Life In the Cloud: 10 Easy Steps

Imagine it for a second. Your beloved computer hard drive crashes, and there goes all your data. You didn't feel like doing backups because you never expected it to happen. You take your computer to the repair store and they say, "sorry, nothin' we can do. But in the future you should backup your data about twice a week." Goodbye, old emails! See you later pictures and videos from that trip to Florida last year. Sayonara music from friends and documents from college.

Yeah, I've been there, I know how it goes. About a year ago my drive randomly crashed, and at the Mac store on life support I could only pull off a small bit of files. Luckily, I had done a backup a few weeks back so most of my data was intact, but what if I didn't have to worry about that? That experience set me off on a long and incessant path to figure out the key to cutting that hardware umbilical cord... so to speak. I'm at the point now where someone can set my computer on fire, put it out with a bucket of water, run over it with an 18-wheeler, and then smash it up good with bat wrapped in barb wire, and I wouldn't really mind (um, apart from having to buy a new computer...). And the best part is, I don't even have to think about it. Sure, I do backups, but that's more of a formality. Interested? If so, keep reading.

Turns out there's something called "The Cloud," which is a bit of a nebulous (GRE word, represent) concept for describing your information being on the internet. Your info isn't tied to the hardware, it's up there in the clouds of cyberspace, ready to be accessed at any time. That might sound a bit sketchy at first, but if you use the right sites then that info is pretty well protected. What it means is that you could be at your computer, your other OS on your computer, your smart phone, your tablet, your girlfriend's computer, your neighbor's computer, your local library's computer, or traveling in another country and happening to find a device that connects to the internet in the middle of nowhere, and you will have access not only to the same data, but essentially all of the data you use on a regular basis. You might be familiar with sites like Facebook or Twitter or this Blogspot, where you don't mind logging on anywhere and checking your info. Those are examples of web applications, and long story short the web has come to the point where we can monopolize on them for this "Cloud" business. Heck, even Google came out with an operating system that is completely online.

Let's get your life in the Cloud! For free, of course. I'll also be covering offline support, but although mobile support is available on your smart phone or tablet for all of these, that's beyond the scope of this post.

1. Your Browser Alright, so since your browser is the thing that allows you to visit all of the sites that contain your data, naturally that should be our first step for setting up the cloud. With the right browser, you can automatically sync your bookmarks, passwords, settings, and more so that any time you sign in on that browser on another computer you will have the experience you are used to. Your options are Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox, and if you go into the settings it can be easily set up.
   Offline support: You can install Google Gears for easy offline access to many of your Google sites and more.
   
2. Your Email and Contacts Chances are you already use an email that you can check right from your browser, such as Gmail or Yahoo or Hotmail. If not, I recommend Gmail. In fact, if you have the other two just switch to Gmail; it's better anyway, and it'll come in handy later on down the list. So if you always check your email and contacts in your browser, then congrats, you're already in the Cloud for that one! Plus if you turn on Google Gears you can view it offline.
   Offline support: Your browser with Google Gears is nice and all, but if you're like me maybe you enjoy using the mail program on your computer, such as Mac Mail or Microsoft Outlook Express. They're easy to use and messages are automatically saved for offline viewing. The problem for me was that any changes I made on those programs wouldn't show up online, such as unread/read email or folders, so I'd have to pick one or the other. The solution: IMAP. Simply speaking, it keeps your mail online and mail program synced up tight. Find out how to configure it for your device or program here. Oh yeah, and you can sync to your computer's contact list too, but you have to do some searching for that.
   
3. Your Phone "Wait, even info from my phone can be synced the cloud?!" Yes, that's right. It's called Google Voice. If making and receiving calls directly from Gmail in your browser, sending and receiving text messages via the Google Voice website, checking your voicemail online and a whole lot more all for free sound like something you're interested in, then go and sign up now. No more worrying about losing that info when you "accidentally" get drunk and throw your phone in the lake.
   Offline support: It's connected to your phone. Any texts or calls you receive (with your permission) go right to your phone, and you can even check your voicemail the old fashioned way by calling your number and putting in your password, if you are so inclined.
   
