Those OnBoard

IMPORTANT NOTE: I am not affiliated with any of the things discussed in my article.  I have no financial stake.  I’m not promoting anything.  I don’t have an ax to grind.  I’m simply sharing what worked for me because I think others may benefit from my experience as I did.

Do you use Vusion? If you do, I’ve got some great news for you: you never have to pay Vusion’s ridiculously high price again, nor get a prescription to buy it.  Don’t worry, I’m not talking about anything illegal, so you can continue to read without that concern.

Vusion is effective, so I’m not bad-mouthing it.  What I have a problem with is how incredibly expensive it is considering it’s made from inexpensive Over-The-Counter ( OTC ) products, and the fact that you need a prescription to buy it.  Even with coupons and insurance coverage, it’s still extremely expensive.  I couldn’t afford it anymore so I had to find an alternative, and I found one.

So get ready to save a lot of money as I show you how to make your own Vusion from inexpensive OTC products.

Before we go further, let’s examine what’s in Vusion.  It has three main ingredients (the rest are just “filler”). Those three ingredients are:

1. miconazole
2. zinc oxide
3. petroleum jelly (also known as petrolatum or white petrolatum or by its brand name Vaseline.  In this article we will refer to this ingredient as petrolatum).

What do those three things do?

1. MICONAZOLE is an antifungal med that has been used for years in OTC anti-fungal products that treat things like athlete’s foot, ringworm, and jock itch (in case you wanted to know, all three of those things are caused by a fungal infection called tinea [pronounced TIN-eee-uh]).  Miconazole is extremely common, inexpensive, and can be found OTC pretty much anywhere.  It is available in a variety of forms such as a cream or a spray-on.  Just search for products used to treat athlete’s foot and you’ll find one that has miconazole.
2. ZINC OXIDE is used in calamine lotion (which you’ve probably heard of) and many other products as an antibacterial and deodorizer.  I’ll explain later where to look for it.
3. PETROLATUM (aka petroleum jelly) is so common and has been around so long that pretty much everyone knows what it is and people usually refer to it by its brand name Vaseline.  When used on chapped lips, it helps by sealing in the moisture to help with cracked, dried lips.  Likewise with skin anywhere else on the body.  Petrolatum can found pretty much anywhere as well.

So knowing what was in Vusion, I was able to find a combination of inexpensive OTC products that when used together achieve the exact same result as Vusion for a fraction of the price and without the need for a prescription.  I’ll tell you how I do it and you can do the same thing as me or change it to whatever works best for you.  You may use whatever products you choose as long as you make sure that you have those three key ingredients.

Here’s what I do:  I bought Lotrimin, which is used for athlete’s foot (it contains miconazole, one of the three key ingredients we’re looking for).  Next, I bought a product called “Triple Paste medicated ointment for diaper rash”, which comes in a little tub with a screw-on lid.  This stuff is basically just petrolatum with zinc oxide in it (the other two key ingredients we’re looking for), and so this product allowed me to kill two birds with one stone because it has both.

So I only needed to buy two products, and both were inexpensive, OTC, and common enough to be found pretty much anywhere.  With those products, whenever I had reason to use Vusion, I instead applied the Lotrimin (miconazole) and then applied the “Triple Paste medicated ointment for diaper rash” (zinc oxide and petrolatum).  Same results!

That’s how I did it.  I hope that helps.  Please feel free to leave feedback if you have any questions or comments.

When someone says “Pass me a Kleenex,” you know what they really mean is “Pass me a tissue.”  But the brand Kleenex has been so successful that the word has become synonymous with the product.  The tech company Apple has likewise left such an imprint with its ubiquitous iPod, which spawned the term “podcasting.”  Most people now realize that a podcast doesn’t require an iPod, but the term has stuck.  This is a testament to how Apple has left its mark on the world of technology, and even in popular culture.

Steve Jobs was the visionary behind the company Apple.  His recent death was prominent in the news and it has prompted a look at the legacy that is Apple.

