As others have mentioned managing your own mail server on a private connection would be a nightmare.

I'd recommend you look into a fully managed VPS solution so you still have full control over everything if you want but your provider can still fix things for you when they break etc. I'd also look into a host that provides the @mail webmail interface which is similar to gmail (possibly better). This shouldn't set you back too much per month and should give you everything you need without all the headaches.

Yeah and Elop has been pretty clear that there'll be a Nokia/MeeGo device released this year. They're hardly abandoning it. WP7 seems more of a replacement for Symbian than Maemo/MeeGo.

Online backup is definitely worth a look. I use Mozy (http://mozy.com), it costs $4.95 per month and includes unlimited storage and a handy little app which handles all your backups for you. I have ~120gb of photos and important docs backed up online. Sure the initial backup takes a while but after that it only uploads new/changed files. Oh and it's all encrypted and you can use your own key. Also, if the thought of downloading all your data if you lose it scares you then they'll send it to you on DVDs.

I always liked the idea that 'UFO's' and 'Aliens' weren't from another distant planet, but infact highly evolved humans from - say a million - years in the future traveling back in time to study their ancestors.

With the election looming and the popularity of the Labor party taking a dive the Government is dumping all sorts of unpopular policies including their much touted Emissions Trading Scheme, the disastrous Insulation Scheme and of course this ridiculous Internet filter. Of course if Australia votes them in again, they'll say they have a mandate for this filter but the opposition is pretty much a joke. *Sigh*

It's time to throw in the towel and start a new tool and markup language.

Hmmm... I know, how about Flash!

Banks must roll differently stateside, here in Australia my visa debit card has been compromised twice. Both times I was contacted by the bank (different banks in each case) before I even knew what was going on. They had a new card and number out to me in 3 days and the dodgy charges were refunded by the time I logged on to my internet banking to check.

Another time I was on my honeymoon and the resort we were staying at put a rather large hold of funds on my visa debit card. My bank rang me and said they had a large charge on my card and asked if it was ok.

Impressive all round.

That implies they care about universal enforcement of the law. They don't really care if someone whines about a traffic fine anonymously on the blog. No, they'll go after "particular" offenders, or they'll use it to punish dissidents they particularly dislike after already having them so they have something that can stick. That's how modern democracy works, after all--enough laws and you'll be able to nail someone on something eventually.

You are correct, it seems Atkinson had a particular bee in his bonnet about a 'fictitious' Liberal Party mouthpiece. Turns out the guy exists...

Yesterday, on radio station FIVEaa, defending his internet censorship laws, Mr Atkinson said the new legislation was necessary because people such as Mr Fornarino were plants for the Liberal Party. "I'll give you an example; repeatedly in the AdelaideNow website one will see commentary from Aaron Fornarino of West Croydon. That person doesn't exist," he said. "That name has been created by the Liberal Party in order to run Liberal Party commentary." When asked how he knew Mr Fornarino did not exist, Mr Atkinson said: "Because I've been the member for the area for 20 years, I've lived here for longer. "I have the up-to-date electoral roll and I just know West Croydon people very well." But Mr Fornarino does exist. He lives in a flat on Port Rd, about 500m from Mr Atkinson's electorate office.

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/mike-meet-aaron-he-lives-500m-from-your-office/story-e6frea6u-1225826082741

Whoops.

Awesome bar is awesome.

Biggest. Haiku. Ever.

I would recommend a fixed wireless terminal like the Ericsson W35 unit: http://www.ericssonw35.com/ They support 3g and 2g networks. 2100/1900/850mhz and 2100/1900/900mhz 3g flavours available depending on your preferred carrier. Built in wlan and lan switch makes it pretty easy to connect all your devices. Best of all you can hookup an external antenna to boost your signal. We use these a lot on remote mine sites etc. and they're quite robust and solid enough to keep up an ipsec tunnel 99% of the time.

You may be interested in this: http://maemo.nokia.com/n900/

http://www.kanzelsberger.com/pixel/ I used a few early betas of this and although not free is probably the closet thing to photoshop out there. From the news it looks like a publisher has picked it up and it will be available 'real soon now' in Linux, MacOSX and Windows flavours.