4. Your Calendar That paper calendar hanging on the wall is nice and all, sure. You get a big view of upcoming events and even have a pretty picture to go along with it. But what happens when you decide to make plans when you're not standing in that spot? Perhaps you take an organizer book around with you, but consider this: there's so much technology around us that maybe it's easier to use the computer or smart phone you already have. For that reason, Google Calendar to the rescue. Like Gmail, it's just a really good web application - you can easily make recurring events/holidays and invite others to those events/holidays through email, or remind yourself through email or popups.
   Offline support: Like Gmail, you can use Google Gears to view and edit it offline. But also like Gmail, I do actually prefer to use the Mac calendar since it's on my desktop and ready to interact seamlessly with other desktop applications. For that too, we have a solution: Calendar sync. So I just use my Mac iCal app as usual, and it'll sync with Google when internet is available, for whenever I want to view my events somewhere, anywhere else.
   
5. Your Documents If you've noticed a pattern here, perhaps you're expecting me to name Google Docs as your Cloud documents solution. After all, it's a full word processor that allows you to make documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and forms, which automatically save online and can be downloaded in Office formats and other common formats. While this is indeed cool, I think most people at their usual computers won't be going straight for Google Docs to write a paper, at least not yet. So let's say you want to keep your desktop Documents folder backed up, which may be a good amount of your files. I recommend Dropbox. It's a program that runs in the background to keep all files in a certain folder synced online as well as on every computer that you install it on. Now that's what I'm talking about, Cloud support at its best! In the words of one user (my parents) whose computer crashed about 2 weeks ago, "If it wasn't for Dropbox, we would have lost everything!" Dropbox is supposed upgrade in the future to also automatically sync all those files to Google Docs and vice versa (OMFG, AWESOME), but in the meantime you can use Syncplicity as a third party between the two. Technically, yes, you can use Syncplicity instead of Dropbox altogether, but the former unfortunately doesn't have the kind of support on all operating systems and mobile systems that the latter does.
   Offline support: Since Dropbox runs in the background, offline support is the name of the game.
   
6. Your Notebook It wasn't long ago that even I was carrying around a small pocket notebook to take short notes on. Thoughts, phone numbers, to-dos, etc. I often see people who do the same thing but with large and unruly books they keep in their bags. Well, that just won't do anymore. Even my college solution of using Microsoft OneNote in classes wasn't accessible unless I used my own computer to run Windows inside my Mac, hoping that neither OS would crash. How annoying. While the Google solution Google Notebook is available, it's very basic and I wouldn't really recommend it. I can confidently say your best bet is Evernote. It's available as a program for every system you can think of, and as an extension for Firefox and Chrome browsers. Taking and keeping notes of everything that pops into your cranium in sync has never been so easy, and even the web application online is FANTASTIC - looks and runs just like a solid desktop program.
   Offline support: The program you can download to your desktop is fully available offline. Like Dropbox, this is what being in the Cloud is all about. Go to the website and check out all the cool features of this revolutionary program!
   
7. Your To-do list The need for a to-do list is one thing that tends to increase with technology. The more things we can do, the more things we want to do, right? Unfortunately, it's very easy to lose site of those things we decide to do, due to limitations in memory or organization. The appeal of a to-do list is wide - being able to put things all in one place, organized or to-be-organized, and providing the immense satisfaction of crossing them off. haha Wouldn't it be great if technology made that easy for us? For me, this Cloud feature was one of the most desired, and yet the most elusive of the 10. I've known about Google Tasks and others for a while, but they were just too simplistic for me. I needed something bigger, something better. I needed Remember the Milk. Hello fully customizable To-dos, from repeating tasks and smart lists of tasks with specific criteria, to extremely broad support on many sites and systems. This is the answer, my friends. Go sign up for your account.
   Offline support: Offline support for RTM is almost entirely limited to mobile support. Apps for iPhone, iPad, and Android are available and they are excellent BUT, and this is an important BUT, we've come to an exception for our free resources. If you want to be able to sync your iPhone and iPad more than once a day, or use the Android app at all, you need to upgrade to a Pro account. This will set you back... $25... a year. As a rule, I don't pay that kind of money for apps, even $1. I made an exception for RTM because at long last I've found what I was looking for. Consider it. But that's only if you need offline/mobile support.
   
