Back in the days before USB 2.0, I was tempted to start every backup article with the same dumb joke: “Backing up is hard to do.”

Luckily, easy backups don’t require USB If you have broadband Internet access (DSL or cable). Just back up over the Internet. I recommend Mozy Home for the best and easiest backup for the price ($5 a month).

But if you’re accessing the Internet through dial-up, you’ll need to supplement your old hardware with more old hardware. Buy an internal or parallel port-based external backup drive with removable media such as tape or disk cartridges. Iomega’s Zip drives, which use disk-based cartridges, were quite popular ten years ago (I recently found some of the disks while cleaning out my garage). Iomega still makes and sells Zip drives, although the modern external ones use USB. But as I write this, five used parallel port Zip drives are on sale through Amazon.com.

You might also want to consider a DVD+/-RW drive to replace what I’m going to guess is your CD-ROM drive. These are still commonly made and reasonably inexpensive, and the discs are very cheap.

Email your technology questions to me at answer@pcworld.com, or post them to a community of helpful folks on the PCW Answer Line forum.

Popularity: 30% [?]

If they spoke before the official platform mobile Android even if they had not certainties. We are talking about the gPhone, the device feather in Google that should curb the appalling success iPhone.
But here’s the scoop: When Allen & Company’s Sun Valley Conference, some senior executives have said that Google is about to register the mark of a new mobile device. It called gPhone? We do not know. The only sure thing is that the intention of “the new phone will be a viable alternative iPhone.”
For the moment we have no information about when the new product gem but very probably by the end of the year will be T-Mobile to launch on the market the first smartphone with Android mobile platform as the default.

Popularity: 22% [?]

Some rumor put us aware of the fact that T-Mobile USA is willing to submit a mobile device-based Android in conjunction with the launch of its 3G wireless network in October.

According to News.com, T-Mobile will use devices HTC Dream to offer 3G connectivity to all users of 20 major American cities. As for the mobile platform and open source Google, it is likely that these are not just rumor but the truth. T-Mobile has confirmed its intention to launch market-based devices Android in the fourth quarter of this year.

But what will be the devices that will use Android? Other indiscretions talking about the Z780 Sony Ericsson and Motorola ZINE ZN5. For the moment do not know other details, only time will give us an answer.

Popularity: 25% [?]