Sprint launches cell-backup service
By now, you have probably received at least one mass e-mail message from a friend that said, “Lost my cellphone – please send me your contact info.”
To save irritation for absent-minded phone owners and their friends, Sprint has introduced Sprint Wireless Backup, which synchronizes the contact list on a phone with a copy on Sprint’s servers. Software on the phone automatically uploads changes made on the handset, and if the original phone is lost or broken, a new phone can automatically download the data.
For now, the service is available on two new Sprint phones – the Samsung A580 shown here, and the LG LX350 – for $2 a month.
Subscribers also can log on to a website to view their contact list or make changes that are then sent to the phone. Using a full computer keyboard is easier than entering letters using the multiple taps required on a standard phone’s numeric keypad.
The service cannot, however, exchange data with other online address books, such as those offered by Yahoo and Google, or with desktop information managers like Microsoft Outlook.
Tiny computer backup drive
At the rate things are going, we’ll soon be able to store 25,000 MP3s on a disk the size of a fingernail. A step in that direction is the Maxtor OneTouch III Mini Edition. This shock-resistant hard drive is about as big as an iPod and can back up a PC or laptop drive with the click of a button.
The OneTouch III is less than an inch thick and 5.2 inches long.
A 60-gigabyte version of the drive is available at www.maxtor.com and elsewhere online for $150, and a 100-gigabyte version can be had for $200.
The drive comes with an instruction booklet and a USB cable. For PC users, setup is simple: Maxtor has included a full user’s manual and backup software on the disk itself, which is preformatted using the Windows NT file system.