We use our computers to store music files, family photos, important documents and other things that simply can’t be recovered. Sure, many of us use external drives, USB memory sticks and even secondary computers to back up this data, but how good are these backups in the case of a catastrophic emergency such as fire? Online storage solutions exist, but often are very pricey and of course there’s the question of how to actually restore the data when needed. Tonight, on the Assistive Technology Show, we’ll look at a service from Amazon that allows you to store an unlimited amount of data securely online. Not only is this useful for backing up those important files, but the service can work as a virtual hard drive giving you access to files from wherever you happen to be. Potentially, this means you could have access to your music library while at work, view your photos while visiting a relative, or just have space to store those files that simply won’t fit on your existing hard drives. So, unlimited space? Surely there’s a catch. Well, almost nothing good in life is free, but in the case of Amazon’s service, you pay only for what you use — no monthly fees, no minimums, no setup costs — just pay $.15 per GB — that’s right, only fifteen cents per gig per month. in fact, my bill from Amazon for my last month’s usage was a whapping 45 cents and I’m storing hundreds of files.
Tonight, on the Assistive Technology Show, I’ll demonstrate Amazon’s new service and will talk about how to easily get it set up and running. We’ll also talk about other potential uses of the service — people are using this in ways I definitely haven’t thought of and probably never would.
Online storage not your thing? As always, we leave ample time during the program for your questions and any other assistive technology, or technology related questions. So come join me, tonight, between 7:00-9:00 PM, EST for this week’s edition of the Assistive Technology Show!

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I look forward to seeing you tonight, on the Assistive Technology Show!

Steve