It’s a little similar to this…

Question: What’s the best camera in the world?

Answer: The one you have with you at the time.

Following on from that…

Question:What’s the best backup in the world?

Answer: The one you use day in and day out.

This is why Apple’s Time Machine works so well. Plug in a hard drive to your Mac and forget about it which is what I’ve been looking into for some websites, both personal and for clients.

VaultPress is something which has been on my radar for while, and I’ve now installed it on here. Verdict? Just what I wanted. The sign up was painless and yes it does cost a small amount per month, but worth it in my opinion. Once you have signed up you get a special key which you use in the plugin to activate the service. The plugin is downloaded in the normal way from the backend of WordPress.

That’s it. It immediately starts backing up the site, tells you what’s happening in real time in the form of a small unobtrusive toolbar, and you can log into your own dashboard to get even more information. It offers one-click database install, and even has a “Concierge Service”:

When you install the VaultPress plugin, it opens a channel for our security and backup specialists to directly protect your critical WordPress sites. Our WordPress experts will help you with initial setup, restoring your files, and any needs in between.

Now I realise that there are plugins which download the WP database and there are plenty of other solutions (free as well). What I wanted was truly hassle free plus have the support of the VaultPress team if something went south. The fact that VaultPress is owned and run by AUTOMATTIC who happen to run a few blogs over at WordPress.com is real peace of mind.

It’s only been running for a few days, but I am really impressed, and judging by the testimonials from people, I am not alone. (Full disclosure, I am not paid to write this post, just a happy customer!).

Firstly, how clever are our homes right now?

Alan Dalgairns wrote a guest post last year looking at green technology in the home, and it seems like this is becoming much more common place. British Gas have something called their Smart Energy Tariff which means:

• No estimated bills
• They think you could save up to £150
• A free electricity monitor

Having started using the monitor it is quite staggering to see just how much energy is being consumed, and most importantly by what. The main culprits being, the toaster, microwave and of course the tumble dryer. Lights, a big Mac rig, and the dishwasher use very small amounts.

What is missing from the British Gas monitor is a good design (it looks pretty mundane), and critically, a software interface. This is where we have high hopes for the Onzo, and have been promised a review device. Watch this space.

Green Goose is a company which is just about to launch a bicycle commute kit:

“It’s just for your bicycle to get started. The Kit includes a Green Gateway and a Bike sensor. You’ll need to have a broadband connection and a spare Ethernet port on your router or hub, at home or your office. The Green Gateway just plugs in with the included Ethernet cable and power supply. No configuration required. The Bike sensor clips on to the hub of your bicycle. Just be sure that you can park your bike within 300 feet of the Green Gateway.”

We think this is a clever way of getting people to track their savings, and there is the ability to compete against friends too. It’s in the US only right now, and they are actively encouraging employers to get involved, but… it just seems to be a nice to have rather than an out and out necessity.

Utility monitoring is only touching the surface when we talk about clever devices and an intelligent home. Here are a few more things that have caught our eye in the past week or so:

Touchatag looks like you will be able to add tags to items to make them interactive with your phone, and do specified actions.

Pachube looks very clever too:

“Store, share & discover realtime sensor, energy and environment data from objects, devices & buildings around the world. Pachube is a convenient, secure & scalable platform that helps you connect to & build the ‘internet of things’.”

They even have an iPhone app which allows you to connect to the sensor you have setup. We can see this kind of thing exploding in the near future as more  and more items contain this kind of technology.

The future?

Having been thinking about this, what we would like to see is;

1. A generic system that is taken onboard by the majority of manufacturers so that there is a unified standard – much easier to use and means better integration
2. Simple setup and understanding – key outputs displayed in a useful and elegant manner
3. Fridge systems to alert you to buy more milk etc (we’ve seen these somewhere before but is there anyone actually doing this now?)
4. Better security systems – whatever people say, it is still a major hassle to setup any sort of cameras involving wifi
5. A really nice light control system with a web-app and iPhone app to control everything

Over to you

The sky really is the limit and the ideas above don’t cover a fraction of what clever devices or intelligent homes MIGHT have soon.

What would you like to see and have you seen anything you like!?

But one that is often a topic of conversation at the vast majority of any tech MeetUps, Open Coffee events and blogger get-togethers. Thinking about the technology, the raw computing power and the webapps we all take for granted these days, it is startling in the extreme to look back at what once was the norm.

Here at Hull Digital, our first memories of the home computer are the good old BBC Model B (and yes, we did get to Elite ranking on that classic Beeb game Elite!). Friends had Spectrums, Amigas, Acorn Electrons and Commie 64s, which led to Atari STs and for us, a Windows PC back in 1997. The days of dial up modems, floppy disks and those first forays onto the web remain vivid and we often shake our head to realise just how far we have come.

