E-Commerce and LAN Solutions

Kinesis saves your wrists single-handedly with a goofy looking keyboard

Call it what you like – RSI (repetitive strain injury), carpal tunnel syndrome, or good ol’ “keyboarder’s bane”. Everyone who types much for very long should at least be thinking about it. While I’m sure we’ve all heard the horror stories of crippling pain or numbness, surgery or lots of time off to recover, an amazingly small number of people do anything to prevent it. (Note: this, like all reviews I post, follow my review policy).

Prevention isn’t the best thing, it’s the only thing

Many people don’t know that the original QWERTY layout for keyboards was set up to slow down typists so keys wouldn’t stick together in the old standard typewriters. It’s a good example of a defacto standard that has long outlived its usefulness. Regardless, standard keyboards have no ergonomic thought put into them at all, and the deluge of RSI cases as numbers keyboard workers increase is an obvious proof.

I’ve never heard a good story of someone who let their wrist pain get so bad that they had to see a doctor. Basically, my advice is to never let it get to that stage, no matter what. When I started typing regularly, it was about 6 years ago. I, like everyone, used the standard crap-keyboard that’s flat and designed to be easy to build. After a couple years, my wrists would start to get a little numb in the afternoons (especially after I learned to touch-type). Even then people were talking about carpal tunnel, and I decided to do something about it. I did some research and paid what I thought was an ungodly sum for a keyboard, $300 for a

Kinesis Essiential. Not only did it teach me to type better and much faster, but within a month or so my wrist pain was totally gone. What’s even more amazing to me, is that after using it for 90% of my typing over the last 6 years, my wrists are still in awesome shape, and I type a ton. Hours per day. at 80+ wpm. Very impressive.

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Offsite Disaster Recovery Made Cheap and Easy

Backing up important data has always been one of those things most people don’t think about until it’s needed and too late. Any good network admin will consider this an important area to address, but are often given insufficient funds. In the end, backups are like security – it’s a balance with cost on one side and benefits on the other. You can always be more secure and have a more robust backup strategy, but as with everything in business, there are limited resources and they need to be justified. Carbonite is a service I’ve found to score very well in the balance, providing a good service at a great price. Read my reviewing policy for more information about my methods.

Quickie Review: Carbonite online backup

Pros:

• Unlimited data backed up from one machine for $50/year. Very inexpensive.


• Easy to try, use, and buy.


• Worry-free. It’s always running in the background, doing its job.


• Stores your data securely offsite, so even a burned down building isn’t a total disaster.

Cons:

• You have to sign up for a year at a time.


• Each computer is a separate $50/year.


• Restore operations for large amounts of data can take days.


• You have to trust that your data is safe with them.


• Currently no ability to schedule backups, or take snapshots. Not recommended for database backups.


• You can’t backup your Windows folder, or restore your Windows installation

How it works

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