After spending an exhausting amount of time in front of the computer, most evenings this week, I decided that it is time to consolidate the number of "technical gadgets" that I have at home.
Every computer or gadget that I own typically costs me a lot in personal time to maintain, be it a computer that's crashed, backing up data, or software enhancements. The following list is just few areas where I spend a lot of my time:
- Looking after RobGarrett.com email (Home Exchange Server)
- Fixing the home laptop - seems to crash every few months
- Fixing or upgrading our Media Center PC
- Figuring out ingenious ways to synchronize my email, calendar, and contacts between my phone and computer
- Backup of data on 6 computers
- Updating music, photo, and video files in my collection
No more! My Father once said "son, the more you own in life, the more stress you have" - he was so right, my already busy life is topped off with lots of insignificant tasks, such as those listed above, and it is time to do some house cleaning.
Email/Calendar/Contact: I've now done away with behemoth that is called Exchange Server - this beast is wonderful when it works, but a real pig when it breaks down, and can involve many hours getting it back online. Given that Exchange hosts my email it's also critical that it doesn't remain offline for too long. So instead RobGarrett.com email is now hosted with Google - online 24x7, I never have to worry about backing it up, there's no maintenance, and it's available anywhere there's an Internet connection. Loosing Exchange has the added benefit that I don't have to worry about server-side spam checkers and anti-virus services.
Photos: I've long since taken my photo album offline, mainly for security reasons, so all I do now is upload them from my camera to a central computer at home. Any family members wanting copies - I can send pictures or put them on DVD.
Media Center: Not sure what I am going to do about this piece of technology. Currently, PVR (Personal Video Recorder) from the cable company is a little expensive, so it's worth having my own unit around. The trade off is HDTV - recording it is a real headache.
Home Web Server: Tis gone - the only web site I host is RobGarrett.com and I have a friend in the business who takes care of my hosting. Another machine that can be powered down and put into storage.
Backup: This chore can only get easier as I have less computers to look after. Most user data is in the form of email, calendar, contacts, music, videos, and photos. Google takes care of the first three and the others are routinely stored on DVD for safe keeping.
Calendar/Contact Synchronization: Google comes to the rescue again - since my email/calendar/contact data is centralized I no longer have to worry about accessing it at different locations. GooSync provides a nice application to sync Google with my PDA.
Hosting: Since most (all?) of my online services are with Google/hosting-providers there is no need to concern myself with allowing access to my home network from the outside, which means better security and less time tinkering with ways to get around the restrictions setup by my ISP (Internet service provider).
Current Mood: 
accomplished