Which leads us onto now, and a confession. Yes, we are very much Apple fanboys here in the Hull Digital “command centre”, and have been since early 2002. A second generation iPod led to the very first Mac arrival, a 17″ iMac G4, which is now resplendent in the kitchen and working brilliantly! From there, the coffers of Apple and Mr Jobs have been lined handsomely, from PowerMac G5s, to MacPros and MacBook Airs, not to mention Apple TV, Apple HiFi (massively underrated) and 30″ screens.

Why so engrossed in Mac culture? For us, ease of use and design are 2 for starters, along with fun to use, amazing UI and the strength of the Apple brand itself. Yes, we are pretty smitten, and, being honest, possibly a little blinkered. In our minds, no one can compete with the design / hardware of Apple, but we are very interested to learn about other OS alternatives, especially with Windows 7 coming soon and also the emergence of Linux being more popular than ever.

With Vista leading to new entries into the Oxford English Dictionary (“Visaster”) it is going to be interesting to see how it is adopted by personal and business users. It seems that they have learnt their lesson and have gone down the route of less is more, something we are a big fan of. We’re not quite sure about the advertising campaigns just yet, but we guess imitation is still the sincerest form of flattery.

Linux is something that Sean Kelly is going to be talking about at the next MeetUp, and we’re really looking forward to this. Out knowledge of this OS and all the variations is limited to say the least, so education is sorely needed!

Amongst us all, there will some strong devotion to all the Operating Systems, whether OSX, Ubuntu or Windows. What we thought would be useful is if people would post up what OS they use, on what hardware, and why. That way we can make it easier for people to know who to contat if they have a problem, a question or need some advice. Also, it would be very interesting to know if you have different preferences or platforms between work and home….

Please fire away in the comments!

Build for the clients you want, not the clients you have
This might sound daft, but stay with me. You’ll always make sure you serve the clients you have. But when you look in to the great unknown of 2009, you have to make sure your offerings are in line with what you want your company to be in the next year and what the market wants. Never ever let your current clients “hold you back”.

Don’t hold back
When the proverbial four-letter word hits the fan, you need to stand out (mixing metaphors!). Differentiate, explore, do something that will get you noticed. If not now when you have time on your hands, when?

Build for mobility
Content wants and needs to travel. Make sure that what ever you build, for whatever client you build it, can travel. Sharing it from a web page via Twitter to Posterous, plopping it on Tumblr or catching it via FriendFeed or even Facebook – it’s up to your audience, not the publisher. Give content license to travel.

Build for mobile
With few exceptions, everything you build should be easily, and functionally, accessible from mobile devices, especially the iPhone. Like it or not, it’s a fact.

Appreciate your freelance network
You may have to, or want to, cut the number of people on your payroll. If you do, make sure you have a rock solid network of freelancers you can rely on, and that want to work with you. Freelancers and Noded teams are already in high demand, and many are getting signed up on retainers, which will keep them off the market.

Tweak generously
You and your clients are probably equally worried about 2009. Be generous like never before. Help clients by tweaking and improving what they have, show them that you care about them even when they don’t have money to throw around. When they once again do, they’ll likely throw a lot of it your way.

Talk to the companies that are suffering the most
What businesses are cutting and slashing? Find them, pitch them, and help them! Just because a company had to lay off people or close stores doesn’t mean they don’t need to run a business. Help them do so. You may be their savior.

Focus
Now more than ever, is the time to focus on content, UX and really, really good design. This is what makes or breaks a web experience from a users POV. Everything else – including technology, SEO and whatever – is much less important.

As I am taking a break from compiling my notes for this post I notice that Jeffrey Zeldman says something similar in the February issue of .net magazine, page 52. So if you don’t believe me, believe him, or vice versa.

Be flawless
Everything that ships from your agency should be flawless. I mean f**king immaculate! You have time on your hands, and so do your clients. Everything will be scrutinized more than ever. Make it perfect. Come out with a clean bill of health and you’ll be golden!

Standards go mainstream thanks to Microsoft
This is not news in any way, but still key for a successful 2009: With IE8 web standards are finally hitting the mainstream. This is a very good time – or rather the last opportunity – to put a “=” between yourself and standards based web design.

These are my personal opinions, based on experience, analysis and by talking to and learning from great people around me. What are your thoughts? Let us know on Twitter @orvet and @jonmoss.

A good looking website is only half the battle though. However, that other half is often forgotten -

• Is is easy to navigate?
• Does it fulfill the objectives of the business? – for example lead Generation
• Does it work on most popular browsers?
• Is it coded correctly?
• Are there clear calls for action?

There are many different aspects to having a ‘great’ website, as well as one that looks good, and so we over the coming 2009 months we will be reviewing websites in the Hull /East Yorkshire area, and

Please do let us know about any local sites that you are particularly impressed with. We are going to featuring the best ones, and at the end of 2009, we will be holding the Hull Digital Web Awards, where we will be naming the best, and the worst websites in the local region. There will be more details coming in the future, but we wanted to get the word out, and start the ball rolling.

So get looking around online, and start sending some suggestions in! You can get in touch with us here, or by emailing jon at hulldigital.co.uk