Over the past few days, I’ve been enjoying my new iPhone 3G immensely. There are a few annoyances, such as buggy software, a little DRM issue I had with the app store, and various other things. However, one issue that was really bothering me was the inability to sync my iPhone calendar with my Google Calendars. I keep all of my events on my Google Calendar, using several calendars (some of which are shared) to keep up with everything.

Apple does provide the ability to sync (using iTunes) your iPhone and Outlook calendars – unfortunately that requires you to use Outlook along with extra plug-ins to retrieve your Google Calendars, and you only sync when you connect to iTunes. Even worse, I read that you could only sync your main calendar in this manner.

Then I ran across the perfect solution: NuevaSync! NuevaSync is brilliantly simple – it simply provides a gateway between your Google and the Exchange syncing features of the new iPhone 2.0 software. This means that you can sync all of your Google Calendars (bi-directionally) with the iPhone calendar. Better yet, all this happens over the air, in real time – no syncing with iTunes to update your calendars!!

The setup couldn’t be simpler – simply sign up for a new account at NuevaSync, supply your Google account details (you can sync both calendars and contacts if you wish – I chose only calendar syncing), and follow the simple setup instructions for the iPhone. In minutes you’ll be getting synchronized with your iPhone calendar!

The only limitation I’ve noticed so far is the inability to select what calendar you would like to use when creating new events (however, you can see the events on all calendars). New events created on your phone go to the default calendar. However, I think this is an iPhone limitation, or something I’ve simply overlooked. A small price to pay for the huge convenience of OTA synchronization with Google Calendars!!

There are tons of alternatives available, from full featured (and complicated) backup suites to simple utilities. If you don’t have significant sync needs, I’d recommend checking out ySync. This is a very simple but handy utility that will allow you to synchronize two folders. I use this to copy my music library from my desktop to my external hard drive – it’s much faster than doing things by hand. Since I don’t have any complicated scheme for backing up files (I just need to copy all changes from one folder to another), ySync meets my needs perfectly – and it’s free. Grab a copy today!

Let me just lay down some of the symptoms for you: sometimes I am just browsing the internet and it gives me a little write error bubble (I didn’t know I was writing anything), it takes about 10 minutes to actually start up, it takes forever to run any programs (about the only thing it can do with relative ease is internet browsing), and it seems to have misplaced the procedure for shutting down since every time I try that it “begins dump of physical memory” thus launching into an infinite circle of restarting, running a disk check, getting an error, dumping physical memory, and et cetera, finally I will return home some days and find my computer already in this infiinite loop of restarting and I wonder how long it has been thrashing itself. Long story short, it is dying, and it is only a matter of time.

Anyhow, after my computer starting having these problems on a daily basis (probably shouldn’t have waited that long), I went out and bought an external hard drive to back up my data. For me, the most important thing to keep intact were my pictures, the rest was for the most part replaceable (or I didn’t really care about losing it, like papers). If I had been planning ahead, I would have shopped around, found the best deal for my needs and made an informed purchase. However, since I waited until the brink of disaster, I needed something urgently, and I drove down to the ol Best Buy. My laptop only has a 60 GB hard drive, so I didn’t need anything incredibly spacious, and I wanted to spend as little money as possible.

I settled on this nice little Western Digital Passport (80 GB version) which set me back a cool $80. It comes with some pretty nifty software that allows you to sync the files of your choosing with the hard drive. Whenever you sync it, it checks in the folders you have indicated to see if anything has changed and makes the appropriate updates. Also, if you take it and use it on another computer, you can sync whatever changes you have made back onto the original computer. I must admit, it was quite frustrating to get it set up the frst time, but I blame my problems on the growing inadequacies of my computer. Oh, and it is quite small, you could carry it around in your pocket, also apparently quite durable from what I have read.

So now I can sleep at night knowing that although my computer is dying, my data is safe and sound. It is quite refreshing.

I’d always heard that keeping a log of your progress is a great way to stay on task and improve things. In high school my weight training routines were assigned by the coach and as for running, I just ran as far as I could and left it at that. When I started college, I “took a year off” so to speak, and when I started working out again, I tried keeping track of my workouts on paper. Unfortunately, I’m rather disorganized and this didn’t last long. I then tried a piece of software called “Crosstrainer” but it wasn’t free and I stopped using it after a while.

A couple of years ago, a friend told me about a website that would allow you to measure the distance of your outdoor runs using Google maps. This was a great help, because I could figure out how far I was running. A few months later, I stumbled across Runstoppable, which allowed you to not only measure your routes, but to save multiple routes and log your runs. This was great, and I used it for several months. However, development on the site was slow to non-existent and there were a few bugs in the system.