It’s clear that Apple has made such a dramatic impact on the world, but why is that?  And are Apple products really as great as they’re hyped up to be? Or is it merely slick marketing?

As technology expert Leo Laporte explained, Apple was not the first to come up with their technologies;  rather, they were the ones who took those technologies and made them mainstream.  Edison and Ford didn’t invent the light-bulb and the automobile, respectively.  Instead, they brought it to the masses and thus became the popularizers of their day.  A quick look back at Apple’s history confirms this unmistakable pattern.

In the early days of computers, people used keyboard text commands to operate their computers.  Apple brought personal computers into the average person’s home by having a Graphical User Interface (GUI), which consisted of windows that you could open, close, and manipulate with a mouse.  It was such a success that Microsoft soon followed suit with its own “Windows” operating system.

Next came portable music players.  Apple wasn’t the first one to make a portable music player that could store and play mp3s, but their product was so sleek and simple to use that suddenly iPods were everywhere and people who had never before heard of mp3s were now listening to them on their iPods.

When Apple introduced touch-screen capabilities to their devices, they weren’t the first ones to invent such technology.  But again, they brought it to the masses.  The pattern repeats itself with the iPhone storming its way into the smartphone market, and then the iPad setting the bar for the tablet market.  By this point, Apple had changed our culture.  Everywhere you look, you can see people using their mobile devices, and you can bet that a good portion of them are Apple devices.

There’s no denying that Apple’s been successful. But what is their secret?  Are their products truly better than all the others?  That is the never-ending debate amongst tech enthusiasts.  When a student is shopping for a computer, smartphone, or other device, how are they supposed to decide whether they should by an Apple product or something else?

The truth of the matter is not black and white, but it can be simplified.  Apple does indeed make high quality products.  This is reflected in their high price tags.  But their marketing campaign has been almost as equally impressive as their products.  Through advertising, they have managed to convince many consumers that their product defines them and that buying an Apple product means the purchaser is stylish, creative, unique, ahead of the curve, and not bogged down by technical mumbo-jumbo: “it just works.”  This marketing technique has been immensely effective.  People identify their personalities with their Apple products.

However, the marketing is just that: marketing.  While it is true that Apple makes good products, it is not true that they never break or that they break less than competing products.  They certainly are stylish, but when it comes to getting the most for your money, Apple is not the place to turn.  For those who can afford the higher prices and prefer the style of Apple products, there’s nothing wrong with them.  But for a student on a budget, look elsewhere.  An Apple computer can cost hundreds of dollars more than an equivalent computer of a different brand.  And iPhones have serious competition from Android phones.

The bottom line is this: there is no doubt that Apple has revolutionized our modern tech culture.  For those who have the extra money to spend and prefer the style of Apple products, they won’t be disappointed.  However, for those looking to get the most “bang-for-the-buck” or don’t necessarily care for Apple styling, the competing products are just as good and cost a lot less.

I was a devoted BlackBerry user and the Droid Bionic converted me. That says a lot right there.

First of all, I am not paid to give praise to this device nor the carrier. I am
just a customer who is so happy with my new gadget that I feel like a
kid on Christmas and I wanted to share my experience with others.

When I decided to try out the Bionic, I knew I could return it within two weeks if I didn’t like it, so I had two weeks to decide if I wanted to keep the Bionic or return it and get a different phone.

There were many things I was worried about:

-I was worried that without a physical keyboard, I would not be able to type well on the touch screen keyboard.
-I was worried that with the new OS, I wouldn’t be able to configure and tweak everything to get it working exactly the way I like it.
-I was worried about it being too big to easily fit into my pocket.
-I was worried that the battery wouldn’t last me through the day.
-And I was worried that the 4G LTE (which is one of the Bionic’s selling points) would not be available in my area.

