Technology and You

External backup could save your photos, memories

If you are a tech-wise computer owner, you may have a collection of old and new photos on your computer, a collection of maybe a hundred of your favorite songs, videos of your kids, and folklore about family history.

You have put a great deal of time into it all, but how would you feel if your computer went bad and everything was lost? You might never have the time, strength, and references to recreate everything.

To prevent disaster, external storage is the answer. A Harris Interactive poll conducted for Seagate Technology shows that more than a third of people with such collections don’t have external storage. They just have their collections on PCs, iPods, and TiVos.

Search the internet for “external storage” for help. Some devices are small and inexpensive.

MX Air mouse a tech advance

With Logitech’s MX Air mouse you can surf the web, play games, and control a home theater PC from up to 30 feet away.

It features a gyroscope from Hillcrest Labs that senses the nose of the mouse angling up and down or side to side. An accelerometer tracks the device’s movement in any direction as you point it at the screen.

It knows which way is up, so you don’t have to worry about holding it level. And its processor crunches motion data so it can filter out things like slight shaking of your hand.