crashes

Back up your data easily

Everyone knows they should back up their data, but a surprisingly small percentage of people actually do. Unfortunately, when the big crash finally comes or you experience a hard-drive failure, that's usually the time you realize you should have been backing up all along. There are a number of programs that make it easier to regularly back up your hard drive, but in my experience, many require several steps to get the job done.

Nero's BackItUp and Burn ($39.99), released yesterday, attempts to make the whole process easier for everyone. Using an intuitive tabbed interface and simple … Read more

Ford's crash-test smarties

Ford Motor offered a glimpse into one of its testing labs on Tuesday. The showcase was assumably to promote the new safety features in its upcoming lineup of cars, and as you can imagine, the peek into this world of crash test dummies is rather amusing.

One of the technologies Ford talked about testing was a new air bag system, which was put in the 2009 F-150 and will be in the 2010 Ford Taurus. Instead of being acceleration-based, the new sensors are pressure-based, which makes them more accurate, according to Ford, but also more sensitive.

The company wanted to … Read more

NASCAR Crash Mixtape

If there is one word that is usually associated with "redneck", it's gotta be NASCAR. So with my tribute this week to redneck cars and racing, why not have a fun compilation of NASCAR crashes? This particular vid from YouTube supposedly has over 40,000 views...so 40,000 rednecks can't be wrong, right???

Redneck Racing Challenge

While looking for redneck racing videos this week, I stumbled upon a video that has supposedly generated over 5,000 hits on YouTube that features the "Redneck Racing Challenge". Basically, this video features a bunch of hilljacks racing vehicles (many of these jalopies have no business being raced at all) in an off-road competition to see who can race the course and do the jumps in the shortest time. Lots of cool jumps, plenty of smoke and dust, and a few nasty crashes as well. Check out what happens to the very first car in the video - … Read more

Easy backups for Mac: Backblaze

Just about everyone who works with a computer knows they should perform regular backups, but only a very small percentage actually do. While people's intentions are good, most simply think backing up their computer is too much trouble or software is too complex to figure out. Unfortunately, when the big crash finally does occur or a laptop is stolen, for example, the resulting loss of important data has us pulling our hair out wondering why we didn't take the plunge on backup software.

Today, a front-runner in backup software on Windows machines released a strong backup solution for … Read more

At Silicon Valley job fair, few employers and jobs

SAN MATEO, Calif.--The advertisement for the job fair boasted a list of desirable employers, including Kaiser Permanente, Southwest Airlines, and Wells Fargo Bank.

But when hopeful Silicon Valley job-seekers arrived at the San Mateo Expo Center here Wednesday, they found booths for the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, and the Army National Guard. The only non-government, non-education, non-security company to appear was Verizon, which was looking for sales representatives to work in local retail stores--previous retail sales experience required.

It turns out that the ad included fine print. It said the companies listed were "previous participating employers.&… Read more

iTunes crashing when iPod/iPhone is connected

Several users are experiencing problems wherein iTunes crashes when they attach iPhones or iPods to their systems. In some instances the program will hang with the spinning wheel, and in other instances the program will unexpectedly quit.

Apple Discussions poster Tom75 writes:

"When plugging my iPhone to my iMac (april 08 model) USB: iTunes keeps quiting unexpectedly and I keep sending the feedback to Apple."

Users with this problem may only experience these crashes with one ipod device. Some users with iPhones have been able to synchronize them properly, but when connecting standard ipods the problems occur. Still, … Read more

Ballmer likens economy to depressions of 1837, 1873, and 1929

Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer sketched a dire portrait of the world economy on Friday, likening it to market conditions in 1837, 1873, and 1929, each of which involved bank failures, high unemployment, and a depression.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime economic crisis," Ballmer told a retreat of House Democrats in Williamsburg, Va. "There is a lot of history around that, and frankly if you stop and think about it, 1837, '73, '29, 2008, it's almost exactly a whole lifetime between each of the major economic difficulties that we face."

Ballmer said that economic growth in … Read more

Simple fix for iPhone OS 2.2.1 application crashes

A number of users have reported that virtually all third-party applications crash soon after launching under iPhone OS 2.2.1. Fortunately, an extremely simple fix works in many instances of this problem:

Touch and hold any application icon the icons begin to shake. Tap the "x" in the corner of the application you want to delete. Tap Delete. Press the Home button. Download the application again, either from your iPhone or your desktop computer (there will be no additional charge for the redownload)

Feedback? iphoneatlas@cnet.com.

Net usage spikes after U.S. Airways plane crash

Web usage spiked on Thursday as people looked for news of the U.S. Airways jet that went down in New York's Hudson River.

Shortly before 5 p.m. EST, Akamai, which has assembled a content delivery network used by many global news organizations such as CNN, CBS, NBC, Reuters, and the BBC, reported a huge spike in Internet usage as people looked for news and video of the event.

The crash now ranks as the seventh biggest Internet news event since Akamai started tracking spikes in traffic in 2005. The plane crash, which miraculously resulted in no fatalities … Read more