Yesterday I was browsing around after being slightly annoyed with Runstoppable when I discovered a new site, RunningAHEAD. After completing the sign up (completely free), I entered all of my prior runs. I was impressed with the fit and polish of the site, the flexibility, and the features. Not only can you log runs, you can log weight training routines, biking routes, swimming, and other types of exercises. There is a myriad of data that can be entered for each activity, and a nice array of stats to keep you encouraged and help set new goals.

For now, I’ll be using RunningAHEAD to keep track of my activity. I would like to see a few new features, such as the ability to set and track goals and to compete with other users. If they were to develop a Facebook app that would allow you to challenge your friends to various activities (such as the first person to run fifty miles), I would be extremely excited… but for now, the site serves all my needs quite nicely and seems to be under active development. I’d say this is a must see for anyone involved in athletics or personal fitness.

T-Mobile has recently released the “HotSpot @Home” phone system. It is a hybrid GSM/WiFi phone that seamlessly switches to run on your local wireless router whenever you are in range. The benefits of such a system include an excellent signal in your home and minutes not deducted from your wireless account (while on WiFi). Not only will this work from your home, but also any T-Mobile hot spot or any other wireless network with which your phone is configured to connect. Of course an extra charge would be tacked on your bill, but I wonder if you can surf the net without a per minute charge…? Now, if only this wasn’t T-Mobile, which has pathetic reception here in the southeast. T-Mobile gets this, AT&T gets their apocalypse device iPhone, when is anyone gonna show Verizon some love?

Read more here: Engadget
picture from Engadget

Since I didn’t plan on having a lot of visitors or providing anything of “critical” value (i.e. I wouldn’t lose money if I experienced downtime), I didn’t have much to lose. I signed up for their most basic plan, which was very reasonable at a mere $36 a year. This got me 3000 MB of disk space, 100 GB of data transfer per month, PHP/MySQL, and a laundry list of other features. My account was setup and ready to go about a day after sign-up (your mileage may very, this was in 2005 and I use a third party domain registrar). I installed blogging software and began publishing to the world.

In December of 2005, the server that hosted my site suffered a malicious attack resulting in the complete loss of all data, including account information and backups. Thankfully, the tech support team restored my account quickly, and because of the lost data and time, they provided a free upgrade to the biggest package they offered. All my interactions with the technical support guys have been positive; they are always responsive, helpful, and polite.

I recently dropped by the features page to see what was new and noticed that the $36 a year plan had been upgraded to 30 GB of disk space and 1000 GB of data transfer. A quick support ticket later and my account was upgraded. That was last week – I dropped by yesterday and discovered that they’ve upped the ante again, now offering a whopping 225 GB disk space and 1500 GB of monthly data transfer for $3/month or $36/year. Amazing. I’m not going to ask for an upgrade until I begin to approach my current limits. I’m sure the offerings will be even more ridiculous by then.

Over the two years that I’ve been a customer, I’ve had few complaints. Occasionally the server gets “bogged down,” usually due to runaway script (I use the shared hosting plan). This problem usually resolves itself in a matter of minutes, otherwise a quick email to the support staff will resolve the problem. Then there is also the situation with the lost data – but that’s not as big a deal to me as it would be to others and it hasn’t happened since (if it did, I wouldn’t be writing this review). None the less, I make database backups semi-regularly and I would recommend doing the same, no matter where you host your site.

All in all, I’ve been a happy customer and if you are looking for somewhere to host projects or a personal site, I’d recommend comparing WebHostingBuzz to your other options. They also offer dedicated hosting and “semi-dedicated” hosting (no more than 40 web sites per server), though I have no experience with these plans.

The Disclaimer: The links to WebHostingBuzz are affiliate links – if you sign up for their service using one of them, I get some compensation (I think it’s around $25 per sign up). However, digivation.net is not sponsored by, affiliated with or bribed by WebHostingBuzz. We’re not required to say nice things about them – I have related my personal experience with the service and leave it up to you to decide. If you don’t like them, I’m sorry. I was planning on writing this review before I discovered the affiliate program – it’s simply a little bonus. In the end, if one or two people sign up for their service this year, that will pay for my hosting. That’s about it. We don’t do this for money, we do it for fun!

Thanks to Nintendo, you can now turn your “Super Money Shot Bros” fantasies into a reality. They are releasing development platforms that will allow anyone to create their own Wii games, and yes, they will even interface with those fancy remotes. Not only will you be able to make your own games, you will also be able to sell your creations via the Wii Shop Channel. The platform has been dubbed “WiiWare” and will be available sometime in early 2008.

Read more: Nintendo, Engadget & Joystiq