   And with that, I feel like most of what I do to keep my life organized has been summed up. That's not to say that the last 3 steps aren't important, but just that the first 7 are ones that I highly recommend for everyone. These last three are on an as-needed basis.
   
8. Your Pictures and Videos The concept of this step should be pretty easy to cover, I think. You have your hard drive full of pictures and videos from trips and other occasions, and obviously you don't want to lose those with your drive. I'd recommend uploading your pictures to Picasa and your videos to YouTube. Both are sites run by Google, and both allow you to upload without necessarily making them available to the public. You can re-download them from the sites if you need them again, or just use the Picasa App for your desktop to keep your pictures on your hard drive and site in sync. YouTube has unlimited space, and if you need more space for Picasa you can upgrade.
   IMPORTANT NOTE: The problem with this step is that it requires you to, outside of using the Picasa App, manually upload them to these sites. And that takes time. You can use Dropbox, but pics and vids are big and take up space, especially if they're high quality. Maybe it's a work-in-progress.
   Offline support: The idea here is that you have your pictures and videos offline already, and by uploading them you're putting a copy in the Cloud. But offline when not using your main drive, again apart from the Picasa App, your easy syncing options are limited. Like I said, a work-in-progress.
   
9. Your Music Oh my, a Cloud solution for your music collection? This puzzled me for a while, because if you're like me, you have however many 10s of gigs of music on your drive that you've collected from friends over the years, libraries, downloads, purchases, etc. etc. I don't want to lose that, and neither do you, but without an external drive you're tough out of luck on saving it or listening to it elsewhere, right? Wrong. Got 2 solutions for ya. Solution one is Last.fm, where you can download an app that will track the music you listen to on your computer. I downloaded that sucker back in 2005 thinking it'd be cool to see charts and info about what I've listened to over the years. Recently, I realized that in addition to showing lists of songs you've listened to, there are links to listen to that music on the site for free. Then I found I could use the site to search for and play just about any artist or song I wanted to. SWEET. Solution two is mSpot, another program that runs in the background, but this one actually uploads up to 5 gigs of your music to their website for free before upgrades. Then you can stream (read: listen to) your music either on their website, or on apps for your smart phone.
   Offline support: Like the last step, you're copying your data online, so there's no need to worry about there being no offline support. But unlike the last step, this is done without even thinking about it. Bada bing, bada boom.
   
10. Your Learning You didn't think I could finish these steps without mentioning my favorite program, which doesn't get the attention it rightly deserves, do you? I usually spend around 2 hours every day concentrating on this little app. The reason for this step stems from the memory problem I mentioned in step 7 about to-dos. If there's one thing that we humans can do well, it's learn. And we enjoy it too, if it's not constantly mixed with the specter of "studying." But if we don't keep up with what we learn, our brain moves it out of easily accessible memory. Are you going to go back and read those college notes or make yourself keep writing papers? Forget about it! Get the Spaced Repetition System (SRS) Anki and become efficient about learning things. Here's a little secret: psychologists have known for years that spacing out learning times creates better long-term retention, and computer programmers have used that to create a tool that is (if I may borrow a great man's words) the most important education tool of the last century or more. Get ahead of the game and download this program, the best of its kind, to make your own virtual flash cards. This is how I learn Japanese, how you can truly learn any language or material fast. It keeps all of your learning in one place, and syncs online so you can review on its website too.
    Offline support: At its core this is a desktop application. You can add facts to learn, and then sync to the Cloud so you can re-sync on any other system that you use the program on, which then becomes something you can do offline. I also like to keep backups in Dropbox (can you tell I really like that program?) just in case.