Every single worry that I had was blown away and I am 100% satisfied with my Droid Bionic. I could not be happier with my purchase:

-The touchscreen keyboard provides a tactile response with both vibration and sound which made it much easier for me to learn how to type on a touchscreen keyboard (if you don’t like the vibration and sound, you can turn them off). Within four days I was already proficient with the touchscreen keyboard.
-Android has matured a great deal since I last tried an Android phone (about two years ago) and now the settings have all the options I desire so I can configure and customize the phone to my exacting standards (some might call them obsessively exacting standards but that’s just the way I am).
-The Bionic is bigger than my previous BlackBerry, but when I slid the Bionic into my pocket (no “That’s what she said” jokes), it fit perfectly and I have so far never had a problem with the Bionic being too bulky in my pocket; I don’t even notice that it’s there.
-Regarding battery usage: these days, every single smartphone on the market that has a large high resolution display and 4G data capability is going to have to contend with massive energy consumption, there’s just no way around it with current battery technology. So when I compared the Droid Bionic to several of my friends’ smartphones (Android, iPhone, and even Windows Phone 7), the Bionic was slightly better. They were all very close and I think it comes down to how you use your phone. There are many battery-saving settings on the Bionic that you can customize till your heart’s content. So the bottom line is that considering what the Bionic is, it does not hog battery, and in fact with the right settings it can make the battery last for a very long time.
-I’ve tried all three of the US’s major carriers in the following order: AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon. Granted, different phones will produce different results, but when I got my Bionic on Verizon, I was blown away by the speed. It might have also been the Bionic’s hardware, but whenever I was in range of 4G LTE, the speed was blazing fast: better than any other in my experience. However, when I was with Sprint, the ONLY time I was in range of their 4G network was when I was at the airport, and that was for about 10 minutes. With my Bionic on Verizon’s 4G LTE, I was pleasantly surprised to be in range almost everywhere, including where I live which is a notorious “Dead Zone” for cell phone reception. (P.S. Of course I use the Bionic’s WiFi whenever possible because that’s just common sense).

I’m in love with my phone (I think I’ll marry it). But I feel obliged to find something wrong with it. However, this may be just me being too stupid to figure it out, but I can’t find a way to make a homescreen shortcut that toggles the “Data enabled” on/off. I’ve been able to do it with wifi, but I can’t figure it out for data. It may be a shortcoming of the phone, or it may be I just haven’t figured it out. If it’s the latter and anyone out there wants to enlighten me, please do so, and remember, “A Lannister always pays his debts.” P.S. Let’s assume I’m a Lannister

Remember Myspace?  It wasn’t too long ago that people thought Myspace would keep growing and continue to be successful.  Facebook has since taken the position as the top social network with over 500 million active users reported in 2010 and all indications seemed to be pointing to Facebook’s continued growth and success with over 750 million active users a year later.  It’s become a household name and even grandma has a Facebook account.  Meanwhile Myspace use continues to decline and many analysts have written the company off as essentially dead.

So to some people it would seem crazy to predict the doom of Facebook.  But if there’s one company that could dethrone Facebook as king of social networking, it’s Google.

Also a household name, Google’s success was originally built on its search engine, which has become so ubiquitous that the dictionary now recognizes the name as a word, as in “I just googled a great new dinner recipe.”

However the world has seen continued innovation from the search engine giant and they’ve been massively successful with other services such as Gmail, Google Maps, and Picasa (their photo software).

But Google has had their share of failures too.  The most recognized examples are Google Buzz and Google Wave.  If you don’t even know what those two things are, you’re not alone.  Google has recognized their failure and abandoned them.  Yet Google has apparently learned a great deal from their mistakes, because they’ve finally stepped into the social-networking arena with a new service that seems poised to go toe-to-toe with Facebook:  Google Plus.

In case you haven’t heard, Google Plus (sometimes abbreviated as G+) is Google’s most recent attempt to create a social networking service, and from the looks of it, it’s no wonder many are calling Google Plus the “Facebook Killer.”

With Google Plus, Google has taken cues from both Facebook and Twitter.  While Twitter is not a direct competitor with Facebook because it fulfills a different function than Facebook, Twitter is certainly a company worth studying if you’re trying to build a successful social networking service.

