Well if you woke up this morning you will find lots of news coverage of Microsoft Live Mesh.

Live Mesh is a Software service that keep all your Windows Devices in sync.

Your Windows PC, Windows Mobile Phone, Xbox 360, Windows Home Server, A PC at home.

Today they all belong to you but have no relationship to each other.

What Live Mesh does is create a link between these devices tied to your Windows Live ID and allows them to share information over the Internet.

This is a big gamble for Microsoft and is the brain child of Ray Ozzie (Bill Gates, replacement) his credibility is riding on this strategy somewhat.

Ray was the guy behind Office Groove which really impressed me.

Live Mesh is more at  the preview stage at the moment. If you are interested in reading more check out:-

Link: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/microsoft_live_mesh_first_look.php

Link: Live Side

Link: https://www.mesh.com/Welcome/LearnMore.aspx

I like the new round edge design. It does look like its going to be a consumer PC and not a business machine, but I could be wrong.

And for comparison find below the current Ultra Small Form Factor model.

The new machine should come to market later this year.

I had never heard of Udi Manber before. He is the chap in charge of “Search Quality” over at Google.

He gave Popular Mechanics a recent interview in the form of a Question and Answer session over 20 questions.

Some tidbits:

“Last year we made over 450 improvements to the algorithm”

“At Google we do not manually change results. For example, if we find for a particular query that result No. 4 should be result No. 1, we do not have the capability to manually change it.”

This makes for fascinating reading for anyone with a passing interest in Google and search.

Also covered: Privacy, user expectations and Social Networking and search.

Link: http://www.popularmechanics.com/blogs/technology_news/4259137.html

I installed one of these in a client’s laptop the other day.

It provides access to mobile broadband with download speeds of up to 7.2Mbps.

On the USB stick is the modem part, but also a section dedicated to memory that stores the files required to install the device. It comes with a CD but you only need it for older Operating Systems. For Windows XP/Vista you just plug it in.

The install consists of inserting the supplied SIM card the right way up and plugging into an available USB socket.

The client software installs and you end up with some Vodaphone software that has a nice big “connect” button. It really couldn’t be any easier.

The cost of the modem stick depends on the data plan. The least expensive plan has a 3gb cap on the data £15pm and the modem stick costs £39.

They offer various caps/costs depending on the length of the contract you take out.

The do offer a  Pay as you go Plan but you need to purchase the stick £99 and any month you use it you are charged £20 for a 3gig cap.

The only benefit to such a plan is for example if you only planned using the modem stick a couple of times a year (holidays for example).

The problem with capped systems is knowing how much you have used. Thankfully they offer a note of your data usage on the software dashboard. If you go over your data allowance the cost of per GB is £15.

Link: Vodaphone USB Modem Stick

The guys over at PC Mag have just written a review of the Mozy online backup service.

Chances are every PC user has something important to them that is worth backing up.

Getting people to backup properly is pretty difficult.

Now the best way to backup is  on-line but off-site.

There are a number of online services to choose from. See list below.

PC Mag Review Link: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2284405,00.asp

For other online backup services check out:-

www.mozy.com, www.carbonite.com, www.upline.com and www.jungledisk.com and for the mac www.apple.com/dotmac