Netgear adds personal cloud and remote Time Machine to ReadyNAS

Netgear has updated its prosumer NAS range to take on cloud backup upstarts, adding a Dropbox-esque ReadyDROP cross-device sync option, and the ability to back up using Time Machine remotely. The new firmware for the ReadyNAS DUO v2 and ReadyNAS NV+ v2, version 5.3.6, expands the ReadyNAS Remote feature already on the standalone network-attached storage, creating monitored folders on each of your devices which, just as with Dropbox, are automatically synchronized whenever you add or change files.

Designate a folder for ReadyDROP, Netgear’s senior marketing manager of storage products Matthew Pahnke explained to us, and the NAS will replicate that folder across each linked device. Any files added are automatically saved to the NAS itself, and pushed out to each device so that an up-to-date copy is available no matter which you’re using.

ReadyDROP uses impromptu VPN connections – complete with encryption – to do that, and since the capacity of the synchronized folder is limited only by the capacity of your NAS itself, it’s potentially a lot cheaper than cloud-hosted storage services like Dropbox or Google Drive. There’s also access from Netgear’s iOS and Android apps.

As for remote Time Machine support, Macs will be able to designate a ReadyNAS drive as the target for Apple’s native backup app, but that drive will be accessible both locally – when on the same network – and remotely, across the internet. The system requires no extra software, Pahnke explained, and will automatically choose between a direct connection across the local network (when available) or a secure VPN connection back to the ReadyNAS (when you’re on the move).

Firmware v5.3.6 also works with updates to the Mobile ReadyDLNA apps for iOS and Android, streaming media directly to smartphones and tablets, and polishes the third-party app and add-on support for the NAS themselves. There’s now a new Genie Apps section for one-click installation, and Netgear expects various developers to jump onboard now that there’s support for paid and subscription-based options.

Those apps could include integration with third-party cloud services such as Amazon’s or Google’s (though Netgear already offers its own ReadyNAS Vault service) for those wanting an actual cloud backup too. One the first, Pahnke revealed, would be crowdsourced backup sharing service Symform, which allows users to share space on their local NAS in return for access to capacity on the remote drives of others.

If you have another ReadyNAS unit elsewhere, however, you’ll also be able to use the freshly integrated ReadyNAS Replicate feature. Previously a pro add-on, the system allows one or more NAS units to copy their data between the group, ensuring offsite backups.

Firmware v5.3.6 will be available for the ReadyNAS DUO v2 and ReadyNAS NV+ v2 from today. No word on when – or if – other models might see ReadyDROP and the other functionality added, though we would be very surprised if it wasn’t on Netgear’s roadmap.

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Wello: Personal Training via Video Chat

Working out at home can be great if you’re the self-motivating type or know what exercises to do. But what about someone who wants to stay at home and get fit with the help of a personal trainer? Sure, they could hire an in-home personal trainer for beaucoup bucks — but for most people, that’s simply too spendy.

Enter Wello. The site, which launches on Wednesday, offers discounted personal training sessions with trainers via two-way live video chat. From top-tier celebrity trainers (up to $150 an hour) to lesser-known trainers ($5 an hour and up), Wello offers a range of fitness experts to get you into shape for a reasonable price while never leaving your home. No downloads or special software needed; all you need is a laptop, webcam and Internet connection.

Cofounders Leslie Silverglide and Ann Plante founded the company while at an incubator program at AOL.

“We saw there was an opportunity for people to workout that would fit in their schedule and be motivating,” Silverglide said.

We wondered about the difference between a $5 and a $150 trainer (review coming next week). But Wello cofounders Ann and Leslie assured us that every trainer goes through a vetting process. They have a staff member who is a personal trainer herself and makes sure every trainer is properly certified and experienced. Then, the trainers must take a course on “how to train via video chat.” Basically, they need to be more descriptive and demonstrative when it comes to training via chat, and get closer to the screen.

Personal training sessions can be bought in 25, 40, and 55 minutes. Currently, there are more than 150 trainers registered with the site. The trainers set the prices for their sessions, with Wello taking a 15% cut which is much less, say the cofounders, than what gyms and studios charge — up to 80%. And the web, they say, is a great place to get a bargain on a trainer.