So what exactly is Google Plus?  To put it bluntly, it’s like Facebook, but different.  But is it better?  Can it possibly compete with Facebook?  Why should we care?  If we already have a Facebook account, do we need a Google Plus account?

The answer is, yes.  Google Plus is almost certainly here to stay.  And while it may be possible for both Facebook and Google Plus to both be successful, anyone who doesn’t use Google Plus is going to get left in the digital dust.  Why is that?  If one already has a Facebook account, why do we need a Google Plus account?  Because Google Plus does a number of things that Facebook doesn’t, and it does them well.

The most exciting feature of Google Plus so far is the group video chat, which in G+ speak are called “Hangouts.”  As of right now, these group video chats support up to ten people, and as with everything in Google Plus, they’re absolutely free.  In other words, say goodbye to Skype.  While in a G+ Hangout, a small video of each person is displayed on the bottom of the screen, and whoever is talking is displayed in a large main video in the center.  After trying out a group video chat with friends and family, it is instantly apparent that these “Hangouts” will be both fun and useful.  In addition to just having a good time talking with friends or family, the group video chats are also amazingly useful for students who need to collaborate on an assignment or study together.  The business world has already embraced these group video chats for the same reasons giving Google Plus an instant significance for a large number of people.

The next way in which G+ triumphs over Facebook is privacy and sharing.  Many people have complained about Facebook’s privacy and sharing policies.  People end up accidentally sharing things with the wrong people or even making them public so anyone can see.  This includes messages, photos, videos, and anything else you might want to share with people.  Google Plus addresses this problem with a concept called “Circles.” Once you have a G+ account, you can add other people to your Circles.  For example, you might have a circle labeled “Friends,” another “Family,” “Coworkers,” “Acquaintances,” etc.  Any time you say or share something, you can easily decide who gets to see it.  That makes it much easier to prevent you from accidentally making things visible to the wrong people, which as many people know can be very bad.

As of this writing, Google Plus is still in its “testing” phase, meaning that in order to sign up for an account, you need to be invited by someone with an account.  Google is doing it this way because they want to work all the kinks out of G+ and have a smooth service before they “officially” release it to the public.   Update: Google Plus is now officially open to the public and anyone can sign up.

So go out there and give Google Plus a try.  Because it’s extremely fun, useful, and it’s here to stay.

P.S. I’m a writer for The Corsair Newspaper and you can read my article on The Corsair website (albeit an edited-down version):  http://www.thecorsaironline.com/opinion/2011/09/14/google-plus-takes-facebook-to-the-ring/

On 2011-02-17 in Los Angeles, California, there was a debate entitled “Is There An Afterlife?” featuring such prominent figures as Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, David Wolpe, and Bradley Artson.

I attended this debate in person and it was very enjoyable. The topic of discussion may seem a bit silly, and in fact Sam Harris joked about this at the beginning of the debate saying, “I’ve been very worried about this, that all of you [in attendance] have given up a perfectly serviceable Tuesday evening only to hear the four of us tell you every which way that we have no idea what happens after death.” Despite this, it turned out to be very interesting.  I found each of the panelists to be articulate, entertaining, concise, and witty. The only exception in my opinion was Artson, who was rambling, boring, and just kept droning on and on, talking in circles as well as going off on tangents rather than addressing the issues put forth to him by the others. It seemed to me Artson did not belong up there with the others who are the top dogs in their field and masters of their craft. But like I said, overall the event was great. The moderator Rob Eshman did an admirable job as well, and he wrote a good summary of the whole event which you can read here: http://www.jewishjournal.com/bloggish/item/hitchens_wolpe_harris_artsen_and_the_afterlife_excerpts_20110222/ In fact, if you watched the debate and didn’t know anything about Eshman, you would have a very difficult time determining which side of the issue he agreed with, and that is definitely the mark of a good debate moderator so I laud him for that.

