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Gadgets, Technology, Public speaking and IT from an undergraduate's perspective.
Samsung i780 versus Apple iPhone
To cut a long story short, I sold off my Samsung i780 for an Apple iPhone. I bought the Samsung i780 at SGD680, and sold it off for SGD480. It was 3 months old, but in great condition, and I hated to see it go.
So that’s a SGD200 loss. Verdict? I love the iPhone. It’s gorgeous and user-friendly as hell. After getting it, I realised how clunky the Windows Mobile interface was. It just isn’t intuitive as the iPhone’s, or even Palm’s (which was what I was using before I switched to my Samsung i780).
With the switch, I gave up certain features like the ability to edit Office documents, do custom Windows Mobile programming, and use Microsoft Exchange, but I realised that it wasn’t a big deal at all. In fact, I didn’t even miss those features. So I guess it really boils down to what you really need, versus every features thrown into the mix. The Windows Mobile interface just didn’t cut it for me, which was why I decided to sell the i780, and I’m glad I did so!
Updates about the iPhone soon!
Tags: apple, better, compared, comparison, different, easy to use, intuitive, iphone, iphone versus i780, palm, samsung i780, sucksRelated posts
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07 Jul 08 | Microsoft Office Outlook (Outlook XP/2002, Outlook 2003 or Outlook 2007) Personal Folders (PST) Backup Tool
Many users use Microsoft Office Outlook (i.e. Outlook XP/2002, Outlook 2003 or Outlook 2007) as their default e-mail client, contact list manager and daily management tasks organizer. Over time, it’s common to have Outlook contain all your important email messages, contacts information, calendar entries, appointment details, essential notes, critical to-do tasks and other personal data. To safeguard your important data against data loss and theft, it’s crucial to backup all your data — imagine what would happen if your hard disk got corrupted or if you accidentally formatted your computer and lost all your data!
Thankfully, the later versions of Microsoft Outlook stores all data in .pst (Personal Folders) files, which makes it very easy for backup and restore purposes. Each .pst file contains all of your Outlook folders, including the Inbox, Calendar, and Contacts. You can have a single .pst file, but you might also have an additional .PST file that you use for archiving.
Compare Personal Folders Backup, exporting, and archiving
There are three ways to back up your Outlook e-mail messages, contacts, appointments, tasks, notes, and journal entries — the Personal Folders Backup tool, exporting, and archiving.
Personal Folders Backup tool is used to copy your entire .pst file or files to your hard disk or to a network server or share.
Export is used to create a file containing Outlook information, but still keep the original data in your folders. You can only export one folder at a time.
Archive is used to move the items that you want to back up out of your folders.
Microsoft provides a Outlook add-in named the Personal Folders Backup plugin that can create backup copies of your .pst files at regular intervals (only for Outlook 2002 and later versions), backing up all of your Outlook folders easily and automatically.
Personal Folders Backup offers several options. For example, you can choose which .pst file you want to back up, and how often you want to back them up. Before you begin the backup process, you might want to check the size of your .pst file. If you have multiple folders in your .pst file, you must select the top-level folder to determine the total file size for all the folders. Make sure that the file sizes tally.
To install the Microsoft Outlook Personal Folders Backup tool:
- Download the tool from the Microsoft Office Online site by clicking the Download link and following the instructions in the dialog boxes
- Make sure that you quit Outlook
- Double-click the Pfbackup.exe program file on your hard disk
- Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the installation
- Start Outlook
Instructions for use:
- The Personal Folders file (.pst) that you want to back up must be open. If the file is visible in Folder List, it is open
- On the File menu, click Backup
- Click Options
- In the Backup these personal folders files list, select the check box for each item you want to back up
- Change the .pst file name shown. Or, to select a different folder, click Browse, navigate to the location you want, and then click Open
Note: The default file name and location where the .pst file is saved is shown in the File location box - To have Microsoft Outlook automatically remind you to make a backup copy of this file, select the “Remind me to backup every x days” check box, and then type the number of days between 1 and 999
- Click OK
- Click Save Backup
Note: The items selected will not be backed up until you quit Outlook
You can download Personal Folders Backup add-in for Office Outlook 2002/2003/2007 from Microsoft Download Center (OGA validation required). Or, you can also download the setup file pfbackup.exe from the following direct download links:
English (US) edition
Spanish edition
German edition
Simplified Chinese edition
Greek edition
Russian edition
Notes
- Personal Folders Backup tool only backs up .pst files. If you have an Exchange Server mailbox, your server mailbox folders should already be backed up by your Exchange Server administrator.
- If you are using an East Asian operating system with an English version of Microsoft Office, you cannot use this download.
The Personal Folders Backup tool is designed for use in Outlook 2002 and later, and provides a quick and easy way to back up your Outlook data to your hard disk or network. After you back up your information, you can even copy these backups of your Outlook data to a removable media such as a CD, DVD, or external hard drive. The backup files are exact copies of the original files and are saved in the same file format. You can receive periodic reminders to back up your files.
Tags: .pst, backup, Backup Tool, office, Outlook 2003, Outlook 2007, Outlook XP/2002, Personal Folders (PST), restore, Technology, Tips, WindowsRelated posts
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GMail Trick
Unlike most webmail services (e.g. Live mail or Yahoo mail), with GMail, you can actually do pretty neat stuff with your email address. For instance, did you know that you could put the + sign in your email, and still receive emails as per normal? So if your email address was yourname@gmail.com, you could actually send an email to yourname+testing@gmail.com, and still receive your mails! This is because Gmail doesn’t recognize anything after the + sign.
GMail does record that particular email address though. To see it, just click on the “Show Details” link to expand the email header. You’ll be able to see the email address to which it was sent.
This trick is useful when you want to track email addresses. For instance, you could give out yourname+your_school@gmail.com to your school-related stuff, and yourname+work@gmail.com for work related stuff. If you want to see who uses a particular email address, you can tag it, maybe with a descriptive phrase or even a number like this: yourname+124@gmail.com.
Tags: email, filter, gmail, Tips, tricksRelated posts
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Toastmasters Table Topic Ideas for Impromptu Speaking - Mixed Words
Write words on small pieces of paper and put them all in a bag. Have each Table Topics speaker pick up 3 pieces of paper and make up a story that contains all 3 words in it. If your chapter meeting has a “Word of the Day”, you can also require that the speaker use the “Word of the Day” as well.) Generally, you should make variations of the word acceptable. So for example, if the word is “run”, then “running” may be used in the speaker’s story.
Tags: Public Speaking, Tips, ToastmastersRelated posts
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Daily or Monthly Contact Lenses?
I think contact lenses can be considered one of the best inventions of our time, as the convenience that they give over spectacles is invaluable. When wearing contact lenses though, you’ll need to go through a 4-step process:
1) Wash your hands (with soap) before handling your contact lenses.
2) Clean, rinse, and disinfect whenever you remove your contact lenses from your eyes
3) Use only fresh contact lens care solution and not water or saline
4) Replace your lenses with a new pair regularly
The daily grind of cleaning, rinsing and disinfecting my contact lenses is getting to me though, and I’m thinking of changing my monthly disposable contact lenses to daily disposable ones, which effective removes steps 2 and 3, so it’s a nice and neat 2-step process. In addition, I can go places without having to worry about bringing solution because I can just dump my daily lenses and wear new ones the next day.
Tags: contact lens solution, contact lens water, Daily contact lenses, handling contact lens, Monthly Contact Lenses, wash contact lensRelated posts
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About AlvinMy blog covers areas covering mainly IT, technology, and public speaking. My posts are usually about any useful things that I think are worth sharing, and of my research that I do. |