Phew, that's about it I guess. I've come a long way in that year since my computer crashed. It sucked and I learned from it, so I share with you guys to hopefully prevent those kinds of accidents from phasing you. If you take anything away, it's that Google is leading in the Cloud revolution, but there are some other cool apps and sites that shouldn't be overlooked. There's no way I could keep this to 30-45 minutes like most of my practice posts for the GRE, but oh well! I've been wanted to write about this for a while. Now you guys know where a lot of my time goes. ~_^ But this is only the beginning to life in the Cloud! Go out and check for yourself.

Studying for the GRE

It's something that I would have preferred to have gotten out of the way before coming to Japan, perhaps studied during the last few months I was in America so that I could concentrate now on fun only-in-Japan things, but Jasmin and I have begun: we're studying for the GRE.

As cool as that does sound, considering it's one letter away from GREg, unfortunately it stands for the really boring Graduate Record Examination. It's offered for those planning to continue wasting away in school by entering graduate school, which Jasmin and I are thinking about doing soon after going back to America. :p Our plans aren't completely finalized yet, and we still have plenty of research into schools and programs ahead of us. What I'd prefer to say is that we're keeping our options open -- by taking a $190 test plus transportation to and from the test location and hotel fees. WTF?! Yeah, while they offer the GRE in Japan, the price is not only slightly higher but it's only available in select locations, the closest of which for us is a 3 1/2 hour away Osaka. Sighです.

Luckily, we don't have to go as far as we did for my last test. Earlier this month, I took the GRE Psychology subject test in Tokyo. It's taken by prospective graduate students who are looking to go into a psychology program. In my case, most likely a doctorate program known as a PsyD., similar to a PhD but with less of the research and more of the hands-on training. Oh, and it's a 5-7 year program.

So now that we've decided to take the GRE, how are we going to prepare? Luckily for Jasmin, as of recently completing long-term goals is my specialty. I have created an excel spreadsheet known as my Goal Schedule that breaks down the months, weeks, and days from when we begin our studying until our test date. I've outlined very specific numerical final goals, as well as monthly goals, weekly goals, daily goals (approx. 30 min. of studying), and 5-minutes-from-now goals. The idea is that the only thing we need to concentrate on is what we can accomplish RIGHT NOW, and if we do that then, as per my schedule, our end goals will naturally be completed. We record our progress by checking off each day that we completed our goal, then at the end of the week and the end of the month we tally off how far we've come. If we don't complete the day's goal, we can write P = prioritized (i.e. no time, but using prioritized specifies that we chose to work on other things instead), T = tired, and U = unmotivated (a very important thing to keep track of). Of course, we get one free day a week and one free day for every 6 days of work, but instead of calling them free days I prefer to use the term Non-habit Day; we shouldn't be thinking of it as being finally free from a ball and chain, because it shouldn't create that kind mental dissonance. It's a simple habit, and I make the daily goals as simple as possible so that we can not only easily complete it but WANT to complete it. Because what's the point of having these kinds of goals if you're not motivated to take those small steps, one minute at a time, that are all adding up?

Umm... yeah, like I said. It's my specialty, or at least something I've put a lot of thought into. I've already used this for studying Japanese and the Psych GRE to great effect. Maybe I'll make another post about schedules in the near future.