At one point the conversation turned to the idea of dualism, the notion that the mind exists separately from the body and that a person is more than just the “sum of their parts.” Obviously this is closely tied in with the notion of an afterlife. One (or both) of the rabbis brought up the phenomenon of near-death experiences inducing a spiritual feeling in the person going through the experience, and used this as an argument for making their case for the existence of dualism. I was surprised and disappointed that Harris (who has a doctorate in neuroscience) did not refute this argument as many have done already. There is a growing body of evidence showing that the spiritual or religious feel of a near-death experience is a manifestation of biochemical processes going on in the brain. For example, researchers have been able to artificially induce this spiritual/religious feel of a near-death experience by stimulating the brain of a person in a certain way. There’s much more to be said about that topic but I will save it for another time; I merely brought it up to express my disappointment that Harris didn’t talk more about that, for whatever reason.

One other minor thing to note is that some of the audience was having trouble hearing Hitchens who had fairly recently undergone treatment for esophageal cancer (i.e. throat cancer). This was remedied when someone finally gave him a better microphone.

Feel free to watch the debate below. For the most part the entire discussion is fascinating and entertaining, regardless of your own personal beliefs on the issues. If you are interested in the topics of religion, death, afterlife, god, or a lack thereof, I’m sure you’ll enjoy the debate as much as I did.

Many people these days are aware of problems with schools.  It’s an extremely complex issue with no easy answer.  So I’m not proposing anything or trying to make any kind of grand sweeping generalization, or claiming I know how to fix the problems.  But I want to share with you a personal example of a deficiency in my education (through no fault of my own).

I always paid attention in history class (or at the very least read all the assigned reading and did all the assigned work).  So while I may not be a history whiz, I should at least know some of the basics, right?

Today I was on wikipedia reading about the Industrial Revolution.  I’ve heard the term before, but we never covered it in school.  Someone may have mentioned it in passing, but I really knew nothing about it until I started reading about it today.  In the opening paragraph, it states “Economic historians are in agreement that the onset of the Industrial Revolution is the most important event in the history of humanity since the domestication of animals and plants.”

As I learned more about the Industrial Revolution, I began to see that this statement about the importance of the Industrial Revolution is not an exaggeration.  Every single one of us lives the way we do because of what happened during the Industrial Revolution.  I learned about economic growth.  Mechanization.  Worker exploitation.  Labor unions.  Collective bargaining.  These things are huge.  They matter, in a very direct and real sense.  I’ve only skimmed the surface but now I at least have a foundation of knowledge about that subject.  So many things in our every day lives are a direct result of global changes that took place during the Industrial Revolution, and having now learned the basics of it, I have a much better understanding of the world.

So what’s my point?  Well, we’ve already talked about how we’re autodidacts. I just want to continue the conversation.  There is so much to learn out there about the universe we live in.  The more you learn, the more pieces of the jigsaw puzzle that comprises our reality fit into place.  Let your curiosity guide you.  And know that there’s always so much more to be learned.  You just have to teach it to yourself.  It’s empowering.

EDIT 2011-10-16: The following videos about the future of education and how it can be changed for the better are both inspiring and jarring:

Both videos are TED talks regarding the current state of and the future of the educational system.  In the first video, Salman Kahn (of Kahn Academy fame) talks about how he has begun working with schools to revolutionize teaching.  The second video, which is a bit more bleak, has Bill Gates (of Microsoft fame) talking about the consequences of the budget cuts to education as well as the possibilities for fixing the problems.

I was compelled to share a noteworthy excerpt from the podcast The Skeptics’ Guide To The Universe, which if you’ve never heard of it before, I highly recommend you give it a listen because it’s one of the best podcasts out there, especially in the areas of skepticism and science.  I want to bring to your attention an excerpt from episode #292 – Feb 16 2011.  Steven Novella is host of the podcast and in my opinion is one of the most intelligent, cogent, and savvy experts in the skeptical community.   In this excerpt he responds to someone espousing an anti-science viewpoint.

