63: The How and Why of Backupify
2010-01-11
Download MP3 For Geekons Episode 63
Pop-Up: Backupify
- I just got an email notifying me that my Flickr, Twitter, Facebook, Friend Feed, Delicious, and Google Docs have all been backed up!
- If anything ever happens to any of those services and I need any of my information, it is only a few clicks away.
- If your ministry has any official documents online, you should definitely back them up.
- Backupify officially backs up:
- Flickr
- Delicious
- Zoho
- Google Docs
- Photobucket
- Wordpress
- They are still in beta for backing up:
- Basecamp
- Gmail
- FriendFeed
- Blogger
- Hotmail
- They have future plans for:
- Youtube
- Xmarks
- RSSFeed
- Tumblr
- You choose if you want to back up weekly or daily, and can receive emails for each backup or get a single email daily or weekly to notify you of all backup activity on your account. (You can also cancel confirmation emails altogether.)
- Many services, such as Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr use authentication tokens from the services, so backupify doesn't even get your usernames and passwords.
- Less advanced services, like Delicious, Hotmail, and Gmail still require you to store your username and password with Backupify.
- I had a problem with my Google Docs backing up, each document simply stated "Document has recently moved".
- I contacted the support email to make sure they were aware of the situation, and I quickly (within 24 hours) received an email describing the situation and a timeline for when they expect it to be fixed.
- Within a few days the situation was resolved and my Google Docs (including shownotes for Geekons) were being backed up properly.
- I mentioned the podcast and asked if Rob May, the founder, had any cool facts he'd like to share, here's his top interesting facts:
- The top 3 services people back up, in order, are Twitter, Google Docs, Gmail
- Over 1,000 people sign up EACH DAY for the service
- Their largest user stores 261 Gb of data with them.
- When Tony Robbins signed up for the service, he had so many twitter followers that he broke their system. (they have since resolved the issue)
- This service is FREE FOR LIFE if you sign up BEFORE January 31, 2010!
- 5 out of 5 stars, because this service is critical for backing up your cloud information on a regular basis, and for a limited time it is FREE.
Geek-Tweak: How to secure your passwords using free multifactor authentication from LastPass
- In Episode 56 we reviewed LastPass.com and mentioned that you could use the Yubikey for multi-factor authentication if you paid the $12/year fee. (and owned a Yubikey)
- I'm so frugal that I still haven't purchased that service. (even though I own a Yubikey)
- Over the past few weeks LastPass.com has rolled out an incredibly simple yet secure multi-factor authentication system that requires you to carry a piece of paper in order to log in to public computers.
- Here's how it works:
- Sign up for a LastPass.com account if you don't already have one
- Choose a very long yet easy to remember passphrase for your master password (like helicopterhersheykisses4you!)
- Once you are in your account, click on Settings then go to the Security tab.
- Click the "print your grid" link and it will show you a random grid of letters and numbers.
- Next, go back to the security settings and check the box next to Grid Multifactor Authentication.
- DOUBLE CHECK THAT YOUR GRID PRINTED PROPERLY!
- Click on Update and enter your master password
- Now, log out of your account and try to log back in.
- You should now be presented with some Battleship-style coordinates (like T7, Z1, X3, V4) with text boxes next to each.
- Just find the letters where each of those intersect on your printed grid and type them in (one letter for each grid pair)
- If you trust this computer (i.e. if it is your home computer) then feel free to place a checkbox next to the "This computer is trusted" box and after you give it a name you will not be asked for your grid from this computer.
- You should now see your LastPass.com vault!
- The grid authentication works with their plugins and bookmarklets just fine.
- This is ideal for times that you might want to log in to your lastpass.com vault from an insecure wireless connection.
- If you reset your grid and print a new one each month, this is effectively the same as one-time passwords.
- No clue what happens if you lose your grid... so you probably shouldn't lose it.
- The grid is vulnerable to physical theft, copying with a digital camera, and losing in the wash... so as with all multi-factor authentication be careful and enjoy as you are now equipped for a new level of paranoia!
View-Source: The Art of the Christian Community
- Geeks understand community, that's where you log in an post about stuff you are doing, things you have questions about, or answers you have for other people.
- It is also where you go to get support for the free versions of commercial open source products.
- Community is also what the early Church was called to, and what we as members of that Church should also implement in our lives.
- The fancy Greek word my pastor keeps talking about is Koinonia, which comes from a root word meaning community. (Luke was kind of like the Jono Bacon of Christianity)
- Koinonia was not about hanging out and playing ping-pong (as much as I wish it were)
- The goals of Koinonia were those of partnership, communion, and sharing.
- Acts 2:42 is one of the first examples of Koinonia where Luke talks about the early Church devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship.
- As a southern baptist, the word fellowship brings to mind covered dishes and Wednesday night dinners at church.
- Ironically, this really paints a good picture of the beginnings of fellowship, of people coming together with food and sharing what they have.
- Unfortunately for those of us who are lazy (including myself) there is much more in scripture to better define our role with each other.
- Romans tells us to be humble, live in harmony, live in peace, actually do things that lead to peace, and accept each other.
- Ephesians tells us to be honest with each other, to be kind, compassionate, forgiving, humble, gentle, and patient. Our talk should be positive and loving, filled with psalms and hymns.
- My pastor mentioned this attitude as being the anecdote for the negative separation between believers and non-believers.
- It is vital for this attitude to continue to flourish and grow in the Church so the world can truly see God's love.
- In order to make this impact, we need to focus first on the Apostles Doctrine, and second to fellowship with one-another.
- What steps are you taking to fellowship with other believers? Do you meet with people online? Attend small groups outside of church? Open your home to friends and neighbors for the study of God's word? Attempt to meet the needs of those around you?
- Sadly, I'm not taking near enough steps to participate in the Koinonia described in the Bible, maybe now is the time to start.