuming. It says my back ups may not complete for 24-48 hours, so if something pops up later, I’ll be sure to post a follow up.

Simple Surveys and a Contest!

If you want to make a survey (and who doesn’t) there is no simpler or way than using Google Docs. You’ve used Google Docs to upload and share large files, so why not make a fun or <GASP!> productive survey?

To create a survey, go to the ‘Create New’ pull down button and select ‘Form’ from the list.

Once you’ve got the blank survey up and going, you can starting asking your friends and enemies invasive questions about themselves. You can get answers in a number of ways:

• Text – Allows the participant to enter a few words to describe their answer. Example: What color is the sky? Their answer: Magenta. Perhaps they live on Saturn.
• Paragraph Text – Allows the participant to enter a longer answer. Example: What is the symbolism in Pulp Fiction? Answer: Some long, rambling, meta-physical garbage answer.
• Multiple Choice – Allows participants to choose one answer from given choices. What comes next in the series 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, __? If you know the answer, let me know in the comments.
• Check Boxes – Choose as many answers as you want. Also has an ‘other’ option so the participant can enter their own answer.
• Choose from a List – Uses a pull down menu that allows a selection such as a list of states in an address form.
• Scale – Choose the scale and the extreme values. Get a feel for where people sit in a range of values.
• Grid – Like a scale, but with multiple lines in it.

You can even have it take the participant to a different part of the survey depending on how they answer a specific question. Pretty amazing!

I figured, what better way to show off my survey making skills than to have a Digitante reader survey where I’ll be giving away three $10 Amazon giftcards.

Please read the instructions thoroughly and thank you in advanced for you feedback! Those of you reading by email or RSS, you may need to click through to the main site to take the survey.

If you want to share this survey with others, you can use the sharing buttons at the end of the post or you can simply copy the following link and send it via email: http://thedig.in/survey

Gag Gifts…

These gifts aren’t necessarily gags, but the reviews on them are definitely tongue-in-cheek. These are a few of my favorites, along with a quick quote from the reviews.

• Tuscan Whole Milk, 1 Gallon, 128 fl oz – This is a knock-off! Do NOT be fooled by its impossibly low price. “For those of you who have already been taken in by the slick marketing of this product, and by its unbelievably low price of only $67.99 (plus shipping), I can only feel pity. You’ve been HAD!”
• Laptop Steering Wheel Desk – The greatest thing ever invented! “Wow is this thing great! I use it as a “mini-bar” when the friends and I go out to the bars. I can quickly fix multiple shots of tequila for myself and the friends as we drive from one bar to the next.”
• Fresh Whole Rabbit – These are NOT alive! “I’ll keep this short and sweet. We ordered one of these rabbits for our children this Easter and boy what a surprise. It is NOT a living rabbit.”
• Uranium Ore – Great Product, Poor Packaging. “I purchased this product 4.47 Billion Years ago and when I opened it today, it was half empty. “
• JL421 Badonkadonk Land Cruiser/Tank – The Donk is OK, not recommended for a drunken rampage. “If I had it to do over again, I’d leave my insurance settlement money under my matress a while longer instead of spendin it on one of these things. A Badonkadonk … more like a Badonkajunk. “
• Wolf Urine 32 oz – One for the cellar. “One is immediately drawn to this vintage by the colour, which is an elegant, pale straw hue with an appealing peachy fruit on the nose. It has an incredibly effervescent bead — the whole glass teams with bubbles — culminating in a frothy layer at the head. “
• Denon Dedicated Link Cable – Disappointing quality. “A caution to people buying these: if you do not follow the “directional markings” on the cables, your music will play backwards. Please check that before mentioning it in your reviews.”

Amazon Associate…

As I’ve written daily for this venture I call The Digitante, I have tried to keep ads to a minimum because I feel that ads would distract from the strong content that I’ve added here.

All the ads I’ve seen up to this point are invasive and very off-putting and I didn’t feel that they had any place here. However, I found a great way to incorporate a completely painless and non-distracting way to generate a small amount of revenue with my visitors to my site: Amazon Associate.

The way it works is this:

1. If I talk about a product such as in my gift posts the last two nights (gifts under $100 and gifts from $100-399), I can simply post a referral link to the item on Amazon.
2. If you like what I’ve posted, you can click the link and buy the item.
3. I get a fee from Amazon for sending you to them.

It really couldn’t be easier than that.

The products I’ve recommended in these posts are on my personal wishlist and I’m saving my dollars and cents to get them. I wouldn’t post a link to them if I didn’t think they were good products. This is a win for you, my reader.

You might decide to buy them after reading my post, so the fact that I get a little referral fee helps me out. This is a win for me.

Also keep in mind that you don’t have to necessarily have to buy the things that I’ve linked to for me to benefit from your shopping. After you’ve clicked through from my link, you can feel free to shop for whatever you like.

Look for another Gifts for Your Techie post shortly!