The most substantive and powerful part is when Steven Novella says that in responding to people who say things like “We don’t need science to tell us what to believe,” Steven Novella says to them “What do you think science is?  There is nothing magical about science.  It is simply a systematic way for carefully and thoroughly observing nature and using consistent logic to evaluate results.  So which part of that exactly do you disagree with?  Do you disagree with being thorough?  Using careful observation?   Being systematic?  Or using consistent logic?”

Of course, there is no way someone can respond to that in any kind of intelligent way while still maintaining their anti-science viewpoint. Thank you, Steven Novella, for fighting the good fight, and being so on point.  Definitely quote-worthy material here.

In a previous article, I discussed insider trading and explained what makes it illegal.  Since then, I recently learned a disturbing fact.  Our elected representatives in government are apparently above the law.  What do I mean by this?  Well, actions that would land a citizen in jail for insider trading carry no penalties for some politicians.  You can see this on the various committees and subcommittees in our government.  An example of this is a politician who sits on a committee that decides how the government spends it’s money.  This politician will be a stock-holder in a company that gets a government contract due to the decision of the very committee that politician is a part of!  In other words, Politician A is a part of a committee which decides which company gets the government contract for something like building new military airplanes.  Now the corruption can happen in one of two ways.

Example 1: Politician A learns that company B is going to be getting the multi-billion dollar contract for making new military airplanes.  Politician A immediately calls up his stock broker and and says “Buy a ton of stock in Company B!”  If this situation occurred in any other industry, Mr. A would go to jail for insider trading.  But since he’s “Politician A,” he’s allowed to do that without any penalty.

Example 2: Same as above except Politician A already owns a ton of stock in Company B.  Now when it comes time for the committee to decide which company gets the multi-billion dollar government contract to build military airplanes, Politician A votes for Company B.  Gee, ya think there might be a conflict of interest?

And I’ve got news for you folks: this type of thing goes on in BOTH parties. Democrats and Republicans are both equally guilty of this.  In fact, that’s the reason why this corruption has been allowed to remain unchecked; because neither the Democratic politicians nor the Republican politicians dare to point a finger at their opponents on this issue because they know the opponents can point a finger right back at them.  So amongst all the bickering back and forth that goes on between the two parties, one of the things they CAN agree on is to remain hush hush on the issue of this particular type of corruption / conflict of interest.

Wrapping up, this is just another example of how the political system in the US has gotten to the point of being legalized bribery.  I’ll write another article going into more detail on the subject so stay tuned.

I’m going to teach you to be like me.  Now you are asking yourself, “Why would I want that?”  I’ll tell you.

If you’re like me, you use a computer regularly.  Very regularly.  Like maybe bordering on too much.  Perhaps you use multiple computers, such as at home and at work.  And if you’re like me, your digital data is vastly important to you: without access to all your emails, documents, photos, website bookmarks, etc., you would be screwed and your life would be hugely inconvenienced, to put it mildly.

But unlike most of you, my computer has no importance to me.  If my computer were to suddenly get destroyed, stolen, etc., I would not fret one little bit.  And it’s not because I’m rich, because I am most definitely not rich.  So why would the loss of my computer not bother me?  I’ll tell you, but first I’m going to demonstrate something else:

If I am traveling around in my day to day life or even if I’m traveling to some place afar, I never have to think to myself, “Did I remember to bring with me my [fill in the blank]?”  Why not?  For the same reason I wouldn’t sweat the loss of my laptop.  I have freed myself from my computer.  What does that mean?  I’ll feed ya, baby bird:  What that means is that even though I am constantly on any given computer, that particular computer is just an interface between me and my digital data.  No matter where I go, no matter what computer I’m using, my data and I are connected in the same way.  That’s because my data is cloud distributed.  Cloud distribution is the key to my success, and I’ll explain exactly what that means. Cloud distribution means my data is distributed in many locations, and they’re all in sync.  However, that doesn’t mean my data is ONLY in the cloud (this is a very important distinction).  My data is also on any computer I use, so if I’m cut off from the cloud, it doesn’t matter; I still have access to all my data, and I can make changes to my data while offline.  As soon as that computer regains its connection to the cloud, my data changes are saved to the cloud and to all my other devices, just as if nothing unusual had ever happened.

