SPLICED COLUMN /
ISSUE 04
WHY THE FACE?
And often, golden contents. (You can probably tell where this is
going already.) It’s been a wild past few weeks. This month could
have seen me write this column on the epic experience of Mobile
World Congress (in Barcelona). Or on the local (South African)
launches of Sony or Nokia’s new flagship phones.
I could have even decided to write this column
on my opinions (and those of others) on Spritzs’
latest speed reading technology (apparently this is
a controversial issue). But instead, I’ve decided to
take the noble route, to put yáll first, and take this
chance to mimic your mother’s voice and nag you to
BACK YOUR S**T UP NOW.
Yup. Barcelona, known for being a theft hotspot,
took one more victim last month. In the form of,
well, me. To be fair, it took on many more victims
than just myself, but I also happen to be the writer
of this column. And part of writing a column is
talking about yourself and your ideas like you’re
important and your ideas are fancy and clever. Or
something like that.
Upon arrival in Barcelona, for the Mobile World
Congress expo last month, our groups chauffeur
was offloading all of our bags from the boot of
the van and onto the sidewalk outside our hotel.
Unfortunately, it seems that some stealthy being
swooped past our collection of goodies and helped
themselves to my beautiful House of Marely
backpack. The backpack that happened to have
my entire collection of techy gadgets stashed safely
(or not so safely) within its confines. Including my
brand new 13” MacBook Air. With ALL my work
on it. All my freelance work. That I do, in a strictly
freelance capacity. Without any office or desktop
PC. Because I freelance.
even so, I was left without any of my latest projects.
Even when I was able to borrow a friend’s laptop for
a few short hours – I had nothing to work with. All
my invoices, personal documents, notes, research,
EVERYTHING was either gone or back home in
SA. And I wished there was some way I could just
access my most important slash urgent stuff from
any device, anywhere in the world. Which was
around about the same time I started to understand
the immeasurable value of... cloud servers. (Yes I
know, I’m slow like that.)
And behold; my point (finally). Back your shit
up. Now. As in this very moment. Even if it’s just the
basics. Think of the folders you access the most,
and all that important stuff you frequently need
(copies of ID’s, tax details, invoices, your CV or
portfolio, your thesis or latest project that isn’t yet
complete, banking stuff and such like). Especially
if you are travelling. Cloud servers are wonderful
things that can be found anywhere. Unlike most
physical items when you need them the most.
(Murphy – that’s all I’m saying.)
So in one last attempt to potentially save your
bacon, here’s a list of some of the more popular,
user friendly, (and yes, free) cloud servers. Along
with how much space you get at no cost. (You can
always pay for more space, or earn more free space
by referring others.)
You’re welcome.
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On the upside (because that’s where I have to
look to avoid dissolving into a puddle of raw, ugly
emotion), as a result of having to move the contents
from my old Mac to my new Air only the week
prior, I had most of the contents of what was on my
“subsequently re-homed” Air on a hard drive back at
home. (Praise God.) Had I not, chances are you’d be
reading my obituary now, and not my column. But
Google Drive: 15GB
Dropbox: 2GB
One Drive: 7GB
iCloud: 5GB
SugarSync: 5GB
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