https isn't bullet-proof, and doesn't do a thing on its own to mask the source and destination of traffic. It only encrypts the traffic itself.

Those are hardly anonymous, as they still reveal your location, MAC address and a whole lot more.

Further, the aim here isn't just source anonymity (where you are), but also destination anonymity (the site/location you are sending data TO).

This is correct. Tor has the ability to "anonymously" host tor-network-only sites and services.

And yes, Tor is pretty much just a multi-layered proxy (and is thus an "onion router"). Tor doesn't encrypt traffic on it's own at the source or destination, and you generally need to use Tor along with something like Privoxy (http://www.privoxy.org/) in order for it to be useful for surfing.

So... instead of using wifi and GPS for pinpoint accurate pinpoint awareness, Microsoft's answer is of course the less efficient and error prone one: nothing but image recognition. How will this perform in low light conditions or areas that haven't been previously photographed and added to the database?

I already have Wikitude on my Android phone and it's outstanding, so I don't see a breakthrough or any innovation here. Just another example of MS doing things the harder, slower, more error-prone way and calling it "innovation."

I'll second (or maybe 5th, since I've seen other posts above) Evernote - http://www.evernote.com/

"But Thumbtack developers think their service has a difference."

Yeah, MS always says that when they're 2+ years late to the idea party.

Evernote is super simple, syncs to my machine for offline access, has mobile access, takes input from photos (the iSight on my MacBook is great for this), accepts new items via email so I can email cell phone pics or notes... and it has built-in OCR on every item.

For most users, this is all well and good. For anyone with large amounts of data it's pointless.

Only updates files that have changed? OK. In the last 24 hours, the file weight of items I've changed is over 650mb. And it's the weekend, I'm barely working.

I've tried Mozy and Jungle Disk. Even after waiting for a decade for the 1st load to get onto the server, my nightly backups still aren't finished by the time I start work again in the morning. That's no good, which is why I say that remote over-the-net storage for large amounts of data is not practical.

Two 1TB hard drives thrown into Firewire enclosures. One stays in a fireproof disk safe at my office, the second goes into a safety deposit box across town. I flip-flop the drives every month, both of which are a mirror of a "live" disk running on my primary workstation.

I'm a freelance graphic designer, my client files end up getting massive. 300 to 600 to 1200 dpi images, multi-layer PSD's in multiple stages of revision, complete bundles of print-ready pieces, digital art with file sized upwards of 300mb each...
I only retain client data on a "live" disk for a year, then it gets archived. After 3 years, some if not most of that data gets purged. 500 gig really isn't that much when you consider files types other than text data.

For any large amount of data, S3 or Mozy or Gmail will NOT work. It's not practical to spend a month to upload just one interation of your data to these services.

Storing critical or even mildly important data only in your house or office is just stupid. Fire, theft, flood, earthquake... any calamity will eat your data and there's nothing you can do. Planning to grab your hard drive on the way out of the house in the event of a fire is pretty short-sighted and unrealistic. If you're fighting to breathe or save your kids from burning to death, you are NOT going to waste time yanknig hard drives out of your computer. Further, if you're not home (which is more likely) your brilliant plan is useless.

High capacity hard drives are cheap. External enclosures are cheap. Don't rely on loading one up and forgetting about it for 5 years because it's likely to fail. Someone above said to keep your data "hot", and you should. Get into a routine and cycle your drives monthly, semi-annually or annually.