Ask yourself this question. What would you do if you woke up one day and found that your Google Accounts have all been wiped off the face of the internet — vanished, as if they never even existed. For some, I suppose, this may be a non-issue, but for a lot of people living deep within the Google universe, it could be a nightmare.

This is exactly what I am dealing with right now. On July 6, 2010, I attempted to log into my Gmail account and received the following error message:

The username or password you entered is incorrect

I tried a few more times. Then a few more times. Nothing. Hmm. I tried logging into some of my other Google services,… Calender, Reader, Docs, etc…, and got the same error message. After a few more unsuccessful attempts, I gave up and decided to initiate a password recovery, only to receive the following message:

There are no Google Accounts currently registered to the username skyecade@gmail.com.

Panic ensued. I spent the morning trying to figure out what went wrong, but to no avail. My Google Account was gone, and with it, my Gmail, Gtalk, Docs, Reader, Calendars, Buzz, Profile, Youtube, Wave, Voice, Analytics, and Feedburner account. Half a decades worth of content and several gigabytes of emails, feeds, documents, appointments, contacts, voicemails, and videos, all vanished without a trace. Incidentally, I can’t access my Blogger, Picassa, Orkut, or Jaiku accounts either, but since I rarely use them, I didn’t mention them in the list above. (Scratch that, I do have access my Jaiku account.)

At this point, I’m going to assume that my account still exists on some server out there in Google land. That may be wishful thinking though. For all I know, my account may have been hacked, molested, and then deleted. The worst part is — I can’t get a hold of Google to find out. Their support is nonexistent. They have an account recovery form that you can fill out (assuming I still have an account to recover), but it seems to be completely automated. I get this response within minutes of submitting the form:

Thank you for your report. We’ve completed our investigation and cannot
return your account at this time. We were unable to verify that you own
this account based on the information you provided.

And then after a few more submissions:

Thank you for your report. For account security, we limit the number of
requests that can be processed about the same account. Please wait a few
days and try filling out the form again.

The account recovery form consists of questions regarding Gmail, Blogger, and Orkut. Two of these services I don’t even use. The third, Gmail, I created 5 or 6 years ago and can’t remember a lot of the specifics, such as the exact date I opened the account or the recovery email address I used when I signed up. But I did the best I could and submitted the form over and over again hoping to get a different response. Perhaps even a human response.

The part that kills me is that it would be so easy to verify my account. Google has my cell phone number. They could just call me. Or text me. I also have a verified name on my Google Profile that can only be obtained via credit card or social security number. How much more verification do you need than that? Or perhaps they could verify my account through my Google Analytics or Voice or Docs. Anything is better than having to answer questions about Orkut. The process seemed a bit antiquated for a company that all but dominates the Internet.

So yes, I’m frustrated with this whole ordeal. It’s been two weeks and I haven’t come any closer to finding out what happened to my account and I can’t find anyway to contact Google. This has, however, made me seriously rethink my stance on cloud computing. For one thing, don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Having all Google services tied together under one account probably isn’t the best idea. Two, sync (formerly known as backup). Once upon a time I used to tell people that the harddrive would become obsolete. I hope I’m wrong. Being able to access your data on the cloud is a huge advantage, but as I’ve learned, there is nothing like a good old fashioned local copy. Developer’s of applications such as Dropbox, Evernote, FeedDemon, and even Google, to an extent, see the benefits of syncing across multiple computers, while still utilizing the cloud for convenience. I really hope this trend continues.

So that’s my sad story. Google, if you’re out there, give me a call. You have my number. In fact, you gave it to me. If my account is gone, so be it. Life goes on. I should have been more proactive in safeguarding my data and a lot less reliant on the cloud. I take full responsibility for that. But it would still be nice to know what exactly happened and whether or not I can ever expect to get my account back. For now, I guess, all I can do is sit back and wait…

I just got back from a nice little, albeit sweltering, two mile jaunt while wearing my new Vibram FiveFingers: Bikilas. A little over a month ago, an article over at WBUR caught my attention. It was about the health benefits of barefoot running and Vibram’s lineup of minimalist running shoes. I was instantly intrigued. For one thing, I’m always barefoot — at least where it’s permitted. More importantly though, I was starting to feel a slight ache in my knees. Not too bad mind you, but enough to give me a glimpse into the future if I stayed on my current course. I already had a bout of physical therapy for my hamstring, and let me tell you, it’s not so fun.