“We find they typically drop their prices by 50% online,” Silverglide said.

The biggest question they get about their site is, “How effective is training via video chat?”

Training via live video chat holds exercisers to a higher level of accountability than at-home workout programs, or even working out at the gym with a trainer, they say. When it’s just you and the trainer at home, there are no distractions, like there are at the gym.

“One thing we’ve heard from fitness professionals is that people are more engaged online,” Plante said.

Plante said that, unlike following along to a workout video at home, with Wello you can get the personal guidance of a trainer who can customize the workouts based on your level of fitness and hold you accountable to working out. Customers of Wello can chose from personalized yoga, pilates, martial arts or strength training sessions.

When Silverglide and Plante began working on the idea for Wello, they asked some trainers to give them sessions via video chat to see how well it worked. (Note: They discovered that the best position for your laptop is about two feet off the ground — perfect couch height — and then back away about seven feet so the instructor can see if you’re doing the moves correctly.) After each video training session, they said they were exhausted from the excellent workout. Once they realized that training using video chat was successful, they began developing Wello.

In the future, they plan to offer training sessions for groups (just imagine that major discount!), and expand their video services to other health and wellbeing practitioners, like nutrition counseling via video chat. During the holidays, they’ll launch special promotions to encourage group fitness for, say, you and your mom who lives across country.

For trainers, Wello offers an extra way to grow their business. It’s currently free for trainers, but eventually they will charge $20 per month for trainers to use the site.

Would you use a personal trainer via video chat? Tell us in the comments.

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The Pros and Cons of 4 Personal Branding Sites

With so many social networks, online portfolios, digital resumes, and video channels to showcase your work, the traditional business card has basically become obsolete. As a result, many people are turning to personal branding websites to have one place where they can build their online professional persona. But how do you decide which site to use?

Here are four top personal branding sites and the pros and cons to each.

With design features like drag-and-drop elements, simple font and color selection and a screen-filling background photo, About.Me is one of the easiest and most professional personal brand options available. The ability to add as many social networks and HTML links as you’d like is a big draw, plus you’ll get some basic metrics to see how many people are viewing your profile and links.

Unfortunately, one of its strong points — the background photo — can also be a weakness. Not everyone has a professional head shot ready to go. You can upload a landscape photo, a logo, or use one of About.Me’s stock backgrounds, but you’ll find that the page feels a little sterile without that personal touch.

Flavors.Me offers many layouts, more than 200 fonts, and a full spectrum of colors to tweak your profile design. Like About.Me, there’s room for a big background image, but even the secondary “logo” picture is a good size. There are a variety of little adjustments to make the page more personalized, like changing the shape of the social network buttons, adding drop shadows, rounding corners and displaying your content in more than one column. Depending upon how much work you want to put into it, your Flavors.Me profile can really stand out.

The only downside to Flavors.Me is that many features on the site are unavailable unless you upgrade to a paid account. For example, a free account only allows five services, like Facebook, Twitter, or Dribbble, that are viewable directly on your profile. If you pay the $20 annual fee, you can add as many as you’d like, plus have access to other features like site statistics, more layouts, a mobile-optimized profile, a contact form, and the option of using a custom URL. If you prefer free, it’s a really good service, but if you’re willing to spend a little money, then Flavors.Me is a great service.

LinkedIn is a great way to leverage existing contacts to propel your career. However, it offers little opportunity for personalization. That’s where Zerply comes in. It offers many of the same features, just wrapped in a prettier package. In fact, you can import your LinkedIn profile to make setting up your Zerply profile a snap. Then start endorsing colleagues or meet new people with similar interests thanks to a simple keyword search.

The site does have a few drawbacks, though. There are only a handful of free profile themes to choose from, with more available if you upgrade to a paid account. And while you can import your LinkedIn profile, you can’t import your contacts.