Here’s how I did it, and it didn’t cost me a penny:

Before we get started, you’re going to have to make a realization.  You need to realize that some of your data is unique and/or self-generated (like documents you wrote, photos you’ve taken, bookmarked websites, emails, etc.).  This data will be referred to as your valuable data.  The rest consists of stuff that is easily searched for and gotten from the web, like maybe programs or downloaded movies.  This will be referred to as your non-essential data.  The reason for making these two categories has to do with storage space and bandwidth.  Ok, ready?  Here we go:

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Step 1.  Dropbox.

Dropbox is absolutely key to my success.  Dropbox is an application/service that offers file synchronization.  You can sign up for a free account at dropbox.com.  A free account comes with 2GB of space.  However, you can increase that to a maximum of 1̶0̶G̶B̶ 19GB(Update 2011-04-26: Dropbox increased the maximum capacity of free accounts to 19GB) by referring other people and doing various other things on the dropbox website.  I maxed mine out, and that is important because for my purposes (and probably your purposes too), 2GB is not going to be enough but 19GB will be.  Once you sign up and have your 2GB account, you get an additional 250MB (that’s .25GB or 1/4 a GB) anytime someone clicks your referral link, creates a Dropbox account, and installs the Dropbox software on their computer (Update 2011-04-26: Dropbox now gives double the referral space (500MB or .5GB or 1/2 a GB) if you prove to the Dropbox website that you have an educational email address, which is an email address that ends in .edu).  And they (Dropbox) have a way of knowing whether a computer has already been used for this purpose, so you have to do it on a new computer each time.  So spread Dropbox to all your friends and family and make sure they use your referral link so that you get credit and get the extra storage space. There are ways to take advantage of this that some people do such as going into a computer lab or similar place and using each computer to give themselves a referral, or using a virtual machine software on their own computer to get the referrals. I am not condoning those practices, I am just being realistic and telling you that there are some people who do that. Note that Dropbox also has premium accounts that give you much more space for a monthly or yearly price.  But for the purposes of this tutorial, I’m keeping my promise that everything is free, so we’ll assume you’re going with the free account.

So, you’ve created your Dropbox account, maxed out your storage space to 19GB, and installed Dropbox on all your devices (computers, laptops, smartphones, tablet devices, etc.). (Note to certain people: you might not be aware of the fact that an iPhone is a smartphone and an iPad is a tablet device. There are many different brands available; Apple is just one of them).

When you install Dropbox on your device, it gives you the option to put the Dropbox folder anywhere.  I recommend putting it in your user folder.  For example on Windows 7 point it to C:>Users>username. On a Mac this would be in harddrive>Users>username.  On Windows XP it would be C:\Documents and Settings\username.  They have it for Linux too but I haven’t used it so I can’t comment on the specifics of a Linux installation.

Now, in your Dropbox folder (which is called either “Dropbox” or “My Dropbox”), you’re going to create a folder called Documents or Docs or whatever.  Put all your documents in that folder.  Next, you’ll notice that in your Dropbox folder there’s a folder called “Photos”.  Put all your photos in that folder.  Now this next part is up to you: you create whatever folders you need to inside your Dropbox folder and put whatever files you consider to be valuable data into your Dropbox folder and its respective sub-folders. You may organize everything in your Dropbox folder any way you want, with one caveat: when you first install Dropbox and look inside your Dropbox folder, there will be a certain 2 folders in there, one called “Photos” and one called “Public”. DO NOT delete either of those folders. I’ll explain why later.