I mostly run on the street and the Vibrams afford me a little more protection than running barefoot, while still maintaining the mechanics of barefoot running. By that I mean landing on your mid or forefoot rather than a heel strike. When you land on your heel, it sends a shock up your shins, through your knees and hamstring, all the way up to your back. That’s why running shoes are highly cushioned, to help absorb that initial shock. Landing on you mid/forefoot, however, takes advantage of the body’s natural shock absorbing system. You see, humans are born to run. We don’t need high tech gear to do so. Next time you are barefoot, try running around your yard or house a bit. Take particular notice of how you naturally run. Do you land on your heel or the ball of your foot?

So how was my first run? It was very good, considering it was 94 degrees out. Here are the particulars: I ran 2 miles on some quiet back roads, consciously trying to break the habit of the heel strike. That’s not so hard to do when there’s zero padding for your heel and it hurts like hell to land on it. The balls of my feet started heating up pretty good about three quarters of the way through the run, possibly due to the obscenely hot weather, but more likely because they’re relatively tender compared to my battle hardened heels. I assume they’ll toughen up over time. By the way, these shoes are a bitch to put on at first. It took me five minutes to get just one foot situated the day I bought them. I’m at about thirty seconds per foot now. One thing that I noticed during (and felt after) the run is that I used an entirely different set of muscles. My calves, and believe it or not, my abs were very sore, but that good kind of sore. I felt nothing in my knees or my hamstrings. The other thing I noticed is how light I felt. More agile even. My stride was a bit shorter, but not as much as I thought it would be.

All in all, I was extremely happy with my first run. It’s still too soon for me seriously recommend these to anybody (although I really want to). I’ll need a good month to a year of running before I can put my official seal of approval on them, but they’re definitely off in the right direction.

I received my shiny new Asus U30JC-A1 last week and thus begins the age old process of making it my own; a sacred ritual familiar to all geeks — removing bloatware, setting up preferences and user accounts, optimizing, tweaking, securing, customizing, etc… You know the drill. It also includes installing your core set of applications that you use on a daily / weekly basis. This core set is unique to every geek and to every operating system (although the line separating software from operating system is slowly fading away.) Below is my own personal list of core apps (must-have programs) that I immediately install on all my computers. Most of the following programs are O.S. independent and / or open source.

Antivir – My personal favorite Antivirus program. I’ve had a lot more luck with Antivir than I have with AVG or Avast .

Dropbox – 2 gigs of free cloud-based storage that automatically sync my folders and files between computers. I don’t know how I survived the days of Dropboxlessness.

Evernote – The only note taking, scrap collecting, journal writing, website clipping software suite I will ever need. Evernote also takes full advantage of the cloud while also syncing locally to all my computers.

Filezilla – My favorite FTP program by far. Simple and does what it’s suppose to do.

Firefox – Still the best browser out there. I switched to Chrome for a while and although faster in a lot of situations, it tended to be a little too buggy for me to use on a daily basis. Not to mention its lack of Mozilla’s impressive collection of add-ons.

While we’re on the subject of Firefox add-ons, here’s a mini-must-have bonus list.

Google Gears – Lets you to store data from websites locally allowing you to access it while offline. Very useful at times.
Xmarks – Syncs my bookmarks between all my computers. So nice.
Nice Translator – An extension to a great website of the same name which enables me to translate words and sentences on the fly in a plethora of different languages.
Web Developer – A must have for any web developer or tinkerer.
No Script – Blocks all flash and javascript from running without my express permission. I highly recommend this one.
Dictionary Tooltip – Does just what you think it would. Highlight a word and it gives you its definition.
LogMeIn – This is an add-on which enables me to log into my home or work PC from anywhere. You need to install a small app onto the target PC, but it’s well worth it.