BrandYourself profile pages aren’t the prettiest out there. You only get four templates to choose from with minimal customization options.
Plus, you can’t embed your social network feeds, you only get one picture, and you can only show three links to your online work. Unless you want to upgrade. In case you’re wondering, there is an upside.

The key to BrandYourself’s profile pages is search engine optimization. Submit your top three links — maybe Twitter, Facebook, and your website — then use BrandYourself’s “boost” tips to help increase Google’s ability to index those links. Even if you don’t use a personal branding page as a business card, it can’t hurt to fill out a BrandYourself profile just so you can promote the work you want the world to see in search results. With a paid account, you’ll even get powerful analysis information to let you see who’s been looking for you.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto,

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Scan-tini Personal Document Scanner, It’s Itsy Bitsy

I have bills, papers, and receipts everywhere. I have the best intentions of getting myself organized and have purchased filing cabinets and folders galore. Now, I just have some new places to store my same old scattered mess. They say disorganization is a sign of intelligence.  Yup – thats a theory I’m gonna try and stick with.

Setting my obvious genius aside, I’m willing to give getting organized one last try, and Canons new USB powered Scan-tini personal document scanner may just be the device to help me do it! The Scan-tini can handle just about anything you want to run through it including the ability to scan both thick and thin documents, plastic ID cards, embossed cards and even drivers licenses.

The Scan-tini has an automatic document feeder and utilizes what Canon calls “Plug and Scan” capabilities with scanning software that launches immediately upon USB connection for almost instant scanning, without the need to fiddle with pesky drivers or imaging applications.

Able to scan with a single touch of a button the 1.6 inch high, 3.7 inch deep, 11.2 inch wide Scan-tini weighs in at around 2 pounds and easily fits in a briefcase for effortless document capture on the fly. The built in card scanner will help you build a contact list in no time and an optional AC adaptor will help you clear the clutter off your desk for a lot less money than a personal assistant.

The Scan-tini comes with 2 USB cables, a setup disk, and a nice warranty all for around 280 bucks from amazon.com. I think this could work.

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This week’s pick of personal finance posts

by Harri Pierce on Apr 13,2012

Online Community Manager

Harriet is TotallyMoney's Online Community Manager and an avid blogger herself. As a 20-something living in London, she's an expert at living life in the Big Smoke on a small budget. Also known as 'the girl who made the tea lights' on Channel 4's SuperScrimpers.

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3 Ways How iPad can be Used To Enhance your Personal Computer Using Experience

Lot of people these days categorize Computers and iPad as two separate things, according to the people in industry, iPads are merely for fun while PCs are strictly work machines. But I totally disagree with this notion, because both of these devices can work wonders if used in conjunction. So I will be highlighting 3 ways of how you can enhance Your personal computer usage experience with an iPad.

Though one thing that ought to be kept in mind is that you will need applications, both on your PC and your iPad so that you can use them both in combo. Desktop applications that I will be mentioning are available for both Mac and Windows and similarly the iOS apps are mostly free.

As a Secondary Monitor with Air Display

The most obvious way you can enhance the usage of your Personal Computer with an iPad is using it as secondary display device. Apps like Air Display can help users to employ their iPad as a secondary monitor.

The desktop version of Air Display app is free, but you have to pay for the iOS version ($9.99), once the app is installed on both devices you can connect them via WiFi and resultantly your iPad will be transformed into an auxiliary display unit.

As a Secondary Trackpad and Keyboard

Next up is using your iPad as either as an external keyboard or a trackpad, in this category HippoRemote is the right app that you should get hold of. The app not only transforms into a trackpad but it also offers a miniature keyboard too. The app can be downloaded for free from Apple App store. Mac OS X users can also enjoy multi-touch gestures with this app.

Digital Drawing Pad

A lot many computers users rely on accessories like Digital drawing pads to do their work, especially the designers and architects. So if you happen to be in this category and are planning to buy a digital drawing board then the best substitute you can have is iPad. You can find scores of drawing apps like Sketchbook Express, Adobe ideas and Brushes that are specifically designed for drawing on iPad.

iPad has surely been a game-changer for the consumer electronics industry, I think it is a perfect gadget that can enhance the usage of our personal computers. If you happen to know of some other ways in which iPad can supplement PC usage then do share them with us in comments.