But I digress. I didn't quite answer how we are going about studying for the GRE specifically. lol So it's essentially testing you on two subjects: Verbal (plus 2 essays) and Math. Just like the SAT. In fact, it's the same company that publishes the SAT, so at its core it's very similar. Luckily, the Math section is actually EASIER that the SAT, going back to late middle school or early high school math, because were it to test college math then everyone but math majors would fail. The Verbal section is where the majority of the studying needs to take place. There is no substitute for practicing on actual test questions, but Jasmin and I will also be studying vocabulary "on the side." We will be using the Anki program which is like virtual flash cards that you can use to greatly improve your memory very easily, and our cards will basically either be straight from actual test questions (goal: 150, daily: 3) or new vocab (goal: 500, daily: 10). The way I decided would be best to learn vocab is in this format:

Question side of the card: vocab /pronunciation/ (parts of speech, i.e. verb), "Example sentence."
Answer side of the card: self-written definition

This might seem almost too easy with an example sentence and the part of speech, but that's the point. The cards shouldn't be overly difficult or complicated to answer, because remembering something largely involves seeing it a number of times. Anki keeps track of all of our self-scores so we don't have to think about anything more than the current card. Hmm, maybe I'll describe Anki in more detail in a later post.

The last part of our studying involves doing fun things that naturally prepare us for the test. We're currently playing Words with Friends to expose us to English vocab, and Brain Age for simple number practice. Which brings me to my essay practice: these blogs. So expect more in the near future, at least once a week (I hope) timed at 45 minutes just like the test. Just general writing practice, nothing more.

I guess that covers enough for now. And my time is up. lataz

Earthquakes, Tsunamis, and Radiations

Tomorrow will be exactly a week since we (Japan) got hit by a massive earthquake that registered a level 9. Maybe you heard about it where you live? Yeah, the one that caused a tsunami more than 10 meters high at its peak, flooding 20 km inland and completely wiping out entire villages. Uh huh, the one that in conjunction with the tsunami began a chain reaction in the nuclear reactors in Fukushima, which threatens to engulf more of Japan in radioactive substance. Japan's highest recorded earthquake, the fifth highest on record anywhere, and the worst tragedy for Japan since the war.

And then there's Shimane. Little Shimane prefecture located on the other side of the island. While the earthquake was devastating the Northeast of the main Honshuu island and causing vibrations as far down as Oosaka, I was at work in the Southwest completely untouched and unaware until one of our coworkers informed us. No earthquake, no tsunami, but lots of news all over the place.

Then came the messages and calls. Everyone back in America was contacting me, Jasmin, and our other friends here to make sure we were alright. Aww, thanks guys! But then it got to the point where it seemed like everyone was going a bit overboard. It was a horrible tragedy, and we should be checking on our peeps in Sendai, Tokyo, etc. but chill out about us in the Chuugoku region because we didn't feel an earthquake and are perfectly dry. I made sure to update my sites with my status on that day we'll never forget (3/11), but I still got lots of worried emails and text messages.

It took us a while to realize it was because the news in America had been freaking out, and caused everyone else to freak out along with them. I'd separated myself from the American media a while ago in the course of my Japanese immersion, but I remember those scare tactics all too well. Unfortunately, the tsunami from the earthquake did reach as far as Hawaii and San Francisco, though luckily with minimal casualties. Apart from that, America and other countries seem to be safe. Don't let them attempt to drag the entire world into tragedy, or other tricks to get you guys to watch. You want to know because you're concerned for Japan, right? The media has still of course been covering Japan nonstop, I'm thankful for the support that it's brought us.

So the initial dust settled. It was now time to search for and rescue survivors, and get an idea of the current condition of loved ones, friends, and neighbors. But wait, let's go back to those nuclear reactors. As if the tragedy refused to come to a close, it soon became evident that this could only be the beginning. In Fukushima, there are currently 4 reactors that are slowly but (depending on which news program or country you ask) surely coming apart. First it was just the outer wall of one. That's ok, they said, there's still two more layers and people there are working around the clock to prevent a nuclear meltdown. Well then more layers started coming off, fires erupted, at least one leak that I know of, and more updates by the minute. I'm not well-informed on to what extent in the worst case scenario the radiation in the atmosphere could pose to human health, but of course we want to prevent that at all costs.