Audacity – A cross-platform, open source sound editor.

iTunes – I know there are a lot of alternatives out there, but honestly, I haven’t found a reason to switch yet. (It’s funny that I feel like I have to justify the use of such a mainstream program)

Launchy – An open source keystroke launcher. Enables me to launch anything in a split second. I would be lost without it. I use Quicksilver for the Mac.

Notepad++ – This is a fantastic, open source text editor with syntax highlighting. I absolutely love it.

Open Office – The open source alternative to M$ Office. Much better too, in my opinion.

Python – An open source, general purpose programming language which allows me to do…, well, anything I want.

Sandboxie – This cool little app can isolate programs from the rest of your computer, essentially rendering them harmless to your system. Great for testing software or surfing the web, i.e., Firefox in sandboxie mode. (Sadly, not for Mac).

Skype – Instant message and VoiP. The best of the best of the best…sir.

Steam – Because we all need to unwind. Steam is by far the easiest way to game.

Truecrypt – Create an encrypted container of any size to securely store content or use it to encrypt your entire hard drive. Either way, your data is safe from prying eyes. I keep a 100 megabyte encrypted container in my Dropbox folder so I can access it from anywhere.

uTorrent – My favorite bit torrent app. And now available on Mac, yay!

VLC – A cross-platform video player that just works — all the time.

7-Zip – A good compression utility. There’s nothing more exciting than a good compression utility, am I right?

Tweetdeck – A power user’s window into the world of Twitter. I’ll be honest with you, I didn’t understand the hype surrounding Twitter until I started using Tweetdeck. With this program, I can get real-time information from anywhere around the world, from real people, anytime of day or night. Did I mention real it’s real time? Literally, Twitter is the chat room of the world and Tweetdeck is the interface.

Cygwin – A Unix emulator for Windows for us command-line warriors. (No need for Mac / linux)

Virtualbox – Very handy, open source virtualization software, ideal for running operating systems within operating systems.

And there you have it.

Ever since my precious Macbook kicked the bucket about two months ago (while graciously breaking my fall and selflessly coming between my face and the cement), I’ve been on the look out for a replacement notebook. My late Macbook was an original 2006 model, so I think it’s safe to say that any new notebook would be an upgrade.

I adored my Macbook, but at the same time I wanted something a little beefier on the CPU / GPU front than what the current line Macbooks had to offer. The Macbook Pros looked delicious, but the price points made my head hurt. So began the search…

I’ll skip past all the gritty details and laptop comparisons and hours spent reading reviews and articles and becoming familiar (again) with Nvidia’s / ATI’s mobile graphics cards and Intel’s Core i3, 5, and 7 chipsets and the pros and cons of this and that and on, and on, and on.

Instead, I’ll jump right to the end. I bought an Asus U30JC-A1 from XoticPC.com. Regarding hardware specs, this puppy falls somewhere between the 13″ and 15″ Macbook Pros, and it’s half the price.

Some quick highlights: Intel® Core™ i3 Processor 350M/330M : 2.26 GHz – 2.13 GHz, 4GB SDRAM DDR3 1066 MHz SDRAM, 13.3″ HD (1366×768) Color-Shine (Glare-type), NVIDIA® GeForce® G 310M, with 512MB & Intel GMA HD (Support NVIDIA Optimus Technology) VRAM, 320 Gb Hard Drive @ 5400 rpm.

No Bluetooth, but Asus claims up to 9 hours of battery life while using the integrated Intel graphics card (I’ve read reports of 8+ hours from actual users). It’s 4.7 pounds, exactly what my Macbook was. Most ultraportables are around 3 to 4 pounds. I’m 6′ 2″ and 185 pounds — an extra pound is not going to break my back.