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Do You Make These 8 Personal Development Mistakes?

Most people suck at improving themselves. Even when they’re trying their hardest to become a better person, they wind up running on the dreaded personal development hamster wheel – hours of effort, zero results.

It’s not because they’re stupid. It’s not because they’re lazy. It’s definitely not because it’s not possible. It’s because they’re making the mistakes that most people make when they’re trying to change their life for the better. That’s why there’s so many people reading self-help blogs, self-help books, and taking self-help classes and yet so few people making a meaningful and lasting difference.

So here’s a list of the eight most common (and most damaging) mistakes that people make in personal development.

Are you guilty of any of these?

• Are You Fixing Your Weaknesses?
  Don’t you just hate being bad at things? It makes you feel dumb playing tennis when you’ve only ever played against Wii characters. You feel small when someone mentions James K. Polk and expects you to know he was the 11th American president (not that anyone would ever expect that).
  
  So it’s natural to focus the majority of your personal development time on fixing your weaknesses. That’s all well and good, but you get a much better return on that time if you focus on improving your strengths.
  
  Think of it like this. The vast majority of any successes you have in life will be because of your strengths. Your career security will be based on the strengths you bring to the table. You’ve probably heard of the 80/20 rule (80% of the results come from 20% of the efforts). That’s what I recommend here:
  
  Focus the majority of your personal development efforts on your top 20% of skills, strengths, and talents. For the rest of the 80% do what you can to avoid them, delegate them to someone else, or create a system to avoid doing them. If a weakness is preventing you from hitting your goals, then get just good enough so that you can continue to focus on becoming an expert at what you’re good at.



• Do You Want to Become “Better”?
  Why do you focus on personal development? Well, to be a “better” person. To have a “better” life. To have “better” skills.
  
  ...What does “better” mean?
  
  Every sane person on earth wants to be “better” in a bunch of ways. That’s a good thing – we’re ambitious. But “better” is a vague goal. We all know the thing about vague goals – vague goals produce vague results. Or in other words, vague goals don’t produce real results.
  
  Your personal development path must have a purpose. There has to be a reason you’re working on whatever it is you want to improve. That’s the only way anything will actually ever happen. Change “better” to something like “know how to build a website so I can share my advice.” That’s how personal development actually happens in the real world.



• Are You Learning Awesome Theories?
  Theories are awesome and a lot of them are amazing. Seriously.
  
  An investment strategy can sky rocket your wealth. A lifestyle design philosophy can get you out of the cubicle. A productivity system can help you get a whole heck of a lot more done.
  
  But theories are also like crack or girl scout cookies – they’re addictive.
  
  Once you’re exposed to a compelling theory or philosophy about something, it’s hard not to try to learn everything about it. Then it’s hard not to look for all the other competing theories or philosophies and learn everything about them. Then it’s hard to not look for comparisons to figure out which one’s best.
  
  Worst of all it’s hard to bring any of the theories into real action.
  
  It’s helpful to remember this simple concept – “everything that’s not stupid works.”
  
  For example, there is an infinite number of ways to lose weight – choose from a million diets, exercise programs, supplements, gyms, programs, etc. – but nothing works if you’re doing nothing but researching.
  
  It doesn’t matter if you have the #1 possible theory. It’s better to just find a path that’s not stupid and stick to it. (You can always improve it later). Learning theories isn’t personal development. Implementing them is.



• Have You Never Had a Major Failure?
  Avoiding failure makes you feel successful. After all, failure is bad. Right?
  
  Well, kind of. No one should try to fail. That would make you weird. But if you’ve never had a major failure, then you’ve never really tried to succeed. If you’ve got your skin in the game for long enough something will go wrong. Period.
  
  Don’t believe me? Name one successful person who’s never failed.
  
  The strange paradox of it is that you cannot learn much from successes, but the bigger the failure the more you learn. In most aspects of life, people tend to look at the successes and copy them so that they can avoid the failure. The first part is good – copying previous successes is just smart. But you should expect to fail eventually. The only possible way to avoid failing is to not try in the first place.
  