Once your valuable data is in the Dropbox folder and you have an active internet connection, the files inside your Dropbox folder will automatically be synced to any devices you’ve installed Dropbox on, as well as to your online account.  This means that you can access your data from any of your devices, with or without internet connection.  But what if you find yourself using someone else’s device? No problem.  You simply go to dropbox.com, sign in, and you have access to all your files.  Dropbox is also useful for sharing files.  Inside your Dropbox folder is a folder called “Public”. Any file that you put in this Public folder you can share by right-clicking (or ctrl-clicking), selecting “Dropbox”, then click “Copy public link”.  Now you can paste this link in an email or wherever, and people will be able to click that link and get that file.

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Step 2. Gmail / Google Apps.

If you already have a Gmail account, good.  If not, then create one (it’s free).  I don’t care if you don’t want to switch to Gmail.  You have to or you’re making a poor life decision and you’ll get left in the digital dust.  Ok, so you’ve got your Gmail account.  Note that you now have all the other Google apps like Docs, Spreadsheets, etc. and anything that you could do in the past in Microsoft Word or Excel or whatever, now you can do it all using all the various Google tools.  Now you’re no longer dependent on a computer having the right software installed on it because you’ll always have access to your Google tools.  But what about if you lose internet connectivity?  That won’t be a problem once you do enable offline access to your Google stuff. I’ll explain how to do it but in the future the steps might change as Google changes its interface. If that’s the case, you can easily find instructions by searching Google. But anyway, at the time of this writing, the steps are as follows:  Sign in to your Gmail account at gmail.com, then click on settings (in the upper right-hand corner), click “Offline”, select “Enable Offline…”, then scroll down and click “Save”.  It will ask you if you want a link to offline mail on your desktop, start menu, and quick launch.  I recommend selecting at least one of those so you can click it when you need to.  Now your email is mobile (web-based) but ALSO saved on your computer in case you lose internet connectivity.  Any changes made while offline will be automatically synced once internet connectivity has been reestablished.  Now, on your smartphone and/or tablet device, download and install Google Sync and set it up by logging in with your gmail address and password.  Select calendar and contacts, and set it to automatic.  Now your contacts and calendar automatically & wirelessly synced across your phone and any computer.  If you were to have your phone lost/stolen/broken, no need to worry about your contacts and calendar, because it’s still all in your gmail account.  Just replace your phone, install Google Sync again, and voila! All your contacts and calendar data will be in your new phone.

BONUS: For only $9/year, you can have all the benefits of a Gmail account and also have a custom domain name for your email address.  For example, instead of name@gmail.com you would have name@mydomain.com, where “mydomain” would be replaced by whatever you want.  You can find a good article on this topic at Lifehacker located here: http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2010/12/why-you-should-use-google-apps-with-your-personal-domain-for-your-google-life/

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Step 3.  Xmarks.

Simply put, Xmarks synchronizes your website bookmarks across multiple computers and browsers.  It also gives you access to your bookmarks from any device that can go on websites.

Before we go any further, it should go without saying at this time that you should be using either (or both) of the two best browsers: Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome.  If you have any questions about this issue, you may find it helpful to listen to the ThoseOnBoard Podcast #0.2 – Choosing The Best Web Browser.

So now that we’ve established that you’re using either Firefox or Chrome for your web browser, go to Xmarks.com, create a free account, then install the Xmarks extension (the site has instructions on this, it’s very simple.  Xmarks is completely free, however if you want they have a premium service that you pay for and get added perks.  Just check their site if you’re interested.  Now, on your smartphone/tablet device, install and setup Xmarks as well.

Voila!  You are now liberated from your computer.  All your valuable digital data is backed up, synchronized, and readily available from any device.

Ok, so I lied a little bit when I said that I wouldn’t mind a bit if my computer were destroyed/stolen/etc.  Of course I would be angry because I’d have to buy a new one and like I said before, I’m not rich.  But I would be comforted by the fact that all my precious data isn’t gone forever.  And ain’t that somethin’?

Those OnBoard Episode #0.2 – Choosing The Best Web Browser

Please excuse the poor audio quality; we are still tweaking our equipment and we promise the audio will get better with subsequent episodes.