Nvidia’s Optimus technology looks really nice. Depending on your point of view, I’m happy / sad to say that I’ve been upgraded / downgraded from a hardcore gamer to a casual gamer over the last half decade, so gaming wasn’t my main concern when looking for a new notebook. With that said, I do like to fire up a little Team Fortress 2, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Battlefield Bad Company 2, yada yada yada, from time to time. I’m also a frequent Adobe Lightroom user and have been known to do some video editing here and there, both of which will get a nice boost with the addition of a discrete graphics card.

With decent graphics capabilities, outstanding battery life, acceptable portability, a powerful, yet energy efficient processor, an elegant and very solid design (brushed aluminum), and half the price of a Macbook Pro, I simply couldn’t resist this laptop. I’ve been purchasing Asus products for years, mainly motherboards (or mostly mainboards, ha!), and I’ve always been very pleased. This will be my first laptop experience with them. It should be delivered on Wednesday, so cross your fingers. Hopefully all my expectations and presumptions will hold true. If not, back to Mac I go?

I got this email earlier today.

Dear Robert S.,

The Lala service will be shut down on May 31st.

In appreciation of your support over the last five years, you will receive a credit in the amount of your Lala web song purchases for use on Apple’s iTunes Store. If you purchased and downloaded mp3 songs from Lala, those songs will continue to play as part of your local music library.

Remaining wallet balances and unredeemed gift cards will be converted to iTunes Store credit (or can be refunded upon request). Gift cards can be redeemed on Lala until May 31st.

Click here or visit Lala.com/support for more information, or to view Lala’s Terms of Service.

Thank you.

Lala

Lala was / is such a fantastic website too. This is a shame. I really hope Applesoft does something outstanding with its technology.

Meg and I watched the movie 2012 last night because we were in the mood for something deep and meaningful.</sarcasm> We knew going into it that it might be a little painful, sort of like that feeling you get right before you yank a band-aid from your arm. But seriously, how bad could it be, right? RIGHT!? Let me tell you how bad — it was like yanking a giant band-aid off of your entire face, over and over again, for two hours straight.

I think the term “every cliché in the book” has become a bit of a cliché in and of itself, but if there were such a book, these guys found it, read it, reread it, and then plagiarized it. All of it. Every cliché in the book, as it were.

Just one more thing and then I’ll shut up. I’ve noticed that every natural disaster movie that’s released tries to out do its predecessor in terms of death toll. Twister (96) and Dante’s Peak (97) both wipe out various sized towns. Volcano (97) wipes out a major city. Deep Impact (98) and Armageddon (98) wipe out half the planet. The Day After Tomorrow (04) wipes out most of the planet. 2012 (09) …… I can’t say what happens, it would spoil the movie. Let’s just say, to beat it, the next natural disaster movie is going to have to wipe out the entire planet, repopulate it, then wipe it out again. I can’t wait.

This is possibly the most titillating article I’ve read on the future of the Internet since the early days of Web 2.0, circa 2004. I actually got chills reading it. No kidding, chills! Unfortunately, it also confirmed some of my beliefs regarding the current state of the Internet.

I recently read somewhere that, for this next generation, the Internet is the new television. What?!? That made me slightly depressed, considering the Web has the potential to change humanity in ways we can’t yet imagine — and can do an infinite amount more than just aggregate gossip and entertain the masses. Luckily for me, there are people in high places that share my convictions. Luckily for you, they’re a lot smarter than I am.

Enjoy!

TIME TO START TAKING THE INTERNET SERIOUSLY By David Gelernter

Family Guy: Something, Something, Something, Darkside.

Okay, this is very weird. It’s the original Star Wars holiday special starring Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, et al…, which aired, just once, on November 17th, 1978. I was a shade under 5 years old.

“Why is it so weird?”, you may ask. This holiday special from hell has managed to embed itself in some sinister recurring dream I’ve had to endure over the course of my entire life. And honestly, seeing it again kind of freaks me out.

Enjoy!

Read the full story here.

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