What's going on now, almost a week later? The news is telling people within 20 km (12 miles) to evacuate the area, and within 20-30 km to stay inside their houses. I have a friend in nearby Sendai city (about 40 km, I think?) who fled the city, hearing that if the wind was facing that direction that radiation could reach the city in about 60 minutes. People are fleeing Tokyo, CEOs are going to Australia, countries are advising their citizens to come home, and some of my other friends are leaving to Guam. Some people are even fleeing Oosaka now I hear, a mere 3 hours from where we live. But if the radiation was going to affect our area in Shimane it would need to travel around 1000 km (about 600 miles).

With all of the foreigners thoroughly freaked out now, how are the Japanese handling the situation? It's business as usual over here in Shimane, everyone is going to work and not doing and talking about anything unusual. Even on the news, we're seeing people standing quietly and patiently in line for food and other amenities. There's been no report of crime, and on the contrary people in shelters have been giving away their few food items to people who need it more. Many workers at the nuclear power plant have stayed, and are putting their lives on the line to do whatever they can to stop a nuclear meltdown. It's pretty remarkable, the Japanese willpower, even from my perspective after having lived here and been around the community for so long.

So that's what's been going on with that. Any questions you guys still have? If you want to help in some way, I've been pointing people to the Google Crisis Response page. It not only has great resources of information, but offers a Person Finder which the Japanese government has been recommending to search for loved ones, and gives an extremely fast and simple method of donating to a number of organizations (it was only the Japanese Red Cross last time I checked, but now more have been added).

Sorry this post is so long, just wrote it straight through and realized I had more to say than I thought.

6 Ways to Keep in Contact from Abroad

When going abroad for a long trip or to stay and chill for a while, you may be worried about how you can keep in contact with family and friends you're separating from, perhaps for the first time. I wrote up this guide as a way to share what I currently do since it seems to be working pretty well. It assumes that you have regular internet access, though, so when you first get to your destination these things might not happen right away. Also, not going to cover the basics - you probably use Facebook and send email, for instance, so there's no point of putting those kinds of things in here. These are mainly ideas that I've found others didn't seem to know about when I told them. So here are those six ways!

1. Google Voice - Do yourself a favor and get it. Right now (though if you're already in a foreign country, you may need to download Hotspot Shield first to mask your non-U.S. IP address, which has the wonderful side effect of allowing you to view Hulu, Pandora, Netflix, and more). Stop reading this post and register for a new phone number via Google, because you won't regret it. I won't go into all the cool features that they break down on their site, but here's what you need to know: you register a new free telephone number which you can use to text and call people (yes, for free) from your computer (you can use an actual phone too of course, but not in foreign countries). When other people text that number you can check it online, and when they call it will ring in Gmail. If you're not there and they leave a voicemail, the message and text transcription will be saved online for you to view, download, email to others, etc. at any time.
   
   NOTE 5/3/10: I just set this up for a friend in Japan, and one thing I forgot to mention is that you need to (temporarily) link your new number to a US cellphone or landline number to activate it. Maybe find a friend overseas and give them the activation number, and then afterwards go into your settings and remove their phone number. Then you're good to go.
   
   What you may not know: One of the cool things about Google Voice is that you can get email notifications of texts, missed calls, and voicemails. In addition, you can change your email address from the standard Gmail to whatever you want - even your phone's email address. That's right, if your phone uses regular email (as cell phones in many countries seem to do, especially in Japan), then you can receive and send normal text messages, get notifications of missed calls and voicemails, and get voicemail transcripts from your friends and family back in the states. Did I mention that it's free?
   