  Work hard for those failures, because that’s the best way possible for you to grow.



• Are You Crazy Busy?
  Everyone intends to improve themselves, but it’s just damn hard to find the time (see New Years resolutions).
  
  You got work, family, obligations, travel, chores, and sleep. Who has time to work on themselves?
  
  Yep, it’s tough.
  
  It’s really got to be a matter of priority. How much of a priority is it that you improve yourself, your skills, and your life? It may be obvious that that’s a top priority for you, but real world implementation may be a bit tricky. Time may only allow you to settle for reading advice, not implementing it.
  
  There’s two solutions:
  
  First, you can schedule time for whatever kind of personal development you want to focus on. Then you guard that time with your life.
  
  Second, if you can’t do that for whatever reason, you need to find ways to incorporate your improvement in other activities you have to do anyway.
  
  Truth be told, you should probably find a way to do both.



• Did You Choose The Newest and Shiniest Version?
  It’s easier to think that the newest thing out there is the best. The newest strategy, technique, tactic, idea, book, etc.
  
  It’s true with a lot of things – technology and medicine being two obvious examples. It’s not true with a lot of others.
  
  Want to get an amazing memory? The best current memory courses are variations on methods from ancient Greece. Want to calculate crazy math problems in your head? India had that figured out about 2,500 years ago.
  
  We like bells, whistles, and that new car smell, but sometimes we’re missing the old and tested approaches to things. Most personal development is about subjects that are timeless – the mind, the body, the spirit, selling, finances, communication, friendship, love, etc.
  
  I guess the point here is no matter what you want to improve about yourself many people have gone through the same thing. Don’t make it more complicated than it needs to be.



• Is Your Personal Development for Personal Development’s Sake?
  If “personal development” doesn’t have a result, then it doesn’t count.
  
  By “result” I mean a tangible, objective, other-people-can-see-change kind of result. That means you have to get something from your improvement efforts.
  
  What’s that something.
  
  Well, if you truly improve yourself then you should see some of the following things come into your life:
  
  
  
  
  • More money (gasp!) – Yep, if you’re more skilled then you should command a higher income whether your self employed or work for someone else
  
  
  • More confidence – You’re more confident when you’re good at something. The more you improve, the more that should happen.
  
  
  • More influence – The more you improve in a noticeable way, the more others will value your opinion on things
  If you’re not seeing those things, maybe your personal development path isn’t quite on track. Instead, focus your personal development efforts on things that will cause real world effects.



• Do You Love to Read?
  Loving to read is great, but dangerous.
  
  It’s dangerous because it takes you to another world. When you’re reading your imagination sparks and you are inspired by great possibilities. The world in your head is fantastic!
  
  ...then you go back to the real world.
  
  With your personal development, spend maximum 25% of your time reading, learning, and researching. The other 75% (or more) should be spent taking action.
  
  Let’s be honest, with most things we already know what we need to do, or at least where to start. Wanna be fit? Start with jogging before work and stop eating fast food. Wanna make friends? Start by joining a club or organization. Wanna be productive? Close your email.
  
  For something we just don’t know how to do, finding that information is simple – Google it.
  New information can inspire and motivate, but more often it can derail. So, maximum 25% reading and minimum 75% doing.

So Put Yourself Out There
Testing the quality of your personal development efforts can be one of the most powerful things that you can do today.

Making mistakes can be frustrating (especially when it comes to something personal), but identifying those mistakes allows us to improve. Most progress starts by noticing a mistake and deciding to do something differently in the future.

The worst personal development mistake didn’t make the list. The worst mistake is ignoring or refusing to do anything about failures. It’s turning a blind eye to potential learning opportunities. When that happens, people are doomed to continue running on that personal development hamster wheel.

I didn’t include it, because folks in that situation will always be stuck. On the other hand, if you’re passionately pursuing improvement and have an open mind to change, you’re almost guaranteed to succeed.

So go out there and become great.

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