   
2. Gmail - So now that you know you can make and receive free calls with Google Voice through Gmail, that site should be open pretty much all the time. I mean, if Gmail is your primary email, perhaps you're already going there fairly often. I suggest you take full advantage of Google's free services, which would include using the Gmail Chat sidebar as well. You've probably made up your mind by now about how you want to use instant messengers, but at this point you can't get more convenient than Google Chat, which also allows you to sign into AIM.
   
   What you may not know: Actually, you probably already know this if you've used the chat before, but there's also a video function. At this point, Skype seems to be becoming outdated faster than my English living over in the Japan hizzouse. So in summation, from Google we can make phone calls, send text messages, send emails, send instant messages, and have video chats, all from your browser without needing to download anything (with the exception of a possible video chat plug-in). Trust.. in.. Google. @_@
   
   
3. Skype - Yeah, I said it was becoming outdated, but there are still a few good uses left for this popular video chat program giant. For one, you probably have lots of friends already using it living in the U.S. or abroad. For two, on smart phones you can use convenient apps that at least let you audio chat, and possibly video chat if you have a front-facing camera.
   
   What you may not know:If you insist on using Skype to make phone calls to the U.S. (perhaps you've got some credit you're looking to use up), you can actually use your Google Voice number as caller I.D. Sure, you can call your Google Voice number first and dial out from there, but there's a shortcut. If you go to your Caller identification settings on the main website, with a few short text verifications and a 24 hour wait (ugh...), your Voice number will soon be displayed to phones in the states when calling out.
   
   
4. Blog - I'm not so great at this one, but I recommend keeping a blog while you're abroad. It's not only a great way to record your experiences while you're living them, it also, you know, reminds people that you're still alive. Traveling blogs are probably the best reason to have a blog to begin with, but once you have one you should be looking for fun things to write about. Writing blogs in conjunction with posting pictures and videos that you've taken works particularly well in my experience, both in helping you remember and in providing a kind of wide perspective for your travels.
   
   What you may not know: I use Blogger mainly because after some research I found that it was the most widely used blogging software, and therefore would probably have the best support for features and connecting to other popular web applications. But you can use whatever you want, I just can't be bothered to write about other sites. Oh yeah, and Blogger is technically owned by Google too, so score. If you subscribe to others' blogs from your Blogger profile, then those blogs will show up in Google Reader as an RSS feed.
   
   
5. Twitter - People give Twitter a bad rap sometimes, but it's a very easy way to make small blog-like posts on your adventures abroad. I originally got an account so that I could link it to my blog as a current-status type of thing, but I soon found that because it was so easy to post I would use it much more often than my actual blog. Right now I have mine synced to Facebook, but the cool thing about Twitter is that it keeps all of those status updates in an easy-to-reference timeline. Then you can go back and read about when you were drunk in the bamboo forest fighting off an army of ninjas and wild boar and just happened to have your phone on you at the time to mention it on Twitter.
   
   What you may not know: Like Google Voice, there's an easy way you can tweet from any phone that supports general email. The site Twitter Counter allows you to make an account (signing in using your Twitter account if you want) and create an email address that will be linked to your Twitter. Just send an email from your phone to that address and there's your tweet, which of course would update Facebook too if you so choose to link them. Another cool feature is the option to send pictures as attachments on your phone, which show up in your Twitter post as a link.
   
   UPDATE: In light of the events in Japan, I've made sure to link my Twitter to a number of sites just in case. So when I send an email to Twitter Counter, my status automatically shows up on:
   * Twitter
   * Facebook
   * Mixi (a Japan SNS)
   * Google Buzz
   * This blog
   * My Japanese blog
   
   
6. Postcards - With all of these great technological solutions, don't forget to send some of these out too soon after you arrive. And because of all the hassel these days of walking to the post office to send them, they'll probably mean more to the people you're sending them to than any of the above options.
   
   What you may not know: They still exist.

So there you have it. If you didn't learn anything new, then I think we'd have some interesting things to talk about! I researched most of this before I left for Japan, but for some things like calling using Google Voice from Gmail it was just released after I arrived.